29th March "Grow your own" newcomers welcome here

[TalkinPeece]

In light of lots of posts on lots of other threads I thought I'd start one for those who are looking at their gardens in a whole new light this spring.

Rule One of starting to grow your own
do not be over ambitious
A couple of growbags and pots at the start will give better results than trying to dig up the whole garden

Rule Two of starting to grow your own
grow stuff that will actually cope with your conditions
Look at where the sun shines on your garden at different times of day and what access to water you have

Rule three of starting to grow your own
grow what you will enjoy eating fresh from the garden
as the crops will be smaller but tastier

Rule Four of starting to grow your own
prepare to develop an obsession with the weather forecast

HOWEVER
Tomatoes against a wall of the house are easy in most of the UK
Herbs in small pots on windowsills are easy in most places
Lettuce / salad greens can work in pots, tubs or even hanging baskets
Spinach can be seeded soon and every few weeks from then on to keep you in greens for months
Baby carrots are quick fun and easy to grow in a tub
Beetroot ditto
Dwarf french beans later in the year are well worth growing even in a tiny garden

If we assume that the biggest newcomer plot is 2m by 1m (or 8 feet by 4 feet in old money)

How much yummy veg can Mumsnetters produce?

It's really sheltered so no wind I don't think. It's surprisingly sturdy too.

I also bought one of these things they had in their canteen and I think I'm going with tumbling toms in them

That last ones hang on a hook from a bracket by the way

Those look great Laurie. Reminds me of something I saw that might be of use balconygardenweb.com/diy-stacked-pot-ideas/

Loads of fab ideas in that Pinterest article!

Ooh, I like that Ikea thing - I need to get a new support for the plants in my front porch .....

On the basis of this thread I have got tomato and pepper seeds taken from vegetables germinating on my kitchen windowsill. If it doesn't work I've lost nothing and will buy some plants.

I’ve been considering doing some vertical gardening around one of the lawns. Has anyone tried that?

Desk cleared, heated propagator filled with compost and warming nicely. Check. Chillies and other heat loving stuff (toms etc)

Root trainers cleaned, filled with compost and warming in conservatory. Check. Salad, leeks. Mooli in conservatory beds growing well.

Seeds ready to go

Beds at top of garden cleared and ready to go, oca in tomorrow. Good king henry is just breaking earth. Three cornered leeks are invading everywhere. Planted the pomegranate and hoping for no snow. DH and I disagreed on this one, it could have waited. potatoes, first earliest and pink fir have been planted in bags. Perennial leeks are doing well.

Must pop down to allotment and sort compost bins, plus weed Chard is re-sprouting and still a couple of beetroot to harvest. Perpetual spinach is rather sad.

Care
You can do some REALLY cool things with tripods of bamboo to grow beans and tall peas in flower beds ...

Excellent TalkinPeece. I will look into that.

I’m heading to Tesco shortly. Ironically I have loads of tinned/packed food in, but no bread or fruit for the youngest’s lunch.

Relative newbie here, great thread with loads of non condascending advice

I have a couple of questions...

I’ve been told not to plant any seeds yet as they will eventually have to grow outside and apparently doing it too early inside (propagater on windowsill was my plan) will give me spindly plants that won’t survive as they’ll have been inside too long by the time it’s warm enough to plant out. Is this right?

Can I just grow all my veg in gro-bags and pots? I have a good sized garden but having spent two years renovating the house, the garden soil is not really ready for planting. I’d need to do a lot of work which is fine, but not that consistent with the needs of my pre-school whinge bag. Plus I have no idea what I’m meant to be working into the soil nor where I actually want the veg bed yet.

If I do grow in pots (have tumbling tomato seeds), what sort of soil should I be putting in them? Just standard stuff? Stuff from the gro-bag?

Sorry for bombarding. FIL seems to be waiting for me to fail but the kids are so excited to be growing veg that I want to make it successful.

Hi there LooksLIke
Tell your FiL that Percy Thrower is old hat
See if you can pick up one of the books up thread as they are a great resource
however ....
Tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, basil should most definitely be indoors in a propagator
once they are a couple of inches tall then they need to be on a bright windowsill and turned regularly and stroked across the top to keep them stocky

Yes, LOTS of veg can be done patio style - at RHS Wisley they have a "patio" display veg garden

soil - half and half soil and compost with some slow release food will do the season

for the kids - do mustard and cress and radishes as they are REALLY quick so keep the interest going till the slower crops catch up

Have fun

Thanks Talk

Exactly the advice I was looking for!

"Stroked across the top" - is that a strange gardening euphemism, or do I actually need to caress my seedlings?

I kiss mine goodnight

I stroke my seedlings too.I am dusting down the propagator to start the chillies and peppers off Inthe window sills.
I have bought new seeds and have a yellow climbing courgette to try out and I'm just itching to get started.
I have a small garden after years of having a high one so I'm still learning how to manage without a greenhouse.I have put large planters on the patio.One has self down parsley starting to sprout.The autumn down garlic is sprouting nicely.I still have a few carrots in and perpetual spinach which needs a good picking to let new leaves through.I have one row of that,will plant a new row when it's warm enough then when that grows grub up the old row.
I have lots of herbs growing amongst the flowers and the courgettes go in the flower beds too along with kale and chard.

I would also like a little more guidance on how to stroke them! Paintbrush? Fingers? Just top leaves?

With love

I guess I'm starting a new good morning/good night routine then!

does stroked in top include getting clobbered by the kitchen blind going up or down?

Brush your fingers across the tips ....
The science is that the plants thinks its windy so the cells form a stronger stem.
I give all my seed trays a daily wiggle for the same effect

I stroked my chilli seedlings this morning :) I think they liked it.

Is it true @TalkinPeece , that if you breathe on them (or talk and sing to them ) that is a good thing because it gives them extra carbon dioxide which green leaves love?

Can't wait for my babies to get slightly bigger - got this for them!