Growing your own veg and fruit

KTFrugal

You can plant them out in the flower beds, so long as they don't get crowded by other plants. Lack of air flow encourages all the various leaf spots to which they are prone.

When planting out, nip off the first layer of leaves and plant up to this level. Roots will quickly form along this buried stem and anchor the plant securely. Put in your canes now.

You can nip out the tops of the plants now to get them to branch and be bushy, not lanky. You should also nip out the tops a month before you expect the first frost, so that the energy goes to ripening the fruit, not putting on vegetative growth.

Mulch with whatever you have, even shredded newspaper, to reduce soil splash and the dread diseases.

Feed with liquid compost/liquid kelp/cheapo tom feed.

If you surround each plant with a chicken wire cage, it acts as a support and a structure you can wrap with plastic for the end of the season/summer frosts! Looks like Colditz for plants, though and you have to make sure that the squares of wire are big enough to get your hand through to pick the fruit.

Just as well they will be the best tomatoes in the world, or we'd all end up going down the shops for them, to save all that faffing about

Pal

Ideas for winter crops should include sprouts for xmas dinner! Yum!

My pot of lager in the garden is proving excellent at catching slugs and those snails that I miss on my rounds.

Throwing snails and slugs into next door does not work. It only takes them a day or so to get back into your garden - you would be amazed at the distance they can cover in a few hours. Stamp on them or get your children to do it for you. (Of course the real MSE thing to do is to eat the snails....)

So far my carrot seedlings are slug free, and the potatoes seem to the thriving now with only a few holes in them. Early days yet so the battle continues for now.

As an aside, my house is rented so I haven't done much with the garden, but I finally cut back the shrubs yesterday with a hedge trimmer. Halfway through I realised that I could smell aniseed, and upon investigation found an enormous tarragon bush growing behind some flowery waste of soil nutrients. It's about four feet high! Excellent! Chives and parsley are not the only herb I can grow!

Just call me Percy.

Liney_2

I heard that slugs have a homing instinct and if you throw them over the fence they just come right on back! I have been doing this for ages! Doh!

I don't want to use slug pellets and have tried using egg shells but to no avail.

I hate killing things even slugs and snails, what can I do?

Am waiting for 3 slug traps to arrive (from Ebay) that I can fill with beer in the hope this works but do they die in there or will I have to dispose of the fat and probably drunk snails and slugs in the morning???

Galtizz

Have a look at THIS post for slug tips. I also posted on there how to make your own beer trap from an old pop bottle if you haven't bought them already? According to springwatch they will die (happy) from drowning in beer so you'll just have to chuck them away somewhere. Not sure if they compost? - YUK!

squeaky

Since you shouldn't compost meat I suspect slugs are a no-no too.

A good compost info site is HERE

Then click on "What can I compost"

:whistle:

Debt_Free_Chick

Liney wrote:

I don't want to use slug pellets and have tried using egg shells but to no avail.

I hate killing things even slugs and snails, what can I do?

Could you cope with watering in a nemotode? This is a natural predator of slugs. You put the nematodes in a watering can, fill with water and water the veg patch.

Most of the slugs die "naturally" IYSWIM, underground.

Details here, which links to a "green" gardening site.

HTH

terriermama

Thanks to Squeaky who directed me to this thread. I am a total newcomer to growing my own veg and just purchased some organic seeds. I've bought carrot, broccoli, pumpkin, lettuce, cucumber, and both regular and plum type tomatoes.

I've done some research but nothing beats hearing from experienced veg gardeners about what works and what doesn't. I'm in London and 95% of my lawned garden is in sun most of the day, with an upraised section of bamboo and trees which provides shade at the back - thinking of putting lettuce or broccoli in the shade under there. Will that be OK or better in the sun? I'm planning on removing bits of the lawn and growing the veg in borders and mixing them with decorative climbers etc.

Can anyone help re: planting locations, hints on seeding directing into ground, watering, hours of sun required, complementary planting, if I should delay planting any of the above veg till another season etc etc.

Loadsabob

Hello there,

Not full sun for lettuce -they tend to "bolt" (go to seed) if too hot, so somewhere where they enjoy a little bit of shade at least. And lots of water!

Off the top of my head I can't advise you on when to plant...although I would have thought it was a little late for tomatoes and cucumbers. They need some time to get going, and I don't know whether they would flower and fruit so late in the season? I could be completely wrong there!

Your plans sound great, I know you'll have great fun getting things going. At this time of year you could still sow rocket, spring onions, beetroot, radishes, cabbages...

I recommend Joy Larkcom's "Grow Your Own Vegetables" It's about £10 full price, though often on offer from different places (The Book People, second hand on Amazon? Rarely crops up on ebay...). The book is comprehensive, no nonsense, no photos, but little diagrams to help you. It's a really good basic grounding in when to, where to, how to. There are also guides for what to plant / sow each month, what sort of plants like what sort of conditions etc...

Sorry this post isn't too much of the personal information you were asking for, but I hope that gives you a starting point?

Also, Kitchen Garden Magazine have a section on "what to do you your plot" each month. It tells you what you can be planting or sowing each month. August's is currently out, and may give you an idea what's good to sow now...

KTFrugal

Hi Terriermama,


You're a bit too late for toms and cukes - keep the seeds in a ziploc bag in the friddge and they'll be good for next year.

You can start off the broccoli in pots, as little seedlings tend to get munched by slugs and snails. Once the plants are sturdier, they can survive the chomping a bit better. Put a beer/dough trap in the ground to catch the invaders.

You can direct sow "spring" onions and chives now. Try to sow as thinly as possible as pricking out the weedy little seedlings is a chore.

I always do some kale for the winter. It keeps well in the ground, is easy to grow and great to eat. You can start it now, direct sowing is fine.

Check out seed catalogues for unusual salad crops for the autumn season, that you can start in August eg claytonia, mache (corn salad), mizuna, minutina. They all grow more easily than lettuce and will give you a long season of cropping. Covering them with fleece will keep them going for another few weeks in the bad weather.

Also consider ordering fruit plants from a mail order supplier. Plan ahead for a autumn planting, as that is the best time to establish them. Rhubarb gives you an early crop and likes full sun. It mixes well with the flower beds. Strawberries also like full sun, but other berries can take a bit of shade...maybe near the back of your property? Check out autumn fruiting raspberries for something you won't find in the shops - to cultivate, you whack them back to 4 inches in Feb, then leave them alone. Perfect!

Good luck.

terriermama

Is it really too late to start growing cucumbers? I've read that August is time to plant them. I ordered 'Marketmore' type. I really don't want to wait till next year for the tomatoes as well. Will they do OK in pots indoors?