growing vegetables
 

Hi. I have 4 raised beds, they are 9ft by 4 ft and about 6inches heigh.The soil is thick and stoney.We are r eady(ish) for year 2 of veggie growing. Have strawberries in one of them if they survive the rain and frost.

Any tips please?
I would love to achiece a 9 month supply of veggies from our patch.
What should I attempt to grow/do/sew now?
Last year the peas did well and the spuds and salad stuff but that's it really.

My zip-up-plastic green house blew away, not kidding! (WANTED a real greenhouse or tunnel, posted in the wanted section).

Tips, clues, hints, 'ON THE HOW TO'S' all appreciated on veggie success please. I also read the allotment posting with interest thanks.

Hi
Last year I grew courgettes which were a great success. The plants produced for months. They grow fairly big and they do need to be tied up otherwise you get little stubby ones. I had one of those zip up greenhouses as well and used it for the seedlings and when the plants got bigger I took the greenhouse part off and used the frame to tie them up - it worked a treat. We had so many that by the end of the season we no longer had courgettes but marrows!!.. I grew them in tyres and it worked out really because the plant can get very big and take over. By putting them in the tyres it restricted their growth a little and it also meant that the slugs (urghhhh my sworn enemy) had a harder time getting to them. And the slugs loved my courgettes so if you do decide to grow them Beware!!

I also tried tomatoes for the second time and for the second time it was a total disaster so I'm giving them a miss this year.

Spuds were brill -very tasty. Growing them again. Same with lettuce, rocket, scallions. Peas and beans worked well too.

We had brocolli too last year. My big tip is not to leave them too long as they go to flower very quickly.

And the carrots were really tasty. I didn't plant some of them deep enough and again the slugs had a field day when they found them. They're meant to grow really well in raised beds - something about carrot fly and height from the ground.

We also had strawberries and I got two raspberry plants. We got a few off them but I'm hoping for more this year as the plants get bigger.

I love this time of year, planning and getting everything ready. I've got my onions and leeks started - they're new for me this year and I'm looking forward to seeing how they get on.

Good luck - and if you need any tyres let me know. I've a thread up in the garden section for them.

Don't forget to Rotate..

Lisa

Lovestuff, give it a go, I'm not sure how much your four raised beds will grow - not very good at maths but they sound like a good size to me.
I reckon onions and spuds are the 'basics' for me and I feel, grow them if you grow nothing else. I think your strawberries will survive the winter - mine did, last year.


Lislaw, the last two years were very rainy and with little sunshine, I found that tomatoes did very badly as well. I'm still going to give them another try this year, though, will start them off indoors and move them outside when we (hopefully)get some better sunny weather this year.

I agree with you about the carrots - I grew mine in a bin last year and they were the tastiest ever. Onions were pretty small and not very good, again I feel they were 'washed out' - that's what they tasted like anyway.

Thanks for that Frantasia. My poor tomatoes grew really well last year. I got them in a nice sunny spot against the wall for extra warmth. It looked like a get a good crop at first - loads of little green toms. They grew to a good size but then just as they started to ripen they seemed to rot on the plant. Some of them never even ripened. I was very disheartened especially since the year before I got one tomato from four plants!! I suppose I did a bit better last year - I managed to get 2 tomatoes!!

Any suggestions as to why this happened? Is it just lack of sun and too much rain at a critical time or did they get some tomato disease or other? To be honest, there was so much else going on in the garden at that time - and in my life in general - that I didn't even try to find out what had happened. I just decided to write tomatoes off and stick to the stuff I can grow well.

Lisa

veggies
 

hi lovestuff,

at the moment the veggie patcgh is very bare, we only have some cabbage at the moment, as i find its one of teh only veg to resist the frost in my experience..

chicories are also supposed to be good in the winter , dug deep, although never tried it... yummee ! ( a type of salad for those that never tried it)

last year we managed to get peas, green beans (or french runner beans depending on what you call them), salad, we also managed to get peppers ( but these stayed green and never went yellow or red . they were the miniature species. we kept them at home a long time as they do not like the cold (maybe a couple or 3 of months). beware, the slugs love these !
i also have various herbs, parsley, thyme and a bush ( can t remember the name they are leaves you put in stews and stuff..)
need to try carrots, onions, next year and hopefully: spuds ... have to try !

lisa,
we also tried tomatoes, we had loads of tomatoes, but i did not manage to make them rippen.
i find it easier with the cherry tomato variety. with tomatoes, we also kept them a long time at home ( well over 2 months) in our porch and they loved it. the conservatory would also be a good spot for them. we had to plant them as they did not have enough space/ soil to grow, and we had to put wooden supports ( we found free wood in a skip down the road for it) to make sure they did not collapse with the wieght.
problem is , couldn t get one to ripen ! heard of the getting them ripe in a brown bag, but surely they mustn t taste very nice as no sun around... am i the only one to think this ?

enhjoying the veggie threads anyway !
keep it up...

cascais

Buy seeds for vegetables
 

Hi - I too am hoping to start a veggie patch. Where's a good place to buy seeds? Do you go somewhere like woodies or online?? Would really appreciate and advice. Am hoping to grow spuds, onions, carrots, parsnips, letuce and hopefully tomatoes (hear they are quite hard)

Thanks for any advice,
Chuck.

