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Cool, a veg gardening thread. I've nearly finished planting out a bunch of stuff: leafy veg including pak choi, purple lettuce, rocket and green (?) lettuce; bulbs of white & red onion and garlic; planted out tomato seeds today (cherry and big type); cress; mushrooms; potatoes (first and second earlies). I rent a room but the house owner has a decent-size back garden for an English terrace/row house, it's all covered in paving stones and pea gravel (which the cats love) so I'm using containers. Hopefully I've learned from the past couple of years and I won't be growing too much stuff all at once. I found a British allotment grower's web guide that tells you what to plant/harvest/do month-to-month, which is a big help: http://www.allotment.org.uk/garden_month.php so hopefully I'll be able to harvest more than some herbs and shitloads of salad this year. The light isn't great so I have to keep the containers in the middle of the garden or right next to/on the path to the back gate, but leafy salad stuff does really well. This is my first year trying potatoes, mushrooms and onion/garlic bulbs.
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Apr 14, 2009 19:32
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| # ¿ Apr 18, 2024 01:31 |
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landis posted:Oh, courgettes are zucchinis?! Wow that clears up a lot of confusion (filthy colonial checking in). Took me a while to get used to the different garden terms (I moved to the UK 5 years ago) - mange tout are baby snow peas, baby corn is popular with roast dinners, jacket potatoes are baked potatoes, I'm still trying to figure out what marrow is, etc., but it's sinking in slowly  but, slugs are slugs, manure is manure, sun + water + fertilizer is the key still, it all still works!
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Apr 14, 2009 22:56
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Right, how much space does one need to grow their own tea? That would be totally crazy, serving friends and family your own personal tea. I know you can get your own blends made from different types already, and that's pretty cool too, considering you'd need a plantation to get your own mix. HeatherChandler posted:marrow talk Ah OK, that might explain why it's seemingly such a big deal at harvest festivals, because they're hard to get to that size without splitting or whatever they do. imaginaryfriend posted:Microgreens (YUM): I had to look up microgreens, I have to confess it sounds interesting and tasty!
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Apr 15, 2009 09:42
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drat landis you've researched this all out Do the tea plants grow indoors, like a houseplant? I'd imagine they are tropical or semi-tropical. If so this might be a fun thing to do, it'd be like combining gardening with making beef jerky. e: just read the link above, sounds like they'd be indoor-friendly
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Apr 15, 2009 15:05
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Jesus we have enough for a tea thread here. Landis, I thought I was a tea nerd (only as a Yank in Brit-land) but you, sir, are the master. I bow to your superior tea-nerdiness.
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Apr 15, 2009 17:44
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Okay, microgreens sound pretty drat good, and they're easy and quick to grow...I have a simple question though, how do you 'harvest' them? Just pull them out, wash and eat? And they're just sown on a seed tray, right?
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Apr 15, 2009 22:40
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I've been doing some googling about microgreens and it sounds so easy, especially since I have several seed trays and mounds of compost waiting to be used! I'm growing some cress right now just because the seed packet was available, and it's my first time growing this sort of thing. From my very limited research, these are the sorts of things you can plant as microgreen crops: Basil - Micro Greens & Baby Leaf Herbs - Thai, Basil Purple, Sweet and Lemon work well Bulls Blood Beet - Micro Greens Broccoli - Micro Greens Cabbage - Tokyo Bekana - Micro Greens Cabbage - Red - Micro Greens Celery Leaf - Micro Greens & Baby Leaf Herbs Chevril - Micro Greens & Baby Leaf Herbs Chives - Micro Greens & Baby Leaf Herbs Chinese Water Pepper - Micro Greens Coriander - Micro Greens & Baby Leaf Herbs Fennel - Micro Greens Fenugreek - Micro Greens Greek Cress - Micro Greens Kale - Micro Greens Lemon balm - Ideal with fruit, Baby Leaf Herb Mizuna - Micro Greens Mustard - Red Micro Greens Rocket - Micro Greens & Baby Leaf Herbs Purple Radish - Daikon & China Rose Micro Greens Sage - Baby Leaf Herb Salad Burnet - Baby Leaf Herb Sorrel - Baby Leaf Herb Summer Savory - Micro Greens & Baby Leaf Herbs Spilanthes - Micro Greens Swiss Chard - Bright Lights Tatsoi - Micro Greens Watercress - Micro Greens Baby Leaf Green broccoli Red-stemmed radish Beetroot With the cost of a packet of seeds about £1 and all the other stuff already available this is really a no-brainer - the only problem will be remembering to harvest it and eat it.
