Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

Aria`s_Tail

Hi everyone,
Well after a week of 13 hour shifts and then a dose of the winter vomiting bug I have time and feel well enough to do a bit of gardening - cue the weather turning rubbish! :eek:
I did manage to get out last night and bring in the less hardy plants and tuck some bubble wrap over the radish and s onion seedlings (which had blown off this morning despite a couple of half bricks!)
Hope DJohn is OK.
My new camera eventually turned up, still sealed in the box. Found in the dirty laundry bin of all places. Just need to work out how to use it now.
Have loads of seedings through now, both flower and veg, windowsills are starting to look a bit crowded.

Mumsiemum, I`ve got little gem lettuce on the go this year (never tried them before), 8 up as seedings now ready to plant out into a trough in a couple of weeks. 1000 seeds about £1.59 from Ebay. Land cress is also quite nice as a cut and come again.

LilMissEmmylou

argh - the new mini greenhouse blew over last night in the storm! Im not happy - id only just moved everything out of the kitchen window into it doh!

Back to square one this weekend for everything but the strawberries.

emiff6

hazzie123 wrote: »

Does anybody else keep checking seed trays every hour or so for germination? I expect my newly planted seeds to have germinated,sprouted true leaves and be pot bound in the same day.Sadly it's not that fast and no matter how many times I check a day nowts happening.It's sooooo slow.

If you want speed, try growing purslane. After rooting through my biscuit tin of seed packets for basil, I pulled one out and sowed seeds in modules on the windowsill. Then I looked properly at the packet and realised it was purslane, that I normally sow outdoors. Oh well, never mind. Anyway, three days later the seeds have sprouted and are nearly an inch tall!

emiff6

Sorry about your blowaway, Emmylou. From other posts elsewhere, sounds like they do need to be well anchored to something pretty solid. (I guess that's how they earned their nickname ). Did you lose a lot of seedlings?

annie123

mumsiemum wrote: »

I want to try lettuce as we eat it very regularly and pay at least £1 a pop so this would be a good way to cut the pennies.

I'm also going to try growing herbs as that is something else that is quite expensive.

MM

Welcome to the thread, Poundland and 99p stores sell bags of mixed salad leaves. I have 6 trays on the go through the summer rotating them so they get a chance to grow again, all done indoors.
When my new camera cable arrives tomorrow :j I should be able to post pics to show you what a tablespoon worth of seed looks like......it should have been a teaspoon, but I wasn't concentrating.:doh:

Lots of herb easy to understand herb info here: http://www.herbexpert.co.uk/GrowingHerbsCategory.html

aliasojo wrote: »

the nights do go down to 3 or 4 degrees so still too cold to plant out I think?

still too cold I'm afraid

Fay wrote: »

I would get your basil started asap, mine is on the window sill and is starting to look like basil-but I planted it about 4-5 weeks ago. Having said that I struggle like mad with herbs and don't know why. I've currently got a pot on the windowsill labelled coriander but think I could be done under the trades description act-there are about 7 sprigs of what do look like coriander but there is now way I can see if growing into a healthy bunch anytime soon! :rotfl:

Fay you were a touch early with basil, usually sown April or even May. As its a Mediterranean herb it likes lots of sunshine and warmth. It can be grown indoors or out.
Coriander takes ages to germinate, Mine was sown 2 weeks ago (outside) and I won't expect it for another week or so, so you've done well to get 7 up and running. It always bolts for me in the summer so I make another sowing around July and freeze for winter use in ice cube trays.

annie123

emiff6 wrote: »

If you want speed, try growing purslane.

Now that's something I've never grown. What does it taste like?

I'm looking for a replacement for my mexican midget tomatoes who died as they didn't like my version of a mexican jungle!

Yes I know its not a tomato but I like to grow a few new things or types each year.

Grew tomatillos last year, wont bother again, messy plants, and not many fruits for the time and space they took. Hubby did like the mexican chutney I made with them though, but only got 3 jars worth so not worth it.

Angelfeathers

annie123 wrote: »

Fay you were a touch early with basil, usually sown April or even May. As its a Mediterranean herb it likes lots of sunshine and warmth. It can be grown indoors or out.
Coriander takes ages to germinate, Mine was sown 2 weeks ago (outside) and I won't expect it for another week or so, so you've done well to get 7 up and running. It always bolts for me in the summer so I make another sowing around July and freeze for winter use in ice cube trays.

I'm growing both basil and coriander indoors - sowed them a couple of weeks ago and they're both coming up a treat. The coriander, especially, must be at least 3" tall now!

Ironically, it's the chives that don't seem to germinate for me. I bought a new pack of seeds this year and sowed at the same time (and in the same trough) as the others but only a bare handful have come up. :-(

Annoyingly, the heavy rain that was forecast for all day today passed north of us here and it's been gloriously sunny all day. I really *needed* that rain on my garden, too! :mad:

hazzie123

I've saved some loo roll tubes for planting seeds in them but I can't or the life of me remember what it was,anyone got any ideas?
I seem to have complete baby brain still.

No idea what Purslane is?

emiff6

Summer purslane, (portulaca oleracea), has quite fleshy leaves and a slightly sour flavour, so perhaps a bit of an acquired taste. I put just a few leaves scattered in a salad. It's low growing so I put it along the edge of the veg garden. Being semi-succulent it gets by without too much water.

lolly5648

hazzie123 wrote: »

I've saved some loo roll tubes for planting seeds in them but I can't or the life of me remember what it was,anyone got any ideas?
I seem to have complete baby brain still.

I always use them for starting off sugarsnap peas