March Update: What are you growing in 2006?

johlee

serena wrote:

Hi Johlee,

I would suggest that your daughter grows things that can either be planted or sown direct to start with. Is her patch in a good part of the garden? Decent soil, and a sunny spot makes all the difference!

I would try shallots, which can be planted immediately, and grow well. Also broad beans if she likes them. These can be sown/planted now. Radishes grow easily, but very few children actually like them.

DS1 age 15 suggests pumpkins as you can sell the surplus for Halloween (needs a fair bit of space though)

DS2 age 11 suggests a couple of strawberry plants, and a courgette plant (you can either sow your own or buy a plant around mid May).

DD age 13 suggests a packet of mixed annual flowers for cutting (Johnsons was the one she chose).She also always sows the round carrots, and a packet of mixed lettuce leaves.

You could perhaps try square foot gardening (google it for loads of details). Basically you divide a square metre into nine equal squares and grow a different flower or veg in each square. Great fun, and a good competition for more than one child! See who produces the most from their plot.

Have fun.

Serena.

Thank you Serena,

We've been out today and bought what you suggested, she is keen on vegetables, unlike me and I'm always keen for her to try new ones then hopefully she won't become as faddy as me. She's over the moon that she's started and can't wait to see how they grow, I just hope she tskes better care of them than the hamster we got her a few years ago :rolleyes:

Thank you again for your advice

wigginsmum

Grr ... just set up my electric propagators for the first time, sorted out the seeds, and the bags of compost outside are frozen solid! Have brought one in to thaw overnight.

rowantoad

wigginsmum wrote:

We planted our raspberries, apples, whitecurrants, redcurrants and tayberry a couple of weeks ago.

How are your raspberry and tayberry?

I got some raspberry, tayberry, redcurrrent, blackcurrent, gooseberry from aldi, the raspberry and tayberry I'm a bit worried about, seem like dry sticks!
There were no roots to speak of either really.

The others all seem to be shooting a bit. I have no idea if the sticks are alive as I have never planted any before.

(This year I'm going to try a bit of gardening and have also bought some seeds, mini propagators etc from aldi)

wigginsmum

They look like sticks right now We have a garden full of sticks (we got rid of the lawn, and now have 6 beds with edging, and a York stone path). I bought the fruit stuff from Ken Muir as it was highly recommended by serious gardeners I know; not cheap though compared to other places but it's an investment. The tayberry is a thin 6-inch stalk with one leaf right now - everything else is just dry stems. The stepover and minarette apples have buds that I can see - everything else is a waiting game.

rowantoad

Oh great, hopefully i'll get a nice suprise one morning.

I'm so jealous of your leaf on the tayberry though, I've just had a look at mine and 1 plant may have a little bud shooting.

annie-c

Rowantoad - I have blackberry, rasberry, blackcurrant and redcurrant 'sticks' too. All but the rasberries look fine in a sprouting-stick-kind-of-way. My rasberries do just look like bits of dry cane though! Glad to hear it's not just me! :rotfl:

Johlee, your daughter sounds great! What a lovely way to learn about fruit and veg. I might try the square foot gardening idea myself. Apart from patio and a little border, I have about a square yrd of soil, tucked away in a corner. :T

I've found websites about it here and here

funky-footprints

i have a tub of mint growing out the back, that always seems to look after itself.

this year i have chives on the kitchen window.

Garlic and wild garlic in our down stairs toilet, am going to put them outside when it gets a bit warmer. (smells lovely )

I have 4 hanging baskets out the front and I am going to have tumbling tom's in those.
me and the kids plan to grown cucember, chilli, pepper and strawberries.

Have asked for a fold away shelf green house thing for mothers day, I had a water butt for valenintes day .. lol !!

annie-c

I like the idea of tomatoes out in the front. I have cherry tomatoes, but do I need to get the tumbling variety specifically if I want them in baskets?

ellas9602

Can I join in please?

I've never successfully grown anything before, tried some bedding plants last year put the grew leggy went mouldy and ALL died. :eek:

Maybe im being a little ambitious but I've got loads of seeds, i've done my homework, got some books and I'm gonna try grow some lovely organic veggies in containers for and with my kids. I've sorted out a grid plan this evening of what I need to do and when and its raised a few questions in my gardening dummy mind so wondered if someone could help with the following. :beer:

I'll be growing moneymaker toms for a greenbag, how many plants per bag?

I bought some 10" grow bag/plastic bag type pot things from ebay, would this be big enough for a courgette plant (astia)?

some of the indoor sowing requires propagator , would cling film suffice? also (Im blushing as i ask ) but do i water the seedlings living under cling film?

Im going to try little gem lettuce in window box, im told to sow this over a few weeks for continuous crop, do i dig up the roots of the old lettuce and add more compost or do i need all new?? oh dear its getting worse isn't it?

Im going on hols for 1 week end of may and have pretty much worked round this but i will have tumbler tomato growing indoors at this time, will it survive without me?

I have some pea seeds, are these just a bad idea for begginners? Can they grow in pots? ditto for sprouts got carried away thinking about still harvesting in winter

I also have dwarf beans can these grow in gro-bag?

thanks to anyone patient enough to answer :beer:

Strepsy

Aw good luck Ella. You've done so much planning, I'm sure you'll be in for some good crops this year.

I'm a beginner too so unfortunately I can't really answer any of your questions, though about cling film, I think possibly a loose see-through plastic bag may be better. Though to be honest, all my seeds are in seed trays on the window sill without any sort of covering and they're fine. If you have plastic over it will probably keep the moisture in so you'd probably only have to give a drop of water every 4 or 5 days. I've heard that a soaking every now and then is much better than little and often anyway.

Also the number of tomato plants in a growbag. Is it one of those with circles to cut out? I would do what they suggest, or have one less. FIL does that and he seems to get good crops.

I would ask a friend or neighbour to take in your tumbler tom while you're on hols for the promise of some of the crop once it fruits.

I tried to grow sprouts once but they got annhilated by cabbage white caterpillars. Not tried peas but believe they're fairly easy. HTH.