Planting Plans For One Person

Yategirl

ceridwen wrote: »

...this is "bit of a problem" scenario - with my very limited space. So - I have all my existing containers in use full of bought compost and am pondering a bit where to go from here. I saw Moany Moany's comment the other day re making up a makeshift container for compost from cardboard box and plastic bag and wondered about that....I am so stuck for space basically though that I am wondering if I can "refresh" existing compost each time I've cleared a container of the "crop" that is currently in it and use it again - and, if so, precisely how. I was duly noting some compost bags on sale locally at £3 for 50 litres and that does work out quite expensive for 300/400 litres worth - or whatever it was I wrote down as what was necessary to fill a square foot gardening bed. I'm thinking along lines currently of "borrowing" a LETS member with a car and going to fetch a bit of municipal compost at the appropriate time each year...tossing up between that and wondering about methods of "refreshing" existing compost for another "go".

ok.. what about using a wormery for your kitchen waste? I am looking at making one (having borrowed an 'original wormery' which was like a waste bin and not being successful), they take up very little space so you could squeeze one into a corner - have a look at http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/6EB1C3FA-723E-4F03-8806-74A73B7BDC83/0/stacking_wormery.pdf and http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=891221 (today's successful searching ) and at this blog http://indoorgardener.blogspot.com/

could you squeeze a plastic dustbin in some where? drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage and slowly fill it, turn with a garden fork every so often.. use this for garden waste....

Yategirl

harib0uk wrote: »

I really must look into this and if I can get some sort of compost bin sorted out. Can anyone tell me what kind of position the bin should be in? i.e is it better to be in a shady place, or a sunny place?

personally I wouldn't worry too much where it is sited - think veg first compost bin second!! make sure it is easy to get to - a nice easy path no obstacles!!

Have fun with your reading!! I have got Square foor gardening as a christmas pressie so have to wait to re-read (has it from library first) that!!

Yategirl

having a bit of a search throws up the following articles:

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-331/426-331guide.html
http://www.nres.uiuc.edu/uploads/files/extension/hfs/VegPlantGuide.pdf
http://www.vsb.cape.com/~nature/greencenter/pdf/intensveg.pdf
http://extension.missouri.edu/explorepdf/agguides/hort/g06201.pdf

the third one states that "

we can conclude that two beds will yield a more than ample supply of raw and cooked vegetables for any individual" - they had 1/10th acre divided up into 20 beds..

so far these are all mentioning amounts per person PER ROW...


ohhh... what about this? http://square-footing.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-planting-guide-2008.html


I know I have seen a good planting guide SOMEWHERE... but am struggling to find it.. will keep looking though!

Sylvan

Oh to have looked pre-Raphaelite... <sigh>

mardatha, Is your avatar a picture of you? <run>

haribo, how does one post pictures?

ceridwen, I read summat about refreshing compost a while back. As far as I can recall you tip it out onto a plastic sheet and mix in fish, blood and bone, but I can't remember the proportion. I'll have to see if my memory can dredge up the specifics while I sleep.

We make our own John Innes compost. It's supposed to be seven parts loam, three parts peat and two parts sand. We use garden soil instead of loam and commercial soilless compost in place of peat. The previously used compost is fine, since you add your own fertiliser to the mix.

I've just googled and found this recipe:

http://gardening.ie/index.php/in-the-garden/compostingrecycling/composting/201-make-your-own-john-innes-compost

but I think Lurch normally just puts in a couple of handsful of fish, blood and bone and a scoop of chicken manure pellets per wheelbarrow (he did originally measure it out). Having said that, Lurch's hands are about twice the size of a human bean's...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Long may this snow lie I say - it's doing a good job of insulating my plants.:D

mardatha

mardatha, Is your avatar a picture of you?
******************
Yes of course. It's not a very good one though, my hair was needing done.

harib0uk

Sylvan wrote: »

haribo, how does one post pictures?

There is a nice little thread HERE which explains it all.

Basically you need to get some web space to put your pictures, I use photobucket & Imageshack, as well as my own web space if it's something I'm posting to my blog as well. You only need one not all, Photobucket would be my recommended one to use.

Then when you are posting you click the little at the top of your message box and then put in the link to where the picture is stored, photobucket or imageshack will give you the code once you have uploaded your picture all you need to do is copy it and paste.

I'm not very good at explaining things so best look at the link I gave first.

Sylvan

mardatha wrote: »

mardatha, Is your avatar a picture of you?
******************
Yes of course. It's not a very good one though, my hair was needing done.

Aye. Looks a bit windblown, but then what can you expect living where you do?

Sylvan

Thanks haribo. I'll have a look.

Sylvan

Okeydoke. Here's my attempt at posting pics. [strike]I ended up using Flickr because Yahoo seemed to default to it.[/strike] 2nd edit: I've changed to photobucket since flickr doesn't seem to work. :mad:

We started with a nice crop of moss and lichen. There's a damson on the left and an apple tree on the right.



I originally got them to build what was going to be the 2nd bed in the row, because the rhubarb was growing where the 1st bed needed to be.



Then, after DS4 dug up all the rhubarb and I planted it (and the strawberries) in the new bed, they built the "1st" one...



at which point I changed my mind about where to site the greenhouse, so the original bed had to be moved :rotfl:



It's not as bad as it sounds - it had to be emptied anyway - DS4 looked at it from the other end of the garden about a week after filling it and said "Is that bed bowing out in the middle?":eek:
It seems you can't make a 16ft x 4ft x 27" bed out of 2" thick timber.

The boys put the ends, doors etc of the green house together in the dining room during the half-term holiday.

Somehow I don't think they're going to be able to stand up in it!




On the 3rd day several spare teenagers turned up so they decided to erect it in situ. Unfortunately it was so cold their fingers were practically freezing to the metal - and then there was a gust of wind...

Looks as though I'm not going to have a greenhouse till Easter (and even then DS5 will be lambing on the other side of the country so I'll probably have to bribe the casual visitors again:p)

EDIT: Using the little mountain button to add them didn't work so I've put the links in instead.

harib0uk

I can't see the pictures Sylvan - does flicker have a privacy option? If it does you may need to turn it off so you pictures can been seen when posted on forums.

Looking forward to seeing them !