Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

lemonjelly

I don't have an allotment - it is all in the garden.
As well as eating stuff which tastes absolutely glorious, & better than the shop bought stuff, a big part of why I grow stuff is for fun & also relaxation. I find it very de-stressing coming home from work, or spending time at a weekend in the garden, even if it is just pottering.

I'm now approaching 3 weeks since I planted stuff. Still no sign of toms, peppers or cucumbers. It is usually around week 3 that I go into "NOTHINGS GROWING!!!!!!" panic mode...

As I've not been able to get any further suggestions about what to grow, I'm thinking about putting more peas in to fill up the garden. Peas are my favourite veg anyway, so I want to make sure I get enough for at least one dinner!

Sambucus_Nigra

lemonjelly wrote: »

I don't have an allotment - it is all in the garden.
As well as eating stuff which tastes absolutely glorious, & better than the shop bought stuff, a big part of why I grow stuff is for fun & also relaxation. I find it very de-stressing coming home from work, or spending time at a weekend in the garden, even if it is just pottering.

I'm now approaching 3 weeks since I planted stuff. Still no sign of toms, peppers or cucumbers. It is usually around week 3 that I go into "NOTHINGS GROWING!!!!!!" panic mode...

As I've not been able to get any further suggestions about what to grow, I'm thinking about putting more peas in to fill up the garden. Peas are my favourite veg anyway, so I want to make sure I get enough for at least one dinner!

Sorry, I don't read every post on here and may have missed your 'what can I grow' post or thread, but my main answer to that is 'what do you like to eat?' and go from there.

If you want easy things that need very little attention, leeks, French beans, beetroot, spring onions, all types of lettuce leaves, the last 3 you can sow in pots, and bung into any spare space going and leave them to do their thing.

Peas - you can grow all year round; for the peas themselves spring, summer and autumn but for pea shoots all winter - put a load of peas shoulder to shoulder in a decent sized pot and cover with compost, then when the plants get to about 6 inches, use them like a cut and come again salad and put the shoots into salads, on top of curries, and my fave - chop finely and bung into rice about a moment before you drain it. Just stir then drain. Lovely.

Fay

Hi everyone, sounds like we have all been busy either doing or planning. My first week off is nearly over but I feel like we've got a lot done this week, we went for a nice meal last night and congratulated ourselves on all our hard work
Anyway, yesterday we planted and sowed lots of plugs and seeds for flowers in the summer. We also planted some dahlia tubers, a little late I feel but we can live in hope. Husband fitted a new vent opener in the greenhouse which is now working-last year we relied on sticks propping it open! Lots more weeding, mulching and general tidying was done.
Oh and potting on of chillies, peppers and tomatoes...ready for pics?

I obviously went a little wild with the number of chillies I did again this year, but there is something quite addictive about growing them...and eating them. A lot will have to be shared out...


The early jalapeños are looking great, just like last year


Albertos locoto, new to me this year ( a red chilly with black seeds) seem to be doing ok, furry little things though..


I kind of neglected my sweet peppers this year and they have needed to be potted on for a couple of weeks now, but only just got round to it. So size wise they are suffering for that, but look healthy enough..


And now to the tiny chilly plant-the wenks hot yellow. They look healthy but are just soooo tiny and I've had two die on me. I have no idea if this is how they usually are or not as it's my first time growing them


That's all for now folks, happy gardening

mrbadexample

Fay wrote: »

And now to the tiny chilly plant-the wenks hot yellow. They look healthy but are just soooo tiny and I've had two die on me. I have no idea if this is how they usually are or not as it's my first time growing them

Mine's a nice big healthy seedling. In fact, it's one of my biggest, healthiest-looking seedlings:



Sorry about that - it's not the chilli. The rest of yours look mighty fine though - I'm sure it'll catch up.

s_glover

As a general rule when should I pot on my plants?

I've got several types of pepper plants and some aubergine as well as marigolds. I think I read somewhere that you should wait until theyhave their first set of true leaves, is this correct? The peppers and aubergines have been plnated about 5 weeks, about 3 weeks since they germinated but they still only have the one set of leaves so shall I wait a bit longer to do these?

VegGrower

I think I may have been a little over enthusiastic with my courgettes, I've got two seedlings (in the same pot), which live in the airing cupboard over night and on a sunny window sill during the day, that are getting rather large! I'm a bit worried that they won't like it when they go outside!

Getting the same treatment I have courgettes, butternut squash, pak choi, peppers, and sweetcorn although that hasn't appeared yet.

On the dining table downstairs I have tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, leeks, kale, salad, chillis, spinach, all of which are starting to show and go out in the garden for the day to get the sun then back into the house at night!

In the blow away greenhouse I have a pot of carrots so that they are protected from carrot fly. Also mint as it was looking a bit worse for wear after winter, a lemon tree with no leaves as it got caught by the frost, I'm not holding out too much hope for this one but fingers crossed, and some strawberries in pots to hopefully give them a bit of a head start.

Peas and runner beans are in pots outside, peas are shooting!

This weekend I will be digging up some of the lawn to make a veg patch, although the previous owners were not very clean and had a big dog so I'm not really looking forward to that job (moved in winter now time to start garden!).

VG

mrbadexample

s_glover wrote: »

As a general rule when should I pot on my plants?

I've got several types of pepper plants and some aubergine as well as marigolds. I think I read somewhere that you should wait until theyhave their first set of true leaves, is this correct? The peppers and aubergines have been plnated about 5 weeks, about 3 weeks since they germinated but they still only have the one set of leaves so shall I wait a bit longer to do these?

Can you see any roots sticking out the bottom of the pot yet? Chillies (and therefore I assume peppers) don't mind being a little bit cramped. Not sure about the aubergines though, but yes, wait for true leaves I think.

mrbadexample

VegGrower wrote: »

runner beans are in pots outside,

Wait a month. Then sow some more.

Runner beans can't go outside until all risk of frost has passed. Depending where you are in the UK, this is likely to be sometime in May.

VegGrower

mrbadexample wrote: »

Wait a month. Then sow some more.

Runner beans can't go outside until all risk of frost has passed. Depending where you are in the UK, this is likely to be sometime in May.

Ok thanks! Will my peas be ok? I'll probably leave them out in case they germinate, I've got some fleece that I can wrap them up in . I'm trying to do the successional thing this year anyway..!

s_glover

mrbadexample wrote: »

Can you see any roots sticking out the bottom of the pot yet? Chillies (and therefore I assume peppers) don't mind being a little bit cramped. Not sure about the aubergines though, but yes, wait for true leaves I think.

Don't think there's any rots appearing out the bottom yet but I will have a little look tonight. Think I'll wait until they are a little bigger and sturdier and hopefully that way they will cope with the move better.