veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

misskool

flis21 wrote: »

Ok, two questions.

1. How do you know whewn your potatos are chitted? I've left mine on a sunny windowsill and they are going a bit wrinkly!

2. Is it too late to do tomatos and strawberries? I started off really cautiously, but am doing well so far so would love to have a bash at these. Could I do it from seed or will I need to buy plants now?

Thanks all, weather is supposed to be nice next few days, so I'm hoping to get out in the garden and get some bits done. Going to plant out my parsnips as they are getting big now.

2. tomatoes you are just about in time if you get them sowed in the next few days. Strawberries it's best to buy some plants and get them potted, they should flower and fruit (but not a lot) in their first year. The standard is to not let them flower and fruit in the first year to get them growing strong plants but I did (and they survived the last winter we just had!).

misskool

lynzpower wrote: »

If you are planting in containers then definately YES, you should be feeding them now. This was the question I asked in the old thread and it looked like yes, I should be from advice on the RHS and alsothe titchmarsh book.



http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?PID=350

I don't feed until the plants start fruiting and I don't feed any leafy vegetables at all. The compost itself (if you buy multi purpose compost) will have nutrients for at least 6 weeks if you keep it moist and not over water it.

You should also learn what NPK ratios your feed has (unless you're doing organic comfrey/nettle teas) and get the appropriate one for the right fruit/veg instead of just feeding them an all purpose feed.

Nitrogen, promotes leaf growth
Phosporus, roots
Potassium, all around growth.

Remember that trace nutrients are also important.

If you feel that you need to feed plants already, you can use half strength seaweed feed.

elf06

Morning all :wave:

Well i am pleased to announce that my early potatoes are doing well and i have recently panted my lettuce seeds so have fingers crossed on them.

Todays question is about broccoli!! I took a notion to buy some plants yesterday and they came in one pot with approx 8 plants (i think). I have just tried to transfer them to a pot and the roots were all tangled really badly. I pulled some apart and put some in joined together. What should i have done

little_miss_moneysaver_3

Hi All,

I'm really pleased with my efforts so far. My propagator is full of seedlings, one of the courgette plants has rocketed

But I have a problem with greenflies, they're all over my plants on my window ledge. My mum is suggesting spraying them with washing up liquid, but I was wondering if anyone could suggest something a bit more natural.

I'm thinking it's time to plant them outside but i'm worried incase it suddenly gets too cold. I have courgettes (which I think will be too tall for my mini greenhouse), peppers, lettuces, tomato, rocket, peas, beans and aubergines.

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks you.
LMMS

lynzpower

Ive put my peas and beans out under net to protect from birds, not a problem. they need something to climb up in any case, and hey wont get that really indoors. the rest are tender I would leave them in personally.

antonia1

Am I too late to plant strawberries? I started slowly as I didn't want to get overwhelmed, but growing stuff is my new fave thing to do! Would love to grow strawberries, so can I still start from seed (just cos I really like waking up in the mornings to find germinated seedlings) or am I best to get plants? Ideally I'd like "wild" ones as these are supposed to require the least attention (although I'm enthusiastic I'm still a bit nervous).

Orange_King

I am sure you'd need to be getting plants at this stage - I've had mine since mid March and they have taken root nicely. A job for the weekend will be repotting some of them.

wssla00

antonia1 wrote: »

Am I too late to plant strawberries? I started slowly as I didn't want to get overwhelmed, but growing stuff is my new fave thing to do! Would love to grow strawberries, so can I still start from seed (just cos I really like waking up in the mornings to find germinated seedlings) or am I best to get plants? Ideally I'd like "wild" ones as these are supposed to require the least attention (although I'm enthusiastic I'm still a bit nervous).

I have alpine strawberries in my garden at the mo and they are good. I am however waiting for my rocket garden order (a present to me for moving) and that is coming in two weeks which has strawberry plants in it. I think so long as they don't have flowers on them you should be ok. I would say plants though rather than seeds, they seem much easier- just like tomato plants!

Chimera

Well. my tumbling toms are growing nicely as are my french beans.. had to resow courgettes and sweetcorn as my lovely puppy got hold of the pots, so they are sitting on window sill..

Herbs varied results.. coriander doing really well, so planted some out today and have resown

Strawberries and looking really healthy.. and are promising flowers very soon

Raspberry cane and gooseberry from wilkos are not looking promising.. think I will get a couple of more established plants - will I get any that will fruit this year or have I left it too late?

And great news is that we are rejigging the garden. It's small already and currently half is taken up by kennel.. darling OH is redesigning kennel and will be better for doggies and give me a load more space as well as pot space on top of kennel

Planted loads with young lad in work, and most of it is doing really well, so I can be green fingered in work too

Chimera

OOO and I forget salad leaves and radishes.. radishes are going mental, really exciting and I just keep planting them round other crops, and where I have space in tubs.

I have three half baskets on fence with salad leaves, one with seeds germinating, one with healthy little seedlings and the other will have established salad leaves, once I've visited farm shop later - they are selling established plants for silly low prices..

Garlic also looking good
Quick question - I've heard that sometimes garlic doesn't split, how do you know? will I only find out at harvest time?