Can't afford to grow my own!

caroline1973lefty

lidl's has lots of veg seeds at 29p per pack at the moment.

look out for seed swapping / seedy sunday events - often these packs have more than you need so you can swap half for something else.

as well as the allotment friends, you could find a permaculture course near you (see the permaculture website) to find other local likeminded people who might give you cuttings/seeds they've saved. permaculture (permanent / sustainable growing and much more) also has lots of 'Old style' attitudes like re-using stuff for pots, plant protectors, etc.

Lotus-eater

You can ask on growyourown forum for seeds, obviously we are not allowed to swap addresses on here, but I have loads of spare seeds, we could arrange a meeting on another site

You have to buy compost you can't get away from that, but do use the black buckets free from Asda and cheap from Morrisons.

FROSTYFRECKLE

Poundland are selling 6 packs of seeds for £1. Lidls are selling seeds as previously mentioned. Have a trail around Homebase/B&Q etc nearer to Easter they start selling grow bags really cheap.

RAS

Check out "exotic" restaurants - the sort that have lemon grass or exotic veggies flown in. These come in large polystrene boxes (lidded), anything up to about 60cm by 45cm by 35cm, that weigh nothing.

Make a series of holes all round the sides about two cms from the base and you have a decent sized container with a water reservoir.

As for pepper and chill1 seed, I am sure someone will let you have some.

Remember that most packets contain anything from 50 - 1500 seeds and how many people need 1500 cabbages or 750 lettuces. You can get all you need for a small place for free.

For the bottom of your containers, mix any old leaves still around (or leafmould from under trees) with spoil left over from road works and some kitchen waste that you allow to partly rot in a plastic bag. Then top with compost. As long as the top 100-125 mm is good, the rest can be more variable.

EstherH

I grew potatoes in an old dustbin and a couple of buckets last year, for the first time. I also put some leaks and spring onions in an rectangular recycling box which became redundant when the council changed to wheely bins.
The leeks didn't work out though and I only got a few spring onions. Don't know what I did wrong or whether it was just a bad year because of all the rain and not much sun. What does anyone else think?

Lotus-eater

When did you plant the leeks and how much room have they got for how many plants?

Did you not get any leeks coming up at all?

EstherH

I can't remember. It was probably in May. The packet said March to May, and I think it was getting towards the end time but still within what the packet said. I didn't get any come up at all. I think I left the space that it said on the pack but don't know how much that was. I am a complete novice at this and just decided to have a go after reading what everybody was saying on here. I will try again and be more organized this year. Do they need a lot of space? How much depth?

Lotus-eater

Oh right, that's just a germination problem, could be bad seeds (unlikely), too dry/wet (likely), too hot/cold (unlikely at that time of year) sowed too deeply (possible)

Leeks are easy things to grow, try again this year with fresh seed, you can find good info on how to grow them on the web, but you basically start them off in spring time in a seed bed, or some people do it in modules, I don't bother, just a couple of lines in the soil somewhere, transplant them when they are about pencil thickness to final spots, about 6" ish apart for good sized ones, closer for smaller ones.
You will have to find out about the hole and not filling it with soil bit as well.
I suppose in containers you could just move them about a bit so they had more space, better off in the ground if you have any.

EstherH

Thanks for your help. Maybe it was all the rain. It didn't stop last year! I'll give it another go and see what happens this year then. I'm not sure about space in the soil. The idea of containers was to make it easier - no digging etc. I have ME so it needs to be easy. I just bought some seeds in Lidl after reading other posts.

Jake'sGran

Ladyladybird
I can send you some chilli seeds and maybe a few seeds for other veg/salad
but it is best if you do it via Allotments4all-(swap shop). Won't cost you anything at all. I use the black tall tubs from Morrisons and use polystyrene pieces as crocks to fill the bottom to about 4" and to save on compost. We always have lots of tomatoes but they need a lot of watering.