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Apr 16, 2009 00:41
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drat that's a lot of garden space you have there. Make mine look like a pittance:  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. The majority of the garden containers. Tomatoes are just planted in the mini-greenhouse, the microgreens will be with them. Some of the potatoes to the left of the greenhouse and onions/strawberries to the right. Everything else is leafy veg. Tomato plants will go in the round planters against the wall, but pulled out in front of the greenhouse to get the sun.  Click here for the full 1200x1600 image. The herb/flower stand - the topmost planter is an oak acorn I planted several months ago!  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. The mushrooms should be sprouting (or whatever it is they do) in the next week or so  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. Some heather I bought from the garden centre because the stuff I pull out of the ground always dies. I love heather because it's hardy and bright.
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Apr 16, 2009 01:24
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Have to make a tall fence to keep at least one cat out of the containers...apparently the netting doesn't stop this one industrious fucker from climbing in and making GBS threads ON TOP of the netting...I like cats and all, but drat this sucks. Every year.
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Apr 19, 2009 14:30
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wei1 posted:what are some options with just a concrete "patio"? i guess i could just buy a bunch of pots? i'd like to grow some easy stuff, tomatoes, garlic, onions? Yeah, containers are a good option (see the back yard I'm dealing with, it's all paving stones and pea gravel), you can cheat a bit and get tomato seedlings and packs of lettuce, etc., that's already grown at the DIY store, depending where you are it may be a bit late to try growing them from seed if you want the veg in time for a normal harvest. Super-easy stuff includes lettuce varieties, tomatos (one plant per 8 or 10-inch pot though, plus you'll need stakes), onions might do well. Bigger things like potatoes and vine plants require bigger containers or more supports. If you have a lot of sun you'll do really well, otherwise you might struggle. I like containers because they can be moved around and they hold water pretty well - you need holes in the bottom though, otherwise the roots may rot, just don't think you never have to water.
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Apr 20, 2009 11:07
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Those are some pretty exacting instructions! But don't worry about deviating too much, When the instructions give measurements like that, they're just saying those are the distances for the optimal yield in ideal conditions. You may get slightly less yield come harvest time if they're too close, but as long as you give the plants room to grow you'll get good results. Don't worry if all you have is 8" pots and the directions for the tomatoes call for 10" pots, etc. The past couple of years I planted my lettuce and leafy veg way too close together and in addition to getting jaded in the middle of the year and forgetting to harvest & water them, the plants weren't anywhere near as big as they could have been. This year I've given them a lot more space so I should get more yield and the garden overall will be more forgiving as I pick the leaves off different plants during the year. As for your watering, morning time is best, although I don't think it's as critical for indoor plants.
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Apr 21, 2009 14:57
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I think you let them develop leaves and such first before planting them out, but I have no clue about cactuses.
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Apr 23, 2009 16:27
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Very cool I'd recommend planting some chives amongst the carrots, it helps stop the carrot fly from planting its larvae on your carrots. They don't take up much space like onions would and they're good to add to anything!
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Apr 23, 2009 20:08
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The chives I've planted outside have been fairly hardy, growing all summer, autumn and through a mild UK winter, so I would say just sow the seeds and let them grow as much as they want.
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Apr 23, 2009 21:14
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kid sinister posted:rockclimbers who recover bonsai from cliff faces  But that is very cool though. However, you forgot to provide a link. e: found some online, they're £25 but not shaped like a trowel:   I like the trowel shape a little better, even though I have a trowel. krushgroove fucked around with this message at 11:00 on Apr 24, 2009 |
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Apr 24, 2009 10:52
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Yeah I can just imagine Buddhist monks defending their bonsai from ninja gardeners with these things. A lot of medieval weapons came from gardening implements actually. On a more on-topic note, my cress has reached approximately 1 inch in height, and the other microgreens I planted out a week and a half ago (or so) have started sprouting. I'll be getting more seed packets next week, stocking up for the summer. There's like 3000 seeds in a cress seed packet, that's enough for a while
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Apr 24, 2009 14:35
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Right, I see the concavity (?) when I look really close. But yeah...definitely want one. Who wouldn't want to wear a freakin' knife on their waist when they do the drat gardening?
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Apr 24, 2009 16:17
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Just picked up some dried goji berries, I'm going to soak several of them in water and plant them out. Hopefully I'll have some bushes soon, apparently it takes up to 2-3 years for them to mature enough to produce the fruit.
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Apr 27, 2009 12:38
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Yeah I'm going to try to find some, I just happened across the dried berries in a health food store so I figured why not try planting them. I'm always trying to plant cuttings and stuff, I have a baby oak tree that's a couple months old and a chestnut planted also.