Hi Chuck
Any garden centre will have a range of seeds and even seedlings. It's also a good place to pick up herbs for a few quid. Later in the season is an even better time to buy them as you might get a reduced price if they are not selling well. The plants are more than ready to be moved to bigger pots by them.

You should get some advice on what will grow well in your type of soil, any improvers you can use etc and what pests to look out for at particular times.

Tesco and I'm sure the other big shops all usually do seed packets as well.

Good Luck, let us know how you get on.
Lisa

Blight
 

If you grow potatoes and tomatoes do you remember to spray for blight? Both are susceptible and that is one reason that tomatoes don't ripen. Also potatoes take up a lot of space for the return from a monetary point of view - unless you can get really early crops in and then use the space for something that is higher value and fast growing afterwards.

My advice would be to pick those vegetables that cause a big hole in your pocket in the supermarket - for me it's runner beans - and they can crop heavily for months - until the first frosts kill them off.

With tomatoes it's important to grow the right variety. My Dad and my siblings have been experimenting for years and are unanimous - Gardener's Delight is far away the best one to grow. It's a cherry tomato, grows indoors or outdoors, ripens even in a bad summer,and tastes like tomatoes used to taste when you were young. What more can I say?
Mangetout peas also good as more to eat for your time/energy/space.
Parsnips very easy to grow,and can be sown soon. Only problem I find with parsnips is persuading anyone to eat them.

I think blight might have been my problem with the tomtoes last year. I never even dreamt of spraying them for blight. And it does seem like that could have been the problem. Ah well, now I know.

I only wish I had a porch to grow them in. My neighbours across the road do and I'm always very envious of their very tall, very fruitful tomato plants.

About the Broccoli.....
 

I have a feeling that broccoli and cauliflower bolt much quicker in rich ground. If you have a less fertile area, try this space for these veggies. Leeks and Kohl rabi are dead easy to grow (especially the leeks - we're still pulling ours from last year and no predators). Be warned, though, the caterpillars will devour the kohl rabi leaves and stunt the bulb.
Mary
PS re parsnips - roasted in olive oil with cumin seed - magic!!

Hi, buy magazines for veg growing they usually have free seeds at this time of year, also they do really good free seed special offers inside, they say it's for Uk res only but I send sterling coins for p&p and have always received them. A polytunnel will be your best investment ever, I love mine, I get great tomatoes, chillies, aubergines, melons, cucumbers in summer and loads of herbs and salad all winter. It's also MY space!!

growing veggies
 

Thanks everyone for useful and interesting tips. Enjoying it very much.

Yea my tomatoes were a disaster too but will try the variety JOG mentioned 'Gardeners Delight'

And Lislaw you have convinced me to try corgettes this year
and I have to confess to THE YOUNG ONE that I have never heard of KHOL RABI but I will look into it and it sounds wonderful. Also will try leeks.

As for herbs I got most of mine last year in Aldi and they grow in pots at the back door (handy for the kitchen).Bay winters well outdoors as does sage, thyme, mint, spearmint, rosemary and my parsley has survived too. I got 2 varities of sage fron Aldi. 1 green and ordinary another has a varrigated leaf and looks pretty even on a gloomy day. Aldi lavander still blooming also!

As for parsnips convince them to eat 'parsnip chips'. Oil and rosemary (and what ever else you like) in a baking tin, peel the parsnips, then shread them up into little thin strips with the peeler and roast till crispie. Try them. I can't wait to grow my own!

Potato blight
 

I am inspired to try again after reading these notes re vegetable growing and will have to learn a lot more to do it right this year. We moved to the country a few years ago and have a very large garden but my attempts at growing potatoes the last year was very discouraging. Colmpletely killed by blight. Is there an organic spray against it as I don't want to use chemicals?

This site:

http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about1313.html

provides some good advice and mixing quantities for herbal treatments for blight.

I found it very helpful

Good luck with your attempts this year.
Lisa

website
 

Lislaw - this website is really helpful. Thanks to all for advice!

Sow early potato varieties as these are seldom affected by blight. You will not need to spray at all.

I was wondering about that. When is the earliest you can put down spuds?


And if I take off the growing stalks can they be left overwinter in the ground if they're covered with straw? Saw this in a neighbours garden and I've vague memories of it from my grandads garden when I was a kid.

