veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

misskool

lynzpower wrote: »

Oh also- who is growing babycorn?

Can I ask, ( same question I always ask) what size pot per plant?

I am about to start them off now

They grow the same size as normal corn, up to 6 foot. So probably one per Morrison's bucket.

You harvest the baby corn before it's fertilised. Last year I only had 4-5 baby corn from each plant and I grew 6 plants.

misskool

lynzpower wrote: »

Anyone with some info about potatos, I thought the earlies were meant to flower then when the flowers are dying, time to pull the pots. Mine have been in since March so easily 8 weeks but no flowers yet, although not sure they have had enough water, I can never really tell.

Hugs to everyone experiencing losees _pale_

To tell if something is dry, stick your finger in the compost If they are in a pot, lift the pot. When it's dry, it's lighter. When it's wet, it'll be harder to lift.

Also, as you're planting a fair few things in their final spots, it's probably better to get a john innes compost with a bit of soil so the roots have a bit more to grip on. MPC is just a bit too fluffy.

lynzpower

thanks Miss K :beer:
Yeah, they are quite dry although its raining now. I am worried about aking them too wet, as they can rot is that right?

Ill start the baby-corn in loo roll tubes ( shall I?) and then transplant?

I do have a bit of sand around which is good to weight it down plus some old carpy topsoil I throw a few handfuls in as well as Ive been earthing up.

Re: courgettes: Is anyone doing the climbing variety tondo? ( shphericals) mine are looking really really good now, but bursting out of the trough I put them into, to be fair i dont think these will be great in the long run as I think they willl fare a lot better in the ground as I think they will get massive?!?

Morpheus: have you started these off, what are they doing? When you plant them out are you going to put them in the raised bed?

I have major potting issues with the golden delicious squash, I really need an actual garden but with that comes all the things I dont have like slugs/ snails/ ants anda host of other nasties so maybe I sohuld be grateful lol!

floyd

lynzpower wrote: »

Anyone with some info about potatos, I thought the earlies were meant to flower then when the flowers are dying, time to pull the pots. Mine have been in since March so easily 8 weeks but no flowers yet, although not sure they have had enough water, I can never really tell.

Hi Lynz,

My first earlies have just started to put up what I think might be flowers and they went in the last weekend in Feb. Granted its colder up here but still, they have been in for 10 weeks so dont panic just yet. As long as you have plenty of strong foliage they should be fine.

misskool

lynz: yes, toilet rolls tubes are fine. Compost then firm down and put the seed on top. see this thread
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/vegging-out/you-wanna-know-how-germinate-sweetcorn_46944.html

Dorastar

misskool wrote: »

You can't really move potatoes as they form from the roots. So just wait until they are ready to harvest, you'll probably have smaller potatoes as they won't have enough space to grow properly.

What variety of potatoes are they? Early potatoes take about 8 weeks to mature and maincrops will take up to 16 weeks.

If the children are impatient to harvest something, grow cress (ready to eat in 2-3 days) or beansprouts (5-7 days) or salad leaves (that'll take up to 2 weeks for some baby leaves)

Thanks for the advice - er dunno what kind of spuds they are - we just chucked the remnants of the veg basket in there (we seem to be very good at getting spuds to sprout) Have also got lettuces, radishes, strawberries, onions and spring onions on the go so kids are ok helping tend things atm

Youthworkers_Wife

Have just had a look and all my courgette plants have sprouted - which means I have about 12 now. It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea how many courgettes we are likely to get. I googled it and it seems like some of these courgettes can be quite prolific! Am I going to be drowning in a sea of courgettes by the summer?

That said, it's not that likely that they will all fruit - especially as I have never grown them before and our soil is pretty bad. Has anyone done courgettes before? How many courgettes did you end up with?

Regards

Youthworker's Wife

Orange_King

Each plant gave us about 8 to 10 last year but I think I went about it wrong by letting them grow too big - I think you are supposed to gather them in when they are 6 inches or thereabouts.

I have about 9 plants this time and will be placing most in their own large pots as they take up too much room in the plots!

Lotus-eater

Youthworkers_Wife wrote: »

Have just had a look and all my courgette plants have sprouted - which means I have about 12 now. It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea how many courgettes we are likely to get. I googled it and it seems like some of these courgettes can be quite prolific! Am I going to be drowning in a sea of courgettes by the summer?

That said, it's not that likely that they will all fruit - especially as I have never grown them before and our soil is pretty bad. Has anyone done courgettes before? How many courgettes did you end up with?

Regards

Youthworker's Wife

It is better to grow less plants but make sure you have set them out at a decent distance between them. Trying fit everything in and then growing more plants but not as well, is not the best way of doing it. If you have the space for 12 plants then fine, but otherwise be ruthless and just plant out those that will have the proper space to grow,

If you have any manure, that would go well under them as well.

izzwizz_2

Youthworkers_Wife wrote: »

Has anyone done courgettes before? How many courgettes did you end up with?

Regards

Youthworker's Wife

Umm, hubby grew me three plants a few years ago and I was so sick of courgettes by the end of the summer I begged him not to grow them since. Now I've started off four so I must be a glutton for punishment. They were well-spaced in a raised bed though and regularly picked (and we seemed to get far more yellow than green for some reason) .