[cite]Posted By: LargeAddick[/cite]good day in the garden today. Cut the grass back and front. Planted out the growbags. Watched Millwall lose. Cut back some trees. Helped the misses plant out some pots with geraniums, pansies etc. Watched Newcastle get relegated. Finished tidying up, hosed down the decking. Had a nice salad. Read Charlton Life. Good day all round.
Blimey, Large ....... that's a fantastically positive post.
Oh, nearly forgot - Charlton weren't playing, so your day wasn't ruined ......(!)
[cite]Posted By: Darren[/cite]Cheers Og. Planted new seeds today. In a washing-up bowl. I've only got a Coronation St type back yard so I'm growing completely in pots. When it works it's dead satisfying
Nice one, Darren. You can grow all sorts of stuff in containers, as you've found out.
Biggest drawback is the constant daily watering but if you build it into the routine of your day, it's not so bad and after a tiring day at work, can be quite therapeutic.
Constant watering can leech the nutrients from the compost in the pot, so you'll have to feed it from time to time.
Make sure you make your first thinning when the spring onion plants are a few inches tall, and thin again if they are looking a bit spindly. Also, not enough light can make them spindly, if the pot is more or less in constant shade.
Edit: Just had a thought.
Loads of people don't have gardens suitable for a vegetable patch, so they grow veg in containers.
So I thought I'd google what other people are doing and came up with this little site:
A tip------ had one of those large metal coat and umbrella stands in the shed since we were a good team and had an idea of an alternative use for it . Got 4 hanging baskets, have hung two from the coat hook arms and two in the umbrella stands-----------looks the dogs B.
My first attempt at vegetable growing at my place is so far going really well. I have the following that seem to be growing as if I have put a ton of steroids on them:
3 different types of lettuce
Rocket
2 types of spinach
2 types of onions
Courgettes
Carrots
Cucumbers
Broccoli
Celery
Pototoes
I can't believe I haven't bothered to do this in the past as it is ultra satisfying and would recommend it to anyone that has a bit of land and isn't doing anything with it.
slug and nasty things in the garden............little gits seems to be bulding up for a June offensive !! in the past we had a garden full of frogs but this year no frogs spawn or even hedehogs............has anyone else lots thier frogs.......other half very green so we cannot use anything un natural to kiil the beasts any advice.......
Thanks again Og for link. Been using a 25% solution of miracle grow twice a week, seems to be working well for leafy stuff. For anyone who's got a fine tilth only to have cats sh*t in it: put sticks in the ground about 6 inches apart & 6-8 inches high above soil. And/Or sprinkle cheap white ground pepper over the surface.
[cite]Posted By: Darren[/cite]Thanks again Og for link. Been using a 25% solution of miracle grow twice a week, seems to be working well for leafy stuff.
For anyone who's got a fine tilth only to have cats sh*t in it: put sticks in the ground about 6 inches apart & 6-8 inches high above soil. And/Or sprinkle cheap white ground pepper over the surface.
Would that work for Fox sh*t as well? love to do a bit of gardening but the foxes keep digging up what ever we plant
[cite]Posted By: Darren[/cite]Thanks again Og for link. Been using a 25% solution of miracle grow twice a week, seems to be working well for leafy stuff.
For anyone who's got a fine tilth only to have cats sh*t in it: put sticks in the ground about 6 inches apart & 6-8 inches high above soil. And/Or sprinkle cheap white ground pepper over the surface.
Would that work for Fox sh*t as well? love to do a bit of gardening but the foxes keep digging up what ever we plant
Don't see why not, TCE.
Cats and dogs don't like pepper, citrus peel or anything that gets up their nose.
Don't suppose foxes are any different.
Also bean netting or nylon mesh stretched across where your seedlings are might help. Animals hate putting their foot in that.
PS: If all else fails, foxes don't like Rottweilers or crows armed with machine guns ...... mind you, the noise might keep you and the neighbours awake when the foxes call at night.