March according to that linked Irish gardening site http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about1270.html
As for leaving them in the ground, I think you can as long as the clay does not get too wet.

Potato Blight
 

Thanks- that's good advice and I will give it a try again around March when hopefully we will have decent weather for a bit of gardeninig as I don't like getting wet and muddy.

Plastic greenhouses.
 

You mentioned those plastic covered greenhouses, can anyone please let me know if there is anywhere to buy the plastic covers? My cat scratched openings in two of them and the wind took away the others. I have frames but no plastic. Is it a scam by the company that we need to buy the whole thing again? Surely we should be able to purchase replacement ones? Am I the only one with this problem? Would love some feedback.

I'm no expert, Lislaw - but I think a lot of tomatoes didn't ripen last year (mine didn't, others I know also said the same) - I got the small green ones as you said, but I guess there wasn't enough sun, that was my take on it.

Someone else mentioned blight, I suppose that might be a possibility - but I think blight gives blackened and /or withered stalks and spotting on the fruit - again, I may be wrong here, as I don't know a lot - my gardening maxim is plant 'em and see what happens.

Some useful ideas for tomatoes:
Always use new soil.
It can help growth if you graft two palnts into one. Just cut a notch in one pant and remove the top off another, leaving a corresponding sliver. Push the sliver into the notch and tape up with a piece of cloth carefully. Double the uptake going into one plant.
Collect pee (yes pee) in a plastic bucket. When full, leave it for a week to get rid of nitrogen. Dilute as follows......one third pee and two thirds water. Apply once a week. An old Italian market gardener used it on tomatoes and they were brilliant. Doesn't smell all that good, but excellent stuff and think of the flushing water saved ! Good luck.

That's taking reycling/repurposing to a whole new level.

zip up greenhouse
 

Hi, Easyliving did you try ringing Argos and see if they have new covers???

My problem with my zip up plastic green house is that it just gets wrecked in every storm and THEN whats inside gets blown to the four winds. And I have weighted it down, tied it down, everything. We don't live in a sheltered spot. But I will have a go again as what choice do I have?

plastic greenhouses.
 

Hi, yes...I have tried everywhere to get replacments but nothing turned up. I also bought heavy plastic to try to make my own covers but this was a disaster also when the wind took it. I wish there was a solution as I have quite a few plants that need shelter and sun. The zips are very fragile also.

I have rotation plans that I use for growing in my raised beds, I have 28 but you can grow smaller quantaties of the type of veg.

I know the soil and you need loads of manure - these some on the farmers section here so load up and get it on the garden, then cover your beds with black plastic and it will be perfect come planting time.

my beds are higher 11 inches as the ground can be water logged, if you have good draining you should be fine with your 6".

mail me if you would like the plans or any other information.

i would be very interested to hear more about the plans you refer to and also it'd be great if you could explain more about the manure and covering with black plastic?

Raised beds
 

I built my beds nearly 9 years ago now and planned the garden so that I had concrete slabs between in paths. This had been a god send as the land is so wet in winter. I can go out in my slippers and garden.

I split the beds in my plan into 4 rotations

1. Potatoes, followed Kohl Rabi for the goats

2. Onions + sweetcorn followed by Brassicas - followed by winter bunching onions, parsley and miners lettuce.

3. Beans and Peas - pulses and courgettes, squashes, marrows, pumpkins etc

4. Roots and salads.


I plant squashes, courgettes, marrows, pumpkins and other bits and pieces where there have space, though they like the shade from the beans and peas.

I also have permanent beds for Artichokes - flowering green globe and edible flowers, Asparagus, a seed bed and a perpetual garlic bed. This removes 4 of the 28 beds leaving me with 24 beds.

I also have not listed some non raised beds 4 = 1 rhubarb, 2 herbs, 1 perpetual brocoli.


I rotate so everything gets 4 years minimum before its back in the same bed.


I came to this arrangement by trial and error using the type of food I like to eat and what would grow in this environment.


Suppose my year starts around November when I much out the goats and put the bedding straight onto the raised beds, I stack it quite high and spread it out well, then pull black plastic over and fix it down. I leave one bed half open and on December 21st plant garlic.

By the time the end of March has come around I look under the black plastic and I am left with well rotted fine layer of manure.

I do sow directly large seeds such as potatoes, beans and peas. But the rest I grow in the greenhouse first and plant out when the frost has defiantely gone.

I usually eat my first salad around May and its now February and I am still eating onions, parsley, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, rhubarb, Kohl rabi and herbs from the garden. The freezers are still overflowing. I have my fruit garden set out the same way but with larger beds and with bushes in the beds and trees intermingled around them. I still have plenty of fruit for the coming year in case of disaster, or I will simply one warm summer evening turn it all into wine :)

the veg. beds are 10ft x 4 ft this size suits me. To start with I, put newspaper on the grass inside the bed, put a mixture of horse manure and peat moss in them and then got the goats and took over with their bedding which keeps the beds topped up as the soil inside composts and reduces.

