veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

charliee_3

my mum bought me a load of seeds.. one of them is sweetcorn.. i have a smallish patch, is it even worth planting them? arent sweetcorn plants HUGE???

misskool

charliee wrote: »

my mum bought me a load of seeds.. one of them is sweetcorn.. i have a smallish patch, is it even worth planting them? arent sweetcorn plants HUGE???

how small is small?

They grow up to 6 feet and need to be planted in blocks so they can be pollinated. So in blocks of 3 by 3 or something like that. It needs about 15" between each plant.

If you have the space, it's one of the most worthwhile things to grow as the sugar converts to starch as soon as it's picked so eaten super fresh is a marked difference to anything you can buy

[Deleted User]

misskool wrote: »

you leave them until they have started sprouting. You want thick chunky green/purple stems, not the thin skinny pale ones.


We're not planting till Easter anyways, but even then still hoping the frosts will be over by then. Have you worked out the costs of building the raised beds and ordering in the soil and compost? For the first year, OH dug up the turf and turned the soil over, we dug in a bit of fish, blood and bone and then planted. You don't need raised beds to grow vegetables.

Thank you that is really useful. I can see what you mean from the photo.

We have to have topsoil unfortunately because our soil is clay and when I say clay i MEAN clay. Just clay. We have 2 compost bins though that we are going to investigate before we order any as there should be some in there we have been adding to them for 2 years and have had nothing out (although the pear tree and the blackberrys that are close to the bins have come on leaps and bounds thanks to the seepage underneath!). We have tons and tons of wood to use for the beds along with all the screws in the world (OH works at a fastener company!). What normally costs us the money is my OH insists he can't start a project without a new tool :rotfl:. He can get bent though he has plenty of tools now. We settled on a new blade for his circular saw which cost us about £4 from JTF.

shandypants5

I have had my spuds chitting in the unheated plastic greenhouse for over 2 weeks now, but still no sign of any sprouting.

Do you think its too cold in there? Should I bring them indoors?

kimmee

Please can someone give me some advice

My chillis and sweet peppers germinated and have had their seed leaves for over a week but don't seem to be developing any other leaves. They're getting quite 'leggy' and the peppers don't seem to be too well!!

I've moved them from my kitchen windowsill to my conservatory windowsill as it's much brighter in there but am I doing something wrong? I'm keeping the compost damp but I'm afraid of over or under watering.

Also, I bought some pea seeds but it says to plant them straight into the ground. I was planning on growing them in pots so can I sow them in a seed tray indoors and then transplant them when they're big enough?

Thanks

misskool

kimmee wrote: »

Please can someone give me some advice

My chillis and sweet peppers germinated and have had their seed leaves for over a week but don't seem to be developing any other leaves. They're getting quite 'leggy' and the peppers don't seem to be too well!!

I've moved them from my kitchen windowsill to my conservatory windowsill as it's much brighter in there but am I doing something wrong? I'm keeping the compost damp but I'm afraid of over or under watering.

Also, I bought some pea seeds but it says to plant them straight into the ground. I was planning on growing them in pots so can I sow them in a seed tray indoors and then transplant them when they're big enough?

Thanks

If they are right next to a windowsill, it's still quite cold at night so maybe they aren't growing because of that? Otherwise, I'm not so sure, someone else will be along in a minute to tell me too

Peas don't like their roots being disturbed so you can grow them in pots to transplant if you plant the whole pot into the ground. I started some in newspaper pots (google them), I make hundreds and plant them in the ground.

If you start them indoors though remember to harden them or they will die of shock when you sling them out into the real world.

misskool

shandypants5 wrote: »

I have had my spuds chitting in the unheated plastic greenhouse for over 2 weeks now, but still no sign of any sprouting.

Do you think its too cold in there? Should I bring them indoors?

How cold is it outside? We've had frosts until a few night ago. Have you frozen them? Feel the spuds, if they are firm then bring them inside. If they are squishy then you've killed them by freezing and defrosting them.

kimmee

misskool wrote: »

If they are right next to a windowsill, it's still quite cold at night so maybe they aren't growing because of that? Otherwise, I'm not so sure, someone else will be along in a minute to tell me too

Peas don't like their roots being disturbed so you can grow them in pots to transplant if you plant the whole pot into the ground. I started some in newspaper pots (google them), I make hundreds and plant them in the ground.

If you start them indoors though remember to harden them or they will die of shock when you sling them out into the real world.

Thanks misskool - i move the seedlings from the windowsill into my living room at night and back to the windowsill in the morning. I really don't want them to die off cos I love peppers and they're so expensive.

I will google the newspaper pots - have seen them before - but I didn't know about the roots so will definately do that. Thanks again

[Deleted User]

I need more help sorry!!

My son who is 2 bought his own set of childrens seeds last sunday. Carrots, lettuce, cherry tomatoes and sweetcorn. Then he opened the packet and the seeds packets all mixed together and they weren't labelled! So we worked out which were swetcorn but we coudn't tell the others apart.

My OH insisted he knew which were which and my lad potted them up in a seed tray and labelled them. Now the ones labelled 'carrots' are through but I am not convinced. How long do they normally take to seed? We put them in on sunday afternoon and by tuesday they were up. And they are now nice and tall.

The other 2 sets of seeds are not through yet. Here is a photo of the seedlings. Anyone any ideas what they are??

misskool

It will be really hard to tell from the seed leaves so you will have to wait until the true leaves appear.

The problem is that you don't want to be transplanting the carrots or the roots won't grow properly....hrms...

CArrots will have feathery fronds


Tomatoes will look like these


what sort of lettuce is it?