veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

lynzpower

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 think there are afew things to consider with bluberry plants ( not sure about others?_

1) did you plant them in ericacious compost?
2) did you regularly feed them with the right thing?
3) in he first year you should probably get not a lot, the second and subsequent years the plants will crop more.

Update from me:

Aubergines / peppers and chillis have now been out of the propagator and sat on a shelf unit by the sunny window. Seed leaves are bigger now, but no true leaves? I know im impatient!

I do have a portable heater next to it that has been on but I think its been too warm so have turned it off.

have just got the first sprout through of one of the toms- they are in the prop, on same shelf unit without lid. Will prob take them up to the roof room for today as I think it might be a really warm day?

Will pop up on roof in a mo, and have a look whats cooking up there

Edit- whats cooking up there is : one lot of potatoes in the pop up garden waste container need earthing up. :j

Broadbeans starting to look rather dry in their toilet rolls, wonder whether I should repot them ( anyone?) they are not growing "upwards" yet just poking through the compost?

Absolutely nothing doing with these spring onions planted on the 2nd- should I see some signs of life by now?

Early onward peas are all springing now with thier cluster of leaves ready to unfold all 4 potted have now come through.

Nothing from patty pans or courg but I guess im being impatient, they are under cloche in the unheated greenhouse/ roof room Im sure its warm enough up there.

kimmee

Lynz - I was worried my chillis and peppers would never get their true leaves (they'd had their seed leaves for well over a week) but now they're all getting their true leaves so just be patient, hard I know cos I just want to sow every seed I have right NOW and I want them to germinate overnight and for them to start growing!!

I think it's a very stressful thing being a (newbie) veg grower :rotfl:

lynzpower

I think it's a very stressful thing being a (newbie) veg grower

Innit :rotfl:

I am expecting some sort of progress at least twice a day ( before work after work lol)

Must start singing and talking to them all a la the Good life. Maybe it will help :rotfl:

Will deffo do my beetroots today and I think my pots that need earthing can now go outside tonight to make room for my beetroot container

kimmee

lynzpower wrote: »

Must start singing and talking to them all a la the Good life. Maybe it will help :rotfl:

Hey, I'd never thought of that :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

misskool

lynzpower wrote: »

Aubergines / peppers and chillis have now been out of the propagator and sat on a shelf unit by the sunny window. Seed leaves are bigger now, but no true leaves? I know im impatient!

I do have a portable heater next to it that has been on but I think its been too warm so have turned it off.

have just got the first sprout through of one of the toms- they are in the prop, on same shelf unit without lid. Will prob take them up to the roof room for today as I think it might be a really warm day?

Will pop up on roof in a mo, and have a look whats cooking up there

Edit- whats cooking up there is : one lot of potatoes in the pop up garden waste container need earthing up. :j

Broadbeans starting to look rather dry in their toilet rolls, wonder whether I should repot them ( anyone?) they are not growing "upwards" yet just poking through the compost?

Absolutely nothing doing with these spring onions planted on the 2nd- should I see some signs of life by now?

Early onward peas are all springing now with thier cluster of leaves ready to unfold all 4 potted have now come through.

Nothing from patty pans or courg but I guess im being impatient, they are under cloche in the unheated greenhouse/ roof room Im sure its warm enough up there.

it's still really cold for aubergines and peppers and courgettes. the night time temperatures in my greenhouse (small paraffin heater) is still 1-2C. Why not get a min-max thermometer? It's a great investment (and gives you something else to worry about )

Broadbeans grow lots of root before they show leaf growth, just plant them out if you have the space.

You need a lot more peas if you plan on eating them for more than a snack. Peas can be grown quite close together so that's not a problem. I have space so am planning on growing 100 or so.

And the blueberries from wilko's have their first leaves unfurling from the twigs! the ones from lidl are less exciting but I suppose they weren't looked after that well.

Optimist

lynzpower wrote: »

Innit :rotfl:

I am expecting some sort of progress at least twice a day ( before work after work lol)

Must start singing and talking to them all a la the Good life. Maybe it will help :rotfl:

Will deffo do my beetroots today and I think my pots that need earthing can now go outside tonight to make room for my beetroot container

Dont get too attached, remember your supposed to eat them at the end of the day !

WestonDave

Word of warning - piece on Radio 4 today programme this morning about spring being almost a month late in most places this year - certainly in terms of signs like plants beginning to flower. If you have plants outside that you are wondering why they aren't showing signs of life - give them another month, and I'd also be holding back if you can on getting things going outside unless you can cover them and create tunnels for them to keep them warm. Down in the warm west country (Bristol area) we had a fairly sharp ground frost overnight so its not over yet!

On the plus side my peppers finally poked through over the weekend - 8 out of 12 so far which is plenty for what I need. Peas and beans still hiding but they've only been in a week. Spent a bit of time yesterday putting in new stakes and wires for the raspberries - now have 5 summer and 5 autumn canes. The summer ones look like we might get some serious fruit this year, but the autumn ones only went in a couple of weeks ago so I suspect we'll only get a token gesture at best from them.

vanilla

Can i join pretty please?:D

I've been growing stuff for a few years, my peas always survive the rest don't.:rotfl:
I have a nice small veg patch but this year i've cleared a further garden and plan to use it as a veg patch too. Might throw in a few potatoes.

I should really look and see what seeds i have left over from last year.

Gopppers

Hi all, I'm pretty much a veg growing mewbie, tried a couple of years ago to grow toms, lettuce, spinach, beetroot with mixed success. This year Im going to try spinach, garlic, peas, potatoes and maybe some herbs.

I have got my potato seed currently chitting, i think they may be ready to go outside but i'm going to leave it until early april before i put them outside to avoid the frost.

I planted some pea seeds (24 in total) of which 50% of them have germinated so far and the first set of leaves are starting to unfold... is 24 plants enough to get a good harvest? (provided all 24 germintate!!)

Spinach has started to germinat as well, again 24 planted but only 2-3 have come out so far... hopefully i will get a few more!! Does anyone know how to stop spinach from bolting?? I grew them a couple of years back and the bolted very quickly even though on the packet, it said they are slow to bolt!

No sign of any garlic even though the seeds I had had already started to sprout so they are outside, currently in a pot as still awaing DH to set me up a veg patch in the garden....! May staying in the pot forever then!!

I'm so excited... i feeling like an expectant mother!!

ds1980

Is it still ok to join? I need to go through all the helpful posts but was hoping for a bit of specific advice.

I'm fairly new to this all but have tried to grow a number of things in the last few years with varying results.

We have blackcurrants, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, quince and 4 fruit trees bought in the autumn (apple, pear, plum, cherry). I also grew carrots (no good) and tomatoes last year which were a great success. We also have quite a few herbs, Basil, lemon balm (loads of it!!), mint, parsley & thyme.

I have a greenhouse that has some fairly shady areas underneath the work surface and some sunny areas at the back gre 4 tomato plants there last year. There is also a 5 x 2 feet area outside the greenhouse that we have been preparing for a year or so (we have very hard clay).

I am also going to build a raised bed but have a lot of work to do with the ground before it is workable i think.

I have loads of seeds what is the best thing for me to grow i was thinking........salad leaves in the shady greenhouse? what else? I want to try and grow as much as possible i suppose. I was thinking perhaps onions and radishes in the small area outside? and perhaps i might have room for turnip, parsnips or swede?? What can we grow at present anything????

Many thanks,

ds1980