April Update: What are you growing in 2006?

annie-c

OK, thanks. Mine are on the kitchen windowsill, no radiator.

I will just have to be more patient!

JAMIEDODGER

well, with some advice from a Greenfingerd friend i have ordered one of those mini greenhouses and will be starting my little "kitchen garden" very soon. waiting until the children go back to school on wednesday and me and DD will be hitting the garden centre for seeds etc. have to think of a way to pen in my chickens better this year, as they ate all my tomato plants last year and i just gave up! i have decided to keep a gardening diary this year so i can look over it again next year and see what i did and when, successes and failures...building up my experience.

i am planning on growing this year....

potatoes
strawbs
tomatos
cucumber
lettuce
herb
onions



would love to grow little salad potatos, does anyone have any advice on this? when to plant....what potatos to use etc? would be most appreciated.

i also love cut flowers so am planning on planting tulips and daffs in the autumn....would love a summer garden full of flowers so that i can cut some and bring into the house.....could anyone give me sugestions for what to plant and when?

many thanks...im soooo excited lol

JD xx

annie-c

I am growing charlotte potatoes (small salad ones) in pots and buckets janmiedodger. I planted some earlies a couple of weeks ago, no signs of growth yet, but I'll keep you updated....

Annie

JAMIEDODGER

hi annie! thanks for that hun, should i just buy some charlotte pots and leave them somewhere to sprout and then plant? or should i buy proper potato sets?

annie-c

I bought them from a garden centre - others on here have recommended buying seed potatoes because, although you can plant sprouty ordinary potatoes, there is a risk that they will carry and spread potato disease.

Don't do what I did and buy them by the bagfull - most garden centres also sell them buy weight, so you can just get a few if you want... I ended up giving most of mine away...not very moneysaving!

Icemaiden

JAMIEDODGER wrote:

i have decided to keep a gardening diary this year so i can look over it again next year and see what i did and when, successes and failures...building up my experience.

What a fab idea, :T will do one myself.

Zziggi

OKay I'm a *complete* gardening novice (so go gentle with me). We've got a bit of land at the back which last year we sorted out so that it is now a patch of bare soil (took us forever to get it sorted). We've also got a greenhouse that was left over from previous owner of the house. Last year we tidied it up, cleaned it and grew some tomatoes in it that we bought when they were small plants. To be honest the tomatoes grew themselves. They tasted fabulous!! There's raspberry canes and a rosemary "bush" that we are trying to cultivate.

This year i want to be more adventurous and I'd like to grow
tomatoes,
salad potatoes,
garlic
corriander,
parsley,
chives,
dill,
mint
spring onions/onions
beetroot(?)

The problem is i do not have a blinkin' clue how to grow stuff.
Do i put it in the greenhouse?
can i put them in pots outside?,
how much do you water them?
do they need "feeding"?,
what time of year to you plant seeds? etc etc

Can anyone give me an idiots guide to growing please? [feel free to PM]
Can anyone recommend easy stuff to grow?

sarah0404

I was out in my garden yesterday for the first time in ages. :j No one else wants to listen to me going on about it, so I'm glad I found this thread!

Yesterday I planted some blackcurrant bushes. I've had them for a while but couldn't get them in because of the bad weather. I got 5 for under £10. I planted 2 different types of peas. Then planted some potatoes. Ambo, Desiree, Arran Victory and another type that lost it's label. I planted some charlotte potatoes in my potato barrel. Never tried that before. I've got some raised beds and I planted lettuce, turnip, and parsley in one. I added some flower seeds too for decoration. Not sure if they'll all grow at the same time. In my other bed I planted carrot, spring onion, corn salad and rocket. In the house I started off brussel sprouts, cabbage, squash, pumpkins and aubergines. I've got some tomatoes in the house that are doing well too. I'm not a very good gardener. I usually kill everything, so I'm hoping for the best this year!

This morning I planted some mixed lettuce, corriander, onions, swiss chard and spinach in one of my raised beds. I planted some purple sprouting broccoli and french beans in the house.

At the begining of the year I bought some fruit trees. I'm not sure if they will have any fruit on them or not this year. I've got 2 apple trees, pear, cherry and plum trees, some raspberries, gooseberries, red currants and black currants. I've got some strawberries, which aren't doing too well. I need to get them into their final position asap.

I've got nothing edible yet, but maybe in a few weeks I'll have some lettuce or rocket leaves.

Thanks for letting me share!

voodoozoe

My first time on this thread!!! Reading it has given me the motivation I need to get started
I am growing "early" potatoes in Gro bags ( where is the best place to buy Gro bags???? someone mentioned buying them for £1 which seems incredibly cheap!!!) and later to keep the flow going, planting some "maincrop". Also having a go with onion sets for the first time.

Want to do tomatoes but panicking that I'm a bit late. Cannot find the seeds I have so would need to get some more. I was always led to believe that old seeds were no good but that doesn't seem to be the case!!!

Finally with the chillies...I have got three varieties of these started and am very excited about the prospect of HM chilli powder. I did read that the HOTTER varieties are much slower to germinate so don't panic if they take even up to 1 month. For some tips on growing chillis click HERE

McShug

I have just come back from a boot fair and there was loads of people selling veggie plants nice & cheap..

Bought 2 yellow tomato plants for 40p each from a lovely old guy. He also had cucumber, peppers, gherkin, garlic and lots lots more..

Definately better than the garden centres and you can get loads of advice aswell if needed.

McShug