veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

Numpty_Monkey

:spam: qwkone is a spammer
Reported to [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL]

BGs please remove this post when spammer is gone

wssla00

Robson65 wrote: »

Just in case anyones interested there are some gardening things in the Lakeland sale.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/F/C/lakeland-sale-food-gifts

Robson

Oh why did you do this? :rotfl: I am addicted already! This is a baaadddddddd hobby LOL

Plasticman

GarnetLady wrote: »

When it's finished with I'll dig it into the garden, soil could do with it. Shame it can't be reused next year.

It can be used next year! Don't use it on the same type / family of plant and mix it with some fresh compost. Works a treat.

ausmummy

What a joyous evening. Have been watering, planting out, weeding and just genteral potting around doing various little jobs that I came across. In the end I spent 3 hours out there, after already being in the garden all day with DD doing various jobs - mainly sifting soil into the raised bed. Some more of my peppers and chillies have been planted out along with my last cauli. My front main border has also been finished of today.
Confession time - my T&M seeds arrived today. Some I can sow now so that is a job on the list for tomorrow. Pak choy, broccoli, lettuce, mushy peas and some flowers. I was lucky as only the peas (which I did really want) were out of stock. At least these are easy to pick up elsewhere.
Oh and my baby french beans are now into their teenage years, not long until I can start to pick them. Also I definatley have three female buds on my courgettes. I think I can see some buds forming on a couple of my chille and pepper plants and more buds starting to appear on my potatoes. My toms are also starting to flower.
I hope everyone else is starting to see big changes now the sun has returned.

izzwizz_2

helen_roberts wrote: »

1. My tomato plants have got loads of toms on but now at the end of the trusses new big stalks and leaves have grown with more trusses on. Should I cut these off. The only pruning I've been doing is the the sideshoots between main stem and leaf stems but now my trusses seem to be out of control.

Yes, these need to be removed too - they can sometimes start growing new shoots from the end of trusses. I just pinch them out.

4. Basil plants,when they were big enough I put the seedlings individual pots but when looking at basil in waitrose yesterday they seem to have about 8 plants in one pot which makes it nice and pretty and bushy, as where my are tall and silly looking. Should I repot and put a few plants in one pot??

The shop-bought ones "look" bushy and healthy, but if you look closely it's just a load of seedlings (and that's why they don't taste very strong). Pinch the tops out of your basil to encourage them to get bushy. You should find little side shoots at each leaf node, and by stopping it growing any taller you will encourage these side shoots to grow. BTW, you can eat your pinchings

izzwizz_2

Had to take the cover off the broccoli & cauliflower because they were so overgrown I was worried they were starting to rot. Had a close look and there are little baby broccolis & cauliflowers starting Unfortunately, the hens are getting to the plants round the outside of the raised bed where they've flopped over, and these leaves are looking somewhat bare now

Had our first Florence fennel this week, and what a revelation! :jThey're so much tastier & juicy than the bulbs you buy in the supermarket. I read that you can just slice the bottom of the bulb, leaving the roots in the ground, and it should grow back, so I'm trying that.

First crop of beetroot is ready for harvesting:j, so I'm making beetroot pancakes with a shallot cream sauce for dinner tomorrow tonight (it tastes lovely, but you have to remember what you've been eating because the result is purple poo):rotfl:

Confession time - visited a local nursery and just couldn't resist buying another blackcurrant bush Luckily, hubby has come up with a plan for a new planting bed. It was going to be for flowers, but latest plan has been adapted for fruit bushes. :beer:

Well done everyone, enjoying reading all your posts and really enjoying the excellent weather!

kimmee

izzwizz wrote: »

The shop-bought ones "look" bushy and healthy, but if you look closely it's just a load of seedlings (and that's why they don't taste very strong). Pinch the tops out of your basil to encourage them to get bushy. You should find little side shoots at each leaf node, and by stopping it growing any taller you will encourage these side shoots to grow. BTW, you can eat your pinchings

Thanks for that izzwizz - am off to pinch them out now

lolly5648

How do you know when your beetroot are ready?

Also potatoes, I have some flowers on the potatoes and lots of fresh green growth.

This veg growing is not easy!

lizbethr

lolly5648 wrote: »

How do you know when your beetroot are ready?

Also potatoes, I have some flowers on the potatoes and lots of fresh green growth.

This veg growing is not easy!

With mine last year you can sort of see how large they are from the top, baby ones harvested at about 30mm then I left the rest for a while to get larger. Dont know if that helps. Dont think mine are ready yet but think I started them a bit late.

Found some of my brocoli plants missing leaves when I got home last night, am thinking it must be birds but they have only picked on 2. Off to get some netting to attempt to stop them tonight.

Quick question, is brocolli better put in the ground, mine are in pots at the moment but on the seed packet it sort of said you couldnt havest them till next year? Dont know if they will be ok in pots?

Back on with reading think I am on pg 20 now! Only 80 odd more to go

wssla00

Liz- they are better in the ground, they need really hard ground which soft compost doesn't achieve