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?

That is true. One day you have lovely salad growing the next day a rampant snail gets in, then poof it's gone.

What I want to know, is who ate the heads off my pansies?

My laziness has paid off as haven’t started anything apart from garlic which started itself, Need to think seriously about starting soon though.

Sorry to hear about your woes Talkin

I started my spinach off indoors and then planted out when it had a couple of leaves. It looks to be surviving the cold snap well so far. Still looking perky. I'll see how tomorrow goes.

badgers
I regard it as an accepted part of the deal
early crops are fab if the weather smiles on them
if not, you buy extra seed ....

couple of years back a friend lost 40 acres of broad beans

I've started a new lot of tomatoes and peppers as there was no sign of anything germinating after a week with the first lot... I've brought them upstairs this time, it's warmer. My begonia tubers are doing well upstairs so fingers crossed the veg seed will like it too!

I think I've ordered too many plug plants to fit into my garden... but it was pretty much the same price to get 3 super plugs than one potted plant of the same so it made sense.

I have some Bright Lights Chard from last summer that has survived the winter and started growing again. Will it be OK or tough old stuff?

I'm a complete novice so this question probably seems dumb. . . but . . .when you start plants indoors do you actually start them in your house or does it mean in a greenhouse?
If I start tomatoes, for example, inside my house, when I move them out should it be into a greenhouse or just out into the garden?
I planted strawberries in a pot last week and they're in the downstairs sitting room. Tonight, I did radishes, squash and tomatoes. They're all currently in my house (the tomatoes in a mini propagator) but I'm just wondering if they should be and also where they go next. TIA

Hi there anne
indoors means under cover, frost free

so mine are in propagators in my polytunnel
but windowsills are good
if you check the seed packet or the RHS website or the books named near the top of the thread, they will tell you the temperature range for germination ....

Thanks Talkin . Do you keep them in your polytunnel once you take them out of the propagators or do you move them out into the garden?

Hi there
it depends on the plants
tomatoes - I have to do under cover as we have blight round here
peppers and aubergines - need the extra heat so stay in there
beans, peas, squash, courgettes, flowers, basil and the rest get sown outside when their time comes

Current state of play in my mini greenhouse in my polytunnel ....
largest tomatoes potted up, largest basils potted up, lettuce, salad leaves, nasturtiums sown
second sowing of peas in pots

outdoors I re-sowed carrots, spinach and parsnips and did the first sowing of leeks
and I finally got my spuds into the ground

first sowing broad beans are about six inches high
first sowing peas ditto
last of last years leeks will be eaten tomorrow

Captain last years chard is one of the perks of the hungry gap. Keep harvesting it and lop of the flower stalks it will try and put up. In the meanwhile, sow some more.

Thanks Pesty. I have planted some more.

My nasturtiums and courgettes got moved from the cold frame today into the garden so I've got space for my sunflowers tomorrow. It's all a bit of a juggling act. I split some supermarket herbs and repotted them.

Should I chop off the flowering stems from my land cress?

gosh badbad you are WAY ahead of me
cucurbits do not get seeded till the solanums are all in single pots in the polytunnel for me !

It does seem a bit risky, I hope it's going to be ok, they were growing well in the cold frame. I've put them low down in the pot so I can cover them if I need to.

What size containers are ok for veg? I was looking at ones specifically sold as tomato planters (at a really good price!) and they are H 26cm x W 21cm x D 21cm which seems a bit smaller I had planned? But would be good to save space...

Planning to grow small varieties of veg mainly - cherry toms (some cordon variety, some bush), Mini Star cucumbers, dwarf green beans...

I was thinking of getting some of these as I could fit them on the patio.
www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-triangular-cane-planter-support/p/0461482?nst=0&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping%7CBrand%7CHome%20%26%20Garden&utm_term=4577473065912431&utm_content=Brand%7CHome%20%26%20Garden%7CLawn%20%26%20Garden&gclid=CLXBzt_FveECFdeKhQodnqgN9g&gclsrc=ds

I was watching the Edible Garden on TV this morning, I so want that garden but DH wants a lawn with borders. He is forbidden to dig in or weed the borders (after several years of wondering what happened to my perennials and self-seeded plants) but is obsessed with the lawn which is ,IMO, completely useless and a waste of space.

Tomatoes and cucumbers don't need a huge amount of compost (3 fit in a large grow bag) but they do need a lot of feed and keeping up with watering can be difficult with small containers. You need to be really consistent.

Captain I bought a set of 6 of these* from Amazon at the end of February for £16.99. They look to be very high quality with an excellent feed and water moat, support for bamboo canes, and good thought put into the design. I checked and now there is just one set available from a marketplace seller for more than double the price!

Currently there are some similar available at the price I paid with the design features slightly different but if it does the job... this type are designed for use with grow bags but I plan on using four of mine in a new raised bed. Those triangles look nice but a bit too pricey for me

*Oypla 6x Garden Growbag Compost Bag Hydroponic Plant Flower Watering Pots
Sold by: Oypla
£16.99

We did buy some collapsible fabric raised beds but can't find them anywhere now. The Wilko ones are quite expensive.

captain
I love my lawn
its where I sit to look around at all of my hard work
and its where I have parties

please do not get roped into buying "products"
food is economic when it is sustainable

I've just put all my old seed labels through the dishwasher to make them last another two years
I get my pots from the leftovers pallet outside Haskins
my linkstakes are 25 years old
my raspberry netting is 20 years old
my ant bird mesh is the mortal remains of a shopping trolley
my garden incinerator is the drum of a dead washing machine

My tomatoes are going in an old set of shelves tipped on their back and filled with soil. Works a treat as a raised bed.

We have a large lawn that I'm starting to nip the edges off for veg. It's nice for dd to play on and for lazing about on. We don't have parties though.

Talkin that is a brilliant idea for seed labels

A friend has given me some large pots so I'm good for planting stuff out for a while. DTS2 wants to start growing pumpkins and sweetcorn, hopefully we'll make a start on those tomorrow.

We have a small lawn that is currently littered with plastic, I need to do some tidying up now the dog has gone home. Sigh!

School holidays have started so I'm hoping to have the DC in the garden a lot of the time to cut down on the mess indoors, if nothing else.....