Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

mrbadexample

lilyjune wrote: »

Aubergines, chillies and bell peppers, do they need to go in the dark? I have them in the sunny conservatory in the morning, sunny front room in afternoon and dining room table at night ( same as everything else).

Then should I water my seedlings every day? I've been trying to keep them damp but terrified of drowning them or having them too dry? Should I water from the bottom, i.e. in the tray or from the top?

What is leggy? And how will I know if my seedlings are leggy? And what should I do? Most of my tomatoes have now germinated and are getting 2 little leaves but the leaves don't start until about an inch up the plant and they're teeny tiny!

And most of my beans are up with proper leaves and everything!! But I realised today that there are roots coming out of the bottom of the pots now too, should they now be potted on?

In other news, I have no marigolds sown yet but maybe tomorrow...and my blueberry arrived yesterday in the post, realised it was far too small to get anything from this year, also realised blueberries like the company of another blueberry so went down to the garden centre and bought another one, much bigger

Sorry for all the stupid questions, I really need gardening by numbers!!

Chillies and peppers (and probably aubergines too) need light, not dark.

For watering seedlings, check out this video. I don't water mine every day.

Leggy means tall and spindly. Can be corrected in tomatoes and chillies by burying them deeper when you pot them on. I think it's caused by insufficient light, so the plant grows more quickly towards the light source (phototropism). Therefore if you put things in the dark they become very tall and spindly as they search for light. This is the precept behind forcing rhubarb - the tall, thin stems are paler in colour and usually more tender.

The beans should be ok for a bit, but unless they're broad beans it'll be a while before they can go out. You don't want them frostbitten.

Oh, and if you water the blueberries, use rainwater.

lemonjelly

I am already having to fight the urge to go looking at my pepper seeds on a window sill, & the lettuce/toms/peas/beetroot/cucumber in the greenhouse. I'm literally having to drag myself past the doorways & avoid looking in on the inevitable disappointment that after 11 days, nothing has sprouted...

Aside from on here, I've yet to formally announce diddly squat is growing yet, & start panicking that nothings going to work...

mrbadexample

LilMissEmmylou wrote: »

Ooooh look at all those pots! Thats too exciting! and well done on the greenhouse raising

I was looking for a site to buy some pots for seedlings and came accross tis http://myzerowaste.com/2009/01/making-seedling-pots-from-toilet-roll-inners/ - has anyone ever tried this? We had been collecting the toilet roll inners for DD to do some craft thing she wants to try - but thinking I can convince her she wants to use them for some new plants

I use toilet roll inners for beans.

mrbadexample

lemonjelly wrote: »

I am already having to fight the urge to go looking at my pepper seeds on a window sill, & the lettuce/toms/peas/beetroot/cucumber in the greenhouse. I'm literally having to drag myself past the doorways & avoid looking in on the inevitable disappointment that after 11 days, nothing has sprouted...

Aside from on here, I've yet to formally announce diddly squat is growing yet, & start panicking that nothings going to work...

Do you have a heated propagator? You really need one just to get (some) things going. Peppers and chillies in particular need heat to germinate. A normal propagator with a heat mat underneath works just as well.

annie123

lilyjune wrote: »

Aubergines, chillies and bell peppers, do they need to go in the dark? I have them in the sunny conservatory in the morning, sunny front room in afternoon and dining room table at night ( same as everything else).

If its to germinate, they need heat. If they've already germinated they need light

Then should I water my seedlings every day? No Should I water from the bottom, i.e. in the tray or from the top? yes

What is leggy? grow towards the light when there isn't enough Most of my tomatoes have now germinated and are getting 2 little leaves but the leaves don't start until about an inch up the plant and they're teeny tiny! that's normal

And most of my beans what beans? are up with proper leaves and everything!! But I realised today that there are roots coming out of the bottom of the pots now too, should they now be potted on? should be outside if broadbeans, and too soon to sow any others,


Sorry for all the stupid questions, no stupid questions, only questions you dont know the answers too.

