veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

Megansmum

Hi,

Just wanted to share my good news! Last October i bought 25 strawberry plants from Spaldings, and planted them in my raised bed. Only 5 have lived! I phoned them yesterday and they are going to send me 20 new plants! Wow, now that's customer service! I feel guilty now that i have not ordered from the last 5 brochures they've sent me!

You can just about see the 5 living ones in this pic of my " cat proof " raised bed! :rotfl:

seraphina

Can I join in??

In a fit of optimism I put my onions in a raised bed yesterday - I've only put a third of them in and they're under cloches to keep them toasty in case it gets cold.

My tomato seedlings are going great guns - I pop them in the greenhouse during the day and ferry them back to the house at night time. Aubergines not so great -less than half of then germinated.

Another one here who sowed carrots and parsnips before the last of the frosts - the packet said March :rotfl:I think they'll be okay as they haven't started to come through yet - once they come through I'll fleece them overnight if it's going to be cold.

I've also got some peas and broccoli in peat pots in the greenhouse but they only got planted this weekend so it will probably be a little while before anything happens with those. I also planted some sweet peas in the garden in February - the packet said the earlier the better but still nothing doing...

Also I can reccommend a max/min thermometer for the greenhouse. I've become an avid weather checker since I started growing stuff!

MORPH3US

Great thread as always guys... i've been caught napping this year with a wedding to plan, a new job and the usual million and one other things going on.

Anyway got my first lot of new seeds from Wilkos yesterday, can't remember what varieties (a spincah and 2 lots of chillies) but having read the thread here i'm now eager to get on with it

peachespeaches

I have grown tomatoes in a mini greenhouse before and also rocket and little gem in grow bags. I have a new garden this year though and Im just deciding where things go.

I have just planted a Coxs orange pippin tree, a Beth Pear tree and a Stella cherry tree. These came from Homebase. Last year I bought gooseberry, blueberry and redcurrant from the 99p shop in autumn and planted them out in a sheltered spot near the fence, but to be honest they look dead. I am going to leave them though until Im sure. Has anyone had any success with the pound shop plants?

I have some of those potato bags with potatoes £4.45 on order which were on another thread somewhere, and Ive also sent for the big dig free seeds.

This year I will do my little gem lettuce and rocket again, its always been very successful. I also did some one year called "salad bowl" which were cut and come again leaves which were very good. I think I got them from Wilkinsons. I dont know what to do about tomatoes though, as we go away for a fortnight in May and they are fairly high maintenance at that time. I remember doing lots and lots of watering.

I have a plot of sage and rosemary going well from last year, so I guess I should get some more herbs too. I have had parsley in the past, but would like to try the flat leaved type as its nice in salads. I have also grown mint in the past, it can be invasive, I used a sunken bucket with the bottom out. But to be honest I have a larger garden now, so I might just risk it becoming invasive. It is important to get the right mint though. The best mint has been that which I have cadged from other gardeners in old established plots near the house.

I have also had quite a bit of success with the mini greenhouses and coldframes, if youre thinking of getting them they are well worth it, but make sure you pin them down because of winds. I did have a proper glass greenhouse in one house and thats great if you can afford it and dont have any small kids or whatever, but its not suitable atm for me.

mardatha

Can I ask how how and where you grew the lettuce ? I couldn't grow it at all.

seraphina

Also, I had a flash of inspiration with a tray of slow to germinate chilli seeds - I popped the whole tray on top of a hot water bottle during a particularly cold night in the house (the tray is in a freezer bag so self contained). Keeps the soil warm and resulted in noticeably faster germination!

peachespeaches

mardatha wrote: »

Can I ask how how and where you grew the lettuce ? I couldn't grow it at all.

Hope you found the other thread. Get a cheap cold frame or improvise one, grow it in growbags. Just take a growbag and a stanley knife and cut out a large rectangle in the top. Make two or more shallow drills with a stick, sow the seeds as directed, keep watering and keep warm, using cold frame (I wouldnt sow yet if youre using a cold frame!). Thin out as necessary. Keep watering. Harvest as needed. I use a lot as baby leaf salads, this helps thin them.

mardatha

Yes gottit ta I wont put anything out until after the 1st june up here. I dont knwo what I did wrong last year but the horrible wee things just keeled over and died. This year I will SORT THEM OUT !!

alliwantistosave

We have now bitten the bullet and planted some carrots and parsnip seeds outside hopefully it is suppose to be slightly warmer at night this week so we thought what the ........
Also fitted the outside bits of our weather station so I can look at outdoor temp and it gives a frost warning :j so this should help.
Our cabbage and purple sprouting broccoli has sprouted in the greenhouse and our sweetcorn is going great guns that it is growing too fast :eek:

Hope everyone else is getting some sprouts

kimmee

About 4 weeks ago I sowed some spinach seeds in 2 pots outside since then we've had snow and hard frosts and I thought they weren't going to do anything but today I spied some very tiny seedlings sprouting, :j I guess it's because its's been so much milder and sunny and they are in a very sheltered part of the garden.

On the other hand - I planted lots of garlic cloves round about November, and there is NO sign of any kind of growth. I'll hang on for a while longer but I think the garlic is going to be a failure

My chillis & peppers are finally getting more leaves - I moved them into a sunnier position and today I sowed another batch of microgreens but this time onto cotton wool as I still can't drive to get to Wilko's for vermiculite (and they don't seem to sell it online), so will report as to whether the cotton wool works. Fingers x'd!!