Thanks for that, all.
Let me explain a bit about my plot. It's only small, two verges on a 30 x 15 ft plot. It's walled off from the road, so no worries about dogs, runoff etc. the soil is not that good, but deep. I compost all our kitchen/garden waste, and have about 3 years worth working away in the back. The main crop I was thinking of growing were potatoes, and maybe onions and leeks.
I'm in the the North West of the UK, so we're hardly tropical. Temperate, I believe would be a more acurate description.
I've tried growing tomatoes and peppers with limited success, but only in pots in the porch, which gets all the sun and acts like a greenhouse. I might try those again this year.
I would just grow in the back, but we have a nice garden area - in a Japanese style (gravel, water feature, seating area) We have no real space there to grow anything, and what soil there is is pretty poor, as it's mainly in the shadow of the house.
I would take a community garden or allotment, as we call them here, but unfortunately, they are really popular at the moment because of the economy, and there is a really long waiting list.
I think I will try containers, maybe around the side of the house, which is further from the road and which gets more sun than the back.
Actually, thinking about it, that might be the best solution, as the wall we have that divides us from the wall will actually cast a shadow over the main bed I intended to use.
Again, many thanks for the input.
All the best.