|
Woo! gardening thread! I got into gardening about 3 years ago, which surprised my wife, previously the garden was that weird green outsidey bit I don't park the car on, then I realised I can get almost free food! I've planted Potatoes, got a couple of pounds of new potatoes from 3 troughs ( I know deeper pots are better, but these were what I could get). The seed potatoes were from a friend on a farm. We saved a dozen and planted them again this year, they're really sweet little things. Tomatoes, had hundreds for months, that was great, disagree with the poster who said not worth it - I felt a great sense of achievement and didn't have to buy tomatoes. Peppers & chillies, got 3 peppers & 10 chillies from 6 & 3 plants respectively - Think I need a greenhouse or something for those. Rhubarb - The unstoppable 50pence clump from the market has netted me about £50 worth by supermarket prices in the 3 years it's been in the ground. #1 success story for me. Herbs. Meh. The bay tree looks nice though, I chuck a couple of leaves in the bolognese when I remember. Courgettes, there were no survivors. Although we plan to move house everything is in pots anyway, so I'm trying for carrots & parsnips this year, I'll plant peppers again because I eat so many of 'em. I'd like to try asparagus, anyone got any advice? Maybe beans, if I only plant a couple of tomato plants this time. When we move a big garden is a priority. I'll spam this thread with my garage/shed/greenhouse combo when we get there. What do people advise for carrots? I've been told a bucket of sand, stick a broomhandle in to create a space for the soil, plant in the soil-tubes. Does this sound right?
|
#
¿
Mar 15, 2009 16:33
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 20:54 |
|
|
Upside down? Do you mean growing from a hanging container?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 16, 2009 18:32
|
|
|
HeatherChandler posted:Not quite, you actually grow them...completely upside down. You take something like a bucket and cut holes in the bottom where the plants are to grow, and it is filled with soil and hung. Like this: This is madness. What are the advantages? How do you get the plant through the hole? Either the root or green bit are going to be too big, or do you plant them really young? Do you put anything special around the hole to stop pooping the entire ensemble out?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 17, 2009 19:20
|
|
|
HeatherChandler posted:Well poo poo, I know exactly what you mean. Like if a tomato seedling is too leggy you can just bury the stem and it grows roots. I never thought about how it would grow naturally. Strawberries are the king of this trick. I moved my strawberry pots a couple of years ago and found a single runner that snuck across the back of the house, about 15 feet over patio slabs, behind the door step, behind the drainpipe, behind the little plastic 'greenhouse' into the border. About 30 feet away. It had rooted and grown secret strawberries. They were tasty.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 18, 2009 21:51
|
|
|
What is this zone witchcraft you speak of? I can't find my courgette seeds. I'll have to buy some more.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 26, 2009 07:56
|
|
|
HeatherChandler posted:I can tell you from experience gardening in SE England that pretty much everything will be wanting full sun. Since there aren't the same high temperature extremes as there is in temperate US there isn't any crops that need sheltering in the summer, and there isn't as much sun in general. The upside is being able to have successful lettuce and spinach and even peas for most of the summer. The downside is it can be difficult to get tomatoes and peppers to ripen. Bottom line is I wouldn't put any vegetables in the shade there. I'm in Stoke-on-Trent, which means everything is grey - the sky, the clay 2" under the surface... Hence the container plants.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 27, 2009 21:37
|
|
|
I finally turned out our compost bin, some 3 years after we started it. Seeing as we never did it properly, just drilled some air holes in the side of a plastic dustbin, it's never had the good stuff turned out, so it was powdery black/brown, the only recognisable stuff was eggshells, which the wife assures me is normal. I mixed it about 1:2 with potting compost and planted carrots & parsnips, so I now have 3 troughs of potatoes, 1 of carrots, 1 of parsnips. Chillies, tomatoes & peppers germinating on the windowsill. Also, about 2lb of potatoes turfed out when I emptied the old troughs  Question - I have about 2lb of bbq ash, should I put this in the compost bin?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 29, 2009 12:51
|
|
|
The two courgette seeds I planted in peat starters on the kitchen window sill have grown legs, unearthed themselves & torn themselves out of the soil, seeking revenge for the atrocious act of live burial. My wife explained that was supposed to happen, they're growing normally. I put the hammer down.  2 at the back, courgettes. 2 bottom left, tomatoes. Other 4, peppers & chillies. Not pictured, Potatoes already 3" of shoots, needs deepening, carrots & parsnips, no signs of life. Rhubarb: [img]http://img.waffleimages.com/15a45adef1b0efd0e6a9a5eca90d3b914afe0a25/P280309_11.46_[01].jpg[/img] This was last week. Now it's so big I have to crop it or lose it tomorrow.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 10, 2009 18:19
|
|
|
osukeith161 posted:<snip> Try takeaways for used 5 gallon buckets (sauces, mayo, poo poo like that) They'll need a thorough clean, takeaways won't do that for you. Wear gloves, possibly a mask so you don't gip.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 20, 2009 20:40
|
|
|
madlilnerd posted:human Ewww. Gardening is icky.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2009 19:40
|
|
|
HeatherChandler posted:Oh, is it? I know I know... The untidiness of gardening bugs me. It's so untidy.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2009 21:29
|
|
|
There are potatoes growing in literally every pot. I'm kind of proud, but also sad. I had to dig a bunch up to let other foodthings grow. Do potatoes jump? It's the only explanation. 
|
|
#
¿
May 12, 2009 18:09
|
|
|
Almost overnight my healthy looking courgettes have been 100% butchered by greenfly. They are goners.
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2009 15:10
|
|
|
My sweet peas have a little white powdery mold on the leaves. Are there any treatments that will let me harvest the peas later or are they a loss, dig them up and dispose?
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2016 17:21
|
|
|
coyo7e posted:grapes can get enormous. like 20 feet long and 6-8 feet tall, no problem. They make an excellent shade cover for an outdoor patio if you train them up some posts and have a structure for them to grow along overhead. I call bullshit, I've never seen a grape more than an inch an a half long  That description makes me want to build a geodesic dome frame and grow grapes up it. Outdoor seating area underneath in the shade sounds good.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 17, 2017 12:59
|
|
|
Does anyone use any apps to organize/plan their vegetable patches? Also has anyone ever grown feijoas?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2017 22:30
|
|
|
Any advice on soil and germination would be appreciated, I planted 10 seeds last year and 5 germinated, 3 survived longer than a month, I'm down to one 1" plant now and sewed a bunch more to try again this year. E: also how do you pronounce them? 
cakesmith handyman fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Apr 28, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2017 06:24
|
|
|
learnincurve posted:It depends on what you are trying to germinate and if you are putting it right in the ground or not? You can treat them like they are normal flower plants and germinate in seed trays in the house and transplant outside, which is the better option if you only have a few seeds. To get 10 plants I would sow 50 seeds in a tray, start taking them outside during the day when they sprout, and then thin the weaker ones till I get 20, grow them on some more, plant them in final position, and then thin again down to 10 later on. This is only the second year I've taken an active interest in growing so I'm still learning a lot, but I planted them indoors in a seed tray, hoping to get 50% viable plants. Sounds like daily acclimating might have prevented some of the die off also. Thanks. I'll keep trying. More questions, currently my 1 raised bed is nearly 2 foot deep, I see a lot that are half that height, so when everything's died back I'll break it down into 2 shorter beds. We've a compost bin with well rotted kitchen waste and one with mostly garden waste (shredded leaves, grass, cuttings and flowers etc) should I bury some of this at the bottom when I make the second bed? Also is garlic okay in little 5" deep troughs?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2017 07:48
|
|
|
Unheated lidded propigator in warmest window.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2017 09:01
|
|
|
We drink a lot of coffee so I'll throw all that in. I really against using peat if I can avoid it, ecologically it's absolutely terrible and pretty much irreplaceable.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2017 23:48
|
|
|
Well I've now learned first hand about why a breeze or fan is a good idea to harden plants up before going outside. I had one golden berry doing quite well (8") and a couple of hours outside and a stronger than expected breeze just basically blew half the leaves off 
|
|
#
¿
May 2, 2017 14:55
|
|
|
My alpine strawberries were looking sickly so I went digging and found literally hundreds of vine weevils in their containers. I've repotted with as little original soil as possible, is there a way to eradicate the grubs from the soil so I can do something worth it? Even making it safe to mix with the compost heap would be great.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2017 20:29
|
|
|
If my mum's garden is anything to go by just dot lavender plants all over the show and you'll be shoveling bees out of the way.
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2017 17:48
|
|
|
indigi posted:yeah, that's what I was thinking I'd do eventually anyway. Although there's a cedar 2x8 foot kit that's only 5 bucks more so maybe I'll just go with that. That's 16sqft vs 9 for the fabric so it's much better value too.
|
|
#
¿
May 9, 2017 15:10
|
|
|
My spinach beet are about 4' tall, send help. Actually about peppers, I've got 4 jalapeno plants looking like they're doing well, I think I've been under watering them but how do I tell? E: leaves aren't floppy but top 1" of soil is dry
|
|
#
¿
May 15, 2017 11:04
|
|
|
They're in pots on a windowsill, and I killed the last bunch I planted by overwatering hence my caution.
|
|
#
¿
May 15, 2017 12:34
|
|
|
Ebola Dog posted:The general advice I see to avoid over watering peppers is to wait until the top inch or two is dry before watering, so sounds like you are doing the right thing. Apparently letting them dry out a little can be good for stimulating them to produce more flowers/fruit as well. You can happily let them get to the point the leaves are wilting before watering and they will spring back shortly after. Thanks. I'll post pics later for pruning advice. Yesterday I found one of my courgette plants had the stem eaten, bastard slugs  in nicer news however my wife had ordered me 5 edible fuchsia berry plugs and they arrived
|
|
#
¿
May 16, 2017 09:51
|
|
|
Promethea posted:If they are from Thompson & Morgan, those Fuchsias have pretty flowers but though the berries sort of taste a bit like bland grapes, I found they made my throat feel a bit weird for a few minutes afterwards, almost like they'd been slightly hairy, kind of like a kiwi with a trace of the skin, which is either just a quality of the fruits or a sign I'm slightly allergic to them I guess. Either way, offputting so now I keep them just for the flowers. I'll report back in however many months assuming I don't kill them. Worst case I've got a bunch of fuchsia as you say.
|
|
#
¿
May 16, 2017 18:23
|
|
|
2 out of 3 courgette plants eaten by bastarding bugs.
|
|
#
¿
May 19, 2017 21:14
|
|
|
Related question: anyone grown strawberries from seed? Is it worth it? I want to try a few weird and wonderful varieties but they get expensive.
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2017 12:32
|
|
|
I will be astonished if they're blue.
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2017 13:10
|
|
|
Oh I want all the colour strawberries, I just can't bring myself to believe adverts like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182484827481 I did pick up some super deep-discounted sweet colossus last year that have between them about 50 flowers right now, if he internet is to be believed I'm in for egg-sized fruits there's also some darker cherry-berry I'm letting establish this year hoping for a decent crop next year.
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2017 14:02
|
|
|
We have visiting rats because one side of the garden borders common land and another side our neighbor has chickens and ducks. Traps with peanut butter worked last year, this year the survivor was big enough to just flat out eat the traps, so we've had to be clever about poison, consisting we have a cat, a dog and ground feeding birds. Next option is an air rifle.
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2017 18:05
|
|
|
It may or may not be illegal to replace your paint ball with a ball bearing. Have fun. E: I have smaller pests, any green fly advice?
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2017 18:33
|
|
|
indigi posted:also, any recommendations for cheap tomato cages? the bamboo stake method seems easy and cheap, but I'm open to other suggestions Build a geodesic dome. Oh cheap? Err, build a geodesic dome out of stolen conduit?
|
|
#
¿
May 24, 2017 14:23
|
|
|
RIP 3rd courgette plant. Going to plant some more because gently caress it I don't accept this outcome. Danm you snails
|
|
#
¿
May 25, 2017 22:54
|
|
|
My cherry berry strawberries are putting out so many runners  Timber turned up for the second bed, if I get a dry evening I'll put that up this week and start shoveling soil.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 6, 2017 21:24
|
|
|
I planted sage, tarragon, and basil. Three different types of seedlings showing up in each pot so what should the seedlings look like so I can kill the intruders?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 14, 2017 11:12
|
|
|
Bugger. Yes it is, how do I get better tarragon then? Find someone with one and steal bits?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 14, 2017 16:27
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 20:54 |
|
|
I hadn't thought of looking to buy a live plant, I'll report back on how much £'s they want for it. Thanks. By the premise of if you don't want it it's a weed that means anything growing in my tarragon pot is a weed now 
|
|
#
¿
Jun 14, 2017 20:00
|
|