veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

THE4WHINGERS

hi im another newbie
this is my first year growing veg im growing several things to see what works best. i have a raised bed built just trying to source top soil,my list is
leeks
brussels
white beetroot
carrots
calabrese
potatoes in sacks
2 raspberries from £shop in a grow bag
strawberries grow tub
herbs in kitchen window
lettuce in containers
toms in containers
cucumber and beans up canes
phew!!! might have got carried away now ive seen it all written down:rotfl:

Megansmum

Can i join please?

Even though I started last year, i went overboard, tried to do too many things and a lot got neglected and died of thirst!

This year i have pretty much forgotten what worked and what didn't so i have my alan titchmarsh book out today too!:D

This year i will do less, probably just:

potatoes - in rubble sacks - easy!

carrots - in big plastic tub - easy!

cucumber - must remember to water!

Sweetcorn - must protect from birds!

blueberries - in ericaceaous compost

rasberries, blackberries, gooseberries, strawberries - all bunged in raised border!

Good luck all, it is soooo addictive!!!

crutches

i'm going to try too.Not a clue really but got tomatoes and sweet peas plus lots o other packets

Hippychick

You can get some free beetroot and spinach seeds here.

http://www.britainonshow.co.uk/promotions/

I've ordered some they take 4-6 weeks to arrive.

Optimisticpair

I've grown a few veg before but it was a long time ago. This will be my first growing season in my present garden.

I started building a blog as a reminder of what to do and what I've done but it struck me it might come in useful for others here so I've started building it more that way. It's barkieology.blogspot.com It isn't a commercial website but I'm not sure of the site rules for blogs so I'll not put in a direct link in.

Something I am going to do is keep track of the costs and work out how much I produce and see what it would have cost to buy the veg and herbs. I don't think I'll do fruit this year.

There's a 'page' on what seeds and sets I have bought and the amount/costs but the gist is

potatoes 1st early, maincrop and salad - all chitting away as I type:rotfl:
red and white onions, leeks, garlic - I use a lot.
peas
cauli, broccolli, turnip
carrot, parsnip
Lettuce, radish, and a few beetroot
chilli peppers

Shame you can't grow cheese in a small garden coz we like that.:rotfl:

CARROT FLY - yeah supposedly doesn't fly high but a breeze can help it get higher. My last lot were hidden from sight and smell and I was careful about pulling them too so mine escaped. If it was me with a container I would cover them with fleece to about 2' and sow thinly so you don't have to thin them and pull little uns out. Usual advice is also to plant garlic, chives and coriander or something smelly around to confuse the blighters. Literally to put them off the scent.

Hope that helps.

lynzpower

rsj wrote: »

Hi all,
I tried a little experiment last year, after looking at the potato bags that garden centres sell (around £7 for 3!) I decided they were just the same material, near enough, as the morrisons reusable bags, so bought half a dozen of those for less than 50p each , made drain holes in the bottom and planted my potatoes in those. They worked perfectly and will be reused again this year. Happy chitting!

Hey this is great Do you mean bags for life or the ones made of the stuff of the wine bags?

lynzpower

For those of you that are container gardening,please can you let me know what pots you are using *ie can you be specific*. I was absolutely horrified at the price of the pots in B&Q when I popped in today.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=10297755&fh_reftheme=promo_169808735,seeall,//catal!!!1/en_GB/categories%3C{9372012}/categories%3C{9372018}/categories%3C{9372088}/specificationsProductType%3dexternal_pots&fh_view_size=10&fh_start_index=20&fh_location=//catal!!!1/en_GB/categories%3C{9372012}/categories%3C{9372018}/categories%3C{9372088}/specificationsProductType%3dexternal_pots/specificationsSpecificProductType%3dsilver__grey___black_pots&fh_eds=%C3%9F&fh_refview=lister&ts=1266607934125&isSearch=false

for example? £25!

I think the problem is im not sure how big they need to be?

Eg for carrots for 2 people ( we have carrots for containers & patio seeds also bought from B&Q)

What sort of pot size do i need for this?

I dont think I can plant other things with this- or can I?

I have 2x xmall terracotta pots but these were expensive and I wouldnt buy them again and I dont think they are big enough ( they had ornalmental trees in and are a bit like this http://www.greenfingers.com/superstore/product.asp?dept_id=252&pf_id=LS2579D

Should I use tapering pots for veg?

What size pot for an aubergine plant? Or pepper? Peas I have some troughs for and am aiming to do climbing beas/ borlottis over this wooden "pagoda" thing Ive got on the roof.

If you click on my homepage, my blog is there for anyone who wants to see some fairly limited pics of the roof space!

enrich100

try this site for finding out the size of containers needed
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM870B.pdf

The Morrisons Supermarket sale their old flower buckets (8 for 99p) and the are pretty much big enough to grow most things, quite a few people even grow new potatoes in them, I use them for tomatoes instead of growbags as the toms can root better (don't tell my OH I just got some more today 54 buckets for £3 as they were happy to get rid of a lot in one go), Builders buckets work just as well, if your on a budget like myself use pallet wood to either surround groups of 3 buckets or make a reasonable wooden trough/raised bed instead, it won't last for ever but you will get a few years out of it

Scaffolding planks make very good raised beds and containers and in the past you could get them for free from scalfolding companies when they were damaged, now they are not so easy to get hold of, and a lot of companies now sell them instead of giving them away

another option for home made containers is decking planks, to keep down costs try to get second timber as this will be a lot cheaper

hope this helps some of you, there is a lot of people here who are willing to help people like yourselves as we were all new to gardening once

you can always try freecycle, it's amazing what people will give you for free

Hippychick

I am using Morrisons flower buckets and am debating whether to get these terracotta ones from ikea here as they are cheap and large and a bit prettier.

For lettuce my plan is to use cheap plastic troughs from somewhere like wilkos

lynzpower

Would you use a morrisons bucket for peppers/ aubergines/ courgettes? if so would it just be one plant to a tub? Ive plenty of shallow trays and things for salads, and smaller pots for herbs im not too worried about these, I grew rocket and lambs leaf & spinach in the punnets from mushrooms last year and they did really well, and the right amount for OH and I.

The chart as posted by ENRICH is very useful thank you ( I have my measuring tape at the ready!)

I have a pop up "garden waste" container to do my charlottes in- I saw someone on here had grown pots in them. This was from 99p stores. I wish Id bought more now, as I can start to warm the compost a little with some cheap fleece over until the potatoes are ready to go in .

We have no central heating so we cant really get stuff going yet.

But I want to have everything ready for when the weather picks up a bit!