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Apr 27, 2009 16:24
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That's excellent, dude The first planter I did I covered with newspaper for a couple of days until the sprouts started coming up, the next few I just sowed the seeds and watered but didn't cover them and they took a lot longer to sprout, but they finally are. Long story short: cover the seeds with wet newspaper for a few days
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Apr 28, 2009 21:48
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There are organic slug pellets. I'm using up the non-organic pellets I got a couple years ago, that's the only non-organic part of my gardening right now. I haven't tried copper strips or whatever, but emptying beer-filled plates of dead slugs is not something I want to do every day. I have read about people using 3M Scotch-type pads with holes cut in them to keep the slugs away, but again I don't want to get into that hassle. I wish I had a couple of friendly hedgehogs to keep the slugs and snails away. krushgroove fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Apr 30, 2009 |
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Apr 30, 2009 15:22
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Lots of garden work going on, cool My first early and second early potatoes are coming up, so are the onions I planted out, and the garlic may be too (the onions and garlic came in a bulb pack). I'm not sure if the garlic container has weeds growing in just the places I planted the bulbs in but because the cloves were super dried out I went and bought organic garlic from the supermarket and will plant some of those cloves in another container. Garlic keeps for ages anyway and I use a ton of it if I have it, plus it's something I've never grown. That farm field looks amazing, I hope you get plenty of rain! The cucumber pyramid should be very cool when it's all grown over.
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May 4, 2009 22:15
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I like the chevron shape of the rows and the flowers around the edge Watch out for those dandelions, I have a love/hate thing with those yellow flowers!
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May 6, 2009 20:49
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All of my potatoes have sprung up too, I'm a bit concerned that I may have put too many in the buckets and containers, etc. First earlies and second earlies, haven't planted the main crop yet, I'm told they should have been planted already but I can plant them after I pull up the earlies.
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May 12, 2009 18:28
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Keep them inside if you can, in a window. If all else fails you'll need to get to a nursery and get some seedlings... What's an easy way to wash your leafy veg? By hand, rubbing each side, or is there some other way? I've read that a wash of water with vinegar will kill off any bacteria. My plants are all organic except for carefully applied slug pellets (so it doesn't sit in the leaves) so the only thing I'm really rinsing off is dirt and bug trails I guess.
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May 12, 2009 22:45
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Just picked up some goji seedlings, about 2" high, hope they grow into massive, antioxidant-radiating towers of power! The UK doesn't have 'frosts' any more so I'm just going to keep them outside. What is this neem oil supposed to do? I'm pampered in that the only garden pests I have to deal with are cats (I use netting) and slugs (pellets), unless I just don't grow enough stuff to attract aphids and caterpillars and things. That reminds me, I need to move around my containers of onions and garlic and stuff, supposedly that helps keeps out the slugs and things but who knows. I have one of those bamboo bug houses which are supposed to attract ladybugs and things that eat other bugs, too. 
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May 14, 2009 18:17
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Bleach? That might be a bit OTT, you could just change out all the dirt, and quarantine that plant just in case it has spores or whatever on it if you're that worried about it. My houseplants get white nasty crusty crap on the top of the soil, I think it comes from the minerals in the tap water.
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May 14, 2009 23:02
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I bought mine because it was cheap and has a metal (tin?) roof, it's hanging in a tree and I have seen bugs chilling out in there, but you can make one out of bamboo cane and put it in a simple wooden frame like in the pic. That's precisely what I was going to do until I saw the one I got in a grocery store.
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May 15, 2009 00:38
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I've about given up on flowers and stuff at the place I'm at now - the back garden doesn't get much sun anyway and the bulbs don't want to bloom very much. Small narcissus (baby daffodils), daffodils, tulips, snowdrops and dahlias are all not coming up hardly at all this year...I think my narcissus and snowdrops are crammed in to tight in the same pots, but the daffodils didn't even come up and most of the dahlias are taking their time. The tulips are just refusing to do anything! I got most of these bulbs just because they're perennial and thus 'easy' to take care of but I'm wondering what else I can be doing with the planters now. For those of you guys planting leafy veg like spinach, lettuce, etc., how often do you plant new seeds? I'm able to harvest quite a lot of salad leaves every week for the past 3-4 weeks now but I'm wondering when I should plant another batch of seeds so I have a continual supply.
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May 19, 2009 15:11
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Sorry, wasn't clear - I planted the bulbs 2 autumns ago, so most of them came up kind of pathetically last spring, and this spring they came up sorta pathetica again. The tulips haven't come up to see the light of day at all so far  I just don't have enough space to put everything where the sun shines most of the day, and I guess I have to prioritize the vegetables higher so they get the sun.
