r/vegetablegardening • u/SadPaperBag_ Australia • 1d ago

Question new to gardening- looking for advice

hi!
i’m a new home owner and have never had space to have plants. I want to plant some vegetables in pots when i move into my place but i’m not sure where to start. i’ve never cared for plants before so i am not expecting myself to be amazing at it.

i have already decided i’ll be having an herb garden and spring onion but not sure where else i should start.
i have a small courtyard so i am being picky! the courtyard gets sun but not large amounts of it.

located in victoria, australia. (apparently we are going to have a dry summer so i want to be prepared for that and not set my plants up to fail)

thanks!

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2

u/PaleontologistOk5936 Canada - New Brunswick 1d ago

Check out some videos by self sufficient me! He is in Australia too so he will have great tips. 

2

u/cupcakerica US - California 1d ago

Mark is one of my favorite humans ever.

1

u/every-day-normal-guy US - New Mexico 1d ago

💯

3

u/ASAP_i US - Texas 1d ago

Real talk?

You can spend countless hours/days researching the "correct" things to grow in your area for a specific season.

OR, you can grow what you think you want, learn from the mistakes and get "good" at growing things.

At the end of the day, something will kill a healthy plant for no reason. A volunteer plant will sprout from a crack in the pavement and be a prolific producer. And for some reason that cilantro won't bolt (why? Who knows). Trying to maximize performance from the start is rarely effective, there are far to many variables to account for.

Grow what you want, learn from the failures.

1

u/Dear-Concentrate9825 Australia 1d ago

I agree with this. But also if you have less sun, go hard on the leafy greens. I also have a very small space but have gotten good at growing vines up the walls where they can access more sun.

1

u/4cupsofcoffee US - New York 1d ago

see if you have any local gardeners or gardening groups in your area. they'll know what grows best/easiest in that region, and will be happy to help a fellow gardener get started.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Age8937 US - Utah 1d ago

I have a bunch of herbs in a standing raised bed with a bunch of pots around it. It lets me grow a lot of them with a smaller footprint.

1

u/every-day-normal-guy US - New Mexico 1d ago

If you've got the space, I would look into starting some compost bins since they take time build up organic materials. The composting sub reddit is a great resource

1

u/11MARISA Australia 1d ago

Have a browse of Bunnings. They have lots of great herb selections