2020 new Gardeners’ thread

[FoolsAssassin]

I think there will be a lot of people this year looking to grow veg and things generally. Thought I would be goof if those of us who have been growing for a bit could help those getting started,

I’m far from expert but a few allotments over the years and I know there are lots of people on here who are far more knowledgeable than me. So if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask and will see what we can do.

Just seen the replies to my query about poisonous plants near herbs etc. Glad to hear it! I've left them there.

Been busy in the garden over the past couple of days. Planted out daffs that have finished, moved seedlings out that were raised in the conservatory. Painted a fence today. Garden is looking good, but no flowers or productive veg yet... I'm getting impatient !!

Seen my cistus plant has buds all over though. Had it about 4 years and it's never flowered so that's exciting for me !!

can Ivy be put in compost bin or does it turn into more ivy? It's slow to rot, so is difficult in large quantities, but the odd bit is fine.

Have also learn't that flowers on cabbage plants aren't really a good thing unless you want seeds! Pick them before they open and eat them. That's basically what sprouting broccoli is.

I would put the ivy into the council green waste bin, if there's that much of it. They take it to be composted at higher temperatures which properly kills it off.

I've been waiting weeks to be able to buy some "council compost" as it happens. I have a local man who buys it from Veolia and quoted me £120 for three cubic metres of 100% plant based compost. Unfortunately because of the wet in February it didn't get hot enough to be certified free of soil bacteria. Then they had to mix in new material so it was back to square one.

I think I've buggered up my seedlings - I realised I'd let some of the trays dry out, so they're probably not worth waiting for now, and others that did germinate are really leggy. I've pricked out some coriander and parsley but I might have done it too soon (only just had their first true leaves) as they aren't now standing up in their new little pots. Argh. I'm a bad plant-baby mum.

@Communitygardener my friend's DF (who is an amazing cook) always uses those flowers in his cooking!

I've put quite a few seedlings in the (small plastic) greenhouse outdoors due to lack of room inside now they're a bit bigger. Trying to grow more herbs indoors so I have a supply when I can't get to the supermarket. My rosemary grows amazingly when I barely water it, not so much when I try lovingly tending it every day

I'm just about finished building a small lean-to greenhouse on my deck that is 1m x 1.7m and 2m tall at the fence and 1.3m at the front. I've got 4 or 5 large containers. Can anyone with experience look at my planting plan and tell me if it will work?

Is everything here in the greenhouse? I'd suggest that not everything in your plan will appreciate being in the greenhouse. Radishes need a steady supply of water, and seem to do better in cooler conditions, so they'd do much better outside. Lettuce also like to be cooler - you could start them inside if you're worried about slugs, and move them out later. Though I see you've got that labelled as "over winter planter", and that would work. You can also buy seeds of winter lettuces which are bred to grow over the cooler months.

Well done for building the greenhouse - was it an assembly job or did you have to do it from scratch? Mine is invaluable for raising small seedlings that I want to look after or protect from slugs.

Definitely be vigilant for slugs & snails. Ive lost a couple of small plants to them over the last couple of days after all the wet weather. I've been hand picking them off my bedding plants!

I've just pricked out my coriander seedlings too. Sowed sunflowers yesterday. Need to plant out lettuce seedlings.

Toms and cucumbers seem to be doing well in greenhouse so far.

I'm feeling like an impatient gardener this year!

Well done Fartlek. As Mere says the carrots, kohl Rabi, lettuce and peas will prefer ti he outside. Lettuce especially hates the heat in the summer and it makes it bolt (go to seed) and it becomes bitter. But agree that winter lettuce will be great.

I would be looking at tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergine, chillis, pepper and basil in there for the summer.

Slugs are bastards, I have nematodes to try.

Lots of gardening been going on , apologies for my absence . My cucumbers, courgettes and butternut squash have all finally germinated once I got them in from the plastic greenhouse as was much too cold for them. Found a heated propagator which helped a lot.

French tarragon has survived under a cloche. Direct sown lettuce, pak Choi, mange tout and broad beans are germinating as has one parsnips so far (only just sown them).

Choges coming out of my ears from a £1 pot I split a couple of years ago. No sign of spuds in pots or ground butbthe ones in a raised bed/compost heap are through, early days for the others yet.

The rhubarb I split off an existing plant has taken and producing a new leaf. Worth asking anyone you know with some if they could give you a bit for anyone wanting some. Also some people may have spare strawberry and raspberry plants as they spread.

Coriander, leeks and basil starting to germinate and a few old flower seeds I found- nasturtium (edible flowers), dahlia and rainbow chard ad perpetual seedlings doing ok and tomatoes alright but still small. Peppers finally germinated m feel a bit late with them and the tomatoes but they will catch up.

Have split some asters and veronica, lopped off a bit of geranium rozanne and found a rose in a pot hidden behind somewhere which is going to look nice next to newly painted shed,

Thanks all for the ivy and cabbage flower information. No money for a green waste bin service unfortunately and not allowed to burn anything either. But it's really useful to hear how systems work and what would work, as things could always change.

Haven't had a chance to try cropping cabbage flower buds, they seem to come up as buds in the night and be open flowers laughing at me by the time I arrive, but I'm probably not paying enough attention! They're very yellow and lots of flying things seem interested. The cabbages also have an aphid problem that so far I've just used jetted water on, but they're in the greenhouse too. :(

I'm not doing too well keeping up with things tbh, and need to allocate more time that I don't have. (Greenhouse is full of plants now desperate to be planted out or re-potted that was supposed to be a group activity.)
Decided to start with the most urgent, (as a few already succumbed.) though might be more sensible to help the healthy ones!

So far; planted out one small rose, and temporally potted a honeysuckle that were living with their roots wrapped in plastic, and both had small shoots that have gone limp. Roots looked like they've been sat waterlogged. Some thyme and oregano plants all visibly suffering are out of their pots into bigger ones. Didn't actually realize they where there, as they where under a set of shelves with low light and either catching insufficient, or too much water. Doubt all will survive but best I can do right now.
Lots more clearing, cutting up and composting happened, but the half dug out hole for the pond has filled itself up prematurely in the rainstorms!
Have put my back out so the vine is having to wait, but it's looking like it's thriving.

Rubyslippers One of the few bits of knowledge I have: rosemary doesn't like over watering. They start getting yellow leaves and dropping if they get too much. Ours seem to thrive by being ignored and virtually neglected, with the occasional small amount of water if they get really dry.

Agree about rosemary, it is a Mediterranean herb. Mine is in a tiny stone raised bed alongside house that with roof overhang gets pretty much zero water. Noticed yesterday now established it is doing pretty well.

I've had a very happy morning digging out compost heap. I've harvested my first bags of fine very useable compost! So exciting. Husband kindly sieved it for me.

I've potted on lettuce seedlings and tomato small plants. My green house is so full that I have a narrow path through the middle. I don't have any permanent beds in the greenhouse so everything grows in pots.

they seem to come up as buds in the night and be open flowers laughing at me by the time I arrive, They're still edible as flowers, just look less familiar.

Today so far I have: planted out a huge red campion that appeared in a tub of swiss chard; planted out some different species of Digitalis that I grew from seed last year, thus making both clearing space in greenhouse and making pots available; potted up peas, kale, lettuce seedlings; planted out some larger pea seedlings; transferred some mint into a bigger tub. This afternoon I shall be planting courgettes in their final big tubs in the greenhouse, and pricking out beetroot, amaranth, chenopodium seedlings. For me, this is a very busy garden day.

@Communitygardener and @FoolsAssassin you're right about the rosemary, mine looks sad and neglected but not actually dead! The basil and mint nearby, on the other hand, can't get enough water... I have all my herbs indoors at the moment and still can't get coriander to thrive either way!

@MereDintofPandiculation I am in awe of your busy day! I got a few bits done but whilst all the time having to stop the DC chasing the cat/ falling off their playhouse roof/ breaking the washing line by using it as a launch pad...

I am in awe of your busy day! I no longer have children!

My coriander and parsley perked up after the inexpert pricking out attempt, but have sort of stopped now the warm weather has gone away again. Peas/beans are going great in the mini plastic greenhouse though, and melon/squashes have just germinated too. I'm in the SE so I am now leaving the side of the mini GH tied open unless I was to see a forecast of very low overnight temperatures.

I was getting v worried my potatoes weren't going to come up but they did, a full two weeks after planting. Monty said that weeding was the job for this weekend but I'm aching from having done some DIY and I just can't face kneeling and reaching, it will do me in. I'm up to date with everything I can do, other than jobs I've been seriously avoiding...

Someone on Gardener’s World sent in a short film with brilliant use of a milk bottle for planting seeds that he calls a seed boat (about 53 mins in ).