Have found some useful vegetable/tree/salad planters which are very useful for small gardens or courtyards, plus you can use ericaceous soil for those things that need it (e.g. blueberries) They're made of strong green polyurethane, are reusable and can be folded for storage. Can be prettied up if desired by surrounding with willow frames, all available at www.gardenselections.co.uk. I've used water retaining crystals in the base layer of soil, added in slow release fertiliser granules. Could easily add in a Hozelock drip feeder for holiday periods. Can't wait for my seven blueberries to ripen!
[quote][cite]Posted By: Oggy Red[/cite][quote][cite]Posted By: T.C.E[/cite][quote][cite]Posted By: Darren[/cite]Thanks again Og for link. Been using a 25% solution of miracle grow twice a week, seems to be working well for leafy stuff. For anyone who's got a fine tilth only to have cats sh*t in it: put sticks in the ground about 6 inches apart & 6-8 inches high above soil. And/Or sprinkle cheap white ground pepper over the surface.[/quote]
Would that work for Fox sh*t as well? love to do a bit of gardening but the foxes keep digging up what ever we plant :([/quote]
Don't see why not, TCE.
Cats and dogs don't like pepper, citrus peel or anything that gets up their nose. Don't suppose foxes are any different.
Also bean netting or nylon mesh stretched across where your seedlings are might help. Animals hate putting their foot in that.
PS: If all else fails, foxes don't like Rottweilers or crows armed with machine guns ...... mind you, the noise might keep you and the neighbours awake when the foxes call at night.
:o)[/quote]
Thanks for that Gents I love my garden, I'm just not very good at it :(
[cite]Posted By: Darren[/cite]Sorry TCE, how do you know it's fox sh*t? Peeing to mark your territory might help? :-)
I see a fox crapping in my garden and made an assumption
TCE to Mrs TCE:
Darling I've stopped the foxes crapping in the garden!!
Mrs TCE
Really, how did you manage that?
TCE:
Every night I come home, I pi55 on the rhubarb!!
Lol.
[cite]Posted By: dartfordgent[/cite]slug and nasty things in the garden............little gits seems to be bulding up for a June offensive !! in the past we had a garden full of frogs but this year no frogs spawn or even hedehogs............has anyone else lots thier frogs.......other half very green so we cannot use anything un natural to kiil the beasts any advice.......
It's a waste of beer but put several plastic cups around the garden. Bury them up to the rim and then half fill with beer. Slugs are attracted by the smell, fall in and die...
'Pissing on the Rhubarb', should be somebody's catch phrase? ;-) I will say this only once: 'The Madonna with the Big Boobies is Pissing on the Rhubarb'...
Well it's august now a few results and disasters beetroot great crop and jars of pickled and chutney in fridge potatoes first time grown well pleased beans peas average salad stuff crap except spring onions which as evey very good strawberry a total of 4 ! And carrots as big as a peanut think just have to concentrate on root veg greenhouse toms seem slow but peppers fine so season kicks off sat so looking for new things to sow plant any advise for autumn winter crop chers dg
my potatoes although tasting great were small and small in number as well, lettucess the flipping dog ruined strawberries had only about 30,chillis loads,peppers loads, toms have taken ages to go from green to red, carrots look good, swedes are looking big and strong as are the parsnips and leeks, Raspberry bush is very big and thick no raspberries as of of yet
all in all bit of a shame really oh yeah and not 1 spring onion
Giving away courgettes to many for us to eat. had about 2 punts of strawberries only a few Pak Choi it went to seed Grape vine taking over the world. Peas are growing but few in number pumpkin is like a trifid cant see any fruit cabbages going well beet roots ok mint,coriander and basil all doing well Toms aint had enough sun but was told that if you put a bannana in with em it helps them rippen when it rots. only a few cooking apples on tree and no eating apples at all, but they seem to go year plenty , year famine.
Too many courgettes GH if you got the recipe use them in courgette cake.........can easliy say second only to carrot cake.....wonderful slice of cake...easy to make and good for you also you can freeze um...
