veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

mutley74

just bought 6 strawberry plants for £1.99 at Lidl!

Lotsof my chilli plants in the glass house are dying..only about 4 out of 9 have shown any real growth/life.

I have started to see some very green shoots on my £1shop climbing rose!

so far no sign of any more magotts!

madnessandmayhem

Hi,
First I want to apologise if the answers to my upcoming questions are in this thread, but 103 pages is a bit daunting lol
and secondly I want to apologise for jumping in on this thread- I am a complete non-gardener, but am keen to learn but don't know where to start!!!
Right....
I would like to start growing veg in pots/containers/bags etc but don't know where to start lol
Really I would like to grow potatoes, carrots, leeks, sweetcorn, brocoli (sp?) peas and brussel sprouts (my fav!!!!)
I don't know whe the best time is to start and how, where etc! What is the easiest?? Is there any that I shouldn't bother doing? And what do I need?? I have about 1/2 dozen large-ish plastic 'stoage' boxes that i thought might be useful??
Sorry for the rambling questions!! If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be most grateful!!!

littleme96

Time for a little catch up as haven't contributed to this thread for ages!

Well I planted my tomatoes outside and it looks like they are dying, which I'm a bit gutted about. Hopefully they'll recover, but it's not looking good for them...

Still no flowers on my strawberries, but not too worried as think they might be late summer/autumn fruiting? Potatoes have now been fully earthed up in their sacks which is exciting, but has used so much compost! Have recently started off some radishes and peas which I am waiting to come up, so it's all go!

On a flower front, I have been doing battle with Scarlett Lily Beetles since discovering my first one a week ago and today found some little green eggs, which are apparently going to be Greenshield beetles. Such a learning experience this gardening lark!

kimmee

madnessandmayhem wrote: »

Hi,
First I want to apologise if the answers to my upcoming questions are in this thread, but 103 pages is a bit daunting lol
and secondly I want to apologise for jumping in on this thread- I am a complete non-gardener, but am keen to learn but don't know where to start!!!
Right....
I would like to start growing veg in pots/containers/bags etc but don't know where to start lol
Really I would like to grow potatoes, carrots, leeks, sweetcorn, brocoli (sp?) peas and brussel sprouts (my fav!!!!)
I don't know whe the best time is to start and how, where etc! What is the easiest?? Is there any that I shouldn't bother doing? And what do I need?? I have about 1/2 dozen large-ish plastic 'stoage' boxes that i thought might be useful??
Sorry for the rambling questions!! If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be most grateful!!!

Welcome Madness - don't apologise, this is for anyone who needs advice (and I've asked for plenty!)

The storage boxes sound good but you will have to punch holes in the bottoms for drainage somehow. You'll need compost and quite a lot of it and also something in the bottom of the boxes to aid drainage - lots of people use polystyrene which is lightweight, or broken crocks.

Do you want to grow everything from seed? If so I think you've left it a bit late for this year although I stand to be corrected. Although you could definitely start carrots (sow every few weeks to have a constant supply) and I think you may well get away with peas too. For peas you need to grow up some kind of support - pea stick or a cane wigwam.

Not sure about potatoes - I'm growing mine in a couple of potato planters that I picked up in Wilkos for a couple of quid, but you could grow them in black refuse sacks, compost bags or even an old dustbin. May not be too late but you will need to find somewhere thats still selling seed potatoes.

I've got no experience on any of the other veg you mentioned but someone will be along before too long to advise

Just a word of warning - it's extremely addictive and you will gain enormous satisfaction from growing your own - sometimes it can be heartbreaking when something you've nurtured suddenly dies. But it's also huge fun and everyone on this thread is wonderful, great support

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

heynonnynonny

madnessandmayhem wrote: »

Hi,
First I want to apologise if the answers to my upcoming questions are in this thread, but 103 pages is a bit daunting lol
and secondly I want to apologise for jumping in on this thread- I am a complete non-gardener, but am keen to learn but don't know where to start!!!
Right....
I would like to start growing veg in pots/containers/bags etc but don't know where to start lol
Really I would like to grow potatoes, carrots, leeks, sweetcorn, brocoli (sp?) peas and brussel sprouts (my fav!!!!)
I don't know whe the best time is to start and how, where etc! What is the easiest?? Is there any that I shouldn't bother doing? And what do I need?? I have about 1/2 dozen large-ish plastic 'stoage' boxes that i thought might be useful??
Sorry for the rambling questions!! If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be most grateful!!!

