Is it worth it?

Megansmum

Thank you ixwood - you weren't "going on", it was all great useful info! I tried the link you sent but it was unavailable.:sad: I will look for some local wildflower seeds, as a google search didn't help much.

Then i did the smart thing (that i should have done BEFORE i planted.... and googled the blueberry plant! Found this on the bbc site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/growfruitandveg_growingblueberries2.shtml

I didn't even know I could put it in a pot! So tomorrow i am off to get some ericaceous compost, and pot planting it - then adding tomato feed as recommended! I will also get another variety and hope they do well

Thanks again, I tend to be impulsive and think after i have acted - so all info i receive on here is greatly appreciated - i hope one day to not be a novice!;)

Megansmum

any idea what i CAN plant in my clay soggy "soil"?

olly300

Megansmum wrote: »

any idea what i CAN plant in my clay soggy "soil"?

Best thing to do is to dig compost, horticulture sand and horticultural grit into it to improve it so you can plant veg. You have to do it now before summer comes and it bakes hard.

If it's not in lots of shade I can tell you what flowers do well i.e. poppies, red hot pokers

However the only edible thing I've found in a garden with clay soil was a large fennel, which was growing wild.

ixwood

The easiest way to deal with poor soil is to go above it and use raised beds, or pots. You can control the soil that way. They needn't be expensive. You only need 6 inches or so of depth for most things (the square foot gardening dude says any more is a waste and not needed).

Have you seen the square foot gardening site? It's very good for growing veg. Takes most of the hard work away.

Mulching the clay with compost, or anything else organic (grass cuttings, leaves etc) will help improve it over time. Just throw it on top and let the worms and friends do their stuff.

Megansmum

Thank you again ixwood - you are my gardening guru!:D I had been thinking about raised beds, but must admit I thought they had to be a lot bigger than 6 inches. It was the thought of all that work and how much it would cost to fill them that stopped me! Now I know you don't need tons and tons of topsoil and compost etc, I will be getting onto that new task.:j

I haven't been on that site - although it could be in my favourites! I chance upon things and store them in my "favourites" folder hoping to get back for a browse later on..... my favourites folder for gardening stuff has 56 sites in it and i have never found time to sit and browse through them!:o

I couldn't find any eracious compost today in town. Could you tell me where i could find it please? I got another blueberry plant today, a different variety though - does that matter? I also got a pear tree for £5 from wilkos. I only need a victoria plum tree and i have all the fruit trees i want for this year.

I planted some seed potatoes in rubble sacks and they are growing nicely in my garden. Will they die off if i take them out and replant them in the allotment?

Sorry for all the questions, but i know on here I can get the answers from real gardeners! On the internet, sometimes I can't se the woods for the trees - no pun intended! There can be too much info - and sometimes it can be contradictory!

Thanks in advance and happy gardening. :j

olly300

Megansmum wrote: »

I couldn't find any eracious compost today in town. Could you tell me where i could find it please?

The DIY sheds - B&Q and Homebase- sell it. However depending on the size of the store they may not sell a large sack of it but only a small 20/25 litre sack.

Gardening centres whether chain or independent will sell it. All the ones I've been to sell both large and small sacks of it.

Wilkinsons Plus has a 15 litre bag on their website. So if you can't find it in store order it from Wilkinsons. If you get it delivered to store it will take you a week to get it.

ALIBOBSY

We had 2 beds last year which were only 1 "plank" width high. We now have 6 filling the garden lol. The only things which may need more depth are long root veg like carrots and parsnips. We used pots for these last year.
This year we have some old recycling bags which seem to be exactly the same material as potato bags (OH works for a council were they are swapping these bags over to boxes because of complaints about stuff blowing out of the bags when put out for collection (as well as the bags blowing away). The bags are just being thrown so Oh asked for a few, he is going to ask if any more are around. They are about 1 to 2 feet square and about the same deep, so carrots and parsnips in these at the mo.
The big advantage is the slightly raised sides help protect against root fly as well

ali x

ixwood

Shame about the link, the seeds must have run out. You can get wildflower seeds cheap anyway. Either get the mixed packets for butterflies or bees or meadows in a garden centre or get something like this from ebay:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-WILDFLOWER-MIX-1000-PLUS-SEEDS-THE-BEST-SO-FAR_W0QQitemZ110380732804QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN?hash=item110380732804&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

I'm sowing little meadows in the front and back as well as trying inside.

I made and filled my raised beds for nothing. I filled them with all sorts. Cardboard, hedge clippings, a load of moss, grass clipping and then the compost heap. You can keep topping it up as and when you can anyway. A mulch is good for the soil. I treat my beds like in situ compost heaps.

I'm the same with the links. Square Foot Gardening is brilliant in my opinion. Makes veg growing much easier and less time consuming. If you only read one thing, make it that.

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

The acid compost should be available in most places. I just use the soil and needles from under pine trees and brew them a pot of tea out of the used teabags every now and then (Tea is slightly acidic, hence why most plants like a cuppa).

Hopefully the other Blueberry will work. Basically they need to both be flowering at the same time.

Megansmum

Thanks again for that. Today i went to B&Q, and got the eracacious compost. I went up the allotment and planted the two blueberry plants next to each other. One is flowering beautifully - the little pink/purple buds are so cute!:o The other is just starting to bud and is quite a bit taller than the first. When i bought it, it was surrounded by a little cane wigwam. Should i leave this on? I have for now and thought i would ask on here if that was right!

I also planted a pear tree. Am i ok to uproot my newly planted cherry and apple tree out of the garden and replant at the allotment or will thry die if i move them?

Then i planted 14 seed potatoes - but am worried now i didn't sow them deep enough!

Also planted on some brussels and spring onions. As i have only dug a small bit of the plot for this years sowing does it matter that they are all in the same bed? Next year i will have the whole plot dug over and will do them all in a different area.... but is it ok or will the poatoes kill off the onions or brussels?

Strawberrys are doing well again now....and ant free!

Found wildflower seeds in a 99p shop today, so i will get them out in the next couple of days.

Am i too late to sow carrot, tomato,sweetcorn, brussels or cucumber seeds? Although i already have cucumbers, tomatoes, brussels and sweetcorn going i want to do more incase they fail at any point!!

Sorry, for every question answered... i seem to have 10 more to ask! There is a lot more to this gardening lark thani first imagined!:rotfl:

Thanks in advance and happy growing all. :A

Megansmum

ohh, and thanks for the link to the square foot gardener... i went to put it in favourites and..... surprise " a link to this site already exists, override?" Lol! I'm going to have a read now with a cuppa! I did that much digging with a little hand fork today i have blisters on my little fingers :sad: