What to seed into my grow bag now

Any

Hi,

This is the first year I tried to grow something in a grow bag. Normally I only grow peas and I have had a cucumber and tomatoes in past (but that is when I had greenhouse). Otherwise I only have a fruit, which is doing very well (strawberries, blueberries and last year I planted raspberries).

So as you see I have limited experience.

This year I put brocolli, carrot, leek and salad in my growbag.
It all went wrong - the brocolli completely took over and grew really fast - tall, but not wide and as I was waiting what happens next it started flowering. So no good.

It completely overshadowed the carrots, which were therefore no good.

Salad got eaten by slugs.

Currently I have A leek in the bag. Yes, only 1. So far it is doing well.

Can please someone advice what possibly went wrong (apart from the obvious mistake of too many brocollis catching on)?

Also is there anything I can now put into the growbag that will grow? I have that one leek there still.

Thank you

A._Badger

I'd suggest you are growing the wrong plants in your growing bags. Brocolli, as you say, grows huge (in fact it overcrowds my raised beds, to the extent that I'm considerng giving it a miss next year), so what it would be like in a growng bag, I hate to think!

Ideally, I'd have thought you want smaller plants which need less depth of soil - salad crops and round carrots, for example - not the tapered type. Parmex would be a good choice. Slugs can be a problem, so you either have to have some sort of barrer against them (easier said than done, I admit) or use pellets.

It's getting a bit ate to be sowing seed now, but you might try lettuce, radishes, or the aforementioned carots. It's worth a shot, at any rate!

Any

Aaah - so I am not the only one who find brocolli difficult? If that is the case, I will give it a miss then. I was thinking that next year I will give them their own grow bag and put just 4-5 in, but wonder whether that would make any difference? The problem is, that the brocolli went really high and thin... Is that normal? At the beginning it looked like the thin type of brocolli, not round head brocolli but the seed packet definitely shows the round head brocolli.

I still have some carrot seeds so I could try that.. I've read somewhere about garlic.. Anyone tried growing garlic?

Lotus-eater

Look you can't grow broccoli in growbags, you can grow them in buckets, ONE per bucket and they won't be as successful as those in the ground probably.
High and thin, you are overcrowding them and everything else as well, by the sound of it.
Lots of people have tried growing garlic http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_april_3_garlic.asp

katiel

Any, I may be mis-reading this, but it sounds like you are planning to keep using the same growbag for whatever you put in next. If you've got room, it might be a better idea to start off a new one, as all the goodness in the compost in your first bag will have been gobbled up by that broccoli. You could just about still sow lettuce maybe (Winter Density would be oK), chives, some carrots as discussed above, and I can't think of anything else

Any

katiel wrote: »

Any, I may be mis-reading this, but it sounds like you are planning to keep using the same growbag for whatever you put in next. If you've got room, it might be a better idea to start off a new one, as all the goodness in the compost in your first bag will have been gobbled up by that broccoli. You could just about still sow lettuce maybe (Winter Density would be oK), chives, some carrots as discussed above, and I can't think of anything else

Right, thank you, I will replace the soil then.

Brocolli is no no then from now on. Thank you.

Any

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Look you can't grow broccoli in growbags, you can grow them in buckets, ONE per bucket and they won't be as successful as those in the ground probably.
High and thin, you are overcrowding them and everything else as well, by the sound of it.
Lots of people have tried growing garlic http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_april_3_garlic.asp

Thank you for the link.
But it only mentiones raise beds... do you think garlic would be O.K. in grow bag?

Lotus-eater

I would use large pots rather than grow bags, grow bags are very root limiting. You can tip the grow bag compost into pots if you like.

Primrose

You need to grow shallow rooted vegetables in grow bags. You can sow endive now (which is a salad leaf with frizzy leaves). Rocket and Lambs Lettuce will also grow well into the autumn and winter.