growing own veggies in bags and pots (Merged)

Davesnave

I would recommend this to any parent who has a child who won't eat fruit/veg.

So would I....but if you can't be bothered, just do what we did and don't let the little so-an-so's leave the table till they've had a mouthful of everything!

blackwidowz

My son would actually rather sleep at the table than touch any of that stuff lol

EagerLearner

2cats1kid wrote: »

The ones I bought don't have any strawberries on them, but the 3 "normal" strawberries all had at least 2 runners from them, and the alpine one had bazillions! quote]

Eeek - what does a runner mean? I look at our plant and it has leaves, does runner mean the bit that will eventually open and form the strawberry

Also you say your strawberry plant did not have any fruit but had 3 "normal" strawberries?

Spudnik_2

Runners are the shoots thrown off by strawberry plants every year that will, if allowed, form new plants. By 'normal' strawberries, the poster would have been referring to your 'standard' strawberry. Alpine strawberries, or 'wild' strawberries are a much smaller variety. So there's no fruit on their plants, but the standard varieties have a couple of new plants 'running' off them and the alpine one has a considerable amount more.

2cats1kid

Thanks, Spudnik, that's exactly what I meant. I didn't know if there was a term for those regular strawbs like you'd buy in Tesco, like there is for the wild/alpine types.

Having been out checking the veg garden after the heavy rain we had a couple of nights back, I am totally taking Lotus-eater's point about the settling too, as the compost level in my raised beds are looking a good bit lower than it was. It's still plenty deep enough, and I'll be topping it up in the spring anyway, but it's looking a bit sad at the moment.

Spudnik_2

There are names for the different varieties of standard strawberries, but I'm not sure that they're always labelled when you buy them. I tend to just use 'strawberry'.

I spent days last year constructing a vegetable patch at the bottom of the garden, but evidently my self-constructed barriers were no match for our hens as they demolished everything that had grown! I'm sure that they planned their attack carefully... they left it about 3 weeks until I was getting excited about the prospect of being able to harvest soon, then snatched that hope away from me! :rolleyes:

This year, despite restricting their access a little, I've decided to just use grow-bags. They were only about £1.25 each from the local garden centre and it seems to be working fairly well so far. I've also grown some spinach and lettuce in a couple of chimney pots that have been sitting on our yard since I can remember. I've planted carrots, spring onions, 4 different varieties of lettuce (came in a mixed bag) and spinach so far, and want to get some rocket tomorrow so I can grow some of that before the season's out. I also have a few strawberry plants but they've finished fruiting now - didn't actually get that many from them, but the few that we did get were yummy. This grow-your-own lark is surprisingly addictive! :j

EagerLearner

Spudnik wrote: »

Runners are the shoots thrown off by strawberry plants every year that will, if allowed, form new plants. By 'normal' strawberries, the poster would have been referring to your 'standard' strawberry. Alpine strawberries, or 'wild' strawberries are a much smaller variety. So there's no fruit on their plants, but the standard varieties have a couple of new plants 'running' off them and the alpine one has a considerable amount more.

Thanks, makes more sense now I want to be able to identify a runner on my one, but no idea what to look for - presumable one that looks like it wants to leave :rotfl:

Spudnik_2

Long, thin shoots coming off of the plant, like this:

mardatha

I'm a convert this year too, got loads of tomaotes on the windowsills, just found my first tatties and noticed the strawberries are starting to look like strawberries ...Ooooooh ! Plotting now for a much bigger veg patch next year....

EagerLearner

Thanks Spudnick - if I see one like that do I need to do anything with it?

1) Was wondering about the potatoes too - I have a storage plastic box which I will put holes in, around 80cm long x 60cm high - how many sprouting potatoes would I put in there?

2) Once it's filled up and the green leaves are on top, how long would I leave things after the flower has wilted until I root around for my first potatoes?