veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

misskool

elantan wrote: »

think i have managed to save a few of the seeds but other ones i have lost ... so it couldve been alot worse have set out a spreadsheet to be filled in just need to go and do my homework...

am enviously reading alot of your posts ...things are starting to grow shoots are appearing ... and i am still sitting planning ... men ... maybe next year after he has eaten some of the produce he might not mind if i start growing things inside

It's mostly still too early to plant a lot of things (except perhaps chillies, tomatoes, aubergines) so you're not behind at all!

Spring is late so you're just following the season.

pretzelnut

I'd like to join too, I started reading this thread a few weeks ago and have been planting and watering none stop.
Heres what we have so far:
Chives - sprouted,
Sweet Basil - Sprouted,
Dill - sprouted,
Coriander - sprouted
Thyme - sprouted,
Parsley - sprouted
Lettuce - sprouted,
Broad beans - sprouted
Sunflowers - no signs yet,
Tomatoes, not planted,
Corn, not planted yet,
Spring onions, sprouted,
Garlic, planted,
Strawberry plants - potted
Potatoes, waiting to be planted,
Carrots, not planted yet,
Blueberry tree, potted,
Sweet peas - no signs yet.


Plus we have potted about 500 bulbs and the kids are eagerly checking 100 times a day for progress.

Our garden is a mess, we just moved here, and were not sure if were staying after a year so im not wasting time on ''doing it up'' when we might move so everything is in pots. All the ssedlings are on my windowsill as its huge.

berkshirelady

I forgot to mention my 'veggie challenge' earlier. A friend up the road is a keen gardener but very in to her flowers & borders, not veg. She had a go at a few veggie/herby bits last year, and so did I, so this year we're being ambitious. We had one or too many glasses of vino on Sunday night, and drunkenly set ourselves a challenge - as newbie veg growers we are going to try to cook a dish for four people (us & hubbies) made entirely out of stuff we've grown! It'll probably be vegetable soup, but hey, who cares?! and we'll do a fruit pudding too.

We might forage for some extra stuff like watercress, and my neighbours' fruit trees overhang my garden, so what we don't grow, we can pick.

oooh Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall would be impressed, I think :-)

wish us luck (I may live to regret my over confidence lol!)

kimmee

berkshirelady wrote: »

I forgot to mention my 'veggie challenge' earlier. A friend up the road is a keen gardener but very in to her flowers & borders, not veg. She had a go at a few veggie/herby bits last year, and so did I, so this year we're being ambitious. We had one or too many glasses of vino on Sunday night, and drunkenly set ourselves a challenge - as newbie veg growers we are going to try to cook a dish for four people (us & hubbies) made entirely out of stuff we've grown! It'll probably be vegetable soup, but hey, who cares?! and we'll do a fruit pudding too.

We might forage for some extra stuff like watercress, and my neighbours' fruit trees overhang my garden, so what we don't grow, we can pick.

oooh Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall would be impressed, I think :-)

wish us luck (I may live to regret my over confidence lol!)

What a great idea - I really wish you luck :beer:

beckstrous

WestonDave and misskool, thanks for the advice on raised beds. I am sort of kicking myself as we have been here since September and put a lot of effort into clearing the veg patches (they were really overgrown), digging the ground over, adding compost etc - and I should really have done the raised beds then.

I know we don't need them as such - I just think they would look nicer, especially as the borders around the beds are quite messy and have lots of chickweed or scuffed turf around them.

A quick question - we have got 3 raspberry canes in one of the beds, kindly donated by my husband's work colleague. If we were to leave the raised beds until next year, would it be okay to move it whilst we dig the beds over?

ukmaggie45

lynzpower wrote: »

Did I see Masterchef making a salad ( or jamie?) recently using the whole chive flowers?

Looked nice :drool:

Must have missed that. But chive flowers are great in a salad, as are rosemary flowers and nasturtiums. You don't want too many rosemary flowers, as they are quite strongly flavoured - kind of astringent, but pleasant mixed with other flavours. There's a list of some edible flowers here. And this site seems to cover in more detail.

floyd

Well my cauli seedlings all bit the dust, too much water I think but all 5 Rocket spuds are up and earthed up as well as 1 pink fur apple spud so I'm pretty happy. I also have lots of beetroot seedlings and tintin lettuce coming up outdoors but I think I will leave them fleeced for a week or so more as its still pretty cold up here. Raspberry canes are showing signs of life too.

I also had a nice surprise, a colleague gave me some asparagus crowns in a trough loosely covered with bark chippings so they were ready to plant so I put them outside the back door but forgot about them for a week
I thought they would have dried up and died but it seems the cat was doing her own 'watering' and lo and behold, they have produced shoots! I've planted them now so hopfully they will recover over the next year or so

littlestars

Wow it's taken me best part of a day (spread over 1.5days) to read through this fab thread.

i'm a veg growing noob, i tend to have some success with plants outside (i need hardly ones indoors as i forget to water them) so this year we/i decided to give veg a go.

now haven't sowed or planted yet, but reading through i feel i still have time.

so far i've got seeds:
BBC Dig-in
toms 2 types
rosemary
carrots
rocket leaves
little gem
salad leaves (4 pk £1 from asda)
& a couple of others. (can't move to check as bfdg my baby at mo)

also got myself a 4 tier growhouse from b&m for £9.99
used my tesco clubcard vouchers to get £14.99 worth of potatoes (5 tubers of 3 types) & 3 growing bags (£6 cc vouchers) and £9.99 or strawberry plants (£4 cc vouchers) from thompson & morgan - still awaiting through post.

also i'm converting an old sideboard that was in the shed into a raised bed, so for i've taken out the drawers and put rocks at the bottom of some sections and chunks of polystyrene in others and intend to fill with compost.

i also have some seed trays, pots (though gonna try the cups too) and one propagator with was £2 from asda (not heated)

in terms of fleece to warm the soil before sowing in normal fleece ok (have a good sized old fleece blanket)

we also got a slim waterbutt from tesco direct for £12.50 as well, del free if you collect from store.

Q about the titchmarsh book - is it at the till it goes through at £6 as it's not advertised for that online?

silvertoes

Here in the South West we are provided with garden waste sacks - which are large green mesh bags.:j
Now these are fantastic to put your potatoes in to grow or other veg. You do need to put a few holes in the base of the bags.:eek:
Might be worth contacting your councils to see if you have a scheme like this:A

cooking-mama

littlestars wrote: »

in terms of fleece to warm the soil before sowing in normal fleece ok (have a good sized old fleece blanket)


Q about the titchmarsh book - is it at the till it goes through at £6 as it's not advertised for that online?

You can buy the special gardening fleece for only £1,in poundland stores,and the Alan Titchmarsh book..is it this one?
http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=9781846072017,
if so then yes,The kitchen gardener is only £6 instore,I bought it last week.