I have some tomato plants growing in my patio pots and hanging baskets. Not sure if the birds have deposited the seeds or if my compost heap has somehow sussed it for me. Well weird, but I am looking forward to the tomatos in about a fortnight.
Courgetts -----------------far to many Cabbage-----best year Beetroot----worst year PakChoi------poor had some but most went to seed early Peas------experiment--- great taste and will do next year Toms--- loads but still green Pumpkin--------------grew like a triffid but no pumpkins Grape vine ---huge but to many seeds in grapes Apples--- this is their rest year--no eating apples at all and few cooking. Corriander/mint/basil---- grow like weeds Lavinder-----------grew massive had to cut em all back.
Been far too busy in the garden to report back until now, GH.
But have to agree on the apples. We've got several trees that are 90 plus years old and have always cropped prolifically - but they seem to have taken a rest this year with a very meagre yield. Hope it's not terminal. The pear trees were poor, too.
Agreed on the cabbages and courgettes, which had a good year.
Happily a better report than yours on the beetroot : we got a bumper crop.
Spectacular marrows and cucumbers, too.
Biggest failure was the rocket, which all went to seed quicker than I could pick it. But the everlasting spinach has proved just that. The faster you pick it, the more it grows. Far more of the stuff than we could ever eat and it carries on growing all through the winter...
Planning to turn the entire vegetable plot into a massive raised bed for next season and have spent a small fortune on old railways sleepers in order to do so !
Lettuces - Unbelievable crop, just kept coming
Rocket - Lovely stuff
Onions - Spring onions ok, rubbish otherwise
Courgettes - Too many for us to eat
Cucumbers - Bloody lovely and grew well due to heatwave
Spinach - Nice crop, ended up making some great Spinach Pesto
Broccoli - Didn't happen this year
Celery - Still out there, just growing for the leaves to put in stuffing for those sunday roasts
Carrots - look like peanuts - poor - My soil is still renovating
Tomatoes - Loads but still green
Potatoes - Were going absolutely great guns until we got 40 degree heat and all plants died due to blight.
Not bad for my first real year of trying. Next year I'm looking to get a stall at the local farmers market to make some wonga.
Potatoes-bumper crop again, will have to cut down on the number next year as we have more than enough to last us a year. Planning on leaving them in the ground this year as when I dug the plot over in march there were perfect potatoes in the ground, but the ones I picked last autumn had all gone to seed in the garage. Beetroots- excellent and very tasty too. Sweed- a couple of beauties but mostly too small. Leeks-look ok in the ground but not very big. Lettuce-no good, very small and pointless. Tomatoes-was using growbags for these, but ran out of room so last plant we put into the veg patch. Growbag ones did ok, very sweet and perhaps 20 tomatoes on each plant. The plant I put in the veg patch grew like a tree, it is huge. We have been cutting back the leaves to help the tomatoes to ripen, there are about 100 good size tomatoes still on this plant, which is held up by sticks to keep the fruit off the ground. Will not bother with grow bags next year, straight into the ground again. Apples- out of 6 trees, two had nothing on them, which left two cookers and two eaters. One eater was good and one was very poor. Need to work on apple trees over winter and spring, too many apples meaning a lot spoil or do not grow very large.
Thinking of getting a greenhouse in spring as want to do chillis and a large range of herbs.
Put some rhubarb down this year, it is very skinny, do I need to cut it back to get it to thicken? If so any particular way, cut at an angle, close to the ground, cut all stems back at once?
Steve - if there is one plant that grows well where I live, it is Rhubarb! Don't cut during the first year fter planting, the next year cut close to the base when harvesting it to eat - subsequent years it will grow back bigger.
My lettuces were a success, carrots & vidilia onions failed to prosper, chard & roquette was excellent, corriander, dill, sage, thyme, oregano & parsley grew like weeds mint spread everywhere. Tomatoes were good in containers but might plant them in the ground next year - although that might be a problem with the bears as i wont be able to move them inside if we get a bear visiting the neighbourhood.
