The fruit and veg growing thread

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6,204
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    deleted. wrong thread. sorry :o
  • SallysallySallysally Posts: 5,070
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    Thanks Kassieq. Sadly, I have just come back from the local garden centre so will have to wait until next week before I suss out the seed racks! I know they do Seeds of Italy there, so I might be in luck.

    The reason I went to the garden centre in the first place was because my neighbour told me they had lots of cabbages etc for sale. But I was not too impressed by the standard - and anyway, I already have my spring and summer cabbage/calabrese etc growing, and somehow, autumn sprouts don't turn me on! has to be winter for that.
  • kassieqkassieq Posts: 3,145
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    We have a farmers market here twice a month and they always have trays of small plants, good quality at a decent price, I always have a look to see if there is anything new.

    I don't have a greenhouse so the kitchen is full of seed trays, I bought a 3 tier cast iron plant stand real cheap at a car boot and it holds about 12 large trays.

    I was given Jekka McVicar's herb book as a present so that is my project for this year a huge herb garden. Have you been watching grow your own drugs on BBC 2 - I made the chicken soup shown in the first episode - best I have tasted.
  • kate36kate36 Posts: 13,715
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    jabegy wrote: »
    I tried growing my own veg last year. I wasn't too successful, but I'm not going to let it deter me. I'm going to give it another go this year.

    The only thing I did have success with was Tumbling Tom tomatoes in a hanging basket. They were wonderful. I'll do that again this year and I'd also like to try some strawberries in a hanging basket as well.

    We've got a little patch at the back that gets a fair bit of sun that we're going to have a go with this year and we'd like to grow

    potatoes; mainly new potatoes
    leeks,
    beetroot,
    courgettes
    herbs
    spinach
    cauliflower

    I'm not sure how much of that we'll be able to fit in but i'd like to have a go at least as i spend a small fortune in the supermarket!
    wish me luck and i'll be keeping an eye out on here for some good tips! just hope im not too late ...:o
  • kate36kate36 Posts: 13,715
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    if it doesnt work out, i might join an organic box scheme !!
  • SallysallySallysally Posts: 5,070
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    i don't know how big your patch is Kate, but if it is small, imvho it is really not worth growing potatoes, unless you go in for one of these potato tubs you can get and grow vertically, so to speak. Even then, I would only plant earlies (new potatoes) which are infinitely better from your own garden than anything you get from a supermarket.
    From experience (and I am by no means an expert gardener) I found that when I was working full time and therefore only had time to grow a small amount, it was better to concentrate on things that cost a lot - mangetout, mini-sweetcorn etc.
    But whatever you grow - you will have a blast! It is so much fun.
  • malaikahmalaikah Posts: 20,010
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    Cauli's take up a lot of room too, if you have limited space to consider.

    Well today I went up and did some more digging/weeding - I've just about done the first patch/area for beds. I was going to do one bigger bed of a size around 2.5m x 3m but I think for practicality (reach distance and back-saving!) I'm going to have to split that area into two beds - just over one metre wide by maybe three long..
  • SallysallySallysally Posts: 5,070
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    All my beds are of different sizes and I have no permanent beds. :o I did say I was not an expert gardener! Though I do keep track of where I planted each type of veg each year so that I can rotate my crops.
    The over-riding criteria I use for bed size is - can I reach to the centre of the bed for weeding?
  • malaikahmalaikah Posts: 20,010
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    Sallysally wrote: »
    The over-riding criteria I use for bed size is - can I reach to the centre of the bed for weeding?
    Mmm. It was as I dug and weeded today I thought - that distance will break my back after a few weeks! :p
  • sheddy99sheddy99 Posts: 5,760
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    Well I planted (amongst other things) 7 cloves of garlic last sunday, 2 have sprouted really well, 2 are about to sprout :D:D
    None of my other seeds have germinated yet :rolleyes: I am very impatient, come on seeds! It's been a week!
    Have suspicions though as I caught our bantam chicken up on the table where i am keeping all the seed trays - wouldn't put it past the little blighter to peck anything up!
  • SallysallySallysally Posts: 5,070
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    malaikah wrote: »
    Mmm. It was as I dug and weeded today I thought - that distance will break my back after a few weeks! :p

    My husband, who is much, much lazier than me, uses a long-handled hoe for weeding. This might solve your problem.
    I prefer to pull weeds out by their roots. I know the blighters are dead then!
  • ejakejak Posts: 817
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    Sallysally wrote: »
    My husband, who is much, much lazier than me, uses a long-handled hoe for weeding. This might solve your problem.
    I prefer to pull weeds out by their roots. I know the blighters are dead then!

    :D lol my family think I'm nuts for hand pulling all my weeds.

    My melons, aubergines, cucumbers and toms have all sprouted yay:p
  • kate36kate36 Posts: 13,715
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    Sallysally wrote: »
    i don't know how big your patch is Kate, but if it is small, imvho it is really not worth growing potatoes, unless you go in for one of these potato tubs you can get and grow vertically, so to speak. Even then, I would only plant earlies (new potatoes) which are infinitely better from your own garden than anything you get from a supermarket.
    From experience (and I am by no means an expert gardener) I found that when I was working full time and therefore only had time to grow a small amount, it was better to concentrate on things that cost a lot - mangetout, mini-sweetcorn etc.
    But whatever you grow - you will have a blast! It is so much fun.

    its about 12 ft by 10ft so not massive but i would like to have a go at new potatoes, carrots, some greenery, and i'm going to have a go at peppers in a growbag, not sure if that will work; my mum's got the gardening woman coming today to dig it over and look over the seeds and bringing some seed trays with her...:D
    i'd like to grow some courgettes as well....
    :rolleyes::p:)
  • kate36kate36 Posts: 13,715
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    we're even thinking about having a couple of miniature fruit trees in the front garden...:D
  • AltheyaAltheya Posts: 3,519
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    Yay! My melons (oor errr), leeks, beets, beans and lettuce are all sprouting in my aerogarden!

