Where do i start, what should i be doing???

ooopppps

forgot to add

THANKS xxx all help and hints really appreciated :-) xx

I am in the same postion as you so will be watching this space. Yes Marigolds and onions ward off some of the bugs. I have had a book for years on Self suffiiency which II love reading and now finally doing it. In there they say which things to plant together for the same reason. You have motivated me to dig that book out again. I like your idea of building your own raised beds, I have been looking at buying them on the internet, but may think of just getting my own wood now instead.

my approach was to my 6 meter by 4 meter plot to plant different vegies in different places and found that cabbage sort liked one end and potatoes grew best in another so in future my row of potatoes will be confined to one end and the cabbages ,broccoli at another end and still finding out where the best place for the root crops.
my beans also show me where they like the soil and some of the beans are hardly growing while others have 12 inch long pods (whew)
i have a electronic soil tester (cost a very little more than a chemical one and can be reused hundreds of times) and it shows what soil the different plants like.

i always start my cabbages etc in pots and then transplant. I also start my broad beans off in pots now ish and then the runners in feb/march. they all start in the unheated greenhouse. Lettuces in april ready to go in the greenhouse ground. parsnip seeds go straight in the ground feb ish and carrots i think i put in in march. but i follow the general guide on the back of the seed packs.
i plant nasturiums next to any of the brassicas [cabbage/sprout/broccoli] the cabbage white butterfly is meant to prefer it to cabbages etc. just more plants to chose so less chance of the cabbages getting laid on. marigolds are meant to help prevent some insect pests. they look pretty too.

Sorry I can't help on veggies - but I can say 'good luck'. :-)

Like you I am a novice gardener. i grew a couple of veggies last year (some successfully!) and got a taste for it so am trying to be a bit more ambitious this year. it would be good to share tips and ideas on anything that is successful and any good ideas picked up along the way.
hope your crops do well! i've only started sowing seeds the last 2 or three weeks so it looks like i've got some catching up to do!