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May 19, 2009 15:28
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I've had that happen on many tomatoes, I still haven't cracked them yet. I guess I have to learn one plant type each year. Also I think this was missed: krushgroove posted:For those of you guys planting leafy veg like spinach, lettuce, etc., how often do you plant new seeds? I'm able to harvest quite a lot of salad leaves every week for the past 3-4 weeks now but I'm wondering when I should plant another batch of seeds so I have a continual supply.
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May 21, 2009 00:15
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HeatherChandler posted:^^I do every three weeks, depends on your usage. Cool, I guess I need to get the seed trays ready then
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May 21, 2009 00:35
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Very cool! Nice plots you have there. I think my first and second early potatoes are about ready for harvesting, it's been a couple of months since I planted them. Does anyone know if early varieties of potatoes can be planted 'later'? As in now? I didn't have space to plant out all the seed potatoes I got from the DIY store, and I have the main crop seed potatoes to plant yet, but I could find more containers at a push for the earlies.
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May 21, 2009 09:05
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HeatherChandler posted:I have a groundhog. Groundhogs eat slugs and snails, I wish I had a groundhog. Do they also eat the veg shoots or baby veg? edit sorry I was thinking of hedgehogs! I planted out another couple of trays of salad veg plus some garlic yesterday. The garlic I got originally never sprouted, I think it had been dry too long when I got it. Everything else is growing crazy but a bit wilted because we've had a week with no rain (in the UK). I've let my baby tomato plants die off and the goji berry plants have died but I think I have some sprouts from seeds (I planted some of the dried berries I got), I'll have to take care of those. I haven't kept up with the microgreens, they've gotten a bit big or died off. I get a bit lazy with the gardening sometimes but had to get another batch of salad leaves going, the first set of plants will all be dead in a couple of weeks...
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Jun 2, 2009 13:32
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Instead of urinating all over everything, how about planting onion, shallots and garlic around the edges of your garden? I've read it helps keep cats out, might work for other animals too.
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Jun 2, 2009 22:56
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Costello Jello posted:Plenty of people garden only using pots. Like me, I'm on my second sowing of lettuce and will be pulling up my first-ever harvest of potatoes this week! I spotted some aphids on my nearly-gone-to-seed pak choi (or whatever they were) plants a few weeks ago but since I knew I'd be cutting them down soon anyway I wasn't too worried about them. I think I might move around my garlic & onion containers to spread them out a bit and hopefully shoo off some of the aphids, but who knows. Funny story, I went to a DIY store and paid £2 each for a couple of largish tomato plants because I'd ignored the seedlings I had, then later the same day went to a garden fete (charity market type thing) and found plants just as big for 50p each...still bought a couple, so now I can finally get going with getting all hopeful about my tomato crop and ultimately being disappointed with how quickly they all die :P (nah, seriously, I just need to watch over them a bit better and figure out how often to fertilize them, I only use organic stuff so no 'tomato food' or miracle grow)
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Jun 15, 2009 14:57
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That sucks you guys! But you can plant a second crop of lettuce and leafy stuff, and get seedlings for some of the other things, can't you? I bought organic garlic bulbs a few weeks ago and planted out a whole bulb, now I have about a dozen plants coming up. It can't be that late already, can it?
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Jun 16, 2009 15:47
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Well I dug up my potatoes today: first and second earlies, couple of different types. They didn't exactly come up like the picture on the package shows, I don't have baking potatoes, more like salad/new potatoes. And since I never put potatoes in salad these will be new potatoes I guess. They range in size from about 1.5cm across to about 5 or 6cm long and 4cm across. For a first crop they're alright but I had 3 buckets and one big container going for over two months and my total yield fits in one colander. I guess I just need to make sure they're watered more. I planted out the main crop potatoes in the empty containers, they're supposed to grow until the leaves die back sometime in August so we'll see how they do. Planted out the tomatoes I got a couple of weeks ago, give them another shot. I'm pretty lazy about pinching off things and tying up supports so I hope I can keep on top of them better. I also pulled up all the lettuce varieties that had gone to seed and planted out the remainder of my red onion bulbs. The lettuce seeds I planted a few weeks ago are slow to come up, need to make sure they're watered well and then plant them out in the soon-to-be totally cut back big lettuce containers.
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Jun 22, 2009 21:20
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I wish my herbs lasted a lot longer than they did - they're pretty much permanently outdoors all the time and the only thing that is truly hardy is the rosemary, everything else (chives, parsley, basil, sage, etc.) die off after a few months, although the parsley lasts a bit longer than the rest. I guess I just have to resolve myself to planting them indoors all the time.
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Jun 26, 2009 14:51
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| # ¿ Apr 18, 2024 01:31 |
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I think the reply to your suggestion is that it's just a little surprising that someone in a grow your own thread would recommend something made by Monsanto, and Roundup to boot.
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Feb 23, 2010 15:02
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