Gardening in the North East - what are you doing at the moment?

maypole

dorisday wrote: »

morning all, got my greenhouse from a place in cramlington. Used my 2010 holiday money for it plus accessories but I think its worth it as 2 years ago tried to grow loads of stuff but it rained so much pots where swimming with water so had to dispose ofr them all - what a waste - My back garden is only tiny so it takes up quite a bit of room 6 x 4 but I dont care:)
have already tried some of the baby leafs off the lettuce and boy do they taste good, so good in fact had to throw a packet of salad leaves I had bought the other day as the tast was so different, did the same with the organic spinnach.
I found I can also sit in the gh close tyhe door and its so peacefull and warm (sad arent I):rotfl:
Off to the garden centre now to buy a few bedding plants just to give a bit of colour in my raised bed.

Absolutely not, I would love to have room for a greenhouse, must be lovely to potter and have all your stuff in there and of course to enjoy the warmth:)

dorisday

lovelife wrote: »

Hey, i am in Newcastle too and a complete newbie at growing veg etc, but really enjoying it, i like the idea of this thread being local I have got my salad leaves growing in a trough, got a mixed pack of seeds from Asda for a pound. They are all doing nicely, but i put all the seeds in at once lol, not sure whether to thin them out or not, any tips appreciated. Dorisday i would love a greenhouse, lucky you, where did you buy it from?

Hi yes you shouldnt have put them all in at once, best thing to do is just a small amount in and then do this on a regular basis so you get them coming up at intervals. Doing it the way you have will strangle the young plant as they start to grow as they are too many together. But hey we all learn, do some searching on the internet loads of it and at least you will have some idea where you are going right or wrong.;)

mardatha

Your up north is our down south... take heart that some folk are even colder and later than you are LOL!

dorisday

ha ha never thought of it that way, makes me feel much better about living in the north east now. Reminds me of the year I had a friend over from italy, staying here for a month in August - the temperature never got past 18c until we went to London for the day:( He never came back for that length of time again. just spent a couple of days here and then went back to warm Italy, no wonder the fruit/vegetables are much tastier - they get plenty of sunshine and its warm.

mardatha

I knew a girl from Australia whose granny had emigrated from Scotland & who had always wanted to come back here to live. She came over on a weekend visit en route to Spain one summer and I spent the day with her in Edinburgh. It was mid July and she was FREEZING - she was actually blue in parts :rotfl: The poor soul disappeared back into the hotel, never came back, and never spoke to me again Scotland being her "spiritual home"

retro_bluebell

I wouldn't mind a nice glass greenhouse to sit in today its blimming cold when the sun goes in! Checked my garlic this morning and its starting to sprout! Woop- didnt take at all last year.

BTW Im Glasgow born and bred but spent too many years living "down South" in the Midlands/ Warwickshire before I moved to the North a few years ago, so I think Im a bit soft when it comes to the cold lol

stilernin

Hi, great to have some peeps to share experiences with. I won't be doing too much this year as I have to get work done on the house. Once I start sowing seeds I know I'll just get carried away and I am trying to clear spaces for the building work. I couldn't resist a couple of tomato plants from a table top sale though.

Lovelife, you will have to thin out your seedling to give them some space. Are you growing them for whole lettuces or for salad leaves? If you want lettuces, imagine how big lettuce is and that's the amount of space they will need. If you want have a few cuts of salad leaves you need to give them 2-3cms.

I start most of my seeds off in modules so that they can be put out when they have a nice rootball to give them a good start and I am very meanwhen I sow seeds. With fresh lettuce seed I will only put one seed per module (honest) and I have few failures. I've kept lettuce seed for 5 or 6 years and it will still germinate. Some veg seeds need to be fresh though.

You will learn so much just by trial and error, just have fun with it.

Back to work tomorrow, let's hope the weather improves for us all soon.

dorisday

stilernin wrote: »

Hi, great to have some peeps to share experiences with. I won't be doing too much this year as I have to get work done on the house. Once I start sowing seeds I know I'll just get carried away and I am trying to clear spaces for the building work. I couldn't resist a couple of tomato plants from a table top sale though.

Lovelife, you will have to thin out your seedling to give them some space. Are you growing them for whole lettuces or for salad leaves? If you want lettuces, imagine how big lettuce is and that's the amount of space they will need. If you want have a few cuts of salad leaves you need to give them 2-3cms.

I start most of my seeds off in modules so that they can be put out when they have a nice rootball to give them a good start and I am very meanwhen I sow seeds. With fresh lettuce seed I will only put one seed per module (honest) and I have few failures. I've kept lettuce seed for 5 or 6 years and it will still germinate. Some veg seeds need to be fresh though.

You will learn so much just by trial and error, just have fun with it.

Back to work tomorrow, let's hope the weather improves for us all soon.

Totally agree with the above, I do the same, only plant one tiny seed a time in a tiny pot or module, its the way the businesses do it. It makes it all worth it when you have a lettuce a day for less than 1p and you see them in the shops for £1 or so:j
Sun is shinning this morning but got to go to work first before I can get in the garden. Planted some busy lizzies yesterday, just hoping the frosts donts get at them:(

dorisday

I have also found that its best to plant lettuce etc in long trough containers, rather than round pots.

mardatha

Another absolutely freezing cold day