Every year is a learning experience at this altitude.
Comments
Blimey, Large ....... that's a fantastically positive post.
Oh, nearly forgot - Charlton weren't playing, so your day wasn't ruined ......(!)
Just pulling your leg. ;o)
Nice one, Darren. You can grow all sorts of stuff in containers, as you've found out.
Biggest drawback is the constant daily watering but if you build it into the routine of your day, it's not so bad and after a tiring day at work, can be quite therapeutic.
Constant watering can leech the nutrients from the compost in the pot, so you'll have to feed it from time to time.
Make sure you make your first thinning when the spring onion plants are a few inches tall, and thin again if they are looking a bit spindly. Also, not enough light can make them spindly, if the pot is more or less in constant shade.
Edit: Just had a thought.
Loads of people don't have gardens suitable for a vegetable patch, so they grow veg in containers.
So I thought I'd google what other people are doing and came up with this little site:
Linky: Growing veg in containers
Nothing like picking other people's brains - and the internet is full of other people's experiences !
3 different types of lettuce
Rocket
2 types of spinach
2 types of onions
Courgettes
Carrots
Cucumbers
Broccoli
Celery
Pototoes
I can't believe I haven't bothered to do this in the past as it is ultra satisfying and would recommend it to anyone that has a bit of land and isn't doing anything with it.
BECAUSE I DO!!
Team, find out who she is please.
For anyone who's got a fine tilth only to have cats sh*t in it: put sticks in the ground about 6 inches apart & 6-8 inches high above soil. And/Or sprinkle cheap white ground pepper over the surface.
Would that work for Fox sh*t as well? love to do a bit of gardening but the foxes keep digging up what ever we plant
Don't see why not, TCE.
Cats and dogs don't like pepper, citrus peel or anything that gets up their nose.
Don't suppose foxes are any different.
Also bean netting or nylon mesh stretched across where your seedlings are might help. Animals hate putting their foot in that.
PS: If all else fails, foxes don't like Rottweilers or crows armed with machine guns ...... mind you, the noise might keep you and the neighbours awake when the foxes call at night.
For anyone who's got a fine tilth only to have cats sh*t in it: put sticks in the ground about 6 inches apart & 6-8 inches high above soil. And/Or sprinkle cheap white ground pepper over the surface.[/quote]
Would that work for Fox sh*t as well? love to do a bit of gardening but the foxes keep digging up what ever we plant :([/quote]
Don't see why not, TCE.
Cats and dogs don't like pepper, citrus peel or anything that gets up their nose.
Don't suppose foxes are any different.
Also bean netting or nylon mesh stretched across where your seedlings are might help. Animals hate putting their foot in that.
PS: If all else fails, foxes don't like Rottweilers or crows armed with machine guns ...... mind you, the noise might keep you and the neighbours awake when the foxes call at night.
:o)[/quote]
Thanks for that Gents I love my garden, I'm just not very good at it :(
I see a fox crapping in my garden and made an assumption
TCE to Mrs TCE:
Darling I've stopped the foxes crapping in the garden!!
Mrs TCE
Really, how did you manage that?
TCE:
Every night I come home, I pi55 on the rhubarb!!
Lol.
It's a waste of beer but put several plastic cups around the garden. Bury them up to the rim and then half fill with beer. Slugs are attracted by the smell, fall in and die...
beetroot great crop and jars of pickled and chutney
in fridge
potatoes first time grown well pleased
beans peas average
salad stuff crap except spring onions which
as evey very good
strawberry a total of 4 ! And carrots as big as a peanut
think just have to concentrate on root veg
greenhouse toms seem slow but peppers fine
so season kicks off sat so looking for new things
to sow plant any advise for autumn winter crop
chers dg
my potatoes although tasting great were small and small in number as well, lettucess the flipping dog ruined strawberries had only about 30,chillis loads,peppers loads, toms have taken ages to go from green to red, carrots look good, swedes are looking big and strong as are the parsnips and leeks, Raspberry bush is very big and thick no raspberries as of of yet
all in all bit of a shame really oh yeah and not 1 spring onion
had about 2 punts of strawberries
only a few Pak Choi it went to seed
Grape vine taking over the world.