Thank you for the feedback on the greenhouse everyone. I assumed it should all go in there since I'm in Scotland but I will put radishes, peas and lettuce outside. I might try a courgette in there instead. @MereDintofPandiculation it was previously a kiddy house built out of scrap which I've converted to a very small greenhouse. I'm finding practical projects like building or gardening keep me sane. I'll pop a picture up once I've completed the door.
Is anyone else restricted to just container gardening? How are you organising your plants?

OP, I've just clocked your absolutely brilliant username @FoolsAssassin! I love that series and you've inspired me to start over from the beginning.

Thanks Fartlek, They are brilliant books aren’t they - DC now enjoying them. Would love to see pictures when you get a chance. You might want to check out some old episodes of Beechgrove Garden. They are based in Scotland and have a decked area that they use to grow veg in pots. I think old episodes are probably on YouTube.

Just looked and Beechgrove has started again, 3 episodes but from presenters gardens rather than the usual place. Think it will be worth watching, very different style to Gardeners World but is good and informative plus the timings of planting will be helpful for those of you in Scotland.

I used to love BeechgroveGarden when I lived in the north of Scotland and to the west of them. I didn’t realise it is now shown in the north of England and got quite 😆 excited watching them and finding some of the same presenters still on30 years later. I’ve seen two of the programmes so far and the one coming from there own gardens was great.
I feel sorry for people without a garden at the moment as we have been in ours for weeks sometimes all day. DH has weeded nearly all of it as I have arthritis in my wrists it aggravates it. I do some. We have lots of ground elder which is a pain so short of killing the whole bed any ideas on getting rid of it would be appreciated. We put membrane and bark over two beds last year and they are doing well. DH ordered three dumpy bags of bark this year and we’ve topped up the area plus the bottom where we barbecue and seating areas.
The top bed was the worst and may have to do that but we have lots of daffy in there and bluebells are out now. Peonies are growing well. Near the house the azaleas look fantastic and I ordered three more ( 3 for £12) along with 18 tomato plants form a local place which has just started a delivery service. The tomatoes are to share out between friends including someone shielding who is delighted. I am going to leave them on his drive.
My biggest problem is pruning roses. I have two climbers which have taken off too much over the years. I guess I have left them as not sure how to prune them and so any help there would be appreciated. The rest of the garden is looking the best it has for years. We are both at home ( DH just retired) and the weather has been exceptional. Started off some veg seeds as we don’t plant out here until the end of May.

I might try a courgette in there instead. Courgettes are greedy plants - use the biggest container you can, at least builder's black bucket size. Unless you've bough a parthenogenetic variety, they'll need fertilising, and they'll be fewer pollinators in the greenhouse, so I always go round at the end of the day picking off a male flower from one plant and upending it into a female on the other. Spare male flowers can be eaten - they're very sweet.

Impressed by your greenhouse.

I'm also restricted to containers for veg as I've so filled my garden with fruit trees I don't have anywhere that isn't shaded apart the terrace where we park the cars. I've got a whole lot of square tubs which fit neatly together into a rectangle 6 tubs long by 3 deep. Each one is 18inch square by 18in high (which is the most I can lift when full of soil), and that will take either 4 runner, french or broad beans or 4 swiss chard plants, 9 peas, 1 courgette, 1 purple sprouting etc, lots of radishes (1 inch apart). As a slug avoidance measure I start things in the greenhouse and move out later. It's easier than raised beds because I can move things around, eg move thing to the front when they're ready for picking. I use garden compost and refill each time I complete a crop (if shallow rooted, I may refill only the top half. I water with tomato fetiliser. I don't get enough veg to stock the deepfreeze, but we do get enough to make a noticeable addition to our meals through the summer, and intermittently through the rest of the year - yesterday we had a handful of radishes for lunch and some Asturian tree cabbage with our tea; the day before we had purple sprouting with our tea,

bowerbird I got rid of ground elder which was densely covering a bed of about 10 sq m by forking it over and taking out all the roots, digging up any plants I wanted to keep and replanting them. That got rid of 95%. Then in later years digging out any ground elder that emerges as soon as I saw the first shoot. After about 5 years no more shoot were appearing.

This is my almost finished homemade greenhouse. We had our deck dug up a bit last year to do some work and I found a large pallet outside the local church so that is what the main frame is made out of. I put out a call on our neighbourhood facebook for scrap timber and got another small pallet, a gate and a futon frame to finish it off! The polythene was bought online. The door is just a plastic flap on the side you can't see. I haven't worked out how to secure it shut yet...

Mere, how can I tell a male courgette flower from a female? Is it very obvious? Great advice about the containers. I'm hoping to get most things in this coming weekend.