Novice Gardener Needs Advice Please (Merged)

pandas66

astonsmummy wrote:

I dunno what i wanna grow, easy stuff to begin with, like i said i am a compltete novice, the only think i've ever grown is cress at school:rotfl: that why i need some ideas, do you mean plant pots? no i havent got any of those, i'm sure i can get some in the pound shop or asda cheap enough.

don't buy any till you've worked out if you can get any really cheap!
Old washing up bowl, bucket or old containers. Ask Mum and Nan too, neighbours. Any 'pots' you get can be painted or once filled and plante no one will ever know. You will have to spend of compost and some fertilisers at 1st.
Do you have a farm/stables nearby?

I can recommend pig poo! but not on your seedlings! Its too 'rich' and you don't want the smell indoors!

astonsmummy

pandas66 wrote:

This is nastution (sp)



and this is another easy grower.......its lobellia, you can get it in blue, white and pink I think, grows well in borders and fills an area quite quick with great colour, dies off at the end of autumn.

Ooh they look nice, the isobella ones would look good at the edgees of my grden, as i walk out the door it patioed but not the whole width so ther is a small gap either side of the paving and between the fence (if that makes sense! lol
so would i start growing them indoors then plant, is tht the usual 'thing' (sorry fo sounding so thick) or will they come with instructions

studentphil

You can get grow bags for sometimes as little as £1 each- which you can grow almost all veg in or you can even just use the soil out if them in tubs.

To grow flowers and easy to grow veg(self pollinating ones are best for toms and cour. ask your garden centre if you are not sure which verity of plant does that.) you only need to know how to plant seeds, thin them out, then plant in the garden, grow bag or tubs, water them and maybe feed them.


It is not vastly hard.

studentphil

Packets have instructions on, local library will probably have a ton of gardening books that you can access for free then there is the web.

astonsmummy

pandas66 wrote:

don't buy any till you've worked out if you can get any really cheap!
Old washing up bowl, bucket or old containers. Ask Mum and Nan too, neighbours. Any 'pots' you get can be painted or once filled and plante no one will ever know. You will have to spend of compost and some fertilisers at 1st. sorry dnt undersatand this bit
Do you have a farm/stables nearby?

I can recommend pig poo! but not on your seedlings! Its too 'rich' and you don't want the smell indoors!

nan has plastic tubs but thats it, will they do then? omg, i'm to thick for all this!

kethry

you can get quite a few pots just for growing on from around the house. Think yoghurt pots, whether big or small, for example. empty milk plastic bottles, cut in half and lay them on their side. Empty egg boxes make great seed starter trays.

Empty toilet roll holders are fab: you can stack them in those large boxes that mushrooms come in from Asda/tesco, fill with compost and put a seed in the top, then just plant out, roll and all. the tube will disintegrate, and keeps the root system of the tender plant intact. Especially good for anything where you want to have a long root system (e.g. carrots).

(just make sure you knock a few holes in the bottom for drainage with anything that you use).

oh, and empty squash/pop bottles, keep those too. They're useful either as mini-cloches (for protecting young seedlings that are planted out from either slugs/snails or frost - cut the bottoms off, take the lid off, and plant over the plant, so it creates a sort of mini greenhouse), or you can use them as a watering system (again, cut the bottom off, leave the lid on but drill holes around the side of the lid, the slope of the bottle, then bury the bottle upside down, deep in the earth, but the sides of the bottle peeping above the earth. What you do is fill this with water, and it introduces the water deeper than it would if you watered the top of the earth or the plants. This is especially useful in the case of tomatoes, which have 2 types of root - feeding and watering, and the watering roots are deeper than the feeding ones. this method reaches the watering roots.) the bottoms you've cut off can be used as plant pots, with holes drilled in.

it really is a case of looking at something carefully before you throw it out, and thinking: "can i use this?". even newspaper can be used - i have a link somewhere to origami type pots made out of newspaper which can be used in the same way as toilet rolls, just sunk into the earth, newspaper and all, and the plant will grow through it. (if you want the link, yell).

what you may have to spend money on is the larger type of pot, but even then, look around the house - even old tyres can be used, filled up with compost (and painted, they look surprisingly effective). they're quite popularly used for growing potatoes or carrots.

finally i would recommend going to the library and getting out a good veg growing book. Try "the great vegetable plot" by sarah raven. Many of her ideas are aimed at allotments, but you can adapt the ideas for a garden start small and work your way up!

good luck and have fun!

keth
xx

astonsmummy

Thank you, am gonna go to the library tommorrow!

pandas66

Astonsm.......
I just meant any pots/holders will do, spend your money on fertiliser/seeds and a few tools.

nannydiddy

Hi ya all, I am inspired !! I would like to grow my own veg, but I only have a patio...what can i grow in pots alone??? any adcive would be appreciated. Any links or books that you think would be useful??

Thanks ever so !

pandas66

I only have a patio too, I have grown loads in tubs

Strawberrys, rhubarb, toms, peppers, lots of flowers, have a great big pot of lavender and some great climbers Clematus, Ivy.

Tis good, what I did find was I had to water twice a day, early morning and later at night and lots of it!