    I'm planning on keeping the melon plants indoors as I do with chillis and peppers, as I'm thinking unless we have a really good summer they just won't survive. Anyone grown melons indoors with any success?!
  • SallysallySallysally Posts: 5,070
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    Kate - For your size plot, may I suggest that you grow only 1 courgette plant? They take up a huge amount of room and actually, if you look after them, 1 plant will produce enough for a family of 4.

    I think that peppers, chillies, tomatoes, beans, carrots etc are all fine. If you look at how the Chinese farm, they cram plants really close together. You can do this too - so long as you feed the plants properly. Carol Klein did a programme on BBC2 where a couple of women grew enough food in a 3x3metre raised bed for a family! So it can be done.
  • ejakejak Posts: 817
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    Altheya wrote: »
    Yay! My melons (oor errr), leeks, beets, beans and lettuce are all sprouting in my aerogarden!

    I'm planning on keeping the melon plants indoors as I do with chillis and peppers, as I'm thinking unless we have a really good summer they just won't survive. Anyone grown melons indoors with any success?!

    The first time I tried with melons i ended up with all male flowers :confused: I was told my greenhouse was too cold, but as the weather warmed I finally got some females.
    I hand pollinated by picking the male flower and inserting it into the female, as instructed on the seed packet.
    I finally got a few small fruits and picked the most healthy ones to grow on and pulled the rest off the plant. Unfortunately this all happened quite late in the season and my melons only grew to tennis ball size.
    I tried two years running but my unheated greenhouse doesn't give me a long enough growing season, so this year I'm growing in my conservatory along side my aubergines which had the same short period growing season.
  • googlekinggoogleking Posts: 15,006
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    some melon varieties are only tennis ball sized even when grown perfectly.

    Isn't it key to do lots and lots of watering if you want them to grow big?

    I aquired 3 pallets for my new allotment today, they are in the back of my car now, ready to be broken back into planks and turned into raised beds at the weekend :). Going to get more next week, best thing is the place I'm getting them from normally has to pay to dispose of them so is only too happy for me to take them away :D
  • sheddy99sheddy99 Posts: 5,760
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    I feel inadequate with just my little mini greenhouse when you're all talking about allotments :(
  • LaChatteGitaneLaChatteGitane Posts: 4,184
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    sheddy99 wrote: »
    I feel inadequate with just my little mini greenhouse when you're all talking about allotments :(

    You shouldn't. :) Use the space you have got wisely and enjoy growing what you can. You never know in future you might have an alotment also or a bigger garden.

    I haven't done anything yet as we just moved house in January. I won't have my usual diversity of crops, but what I can grow will add a little to the excitement of cooking and eating.:)
  • kate36kate36 Posts: 13,715
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    sheddy99 wrote: »
    I feel inadequate with just my little mini greenhouse when you're all talking about allotments :(

    We're buying a mini greenhouse!:D can't wait! :D:D
    it's from norfolk greenhouses ltd andit's the budget version which is enough for us [only me and mum to cater for!]

    gardener lady came yesterday and we're having to put our veg elsewhere as where we werre going to put it is not viable :( [palm tree with old tough roots] and there's too much work to do for one little veg plot
    so...we've identified a couple of redundant beds that im going to fork over at the weekend and start putting courgettes etc in...
    we're ordering the greenhouse very soon!:D:D
    we've got a couple of growbags at the bag we'd forgotten about that i'm going to use to plant peppers in and i'm going to cultivate some seed potatoes this weekend so before too long i can put those in too!
    :)
    it's all going on!
  • kate36kate36 Posts: 13,715
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    we're going to have a go with some miniature fruit trees too!:D

    re veg growing, has anyone grown spinach? any tips?
  • kate36kate36 Posts: 13,715
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    sheddy99 wrote: »
    This thread's given me a lot of inspiration! Might try and grow some strawberries too :)

    me too, i keep reading this thread and getting quite excited at the thought of all the lovely fruit and veg i'm [hopefully] goingto have!:D
  • SallysallySallysally Posts: 5,070
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    Kate - I have only ever grown perpetual spinach - and this stuff just keeps on going providing you pick it religiously. It does bolt after a year or if it gets very dry, but as it germinates pretty quickly, if it does go over, you do not have to wait a long time for it to grow again.
    Certainly, it looked a bit sad after the severe weather we had this year, but it is picking up again now.

    Something you might care to grow instead of spinach is chard, particularly rainbow chard. I love it much more than spinach when cooked, though if you want spinach for salad, then you cannot use chard (or at least, I think not)
  • kate36kate36 Posts: 13,715
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    Sallysally wrote: »
    Kate - I have only ever grown perpetual spinach - and this stuff just keeps on going providing you pick it religiously. It does bolt after a year or if it gets very dry, but as it germinates pretty quickly, if it does go over, you do not have to wait a long time for it to grow again.
    Certainly, it looked a bit sad after the severe weather we had this year, but it is picking up again now.

    Something you might care to grow instead of spinach is chard, particularly rainbow chard. I love it much more than spinach when cooked, though if you want spinach for salad, then you cannot use chard (or at least, I think not)

    thanks sally, i LOVE spinach and those little bags at the supermarket just dont last five minutes with me, i eat it raw, cooked, in salads, pasta dishes, steamed you name it....so i'd love to cultivate it myself and save some money!!
    i love kale too, have you grown that?
    could i grow spinach in a grow bag or is it better in the actual ground? also kale, any ideas?

    i will give chard a go too!

    thanks again:D
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