Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

Fruball

Hippeechiq - Try the Greenfingered Board for advice on when to start pepper plants - i have grown them before but can't remember.

Generally tho, most things are started in spring... you can buy plants in late spring but much cheaper and OS to grow from seed

Reminds me, must get my heated propagator from the ex ready for spring I'm really excited about growing my own veg and salad next year as I couldn't do any this year. The HG Salad is fab - I use the cut and come again mixed salad variety and get babyleaves all summer which saves me an absolute fortune.

I tend to grow things that are expensive to buy so don't bother with onions and only do a few new pots (which are the best i have tasted but taste even better if grown in the ground rather than bags/pots.

grandma247

Just a quick note- crispy fried kale is very nice and there are loads of different recipes on the internet.

Lindy_-_Loo

Frugal wrote: »

My DD aged 4 seems to be picking up OS ways that not even I do!!

Tonight she took the last muffin (that we baked on Friday) out of a plastic food bag I had stored them in, so I told her we can make more tomorrow so she said "Oh good, and then we can put them all in this bag" and put the used bag back in the cupboard!!!

Bless! Mine just ask what there will be next!

Sammy - will check Wilkinsons when I get chance, they would love a fire station too!

kidcat

Os party day today, all OS whoopsie food (chilli with whoopsie mince, lentils etc and veg curry - all whoops or Aldi super six.) Have to be honest I am really tired now though been very long two days prepping. Got antibiotics on Thursday that I keep forgetting to take so got no voice, bad chest and horrid cough.

Got some of the guests staying over so can say that I will get little sleep and still be running around tomorrow. But I keep reminding myself that this is likely to be her last party at home cos next year she will be out somewhere with her mates!

seasalt_2

Have to confess I have found peppers quite tricky up here, even in the polytunnel - have done best in a sunny window. They also need starting quite early (March or even Feb) and appreciate a bit of warmth to germinate well. Long Red Marconi and the Corno di Toro types (pointy ones) seem to do better (for me) than the bell peppers - you don't have to let them ripen if you prefer green peppers - I have never managed to grow such thick fleshed bell peppers as the ones you buy in the shops - not enough watering maybe.

Fruball

seasalt wrote: »

Have to confess I have found peppers quite tricky up here, even in the polytunnel - have done best in a sunny window. They also need starting quite early (March or even Feb) and appreciate a bit of warmth to germinate well. Long Red Marconi and the Corno di Toro types (pointy ones) seem to do better (for me) than the bell peppers - you don't have to let them ripen if you prefer green peppers - I have never managed to grow such thick fleshed bell peppers as the ones you buy in the shops - not enough watering maybe.

Me too - they seem a bit thin skinned for me - will try again next year tho

kezlou

Hippiechiq

I tried growing peppers and chillies and both worked :j.
I think the trick is sow them in January, same time as tomatoes and cucumbers. When the weathers warmed up place outside and treat them like tomatoes. When you see the flowers starting to bed, give them some tomato feed. apparently to do this to cucumbers, courgettes and all squashes as well.

HTH

aw how sweet your little one is frugal

Hippeechiq

seasalt wrote: »

Have to confess I have found peppers quite tricky up here, even in the polytunnel - have done best in a sunny window. They also need starting quite early (March or even Feb) and appreciate a bit of warmth to germinate well. Long Red Marconi and the Corno di Toro types (pointy ones) seem to do better (for me) than the bell peppers - you don't have to let them ripen if you prefer green peppers - I have never managed to grow such thick fleshed bell peppers as the ones you buy in the shops - not enough watering maybe.

Ah - well it's bell peppers I'm after, but I am quite near the bottom of Dorset, so am about as far south as you can get, and we are blessed with a milder climate down here, so I may have some luck. My bedroom is south facing (as is my garden) and can be very warm if the windows are closed on a winters day providing there's a little weak sun - so I suppose I could start them off on my windowsill .....says she, knowing absolutely zilch about growing anything

kezlou wrote: »

Hippiechiq
I tried growing peppers and chillies and both worked :j.
I think the trick is sow them in January, same time as tomatoes and cucumbers. When the weathers warmed up place outside and treat them like tomatoes. When you see the flowers starting to bed, give them some tomato feed. apparently to do this to cucumbers, courgettes and all squashes as well.HTH

Not sure what "flowers are starting to bed" means - well actually, I don't know what it means :rotfl: I'd like to do Cherry Tomatoes & Onions too. Can you start cherry tomatoes and onions in grow bags? and what compost have you found to be best to start your seeds off in?

The lady who previously owned my house was in a wheelchair, and had the whole back garden (which is quite small) laid down to paving slabs, with just a small border about 9" wide with full grown, large shrubs in, so there is no spare soil at all, so anything I try to grow, must either be in pots or grow bags. Also, I only want to start off with a few things, in case I'm rubbish at container gardening.

kezlou

Hippeechiq wrote: »

Not sure what "flowers are starting to bed" means - well actually, I don't know what it means :rotfl: I'd like to do Cherry Tomatoes & Onions too. Can you start cherry tomatoes and onions in grow bags? and what compost have you found to be best to start your seeds off in?

sorry i 3/4 asleep with wine when i wrote that lol.
Okay in my non-logical mind, the plant starts to grow and then little green buds (not bed:o) start to appear. After a few days you cna see the early bud of blue-white flowers (well on my pepper plant anyway). It basically like when you buy a bunch of flowers that haven't bloomed, its that stage before the flower starts to open its leaves.Tomato plants have little yellow flowers too.

I just use bog standard compost, think its a £1.10 for big bag out of wilko's. Then when its warm enough , late May i shove them outside in pots. I think you can start them in grow bags, but to be honest i've never tried. I just put them grow bags when they big enough say 6 inches or more. I grow everything in pots, as i have a concrete yard:(, so i don't really know about anything else.. Spring onions i think work in grow bags, but the larger onions i think need it to be deeper.


don't think that made any kind of sense lol
Well salads and peas grow really well in tubs, as do potatoes, broad beans youname it it grows. I even had a pumpkin plant in one, worked really well.
All my hugs and i mean they nearly as tall as i am are in pots. Me i could kill any plant dead within a ,mile. so if i can grow there anyone can.

I alway grow potatoes by turning a grow bag in on side. Slit the top, put a potato in it. Then half way down the same bag, slit it and put another potato. Within three months lovely new potatoes. I'm really surprised by how much you can grow in containers.

[Deleted User]

mardatha wrote: »

It's easy to disrupt a thread online, so if we stick together and ignore that stuff then we will be fine. Kittie, I'd like to ask your opinion on starting all this new life stuff once you're older ... You've done it so it must be possible, yes ? I'm 60, mentally 9, but physically 90. Is it too hard to start gardening/veg growing seriously at this age ? Are there shortcuts/cheats ?

Mardatha you are a great stalwart ie a stoic who keeps us all going. A fantastic sense of humour and always willing to share and help in spite of your own struggles. You and Ceridwen are what the original thread was intended to be about. You are both cornerposts (there are others) and a force for stability in a very difficult world.

You have just hit the nail on the head and it is all about adapting to change, being flexible so the branch doesn`t break

My potted history: 63 and the eldest of 7. Poor family and very hard working father. I had lots of work to do from 7 and could cook a meal for 9 in a pressure cooker when I was just 10. Sew a skirt myself when I was 10. It goes on from there. Love and aspiration was the family norm. I am typical capricorn

Grammar school, teaching, 3 children, degree in physics, homeopathy later and so on and also learnt to read charting re the stockmarket. Always making everything, clothes, food, curtains etc. Growing veg. Now married 40 years and a lifestyle change again

Downsized to leasehold 6 years ago and gave away lots of things including gardening stuff. Upsized 3 months ago to genuine eco house with an allotment. Dream come true and like starting from scratch

Back to working very hard. Allotment dug, some crops planted

This hard work thing is key I think. Getting hands dirty and passing time in the sun and mist with the birds singing. Back to nature is how I was meant to be at this stage in my life. Still helping people but quietly with baking etc for the village community. I listen to the news at 10 but it isn`t obsessive as I know that life goes on

I have been through some incredibly tough times re finances esp when the mortgage rate jumped to 15% on one salary and suddenly my dh was on half salary overnight. A quick mind change happened to me then. Every penny spent was witten down and cash drawn only once a month and put into envelopes. We lived by my wits and survived by the skin of our teeth and never looked back because of what I learnt. Every tough time can be a time to learn

Now I am teaching my newly redundant dd