[ming]

  I'm new, just joined today. Grew a few onions & tatties last year but want SO much more this year !
I'm 1000ft up  and we get bad winters and a lot of wind. The gardens here are a full month behind Edinburgh where my son lives. I grow tomatoes indoors on south facing 6ft wide windowsills. I would like to try onions, lettuce and salad, maybe beets, and what else will do on the windowsills beside toms? We don't eat peppers or chillies or anything hot. ( = terminal heartburn  )
Could I have some advice as to what and when to plant  please ?   

[Roxy]

We are about 1200ft up, here in the Derbyshire hills.  like you, we have long winters, snow, and gale force winds.  The soil does not warm up until around mid May.  I have visited friends further south, and their veg and flowers are harvested nearly as we are planting.  As for tomatoes, I have given up, as we never seem to have the nice summers to ripen them anymore.

Most veg can be grown in containers, or things like builders sacks etc.  if you only have a  small space. Even hanging baskets, and wall troughs can be uilised.  +-+ It seems to be hit and miss here, as to how well things grow, what with the weather, and wet summers we are having.  I cannot see you having a problem with the salad stuff.  I would plant a little of what you like to eat, and see how it grows, and if it comes good, you will know for next year.

I was pleased with my potato crop last year, and the cabbages, and broccoli, leeks and spring onions also.  I vitually left them to their own devices, as I was so busy elsewhere!!  I always do well with early onward peas, getting a bumper crop......but with being tall, there is always the risk of the weather and high winds wrecking them.  I tend to try and plant them behind a hedge!!

I am hoping to do kale, kohl rabi, and celeriac as well this year.  Not a lot, just to see how they grow here.

My neighbour up the lane always had a successful brussel sprouts crop, but  for some reason they were a disappointment for me.

[Wizard]

Hello Roxy That is one of the drawbacks of living in Grimsby it is always cool even on a hot day Lots of rain every where is flooded right now.We get very little snow though.

[Hermit]

Hi, I live in Shetland on a hill facing the sea and there is not much I dont grow! The tall beans and sweetcorn I grow inside a large polytunnel  along with the usual indoor crops ,but I have a large veg garden that most things grow in and I have worked hard over the years to improve it.Dwarf varieties such  as Dwarf Sutton broad beans are whats needed to combat the winds but not had much problem with the weather. The only problem is the short growing season, no successional sowing up here.As for windbreaks it is better to filtrate the wind rather than try to block it as that causes whirlwind effects. Go for it, half the fun is the challenge.Hermit

[ming]

    My next door neighbour likes it here because the weather reminds her of Shetland where she lived before . Nobody here has polytunnels - they say it's a waste of time.The problem with the veg plot/whole back garden is that there is no hedge, just a fence between me and the field. the neighbour's garden and mine are open plan because two brothers lived in these two houses for 40 years  .
I never thought of broccoli and it costs a fortune because my husband likes it (yeeugh!!) so I might try that actually, and I would love  more onions. I get loads of tomatoes Roxy, try them inside on the windowsills. I can't grow sweet peas, they got  totally wrecked, so I won't bother with anything tall.
It's really cheered me up though that you arent all at sea level in Southampton and halfway through your summer already !

[marigold]

I am on the western border of Angus at the foot of Glen Isla
We ca n grow all our basics, potatoes, carrots, leeks, onions etc but I can't resist trying out more interesting veg. Sometimes i am successful and sometimes its depressing depending on the weather. Today I got 2 polythene cloches in the pound store for - guess what - a pound each. This weekend I sowed a few trays of tomato seeds for the polytunnel.
This year we'll get it right and everything we grow will be wonderful..................ok, like Hermit says you have to enjoy the challenge. 

[ming]

  I have bought from Realseeds some chard (not a clue what it is),endives, rocket, white beetroot, and early turnip, to start off in the spare room which faces south and has a 7ft window. But it's so cold in the room that I can't face planting them yet!

[doganjo]

Guess Gala's a cold spot then?

[ming]

  Not in Gala, am up in the hills here. Load of wimps doon in Gala !

[Hermit]

Chards hardy, it is a member of the beetroot family but you eat the leaves like spinach. I also put the stems in stir fries etc. You cut the leaves off as you need them and they grow again. You can leave it in all next winter and have some fresh leaves in spring,but sow again then for fresh plants. Hermit

[ming]

Brilliant, thanks !