growing own veggies in bags and pots (Merged)

Strepsy

katyk wrote:

Hi Tootles (and everyone else who has mentioned the 'contamination' of soil)

I am now in a bit of a tizz having discovered this site AFTER :mad: :mad: having planted tatties in the garden that were shop bought and had sprouted. They are through the soil and about 3" high so how much damage have I done and how do I sort it? Help! I presume I am now too late to dig them back up and put them in some sort of old container. To what extent may I have contaminated the soil and for how long? Any advice welcomed.

My other query is regarding all the extra soil that people seem to keep adding after they come through the soil. Why, please?

As you may have guessed I am a novice at all this

Thanks.

Aww don't panic, I'm sure they'll still be lovely. I imagine the sensible thing to do would just be to now ensure that you don't plant potatoes/tomatoes, or any veg from the same family in that patch for a few years after harvesting. But to be honest I am a beginner so if anyone more experienced has any advice?

As for the extra soil, or 'earthing up' as it seems to be called, it is to protect baby spuds from the light which will turn them green and poisonous.

katyk_2

Thanks Strepsy

So would I be OK planting the likes of peas or beans there next year? I had beans in therelast summer and they were good, but I have moved them to a different part of the garden this year hoping to 'rotate my stock'!

No point in going with lettuce other than in tubs - the slugs round here are much too vicious and seem hardened to beer. I grew lettuce on in little planting pots last year unti they were about 2" high then planted a row of about 25 out one evening only to find all 25 gone next morning and absolutely nothing to show for it but some little silvery trails....:mad:

Other things I am trying include onions, carrots, broccoli, broad beans and green beans - any of which could move to the 'contaminated ground' if it was thought they would be OK there.

charlie007

i am so pleased, this thread has been so helpful, i am moving next month and will have my very own garden and am planning on growing veg, lots of helpful tips here thanks

angela110660

I know that they are not veg but wanted to say that we have used a redundant child's sandpit to plant our strawberries in - just had to drill a couple of holes in the side for drainage. The berries are coming on a treat!

katyk_2

angela110660 wrote:

I know that they are not veg but wanted to say that we have used a redundant child's sandpit to plant our strawberries in - just had to drill a couple of holes in the side for drainage. The berries are coming on a treat!

what a super idea - almost worth getting a sandpit for! :T :T

Seriously, if this works I could have a small flattish container (deep tray type), fill with sand and grow them somewhere I do not have to use soil space. Youngest child is 10 and we long since lost the sandpit to a charity shop but we all love strawberries. Bought 6 small plants in lidls this year but they don't look very healthy - one dead and 2 more distinctly dodgy.:(

katyk_2

As for the extra soil, or 'earthing up' as it seems to be called, it is to protect baby spuds from the light which will turn them green and poisonous.[/quote]

Does this mean I should be banking up soil around my 3" high plants? They were planted reasonably deeply to start with.

voodoozoe

The more you can bank up, the more taties you'll get which is why growing in tyres is so good as you can force them upwards.:D

My ones in gro bags have sluggy nibbles on the leaves but my tyre ones are untouched as yet so methinks the slugs don't like going over tyres for some reason:eek:

45tobyjug

Hi,
Hope your spuds are going well. This may be a little late for you this year - though you may try a couple more bags, but when you are growing in bags or pots it's really worth picking a tasty variety for the purpose you need (salad potatoes, roasts, boiled, chips etc - some are better than others).
I did well a couple of years ago with Pink Fir Apple - It can be rather nobbly and gets dirty in heavy soil, but when grown in compost bags, they wash clean and the taste was really good - very nice with salads.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Varieties_of_potato

researcher

I always use the water I boil eggs in (cooled) for watering plants as it's full of nutrients - you can even wizz them up in a liquidizer and use the liquid! And nettles picked carefully (root included) are excellent too, seep them in water for a couple of weeks in an old covered bucket - this makes a good liquid fertiliser - but water down for seedings or it will be too strong.

rubix_76

katyk wrote:

So would I be OK planting the likes of peas or beans there next year? I had beans in therelast summer and they were good, but I have moved them to a different part of the garden this year hoping to 'rotate my stock'!

I am by no means and expert (In fact I don't think I even qualify as being a novice) but .. I have been reading up on growing Veg, both in books and on this site (an abundance of information I have to say) and the stock rotation people mention is for a few reasons, the main ones being for soil conditioning, and diseases.

To explain, I think the soil conditioning is needed as different plants need different types of soil (or at least different soil nutrients), so if the same plant is grown several years in a row all the goodness needed for that plant will be gone, but if crop rotation is performed every year, I think the "goodness" is allowed back into the soil.

Also the same for Disease, say a "carrot fly" (made up name) will die off when you grow potatoes, and so on.

Hope this is of some help, and I think it is right (please correct me if I am wrong, as I am too learning)

My Carrots and Parsnips are doing well in pots, I will will be trying Potatoes next

Happy growing

Rubix