Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

s_glover

I'd like to join in too if I can please. I've just read throught the thread and its great to share experiences and pictures with like minded people. I've posted a few times over on the Yorkshire thread and it's good to see some people in my area posting on here too.

We moved into our first house at the end of Janurary and am so looking forward to having our own garden. Previously we were in a flat with shared garden and had a go at growing quite a few veggies but always in pots / planters so am keen to see how things go planting straight in the garden. Very much trial and error I think.

The garden is north facing but the border to the left is mostly pebbles with just a couple of plants so am hoping to move these and grow some of the veg there this year. The raised bed in the patio should be perfect for salad and maybe courgettes / squash / beans? Other things will probably be going in pots for this year.

The garden has a few fruit trees, 2 apple and a plum we think. Lots of other shrubs, most of which we have no idea of so we'll be looking throughout the year to see what looks good before we do too much digging up etc. I got 2 blueberry and 2 rapsberry canes in lidl a couple of weeks back so those really need planting into pots this weekend. Not sure where will be best in the garden so thought pots would be the best idea for this year.

Planted some peppers and aubergine 2 weeks ago and these have all germinated well. They're quite tall now, 2/3 inches with just tiny leaves, should they be this tall already? Planted a couple of different varieties last week which are stilll keeping warm in the airing cupboard until they germinate.

Main crop potatoes (maris piper) are chitting on the windowsill. Also have lots of herb seed planted on the windowsill, hoping to set up a little herb garden in one end of the raised bed and some growing in pots indoors.

Also have some baby leaf salad (yet to germinate) and plug bedding plants in cold frames outside.

I also got a polytunnel from lidl a couple of weeks ago so this might be useful for some of the veg which likes it a bit warmer.

furball

Just a pic to show how it's going. Before So far

furball

If the weather holds i should be finished this weekend. I can start planting flowers and seed the lawn to be. Then i can tidy up the front and start planning which veg i am putting in. Going to go with the Geoff Hamilton style of planting veg and flowers in my long border.

mrbadexample

s_glover wrote: »

I'd like to join in too if I can please

I can see no reason why not.

You make it sound like you have quite a big garden, with lots of space. Some pics would be nice.

It does sound like your peppers might be a little bit leggy if they've only got the first two (seed) leaves. I must confess I don't know how to fix this, other than planting them deeper when they're potted on. I know you can do this with chillies and tomatoes, so peppers should be ok.

mrbadexample

furball wrote: »

If the weather holds i should be finished this weekend. I can start planting flowers and seed the lawn to be. Then i can tidy up the front and start planning which veg i am putting in. Going to go with the Geoff Hamilton style of planting veg and flowers in my long border.

Either those two photos were taken 2 years apart, or you've been working rather hard. :T

Sit yourself down and have a cup of tea. And maybe a nice slice of cake.

Stefon

Hi Just thought I would drop in with a Beetroot tip I found on the web, I have tried it and several (critical) gardening friends have and we have all been converted. Tip from Newxzealand gardener.
Don't pickle fresh beetroot in plain vnegar, all you get is the taste of red vinegar. Use equel parts white vinegard and the water you boiled the vinegar in, the original tip said also an equel part of sugar but we half that as we dont like it sweet.
You will find the water used to boil the beetroots has retained all the flavour and you will not find a lot of difference between preserved and fresh beetroots. Even People who don't like pickled beets enjoy the result.
Best wishes
Stefon

TallGirl

Furball that looks like you are making fantastic progress. Also hello and welcome to s_glover good luck with the new garden. I know I have just posted a picture of mine on another thread but here is it all made over ready for planting.

mrbadexample

Stefon wrote: »

Hi Just thought I would drop in with a Beetroot tip I found on the web, I have tried it and several (critical) gardening friends have and we have all been converted. Tip from Newxzealand gardener.
Don't pickle fresh beetroot in plain vnegar, all you get is the taste of red vinegar. Use equel parts white vinegard and the water you boiled the [STRIKE]vinegar[/STRIKE] beetroot in, the original tip said also an equel part of sugar but we half that as we dont like it sweet.
You will find the water used to boil the beetroots has retained all the flavour and you will not find a lot of difference between preserved and fresh beetroots. Even People who don't like pickled beets enjoy the result.
Best wishes
Stefon

Thank you for popping in and posting that. :T I love beetroot and previous attempts to pickle it have not gone as well as I would have liked. The first time I used the white vinegar, which was so acidic it made the beetroot practically inedible. I can't wait to give this a go. :j

mrbadexample

TallGirl wrote: »

Furball that looks like you are making fantastic progress. Also hello and welcome to s_glover good luck with the new garden. I know I have just posted a picture of mine on another thread but here is it all made over ready for planting.

I was just looking at this photo on your other thread, wondering why you hadn't shared it on here...:rotfl:

What are your plans for training your fruit trees? I've got my pear tree close to the fence because I plan to train it as a two-tier espalier along the fence. I wouldn't have thought you'd want the others as close if you plan on just letting them grow?

djohn2002uk

Fay wrote: »

Also, none of my broad beans or runner beans have come up, I think the greenhouse is just too cold, despite the instructions and books I've got saying they would be fine in an unheated greenhouse

Sowing seeds indoors gives a faster and more reliable germination rate, particularly for runner beans. At the end of April sow a single bean seed, 4cm (1.5in) deep, in a 7.5cm (3in) pot filled with multi-purpose compost.

Quote from Gardeners World. I plant mine in pots in a cold greenhouse middle to the end of April. If you are further north then nearer the end is best to avoid any late frosts.