veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

manchestermargo

New to forum, new to growing things! But would love to learn. First question what is chitting?

I live in a flat but have access to communal gardens so will be able to use grow bags, pots etc.

Megansmum

manchestermargo wrote: »

New to forum, new to growing things! But would love to learn. First question what is chitting?

I live in a flat but have access to communal gardens so will be able to use grow bags, pots etc.

Welcome manchestermargo!!

If you leave potatoes too long they start sprouting new growth?? That is chitting! Mine have gone wild!

You let that stuff grow and when you put them in pots you put the end with the most growth facing upwards. I think it's called "the rose"...

Put 5-7 inches compost in the bottom of bag/pot (after putting drainage holes and broken crockery/polystyrene etc in for drainage), put the tats in rose up...cover with a couple of inches of compost and wait.....

When the foliage is up to 5 inch high add more compost....

Keep doing that till the bag/pot is full of compost then leave....

Leaves will grow, it will get massive! Wait till leaves or flowers die off then it's tombola time :rotfl:Dig in and hope for big surprises!!

Good luck, last year was my first, but me and dd2 loved pulling up the spuds!

(if any of the above is wrong - more experienced please feel free to correct - thats just what i did last year!!)

macma

manchestermargo chitting is sprouting seed potatoes
i.e. putting them somewhere light not dark as often thought ,very cool and letting them grow short sprouts you can sit them eyes up (the little growing bits) in egg boxes .If you have limited room only grow "earlies"that is new potatoes as main crop would take too much room better used for beans, tomatoes and salads e.t.c

schumie

Hi everyone, I am going to join on on your challenge.

I have grown stuff before in pots just tomatoes, strawberries (we ate them straight off the vines they never made it into the kitchen) peppers and the really easy salad suff. We also grew spring onions and they were so hot they blew our heads off.

Last year OH and I had a competition and got some cheap pots and each potted up our own peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers Cucumber died a week after we potted them though!) We wrote on the pots and i only watered mine and he did his etc, great fun and there was no taste difference but we had fun seeing whose stuff grew first.

We moved in October and the house we are in now has two rambling very small places the previous owner used to grow veg in many years ago. One we're going to put our patio table on when we clear it out as there is no patio and the dogs run on the grass. The other I am going to clear out this weekend and turn it over.

I'm going to grow a lot in pots though potatoes (I am so excited about doing these) tomatoes in pots and hanging baskets, Lunar has a picture a few pages back where they have planted strawberries in hanging baskets so I am going to do that as well. Lettuce, rocket and lollo rosso is so easy and amazing to cut a few leaves and put in your sandwich! I really want to grow carrots, peas and spring onions as well.

My parents had never grown so much as a tomato plant and last year they made a raised bed and threw in peas, parsnips, onions and loads of stuff with no idea what they were doing and everything grew.

I think a lot of it is trial and error, stick it in and see what happens.

I have just gone through our cardboard recycling and picked out 5 empty toilet roll tubes and a kitchen roll tube so I can start peas in them this weekend, then I'm off to Wilkos this weekend or i might buy some stuff online as our nearest one is a few miles away. I want ti by the weekend though!!!!!

kimmee

Hi everyone

Just to report that my sweet peppers have started to germinate (well, I've got 3 or 4 tiny seedlings pushing through) :j

Next I'm going to start tomatoes and sweet peas I think, may wait a few days tho before I hobble off down to my garage to get the compost!

Hope everyones seedlings are doing well

jfennell

I tried potatoes last year in pots and one in the ground. Although I did get a resonable yield there was so much green foliage that it trailed all over the place. I did put the tubers in the botton of the pots and earthed them up as instructed. Any ideas why? I wondered if it was to do with the compost I used.

lunar

Wow gazza, you have ben busy planting. You should post some pictures, you must have lots of space for all that.

Megansmum, my sone is 17 months, he absolutly loves fruit and veg too! we go through 2 boxes of blueberries a week for him, maybe I should buy a few more bushes!

Plasticman, I have one tub of carrots that will be indoor ones as I couldnt resist planting the seeds a couple of weeks ago.

Hi manchestermargo, there are loads of us in the north west by the looks of things. I am probaly quite close to you, im in salford.

Schumie, I love the sound of your competition. I dont think I could convince my OH to have a go, he would prob try and sabbotage me if he thought he was loosing. Those hanging bags from the strawberies were from ebay, 5 for £4. you might be able to find them cheaper though. Im still trying to think of other things to plant in the rest.

Kimmie, I hope your knee is on the mend, dont over-do it! Good news on the chillies greminating. Im going to get my tomatoes going next week too.

Jfennell, sorry I dont really have an answer, did you use any potato fertilizer? I think you can get it quite cheaply now, mine was £5 last year but I still have over half the box left.

Alli, I have some of the purple carrots which were freebies. Im going to give them a go, its a shame if they loose the colour on cooking though.

lunar

Well I have to confess to going out to wilkinsons again! I bought 2 glazed 21cm pots for £1.99 each to put my blueberries in, will need to get some more but they are really heavy!

I also got a redcurrent and a fig tree, I think I will have to keep them inside though as they have quite a few leaves on. Ill put them out after the last frost.

Has anyone got any pictures to post, I love looking at other peoples gardens/plants (not so I can pinch ideas, honestly) :rotfl:

YoungBean

Woop!! Ladies and Gents....

Got my copy of Alan Titchmars book in Mr Smiths today £6!! Bargain!!

Now just to trundle through....I just hope this weather keeps good....then I can start digging the garden up, getting it ready

alliwantistosave

Lunar - I think you should plant some cherry tomatoes in your hanging things as I believe they grow well in baskets so why not your hanging things???

I can't believe I am that excited about carrots ........... maybe I should get a life!

Started to plan what to put in our sqaure foot garden but I think I might have to wait a few more weeks before planting as I think I need it to be a bit warmer