The Potting Shed - come on in, the kettle's on!

maxdp

Is it best to cut the foliage back on Potatoes? Sorry if silly question I am still learning.

Zazen999

maxdp wrote: »

Is it best to cut the foliage back on Potatoes? Sorry if silly question I am still learning.

Only if blight is on its way.......

Dustykitten

maxdp wrote: »

Is it best to cut the foliage back on Potatoes? Sorry if silly question I am still learning.

As far as I know only something people do to help prevent blight. They won't grow anymore once it is cut back so only do it if blight is a threat. You can that way leave the pots in the ground until you are ready to lift them.

maxdp

Thank you Dustykitten I understand now.

Lotus-eater

Zazen, I thought you used dithane?

Zazen999

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Zazen, I thought you used dithane?

I kept to organic this year and BAM!!! blight. Only the ones on the lottie.....mainly because the neighbouring lottie had bad blight and left all the tomato plants out all winter and only chopped them back in the spring.....my main toms are at home and in the greenhouse so here's hoping

Never again........it's dithane every 10 days next year......

Pink.

Popping my head round the door nervously. Can I join you all? I've been growing my own fruit and veg for three years now with quite a bit of success. At the moment we're enjoying salads broad beans, peas, toms, courgettes, potatoes, blackcurrants and rhubarb.,

Yesterday I got a fantastic surprise....my Dad and stepmum very kindly appeared with a birthday card and written inside was a very generous promise to buy me a greenhouse for my combined birthday and Christmas present. :j While I'm absolutely thrilled, Dad is not a moneysaver and spent over £2,000 on his own greenhouse earlier this year and is buying me exactly the same one and paying to have it erected. I hate moneywasting (even if it's not my own money) so can I ask those of you with greenhouses, do you get what you pay for or do you think it would be better to try to persuade him to buy a cheaper one. I've already tried to tell him it's far too much but he just wouldn't listen. I don't know what make the greenhouse is, but it's 8 x 6, toughened glass, with automatic windows and some staging from a local company. Also it's going on an area that is grassed at the moment....what is best to put as flooring?

Sorry for all the questions but I wasn't expecting this at all and am trying to get my head around it....any advice will be much appreciated.

Pink

Lotus-eater

Hiya Pink

You sort of mostly do get what you pay for with greenhouses I think.
Do you know what type he wants to get you, be good if we could have a look at it.
Depending what you want to grow in it, get a big a one as you can. I got 10x6 foot and I wish I had got bigger. It might be worth paying a bit extra to get those extra few foot.
You want toughened glass, you want auto openers and you want staging if you want to use it for that type of thing. I don't have staging, but wished I did earlier on when I was potting up on the floor
But then I grow in the ground, not in pots or growbags, so I wouldn't want fixed staging, but something I could take out when I don't want it.

You need to decide if you are growing in the ground or in pots, or half and half, to decide what sort of base you want.

Pink.

Hi lotus eater,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I don't know the make but will try to find it out....I don't want to offend him by questioning his choice, but it is well known that Dad is a salesman's dream and will fall for anything they want to sell him. It's a longstanding joke in the family but because we believe it's his money to spend as he wishes and he rarely listens to us, we leave him get on with it....it just feels different if he's going to waste money on me.

I grow some things in the ground and some in pots at the moment but I think if I had a greenhouse I'd probably veer more towards pots and grow bags, whilst still using the veg patch but freeing up the path from pots which we all have to climb over if we need to get to the garage. If the staging is like Dad's, it looks more like a two shelved bench which is at the back of the greenhouse. I also have shelving from my mini greenhouses that I could use in there if I want to. I'd love to go for bigger but I don't have a massive garden so I think 8 x 6 is probably the right size for me at the moment especally as we like to eat out there a lot and the kids need room to play too. I was thinking gravel for the base as that would give me an option to remove it later if I changed my mind...or is that a silly idea? Thanks again for your advice.

Pink

Zazen999

8x6; wooden, fitted for £600 on fleabay.....with half the side staged.....suits us but if someone was buying me one for £2k I'd not disagree if they are a quality firm....
Floor, i'd put wooden raised beds around the sides with a path down t'middle. But that's just me