Garden produce

Galtizz

Sarahsaver wrote:

More is better. They need to cross pollinate, and also if you only grow 2 you are stuffed if they both die. If you grow 5 you could always give one away if you have too many.

Thanks for that Sarahsaver, I thought there might be a technical answer to why my Grandad used to grow hundreds of the things :T

Magentasue wrote:

You can always offload surplus to a charity shop.

Thanks for that, I only know a couple of people who grow there own stuff who I can off load erm..I mean lovingly give my plants to if by some miracle they actually all grow. Charity shop is a great idea. And you've got me thinking, I could even make some money by selling them at a car boot sale, you always see them for sale there.

soon2bjobless

Heres a good site - https://www.alanromans.com - all their packs of seeds are 50p with free p&p for over a fiver.

mink35

OMG. I'm a murderer! :eek:


I've successfully managed to murder about 5 of my babies... tomato seedlings that is! Apparently I've killed them with love - I over-watered them!

hornetgirl

mink35 wrote:

moggins - I've got leeks to go in but they say put straight outside??

I always start my leeks off in a big plant pot, and transfer them into the veg patch as and when I get a bit of space. This way you don't have them all ready at once.
We're still eating leeks planted at the end of last summer, and there's still quite a few left yet, though nothing else until the new stuff is ready. Freshly pulled leeks with roast lamb on Easter Sunday - yummy.

I'm going to have a go at growing sweetcorn for the first time this year. A neighbour grows it very successfully, so fingers crossed.

Magentasue

Sweetcorn is easy! You are supposed to plant in a block rather than a row for pollination and it grows tall so put it somewhere where it won't block light from lower growing plants. I grow it cos it's one of those things that's a hundred times better when cooked freshly picked. Very easy but needs a lot of room.

HOLsale

Curry_Queen wrote:

I so wish I had a garden

me too, i soooo miss growing my own food :-(


if you like coriander you can grow that straight from the seeds you buy to cook with, it's much cheaper! same thing goes with many plants. if the seeds are things that are meant to be eaten nine times out of ten you can grow them. the only thing you may have problems with is them 'not coming true' which means if you use seed from them you will not get as perfect a plant as the original because they are hybrids BUT you still get very cheap plants and sometimes they are even better than the norm (a friend of mine used marrow fat peas from some he bought to cook, turns out they are shorter, hardier and produce a lot more peas than the kind you buy from a seed catalog!)

seeds i have planted from things meant to be eaten

coriander
mustard
peas
store bought potatoes
store bought garlic cloves
these all grew very well indeed!

chillis
peppers
these grew well but they like it hot so you have to molly coddle them a bit

lentils
these grew but i planted them the wrong time of year ( i just wanted to see if they would grow at all) i don't know how hot a climate you need for these but if you have the space it's probably worth the investment of space if you eat a lot of them, saying that they are very cheap to buy at asian stores so it may not be worth it.

i've grown rhubarb from seed and from a crown. to be honest the seed did much better though perhaps i bought the crown too late for it to settle well, i'm not sure. at any rate rhubarb is great for ground where other plants won't do well including shady areas so don't waste your space in the sun on them. i suggest planting them this year as you won't be able to eat off of them for a few years. just be sure to plant them where you want them to stay as they will be there just shy of forever!

also, any meditteranean herbs like oregano, rosemary and basil should do well in poor soil even if it's a bit stony. these plants are weeds in the greek countryside and thrive in poor conditions. i actually killed one of my gorgeous rosemary bushes by planting it in the same nutrient rich area as my tomatoes (the plan was to naturally ward off pests) but it didn't like the manure and seaweed rich soil that my tomatoes thrived on and died! i later found out they were weeds and from then on anything i've planted in poor soil has done much better, this goes for rocket as well!

you probably already know this but plant your mints in deep sided pots with the bottoms cut out or you will have them taking over your garden!

HOLsale

mink35 wrote:

Growing the spuds in huge tubs Troo so they don't take over the garden!

Got a greenhouse and will have my tomatoes and some peppers (forgot those!) in there apart from one of the tomato varieties which is an outdoor tumbling one. Never tried growing cucumbers so didn't want to have a go this year but friend tells me she has some spare seedlings so will probably end up with some!

have you considered growing cherry tomatoes from hanging baskets? if you are down south you should be able to grow them this way provided they aren't in a draughty area. i grew tomatoes outside on the isle of skye in a very proteced spot against a white south facing wall (they were in old tyres with nice hot manure and seaweed decomposing but hey, it was skye!) these did alright so a hanging basket in a nice warm spot could give you some lovely cherry tomatoes and look really cool too! you can also grow strawberries this way or so i hear

HOLsale

moggins wrote:

So far I've got carrots, leeks and spinach planted, plus a patio pear tree, gooseberry bush and blackberry and strawberries, I already have a large apple tree, rasberries and a huge rhubarb.

I'm going to grow the leeks in dustbins which will help with blanching and will do tomatoes and peppers in my grobag greenhouses. I only have a small patch to work with so I'm fitting in what I can. I want some salad leaves but I'm having a hard time finding anything other than the obligatory lettuce.

i want to live at your house this summer

why not try rocket? or coriander and mustard? these make far nicer salad greens in my opinion than boring old crunchy water (also known as lettuce)

have you tried intercropping? a quick google search on this subject will turn up all you need to know.

HOLsale

mink35 wrote:

That'd be great DFC, thanks.

Apparently it's very quick to grow and it's the earlier bits that you use like spinach. After about 60 days it's a little more rhubarb-like to look at and you can cook it (boil/steam) and serve it with butter as a veggie

you can get a variety of swiss chard called rainbow chard and it's absolutely gorgeous! you get orange, indigo, brown, ruby red, yellow etc all in the same plants!

HOLsale

mink35 wrote:

Xbigman - there was a thread on here a while ago about making your own beetroot crisps (amongst other veggies). I'm sure someone will know how to make them for you to try.


PS Got 14 little Pomodorino seedlings now! Yay!

mmmmm i used to make those, they were my favourite!

simply slice raw beetroot about 1/3 inch thick and put them on a baking sheet on the lowest oven setting you have. cook until crispy but don't burn them! they are gorgeous! you can add a bit of seasoning to them before you dry them if you like... sweet potatos are nice this way too