veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

kimmee

I'd like to join this too please.

This is my second year of growing my own. Had a fair bit of success last year so this year I'm growing:

Chillis, sweet peppers, parsley, spinach (for the baby leaves) and microgreens - all sown today

I'm also going to sow the following:
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Peas
Salad leaves
Spring onions
Beetroot (again for the baby leaves, hate beetroot :eek:)
Basil
Carrots
Rocket
Butternut squash
I've also got a loganberry plant which I planted last year and I will get a blueberry bush too in a month or two.

They're all going to be grown in containers except for the squash, I grew that in containers last year and had 3 very small squash so I thought I try to plant them amongst the flowers this year and hope they do better.

It's great to have more experienced growers giving us newbies the benefit of their experience. For example I grew sweet peppers last year but only got a couple of fruit (best I've ever tasted tho) and someone else on another thread told me that if grown indoors (I grew them in my conservatory) I should have pollinated them - I didn't know that! So to everyone giving hints and tips - thanks in advance

Sally_A

lynzpower wrote: »

The homebase compost GOT THE WORST RESULTS IN THIS YEARS WHICH TEST

I would not buy it at all !

I had major problems with sweetcorn last year, and I used half an old sack of homebase for my broads this year (ie 1 broad bean out of 48 sown).

Both sweetcorn and bean seeds just went mouldy, and squishy, I put it down to the hot easter in 2009 and the extreme winter recently. Saying that the runner beans and the french beans did OK.

The previous year I bought Morrisons compost and all crops were fine, but I guess it just varies from year to year.

begley

I've just nipped to Wilkinsons for cleaning stuff (Mrs. Begley decided we'd spring clean the lounge.....) and saw that they are selling plastic potato planters for £2.47 for 3, and tomato, herb and just general veg ones for the same price, but they're offering 3 packs for a fiver, mix and match. So on pay day we're heading toWilkos for those, compost and seeds, and we're gonna try and get a little plastic greenhouse for the salad stuff to go in.

Just thought I'd share the bargain planters with you all!

kimmee

begley wrote: »

I've just nipped to Wilkinsons for cleaning stuff (Mrs. Begley decided we'd spring clean the lounge.....) and saw that they are selling plastic potato planters for £2.47 for 3, and tomato, herb and just general veg ones for the same price, but they're offering 3 packs for a fiver, mix and match. So on pay day we're heading toWilkos for those, compost and seeds, and we're gonna try and get a little plastic greenhouse for the salad stuff to go in.

Just thought I'd share the bargain planters with you all!

Last year I planted salad leaves (cut and come again mixed) in a stone shallow sink type thing that I'd inherited with the house and they did brilliantly (they got the sun from about 11am to 4pm), so don't know if you would be better off saving your money. Although I did see the little greenhouses that you mentioned in Wilkos and thought one of them might be good for my peppers and chillis. Haven't decided - anyone got any thoughts on this please?

lynzpower

begley wrote: »

I've just nipped to Wilkinsons for cleaning stuff (Mrs. Begley decided we'd spring clean the lounge.....) and saw that they are selling plastic potato planters for £2.47 for 3, and tomato, herb and just general veg ones for the same price, but they're offering 3 packs for a fiver, mix and match. So on pay day we're heading toWilkos for those, compost and seeds, and we're gonna try and get a little plastic greenhouse for the salad stuff to go in.

Just thought I'd share the bargain planters with you all!

Oh thats great! thanks for this.

Dare I ask were they available in prettier coours than black or camo green :cool:

lynzpower

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?fh_location=//catal!!!1/en_GB/categories%3C{9372012}/categories%3C{9372025}/categories%3C{9392039}/specificationsProductType%3Dgrowhouses___coldframes&fh_reftheme=promo_159030150,seeall,//catal!!!1/en_GB/categories%3C{9372012}/categories%3C{9372025}/categories%3C{9392039}&fh_refview=summary&icamp=ns_3

I saw the bottom ( mini grow frame) when i popped into get the propogator yesterday. Have to say for the price it looked really good. Im going to work out how warm it gets in the unheated lean-to and maybe have one of these inside it.

lynzpower

Also dont know if this is a tip worth sharing yet lol but in the seeds Ive put in the propogator - Ive made a tag to stick in the soil with what it is - what date ( ie today) it was planted and rough instructions ( plant out when 15cm) I was going through the titchmarsh book ( plus checked on the packets)

I used a mushroom punnet each one for Aubergines and one for peppers. I made a 'barrier ' and wrote on that the date planted.

I made the tags out of old marg tub cut into strips.

I think it will help me be less baffled as Im going to grow ( i hope) lots of stuff this year.

Ill show the photos on my blog tomorrow.

turbo5019

Hi I would love to join in.
We started grown our own veg about 2 years ago at the bottom of garden.
1st year:
Potatoes
carrots
runner beans
tomatoes
2nd year Same as above and:
Courgettes
French beans
butternut squash
pumkins

I didn't have much luck with the courgettes the kept going mouldy at the end. I would like to do them again this year any tips?

pavlovs_dog

Another newbie here :wave:

we plan to sow next weekend, and will be cutting our teeth with:

*plum tomatoes
*Courgettes
* Rocket (all from a £1.99 kit from Morrisons)

*sweet peppers

*chillis


we're keeping it simple to begin with, as there's a chance we may be moving later in the year. For that reason we will probably be container gardeners. I say we... I'm currently dubious about how much interest OH will show in anything other than EATING the produce

turbo5019

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

I'm currently dubious about how much interest OH will show in anything other than EATING the produce

You might be suprised my DH wasn't intresed and now we fight over who is doing what in the garden.:rotfl: