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renard_rouge

many many thanks for the new thread. relatively new and inexperienced to this interactive televisiotyper, but have been really impressed with the useful things available. Then blow me but there is a sudden surge of Martin gardening as well. Dunno if it can get better (well possibly only by use and contributions) Looking forward - always best unless learning from mistakes.

Have been into gardening for a while and have some scratch experience, mainly self-taught, ergo have large gaps in knowledge and happy for help.

HEAVENSPENT

my husband and i absolutely broke, no food, he rememberd an old book "plants you can eat" went on the internet, off out to collect nettles, checked on the internet they were ok to eat, steamed and served, unusual but a healthy tasty meal. Please try and enjoy, we also use dandilion leaves with our iceberg letuice,(an excellent expensive looking salad)
Pansey petels are edibile too and look fantastic in ice cubes, at a bbq but warn your guests or they may think you've drowned a butterfly in their drink!

tiff

Just wondered if www.growyourown.co.uk could be added to the useful links thread?

eco

this for clare fun, if youve got some thick black polythene lay it over the grass and weeds, you will need to weigh it down with bricks, if you leave it for a couple of months the lack of light will kill the weeds making it easier when you have to dig the ground over

Primrose

If you register on the Kitchen Garden website Forum, there is also a thread there for seed swapping.

Olliebeak

Personally I'm new to any kind of gardening - ex-OH used to do it all many years ago and I know some of the theory rubbed off on me. However, I wasn't allowed anywhere near his pride and joy plants (suppose that was his escape from me!).

Last night I had a momentary brainwave and bought a couple of tubs in ASDA along with some night-scented stock seeds, some chive seeds, small plantpots, a pair of gardening gloves and two bags of 'sowing and seed compost'. Current OH thinks I've finally gone loop-de-loop and is laughing at me .

So far I've pierced the holes in the bottom of the tubs. Smashed up some old mugs and put them in the bottom of the tubs to cover the holes and filled the tubs with the compost. Lightly scattered some stock seeds on to each tub and covered with a thin (quareter inch) layer of compost. Gently firmed it and given it a spray with water from my water butt using a watering can with a fine rose. These tubs are now sat on my (very small) patio.

What I need to know is - 'Am I right so far?'. Hope somebody can find the time to reply - or are you all out in your gardens/greenhouses on such a beautiful day ?

Next job is to do the chives for growing on my window ledge - but I think the plant pots that I've got maybe too big/deep. Possibly going to be better in 'half pound size margarine containers' or yoghourt pots.

Many thanks - I'll probably be back for more advice once I can see something sprouting in the tubs - that will give me some real incentive.

Primrose

Olliebeak - your chives will thrive better if you can plant them in deeper containers. And if you have a spare patch of soil anywhere, sow them in your garden. They will grow into a nice clump with pretty purple flowers and the good thing is that the clump will increase in size every year. They will die back in the autumn but reappear in Spring, so are a really good value-for-money herb to plant. And buy some slug pellets and sprinkle a few on the surface of your patio containers. Slugs love young seedlings and can munch the whole lot overnight.

Olliebeak

Primrose wrote: »

Olliebeak - your chives will thrive better if you can plant them in deeper containers. ................. And buy some slug pellets and sprinkle a few on the surface of your patio containers. Slugs love young seedlings and can munch the whole lot overnight.

Thanks for that, Primrose - will use the plantpots after all then, they're 5" ones. They should be ok on my kitchen windowsill - it gets all the afternoon/evening sun and it's very warm at the end of the day.

That's good information about slugs - i've seen some very young ones on the paving slabs in the mornings - silly things usually finish up dead by midday though once the sun shines on them. Have to keep brushing their bodies away :rotfl: - at least those particular ones won't be eating my seedlings!

Olliebeak

Ooooooh my night-scented stock seeds in tubs (sown 16/4 - three posts back on here) have sprouted - and it wasn't me who noticed them! My OH spotted them and I thought he was joking with me.

This almost like giving birth the first time round for me - I feel so proud .

Since then, I've done a trough with an assortment of herbs (parsley, chives, coriander, basil) and another one with an assortment of salad stuff (mixed salad leaves, radishes, spring onions). At the moment it's too cold to leave them out of doors overnight, so keep putting them out in the daytime and then bringing them back in again when the sun has gone down.

Had a trip to the garden centre last weekend, and came away with 'The Garden Expert book' - it's one that I recognised from ex-OH's gardening days, so I presume its a good basic one. Seems to have sections on most things, which is what I need at the moment.

chimp_choker

eco wrote: »

this for clare fun, if youve got some thick black polythene lay it over the grass and weeds, you will need to weigh it down with bricks, if you leave it for a couple of months the lack of light will kill the weeds making it easier when you have to dig the ground over

Another saving tip is to plant through the black poly. Make a small, say 4" cross in the poly and dig out some soil with a trowel. Plant a tattie in there and fold the poly back over. Gradually the tatties will grow and it makes it easier to dig when you remove the poly those few months later.