i have no idea where do i start at growing veg

fdavid_2

Jue_xx wrote: »

Will unused seeds keep until next year if you don't use the whole packet? If so, what's the best way to store them, please?

Some do, some don't - check the Sow By date on the packet.

Parsnip are notoriously SHORT-lived seed (basically use them or lose them) and tomato famously LONG-lived seed.

Store unused seed in a cool, dry place. Not a garden shed where mice might get them

Farway

Jue_xx wrote: »

Will unused seeds keep until next year if you don't use the whole packet? If so, what's the best way to store them, please?

As above, but always worth a try, you can always buy more if falure

Beans / peas you can save your won seed from year to year, although the packets keep viable for ages

jellyhead

Megansmum wrote: »

Reuse the compost - but not on potatoes again!

Hi, can I be a nuisance and ask if compost can be reused, and if so does it matter what you planted in it the previous year, does it need certain plant food etc? I'm new to gardening. We grew carrots and beetroot last year, and the compost is still in the containers out in the back yard so I wondered if it can be re-used.

kimmee

jellyhead wrote: »

Hi, can I be a nuisance and ask if compost can be reused, and if so does it matter what you planted in it the previous year, does it need certain plant food etc? I'm new to gardening. We grew carrots and beetroot last year, and the compost is still in the containers out in the back yard so I wondered if it can be re-used.

I read (somewhere on here I think) that you can re-use compost but take about half of it out and re-fill with fresh compost. The compost that you have discarded can be used elsewhere in your garden. I think it because 'old' compost has used up its nutrients, you may need to feed the stuff you're growing this year more often. I'm a relative newbie to veg growing so someone more knowledgable than me may well be able to offer better advice.

HTH and good luck!

Optimisticpair

jellyhead wrote: »

Hi, can I be a nuisance and ask if compost can be reused, and if so does it matter what you planted in it the previous year, does it need certain plant food etc? I'm new to gardening. We grew carrots and beetroot last year, and the compost is still in the containers out in the back yard so I wondered if it can be re-used.

I don't see why not if you mix in a general fertiliser like "Blood fish and bone" or a manmade one like "gr0wmore" two weeks before you plant something from a different plant family in it.

As you had carrots in I wouldn't plant celeriac or parsnip in it in case of carrot fly there waiting to hatch.

Optimisticpair

Hithere wrote: »

Can anyone tell me when to plant Kale seeds?

What variety of Kale have you got? Is it named?

Megansmum

jellyhead wrote: »

Hi, can I be a nuisance and ask if compost can be reused, and if so does it matter what you planted in it the previous year, does it need certain plant food etc? I'm new to gardening. We grew carrots and beetroot last year, and the compost is still in the containers out in the back yard so I wondered if it can be re-used.

Hi,

Compost can be reused but don't grow the same thing in it as you did last year. Depending on what you want to grow in it this year will depend on what you add, blood &bone, potash etc. It's just like crop rotation, if a potato had blight last year the spores survive for a couple of years, if you grow potatoes in it again they will get it - if you grow cabbages they don't get harmed by the same as potatoes.. am i explaining this right?!?

Google "crop rotation" - it probably explains better!

The compost I used on my tatties last year i have done my strawberries in this year!

jellyhead

thanks!

another annoying question ... I bought some raspberry canes from the pound shop, just 2 to see how it goes. can I plant them in a bucket of compost? I really have no idea about how much space things need, how deep their roots go etc.

they say half sun, so I'm hoping my garden will be okay. it's north facing, in the midlands and only gets an hour of direct sunlight.

BitterAndTwisted

They were planting out fruit canes on Gardeners World on telly last night and what I gleaned from the show (I'm not a gardener as I have no garden, but I am germinating seeds for either window-sill gardening or potting-on into grow-bags on my little balcony for the first time this year) was that raspberry roots spread rather than grow deep. They were giving the plants some well-rotted horse manure in the bottom of the trench as well.

This is what Ives had to say in another thread on the same subject:

"The raspberries will grow vertically up to 6ft high, they are not bushes. Therefore some kind of support system is needed. The roots spread sideways sending up new new canes every year, so a space of 4 square ft is needed (a pot this size will do for a few years, but best to plant in ground then to get a good patch) The bushes need pots of about 2ft in diameter to flourish."

Primrose

If your garden faces north east and doesn't get a lot of sun, if you want to grow tomatoes, which do need sunshine, you could try and get a better result by perhaps having a raised bench which catches more sun and growing Tumbling Red or Tumbling Yellow tomatoes in deep containers. They won't need side-shooting or staking, and for a beginner, are an easy way of growing tomatoes.

Mixed green salad leaves are also a good bet, as is spinch and swiss chard. Runner beans will probably be OK once they start climbing up the canes to catch more sunshine.