Wise Words for the Beginner?

Having been gardening in earnest for about 30 years now, it's always tempting to look at the efforts of new gardeners and say to myself "That's not the way to do it. That'll never work. They'll live to regret it" etc, etc. Do you remember the know-it-all Father-in-Law character from the Fast Show? The one whose catchphrase was always "You don't want to do it like that!"? I don't want to be like that person, so I strive to share whatever expertise I have accumulated over the years, in the hope that some Newbie Gardeners may thereby be able to avoid some of the pitfalls along the way. It has also always been a point of honor to mention my mistakes and failures as well as my triumphs and successes.

Winter 2010 / 2011

I don't know if you have noticed, but one of the Pages on my blog is one called "Resources". On this page I give links to some of the blogposts I have written in the past that might be considered "advisory" - the sort of thing that might be beneficial to someone new to this gardening malarkey. Hopefully there are a few things there that might be of interest to more experienced gardeners too.

Tomato "Sungella"

Today I'm going to invite you, my readers, to contribute some tips of your own! I would love it if you would leave me answers to the following 3 questions in the Comments box down below...
1. What one single vegetable would you recommend as being suitable for a Beginner? (Preferably something easy to grow, very productive and practically bound to succeed!)
2. What one tip would you give to a new gardener taking on a veg-plot or allotment for the first time?
3. What do you enjoy most about veg-gardening as a hobby / pastime?
If I get a good response on this I may collate all the feedback and publish it as a new article on my Resources page, so please do join in. Thanks!