veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

ukmaggie45

Forgot to say before, Aldi are doing a big garden sale today - big composters, water butts, walk in mini-greenhouse, plant food and so on. Link here.

kimmee

misskool wrote: »

kimmee I buy vermiculite and perlite from wilkinson's. They were £1.49 for a 5 litre bag.

Did you try looking in ebay?

Thanks for that misskool - I just looked on e-bay and doesn't seem to be anything cheaper (the P&P is HUGE!). When I can drive again I will check out my local Wilkinsons. When I looked on e-bay it seems that the fine grade is also used for spider bedding :eek:

misskool

t&m have some

bit steep but free p&p this weekend.

Megansmum

SCHUMIE -i have messaged you for a copy of the spreadsheet please? (i have also got a tub of potatoes in the garden - we can worry together!)

NICLON - you can use those bags, add extra drainage holes in the bottom , BUT some on here say they disintegrate at the bottom so i'd advise you to put them where you won't move them about too much, clean them well at the end of the season, dry thoroughly and store somewhere dry so they don't go damp/mouldy - then you can reuse next year!

KIMMIE - i agree with misscool - wilko's if you have one nearby is the cheapest i've found.

Ukmaggie - aldi is usually good on the offers, but yesterday i saw the 4 tier walk in greenhouse in B&M for £15 and lots of the other aldi offers seem cheaper at wilkos or B&M at the minute.

OLDSKOOL - the tubs are great - just remember to add drainage holes, i am weak, and after trying scissors heated up, found a screwdriver the easiest method to punch holes in the base!

hex2

Lynz - the perpetual spinach is fairly shallow rooted (I think) so should be ok in your shallow tub.

Raised beds - end of last season our Wyevale sold them off for less than half price so if you still have the bug at the end of the year keep an eye out. They were stupidly cheap, the plastic types and the more attractive treated wooden ones.

I so want the Titchmarsh but am on a self imposed no spending ban .

Today I plan to turn the compost heaps into the next bin along to speed them up a bit and to make a start on the massive task that is spring cleaning the mixed borders. The veg plot is too wet to work on yet.

lynzpower

I so want the Titchmarsh but am on a self imposed no spending ban .

try the library Hex- I borrowed one for 3 weeks, then I had some love to shop vouchers turned up in the post so I bought it from Smiths :cool: Have you any vouchers laying about?

confusedroast

Hi All

I am a newbie at this too - I have a top floor flat (of a massive house) and we have a flat roof out the back
We tried a few months ago to put through proposals for a roof terrace, but our alcoholic nightmare neighbour from hell said no to it and the council said no too, but main reasons were that if we did everyone on the street would want to do it!
Anyhow since we have been refused our neighbour from hell sold up and moved out and we now have lovely new neighbours
I have planed out some big container pots and filled with gladioli, daffs, etc to get some height and get some privacy (our bedroom is overlooked by gardens downstairs)
I have already grown lettuce and tomatoes from seed and these were planted out last week (I cover them at night with fleece blanket)
I have just sowed a load of herbs and today I have brought a growbag and will sow corgettes and cucumber, the neighbours havent said anything yet so I figure I might as well make use of the space (its a 20ft by 20ft flat roof)

Megansmum

Hex,

Although it isnt alans book, you can view limited previews and sometimes full views of books/magazines on google books, i did a really quick search and came up with this for a full view:

http://books.google.com/books?id=NcMDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=GARDENING&ei=AJCTS5PtO5bqyATzl_GCBQ&cd=10#v=onepage&q=&f=false

There are some really old books like this too, where you get to read it all:

http://books.google.com/books?id=C7cdFRKcnqYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=home+vegetable+gardening&ei=_pCTS9-uLYigzAS4vcDyAg&cd=2&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Free stuff is always nicer than the bought!! I hope this helps!:D

janiebaby29

Am I too late to start planting stuff from seeds ??
long story but have been off work for 7 months and it looks like major surgery is on the cards , so will be on ESA benefits .
So i said to hubbie we must grow as much as we can ,
We have dabbeled in it before , but just wondered whether it was ok to start planting out for next week ??

misskool

janiebaby29 wrote: »

Am I too late to start planting stuff from seeds ??
long story but have been off work for 7 months and it looks like major surgery is on the cards , so will be on ESA benefits .
So i said to hubbie we must grow as much as we can ,
We have dabbeled in it before , but just wondered whether it was ok to start planting out for next week ??

it's not too late at all. March is a great time to start and depending on what you want to grow, some things won't even be ready for planting out until mid-end march.

what do you want to grow and where in the country are you? That's very important as frost dates vary a lot depending on the part of country you're in.