Peas are growing but few in number
pumpkin is like a trifid cant see any fruit
cabbages going well
beet roots ok
mint,coriander and basil all doing well
Toms aint had enough sun but was told that if you put a bannana in with em it helps them rippen when it rots.
only a few cooking apples on tree and no eating apples at all, but they seem to go year plenty , year famine.
Courgetts -----------------far to many
Cabbage-----best year
Beetroot----worst year
PakChoi------poor had some but most went to seed early
Peas------experiment--- great taste and will do next year
Toms--- loads but still green
Pumpkin--------------grew like a triffid but no pumpkins
Grape vine ---huge but to many seeds in grapes
Apples--- this is their rest year--no eating apples at all and few cooking.
Corriander/mint/basil---- grow like weeds
Lavinder-----------grew massive had to cut em all back.
But have to agree on the apples. We've got several trees that are 90 plus years old and have always cropped prolifically - but they seem to have taken a rest this year with a very meagre yield. Hope it's not terminal. The pear trees were poor, too.
Agreed on the cabbages and courgettes, which had a good year.
Happily a better report than yours on the beetroot : we got a bumper crop.
Spectacular marrows and cucumbers, too.
Biggest failure was the rocket, which all went to seed quicker than I could pick it. But the everlasting spinach has proved just that. The faster you pick it, the more it grows. Far more of the stuff than we could ever eat and it carries on growing all through the winter...
Planning to turn the entire vegetable plot into a massive raised bed for next season and have spent a small fortune on old railways sleepers in order to do so !
Lettuces - Unbelievable crop, just kept coming
Rocket - Lovely stuff
Onions - Spring onions ok, rubbish otherwise
Courgettes - Too many for us to eat
Cucumbers - Bloody lovely and grew well due to heatwave
Spinach - Nice crop, ended up making some great Spinach Pesto
Broccoli - Didn't happen this year
Celery - Still out there, just growing for the leaves to put in stuffing for those sunday roasts
Carrots - look like peanuts - poor - My soil is still renovating
Tomatoes - Loads but still green
Potatoes - Were going absolutely great guns until we got 40 degree heat and all plants died due to blight.
Not bad for my first real year of trying. Next year I'm looking to get a stall at the local farmers market to make some wonga.
Beetroots- excellent and very tasty too.
Sweed- a couple of beauties but mostly too small.
Leeks-look ok in the ground but not very big.
Lettuce-no good, very small and pointless.
Tomatoes-was using growbags for these, but ran out of room so last plant we put into the veg patch. Growbag ones did ok, very sweet and perhaps 20 tomatoes on each plant. The plant I put in the veg patch grew like a tree, it is huge. We have been cutting back the leaves to help the tomatoes to ripen, there are about 100 good size tomatoes still on this plant, which is held up by sticks to keep the fruit off the ground. Will not bother with grow bags next year, straight into the ground again.
Apples- out of 6 trees, two had nothing on them, which left two cookers and two eaters. One eater was good and one was very poor. Need to work on apple trees over winter and spring, too many apples meaning a lot spoil or do not grow very large.
Thinking of getting a greenhouse in spring as want to do chillis and a large range of herbs.
Put some rhubarb down this year, it is very skinny, do I need to cut it back to get it to thicken? If so any particular way, cut at an angle, close to the ground, cut all stems back at once?
My lettuces were a success, carrots & vidilia onions failed to prosper, chard & roquette was excellent, corriander, dill, sage, thyme, oregano & parsley grew like weeds mint spread everywhere. Tomatoes were good in containers but might plant them in the ground next year - although that might be a problem with the bears as i wont be able to move them inside if we get a bear visiting the neighbourhood.
Every year is a learning experience at this altitude.