New Gardener Please Help

princessfayebaley

Hi to you all,

I have been reading your thread over the last couple of weeks and I have picked up many helpful tips, so first of let me say thank you! This year for the first time myself and my 2 children ( age 6 and 8) are attempting to grow some of our own fruit and veg ( I thought it would encourage the kids to eat more vegetables if they knew they had nurtured it themselves!) and was wondering if you could all help by answering some of my questions, some may sound extremely stupid to all you pros but to a novice like myself I am baffled and I can't find the answers by searching on the internet, any help would be much appreciated ! Here we go-

1) I have bought some pea seeds, hurst green shaft, it says on the instructions to sow in flat drills, what is a flat drill? Also, do you think it would work if I sow 1 or 2 seeds direct into an old wellington boot( I will put drainage holes in teh bottom) as I thought this would not only be attractive but use up boots that too small?

2) I am currently germinating some pepper seeds in my airing cupboard in a tin on damp kitchen roll ( I remember my dad doing something similar when I was younger and from what I can find its like doing it on matting?). They have currently got about a 1 cm route growing on them, should I now put them in my little planting trays and then when strong plant them in there final pot? Also, i dried the seeds out myself from an Asda Smart Price Bell pepper, do you think I will get succesful plants out of these?

3) and finally....... just bought some Alpine Strawberry seeds and have stuck them in the freezer as per instructions. If I sow these in February will I get Strwaberries in Summer?

I think thats all, all my other seeds seem to pretty simple and I have learnt a lot of things over the last couple of weeks ie what a clotch is! I have tried to buy as few seeds as possible and produce my own by seeding my own veg etc.

Again thank you so much, for at least reading what has turned out to be a long thread and will eagerly await your responses!:)

Farway

princessfayebaley wrote: »

Hi to you all,

I have been reading your thread over the last couple of weeks and I have picked up many helpful tips, so first of let me say thank you! This year for the first time myself and my 2 children ( age 6 and 8) are attempting to grow some of our own fruit and veg ( I thought it would encourage the kids to eat more vegetables if they knew they had nurtured it themselves!) and was wondering if you could all help by answering some of my questions, some may sound extremely stupid to all you pros but to a novice like myself I am baffled and I can't find the answers by searching on the internet, any help would be much appreciated ! Here we go-

1) I have bought some pea seeds, hurst green shaft, it says on the instructions to sow in flat drills, what is a flat drill? Also, do you think it would work if I sow 1 or 2 seeds direct into an old wellington boot( I will put drainage holes in teh bottom) as I thought this would not only be attractive but use up boots that too small?

2) I am currently germinating some pepper seeds in my airing cupboard in a tin on damp kitchen roll ( I remember my dad doing something similar when I was younger and from what I can find its like doing it on matting?). They have currently got about a 1 cm route growing on them, should I now put them in my little planting trays and then when strong plant them in there final pot? Also, i dried the seeds out myself from an Asda Smart Price Bell pepper, do you think I will get succesful plants out of these?

3) and finally....... just bought some Alpine Strawberry seeds and have stuck them in the freezer as per instructions. If I sow these in February will I get Strwaberries in Summer?

I think thats all, all my other seeds seem to pretty simple and I have learnt a lot of things over the last couple of weeks ie what a clotch is! I have tried to buy as few seeds as possible and produce my own by seeding my own veg etc.

Again thank you so much, for at least reading what has turned out to be a long thread and will eagerly await your responses!:)

1 A flat drill is "garden speak" for a drill with a flat bottom. A drill is the row / depression / furrow you make in the soil to sow seeds in, normally this is done with corner of a hoe, and gives a V shaped furrow.
A falt bottomed one is made either by scooping out with a spade, or dragging hoe along with flat bit instead of corner

Reason being peas are normally sown by lightly scattering in the furrow to disperse them randomly, if it was a V shape they would all roll down to the bottom & make one long, thin, crowded row

That said if only a few it may be better to sow indoors / conservatory to stop mice eating the seeds, they will eat the lot overnight once they find them. Hurst Green Shaft, good choice

Old boots, yes should work, plenty of soil depth

BTW I did read that green pea shoots can be used for fresh spring veg, not tried it as only saw it last year, but I intend doing so this year

2 Sounds good to me. Using seed from shop bought fruit is hit & miss, you may get great ones, or ones like acorns, depends what the bees etc did when they were growing. Last year I used seed from long red peppers bought in Lidl, they were great. If in doubt Lidl have seeds from next week 29p packet

3 Yes, but be aware Alpine strawbs are very small fruits and although tasty you will need loads for a meal

midnightraven3

farway has covered all your questions:D

i just wanted to add, Re the peas
HFW did a 3 pea soup, using the tops, peas, and the pods
i tried it, simple, delicious, cheap, and uses what you normally compost!:j

sunflower76

I find that my peas rarely germinate if I sow them directly. Instead I now sow into lengths of guttering than have been cut in half longways. Once they are an inch or two tall I slide them off the guttering and into the growing position.

I find alpines prolific once they take hold - like a weed, they get everywhere and they only provide piddling little sour strawberries. Strawberry plants are very cheap to buy and you might find it better to buy a couple of cheap plants and stick them in alongside your alpines. Either way you should get fruit this year - Good luck!

princessfayebaley

Thank you for your replies!

Farway- thank you for explaining what flat drill is, that now explains why evry search I did on the internet kept giving me links to DIY shops lol. I will probably star the peas etc in my conservatory, but will have to be very careful of any water spillages because its my prized room! he he.
I have got some packet seeds aswell as the ones I have harvested myself, we were planning on growing both and see which did best, the kids see it as a bit of a competion, was just interested for advice to see if it would work or to give it up as a bad job. I will also pick up another variety of strawberries after your advice. Thanks for you help.x

midnightraven3- I will deffo try the soup- I live of homemade soup every dinner time and I have a freezer full ( along with 158 pies that I won from Hollands pies but thats another story!)

sunflower76- good idea about the guttering, I actually have about a metre of guttering hanging about so will give that a try. Do you think it would also work to germinate my seeds in teh airing cupboard like I have done with my peppers then transplant them into my wellies?
With the Alpines I was planning on putting on them in hanging baskets ( covered with net so the birds dont eat the fruit), with you saying that they can take over I am glad I am doing it this way as my garden is a haven to weeds as it is!

Again thank you all for your help so far x

midnightraven3

a story about 158 pies HAS to be worth telling:D

we grow peas, but we just sew directly, never had any problems
when i made the soup, i ommitted the lovage
just didnt appeal somehow

princessfayebaley

re the pies- myself and a friend when on our first 4 mile walk on Tuesday as part of our loose weight/ healthy new years regime and we found one a balloon with a ticket attached ( you know when they set them of and if you find it you win a prize) from Hollands pies, so for the remaining 1.5 mile trek we were discussing what we had won- money, spa day etc, but no we won 158 fresh pies!!!! Thought it was hilarious considering we were only walking to aid weight loss hehe. What a prize eh!

Sorry what is lovage? I will deffo be making the soup though!

Just actually been watching a video on U Tube about germinating seeds in wet kitchen roll in your airing cupboard and seems you can get good results, especially with tomato plants, you can get a 5 cm seedling in 5 days! ( supposedly!). So other people use my crazy method lol

midnightraven3

i use that method

be careful
5 days is quite long

i have a spaceship thingy in a cupboard, for the solar panel
its warm
i did this, in there
after 4 days they were about 7cms long!!!!

lovage kind of tastes like celery, looks like a herb, but a TALL herb

i can take it or leave it

the pies! well, better than no pies
have a pie party!