Answers in red.
A good habit to get into is picking up the seed tray/pots etc to feel the weight, when they feel light they need watering, it's very easy to drown seedlings, they have tiny roots so don't use a lot of water.

Beans grow quickly and have deep roots, it's not warm enough at night to have french or runner beans sown outside yet, and if it's broadbeans they should be outside really.

By the end of the year you'll have learned lots, just like MBE has;)

lisakay_2

Ooops, forgot to check who posted what, but I have read all posts, honest. blackberry/raspberry etc. planting out now is fine. there should be a line on the plant where you can see it was planted before. plant upto or slightly deeper than this.

Marigolds, knew there was something I wanted to do today!

Toilet roll tubes...i just stand them in a seed tray, tip compost over the top and push it down into tubes. sow a seed in each and plant the whole thing out when ready. I've just done carrots and parsnips like that so far this year, the peas will be next on the list.

My eldest had a friend over for tea this evening, they made omelette and i saved the shells and let them make a cress head each, not sure thay'll grow in time for the decorated egg comp in school on wed though.

after work/school today we sat in the garden and sowed landcress, rocket, spinach and salad leaves and red alert tomatoes.
tomorrow I hope to do peas, beans and brassicas.
the herbs are all coming up nicely, except the rosemary which the cat knocked over, will sow some more of that too.
off to bed now, if i can get the girls to toast club at school nice and early I'll have more time to do stuff before work;)

mrbadexample

annie123 wrote: »

By the end of the year you'll have learned lots, just like MBE has;)

Think I'm starting to get the hang of it. It's trying to gain 40 years of experience in 4 years - to do that you have to ask a lot of questions.

Angelfeathers

mrbadexample wrote: »

Do you have a heated propagator? You really need one just to get (some) things going. Peppers and chillies in particular need heat to germinate. A normal propagator with a heat mat underneath works just as well.

I don't know about chillies, but my peppers have germinated perfectly well (if a little slowly) for the last three years just on a windowsill with a cheap plastic cover over the tray. Even this year, when they were swiftly approaching their 'use by' date, they still came up, even if it seemed to take forever. So a heated propagator isn't *always* necessary, though I admit it might speed things up a bit. :-)

aliasojo

lemonjelly wrote: »

I am already having to fight the urge to go looking at my pepper seeds on a window sill, & the lettuce/toms/peas/beetroot/cucumber in the greenhouse. I'm literally having to drag myself past the doorways & avoid looking in on the inevitable disappointment that after 11 days, nothing has sprouted...

Aside from on here, I've yet to formally announce diddly squat is growing yet, & start panicking that nothings going to work...

Know how you feel, my pepper seeds did nothing, even in a heated prop.

Then I read the posts about seed depth and I figured I'd put them too deep and they weren't going to grow so I went out and ran my fingers through the compost as if I was loosening it all up (it seemed to be crusty on top but damp underneath).

I had intended emptying it all out and starting again but the phone went and I got called away. When I went back to it the next morning, there were tiny tiny specs of green so I left the tray just to see what would happen. Lo and behold, small pepper shoots started to grow. A lot of the seeds didn't germinate but I got 4 of each type I'd planted so that's better than nothing.

I think as well as being too deep, the compost was too firm as well so when I loosened it all up it helped them a bit.

shazz5555

I was never into gardening yet alone planting till I met my bloke 2 years ago. He has 2 allotments. Anyway last year I grew spuds, courgettes, parsnips tomatoes to name a few. Cant wait to get planting thi s year. My spuds are chitting lovely. I got 8 varieties of seeds in one pack ffrom poundland last year. Everything grew!!. I got some seed spuds form there as well. This year I got seed spuds from Aldi.However my bloke said shops are still expensive and its best to get some stuff from allotment shops? This year I am only planting a couple of courgette seeds, was over run last year/with them.. Dug up the last of carrots. onions and parsnips the other day, and still got pasta sauce and Tomato soup in freezer from last year.