Loads of us on here are growing in containers/pots/storage bags/anything we can find!!

The easiest thing I have found to grow is salad leaves in pots which regrow for a few cuttings and are really tasty.

I have carrots in pots, I think they are called royal chantenay red.

I don't know about anything else, apart from the sweetcorn, I bought 6 plants which are 3 per big tub doing ok but you only get one ear or sweetcorn per plant I think.

You will learn quickly, as kimmee says it's all sooo addictive you may well end up overrun with plants/veg like the rest of us :rotfl:

Beccatje

madnessandmayhem wrote: »

Hi,
First I want to apologise if the answers to my upcoming questions are in this thread, but 103 pages is a bit daunting lol
and secondly I want to apologise for jumping in on this thread- I am a complete non-gardener, but am keen to learn but don't know where to start!!!
Right....
I would like to start growing veg in pots/containers/bags etc but don't know where to start lol
Really I would like to grow potatoes, carrots, leeks, sweetcorn, brocoli (sp?) peas and brussel sprouts (my fav!!!!)
I don't know whe the best time is to start and how, where etc! What is the easiest?? Is there any that I shouldn't bother doing? And what do I need?? I have about 1/2 dozen large-ish plastic 'stoage' boxes that i thought might be useful??
Sorry for the rambling questions!! If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be most grateful!!!

Don't worry about the questions... that's why we are all here. And everybody started somewhere.
There is still loads that you can grow now.

So here's how you start, Punch a few holes in the bottoms of your containers, so that water can drain out. As was already suggested, put some gravel, broken plant pots or anything like that in the bottom then fill the container with dirt. You can either buy this, but depending on the size of your pots you might need a lot. You can also do what I did.. take a shovel and dig up some earth from your garden. Mix this with a bag of compost that you have bought and you should be okay. Lots of plants don't even like to be planted in pure compost so mixing in some normal garden soil will be great.

You can still plant potatoes. You'll have to get the later kind but you should have no problems with that.
You can still sow:
andives
beets
letucce (all different kinds..)
Kohlrabi
carrots..

well, lots really. You can look up a sowing calender on internet and that will give you an oversight of what to plant when.

Most veggies like sunny spots, with not too much wind.
Sweet corn is a bit tricky as it likes wide open spaces and will not grow too well near houses and buildings.
Cabbages are also tricky in my experience.If you are a beginner, I'd start with the easier stuff and leave the cabbage type plants for another year. Brussels for example take almost a year to mature and have specific soil needs. Broccoli is very easily lost to green eating bugs.. (also from experience)

If you buy seed, just folow the instructions on the packet and you can't go wrong. It's not as hard as you may think. And so very pleasurable!!

Good luck and let us know how you get on?

Becca

johnswife

mutley74 wrote: »

just bought 6 strawberry plants for £1.99 at Lidl!

Lotsof my chilli plants in the glass house are dying..only about 4 out of 9 have shown any real growth/life.

I have started to see some very green shoots on my £1shop climbing rose!

so far no sign of any more magotts!

Hi, Just to say that I bought 6 strawberry plants from lidls last year and put 3 in 2 pots. did get some last year but went away on holiday so didn't really get many strawberries. They were left in the pots all winter, I never bothered with them, and now there are loads of flowers and strawberries forming so really pleased.

oldskoolretro

hiya i havent posted in a while and i have never added a pic but i have picked some of my radishes which i am a bit excited about as i have never grown anything before and wanted to show you all, so if anyone could tell me how to add a pic that would be brilliant!!!

heynonnynonny

Sign up to flickr or photobucket, I have flickr, upload pics to it and put link on here - or you could do a facebook album.

heynonnynonny

I cut a load of beet spinach and salad leaves today, this cut and come again stuff is great, and so fresh too!!