My seeds have arrived and now I need some advice...

[Mung]

Growing in your own garden is great, but you miss out on all those pearls of wisdom from those people who have been growing veg for years.
Hopefully there are some people out there who can help me.

1. I have ordered Hangdown green Broad beans - does anyone know how tall they grow?
   2)I made a huge mistake with my main crop seed potatoes last year, keeping them in a closed box in the dark and they ended up looking like medusa. What SHOULD I do with my main crop seed potatoes?
   3)Are grow bags really worth it or can I plant my tomatoes in tubs. They failed last year and I was wondering whether to go for grow bags.

[Jennster]

I'm not too great at gardening myself mung, but I think everybody's toms failed last year. The only time I've had good ones have been when grown in growbags rather than pots, even though pots are meant to be better

[Jennster]

I think Gardener's World did an experiment last year with chitting potatoes. To chit or not to chit. They didn't really notice that much of a difference between the groups. To chit you put them in something like egg boxes, on a windowsill. Not sure how long you are meant to do that for before planting them though. I am going to try potatoes in large manure bags this year. I always loose them in my raised beds.

[Mung]

I was looking at bags too Jennster. Purely because I can't fit all the seed potatoes in my bed. I just felt it would cost loads to fill the bag with soil. Are you growing in bags of manure and nothing else? Or, have I totally misunderstood?

[Mung]

With regards to chitting...I just like the feeling that I am doing something at this time of year. I'm not sure how to store the main crop until chitting them though.

[Jennster]

No I will be using old manure bags with a load of compost. You can then use that compost on your garden afterwards. It won't be wasted.

I'm rubbish on spuds though.

[Mung]

I had images of horse poo smelling spuds!
I have just taken a load of old bags to the dump. I will have to go in search of more manure now and do the same. What a great idea!

[lottymadbird]

tomatoes last year were rubbish for most people because of the widespread occurrence of blight. I was one of the lucky ones that wasnt hit early on and so I sprayed with copper sulphate as soon as I'd heard anyone had blight and had a lovely crop.

this year im going to spray once a week regardless of whether there is blight or not, why not try it if like me you love tomatoes.