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Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

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  • kazire
    kazire Posts: 472 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    furball wrote: »
    Don't remember planting this though:D pepper.jpg

    I love this pic reminds,me how,much I miss my chooks they are such funny things, I used to have a bag of open compost weighing down my flimsy plastic greenhouse and the chickens loved laying in it! Had been known to find a few eggs in there lol
  • lilyjune
    lilyjune Posts: 45 Forumite
    Love the picture of the hen too - such a lovely sunny spot - could do with a sit down somewhere sunny meself...

    WEll, I have finally done some sowing, WOOHOO!! Made to the garden centre yesterday to finally buy some compost - had been putting it off because I always seem to have the baby and was hoping to do it without him. But finally bit the bullet and was struggling along with the buggy and the trolley with compost when a lovely member of staff found me, took the trolley and did the rest. Bliss.

    However, it occurred to me this afternoon as I started reading the back of my seed packets how little I actually know about all this stuff. Erm..how many should I plant?? We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 under 3..I have no idea how many pea plants is too many, peppers, radishes, etc. etc. I don't really want to end up with loads and loads of stuff, I was kinda planning on one or two plants for ourselves, eg. cucumber, courgette, and an extra one or two to give to friends but really peas/beans no clue at all! Anyone who could shed light on what I'm looking at in terms of yield, would be my hero for the day!

    And on the packets, loads of things say to sow in April but I know all of you have planted stuff, does it matter?? Presume I can stick them in and then they'll be ok if they're warm enough.

    Also hadn't thought through where I'm actually going to put all this stuff while it's germinating, trays of little pots of compost and 2 year olds may not mix...

    And finally, lots of my seed packets didn't say how deep so I just took a stab at it and stuck them in ....please say this will work.

    mrbadexample, have you put the raspberries in yet? :-)
  • adelight
    adelight Posts: 2,658 Forumite
    loving the sunbathing hen :D
    lilyjune, other people will have much better advice but i would just plant what seems too much and it will probably bethe right amount or even not enough!

    Window ledge garden is doing okay, time the toms went into their own pots. The two pepper plants from last year are loving the sunny weather, they now have half a dozen peppers growing between them and loads of flowers.
    On saturday I will see how the three week old carrots, beets and parsnips are doing and sow more carrots, onions and raddishes. Also need to put loads of seedlings into bigger pots. Time is of the essence so come rain or shine, it all needs to get done :o

    I found out this week that I have a job for when I graduate :j So I will move in with my OH in Hertfordshire and go on the allotment list there. There are loads of sites around the village and the waiting lists are 0-18 months so I could have my own allotment this time next year :eek:
    Living cheap in central London :rotfl:
  • Sambucus_Nigra
    Sambucus_Nigra Posts: 8,669 Forumite
    Rule of thumb for sowing seed, cover it with the same depth of compost/soil as the size of the seed. So for broad beans, about an inch of soil and for celery, barely a covering at all and will germinate with none.
    If you haven't got it - please don't flaunt it. TIA.
  • lilyjune
    lilyjune Posts: 45 Forumite
    Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »
    Rule of thumb for sowing seed, cover it with the same depth of compost/soil as the size of the seed. So for broad beans, about an inch of soil and for celery, barely a covering at all and will germinate with none.

    Fabulous Sambucus Nigra, thank you for that. I may have not done too badly after all. Stuck the broad beans down quite well and the peppers and tomatoes not too far at all. Will see what happens now!
  • lilyjune
    lilyjune Posts: 45 Forumite
    adelight wrote: »
    lilyjune, other people will have much better advice but i would just plant what seems too much and it will probably bethe right amount or even not enough!

    Thanks adelight, I will probably sow a few more than what I've done. I'm waiting to do quite a bit outside once I get my beds going. I'm just a bit wary of having heaps and heaps and not being able to do anything with it as we have no freezer :think:
  • aliasojo
    aliasojo Posts: 23,053 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »
    Rule of thumb for sowing seed, cover it with the same depth of compost/soil as the size of the seed. So for broad beans, about an inch of soil and for celery, barely a covering at all and will germinate with none.

    Ah....that could be why some of my seeds don't seem to have done much. I suspect they might need potholing gear to get out. :rotfl:
    Herman - MP for all! :)
  • mrbadexample
    mrbadexample Posts: 10,805 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker Photogenic
    lilyjune wrote: »
    .

    mrbadexample, have you put the raspberries in yet? :-)

    If you mean "have you bought the raspberries yet?" then the answer is no. :p
    If you lend someone a tenner and never see them again, it was probably worth it.
  • Fay
    Fay Posts: 1,031 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Well my chillis are going well and most of my tomatoes seem to be too-one very small seedling compared to the others that I think I might have to put out of it's misery. I planted some new chilli seeds 2 weeks ago-Wenks hot yellow. I planted 6 but only 2 have germinated. This is the worst germination rate I've had for chillis so I'm quite disappointed by that. Also, none of my broad beans or runner beans have come up, I think the greenhouse is just too cold, despite the instructions and books I've got saying they would be fine in an unheated greenhouse :( I have a busy weekend this weekend and next, but then I'm off work for 2weeks so will have chance to have a good go in the garden. But this weekend I do want to try and get the potatoes planted and dig a bean trench ready for my next try of broad & runner beans...wish me luck!
  • lolly5648
    lolly5648 Posts: 2,257 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »
    Rule of thumb for sowing seed, cover it with the same depth of compost/soil as the size of the seed. So for broad beans, about an inch of soil and for celery, barely a covering at all and will germinate with none.

    Wish I'd known this before I planted my broad beans - I planted them just below the surface and the pod and green shoots are now on top of the compost!
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