Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

mrbadexample

pink_poppy wrote: »

Another question ~ does everyone stand their pots in 'saucers' to water plants from the bottom or is that just not feasible??

I water seedlings from beneath, standing them in big trays. Adult plants (i.e. tomatoes) get watered from the top - I sink a small pot into the substrate so I can just pour directly into that. Saves the compost going everywhere.

aliasojo

pink_poppy wrote: »

Another question ~ does everyone stand their pots in 'saucers' to water plants from the bottom or is that just not feasible??

All my seedlings that are ready to go outside in the big planters are in individual small pots which stand in gravel trays with capilliary matting in them. I soak the matting and the plants take in what water they want.

When they go outside in the big pots, they just stand on the ground then.

annie123

lemonjelly wrote: »

The plan is to put everything into the pvc greenhouse I have.



Where's that been forecast? (bearing in mind the forecasters have been wrong consistently for the past 2 weeks!:mad:)

LJ.........you'll regret it (and so will we, listening to you complain that they are all dead/sad looking etc:p) if you just plonk them out.

I've had a look at the forecast for your area and you will be down to 0c to 2c at some point before Monday night. No frost but too cold.

You will only notice that it's dropped that low buy putting a warm snug tom in the blowaway and finding it dead:eek:
Buy next Thursday/Friday its looking milder a around 5-7c at night.
Still to cold to take them from warm and snug IMHO but you could spend the week hardening them off.

Thats what I'm doing at present, well except today, too cold and wet, couldn't be asked.

Just a thought but next year why not try just germinating them indoors and then putting them out as soon as they are up. They will only grow at the rate that the outside temp will allow and will produce tough good stocky plants.

Aunty Annie has now finished her lecture of wise wisdom (IMHO) and will shut up:o

annie123

And why can I not get any flower buckets here in London? tried, sainsburys/lidls/co-op/tesco and all say they are returned.:(

emiff6

aliasojo wrote: »

I use bags of grit from the builder's merchants to line the bottom of the pots with (the cheapest rubbishy stuff, lol), I'd lose half of it if I used a 10mm bit.

I use gravel, but I don't buy it. In the summer I keep an eye out for roads being resurfaced with tar and gravel. Often you'll find a little heap of gravel somewhere along the stretch, where the spreader has stopped or turned a corner or some such. I carry a dustpan and sturdy bags in the car, and (traffic permitting) scoop it all up. A good rinse to get out the dust, and I usually get a bucketful to last me all year

aliasojo wrote: »

Does anyone else not bother either? Just wondering if I'm giving myself more work/cost unnecessarily.

The book I read was very convincing......:rotfl:

I have some plant pots with rather large holes, so in these I put a square of kitchen roll or newspaper, or if I have it old hanging basket liner, just so the soil doesn't wash out when the pots are watered. Houseplants I put gravel in the outer pots that the plantpots stand in, so if I overwater then the roots don't get waterlogged. It also helps keep a little humidity around the plants if they stand on damp gravel.

adelight

annie123 wrote: »

And why can I not get any flower buckets here in London? tried, sainsburys/lidls/co-op/tesco and all say they are returned.:(

I don't know but it's a pain! When I worked in a florist we didn't get anything in in buckets, it all came in boxes so we could never give buckets away.

I had a random packet of "basil cinnamon" or something like that in a seed order from ebay a while ago. I planted them in little pots and they're growing quite well but don't look much like basil! Sometimes they smell like basil, other times more spicy.

Has anyone tried growing stevia indoors?
I had just a tiny pinch of dried stevia in porridge and it was so sweet and tasty, much nicer than actual sugar. Would love to be able to grow it, especially as one leaf is allegedly enough to sweeten a cup of tea.

djohn2002uk

annie123 wrote: »

And why can I not get any flower buckets here in London? tried, sainsburys/lidls/co-op/tesco and all say they are returned.:(

Find the manager, in our Llidl it seems only he can say yes or no. Even got about 6 from Waitrose for free.

annie123

djohn2002uk wrote: »

Find the manager, in our Llidl it seems only he can say yes or no. Even got about 6 from Waitrose for free.

Thanks for that. I'm a girl with a mission tomorrow

And my son called this evening, he's bought me a sweet pepper plant:D said he felt really bad about the cat!

mrbadexample

annie123 wrote: »

And my son called this evening, he's bought me a sweet pepper plant:D said he felt really bad about the cat!

Think he needs reminding that there were three peppers, some chillies, toms...

lolly5648

aliasojo wrote: »

All my seedlings that are ready to go outside in the big planters are in individual small pots which stand in gravel trays with capilliary matting in them. I soak the matting and the plants take in what water they want.

I've seen capilliary matting in shops but don't know what it is for or how to use it. I stand my pots in gravel and just water the gravel.