I lay a layer of manure over veg such as Silverbeet, onions, and potatoes who like it when it rains and they get a shower of feed from the manure.

I also have 6 home made wormeries and poultry who contribute to the soil activity.

-plastic covering
 

i maby on the wrong track but lidel had small plastic greenhouses at one time if yours is like that i am sure i seen a spare cover in my mums shed will have a look next week if i remember lol but as its plastic would be cheap to post

Eco princess, that sounds fantastic and very organized. I'm following this tread with a lot of interest hoping to grow some this year.

If you don't mind me asking,how much time do you spend in the garden? I'm an absolute novice and your schedule sounds like a day job to me and I really would like to grow my own fruit and vegetables but I don't have that much time.

garden tips
 

Hi eco princess, thats great. Thanks.

plastic cover
 

Hi, it would be so great if you have a spare plastic cover, doing running repairs with duck tape is driving me up the wall. Do you by any chance have it still?
Regards
Carmel

seeds.
 

I have been growing my own vegetables for a few years now and the best seeds I have ever had is from an irish website called www.seedaholic.com It is a fantastic site with very good prices and the seeds always grow.... They come with a care sheet and really I could recomend it. The delivery service is quick and the people running it are so helpful. I hope this helps.

Time is of the essence
 

It takes me less time than going to the shops for food.

The first year it seemed to take me ages because I wasnt experienced enough to be confident that things would grow.

shortest day of the year plant your garlic.
Mid January your onions and shallots. and in the greenhouse broad beans.

Then in your seed bed start to sow brassicas and Leeks in March depending on weather - you will with experience be able to stick your finger in the earth and go to yourself yep warm enough now. GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY its essential.
Towards the middle of March end of March depending on weather and soil warmth I do beetroot, carrots, seakale, spinach, spinach beet, spring oinions, sweed and turnip in situ outside, then about a week after lettuce - which is quite hardy.

If you have a greenhouse I sow everything else in pots first. I built my greenhouse 2 years ago and its great. But I grew sucessfully and abundantly without one for 6 years. So in the greenhouse I start the beans (broad bean already been sown for an early crop), dward, runner, and peas, Sweet peppers, Celery,cucumber, marrow, courgette, melon sweetcorn tomatoes, and whatever else has taken my fancy

As soon as the early spuds are up I sow Kohl Rabi and more lettuce and salad crops even a second crop of earlies spuds which I harvest around November.

What takes the time is harvesting, preserving/freezing and storing.
get friends around, they get surplus as payment and a nice lunch/dinner.

The orchard is easy (except the wood which I have advertised for on here), mark out beds ask friends for cuttings and then stick them in the ground around March. Put them in your greenhouse over winter or in a sheltered spot and then dig up and put in situ.

In August I sow Endive, winter bunching onions, some miners lettuce and take herb cuttings

Potatoes go in on St Patricks day.

I work full time, run 3 business and 2 charities, and I also have an occational evening job, run the farm, milk, tend the bees, do my own turf and fish, and now and then I get to walk the dog, stand on a summers evening watering the garden and then in winter the freezers, bottles shelves are full of my own fruit, vegetables and honey, cheeses ripen slowly and beer bubbles by the stove and I plan the next years garden.

If it sounds like work it will be, to me its all just pleasure and happiness.

What an inspiring post! Thank you. I can't wait to get started now.

Green fingers
 

If I get a chance I will post what I'm doing on a weekly basis and you can follow track.

Where are you located - south of me you should do it a week earlier north of me a week later.

So what I will be doing in the next week 10 days is:

Put potatoes to chit and purchase onion sets. Sow onion seeds later in the year.

At the next chance get a couple of bags of seed compost from the hardware store.

Wash pots and trays for seeds. Weed veg garden/beds/plots. and put up supports for peas and beans.

Manure potatoe plot if not already done

Buy seeds if you havent done allready.

http://www.wallis-seeds.co.uk/ are my fav company very reasonably priced.

If you need cuttings of fruit bushes ask friends now.

This weekend was the weekend
 

Well Is aid I would post what I was doing in the garden to help the newbie gardeners.


When I got out into the garden for the first serious session this year:

I cleared and weeded the beds sorting leftovers for the goats, compost and kitchen.

Still in the garden for eating are Potatoes, Carrots, Spring onions, Kales and Early Purple Sprouting and Kohl Rabi.

I planted 160 onion sets, and around 20 garlic and covered them with a layer of Goat manure. The rest of the beds are ready for planting now except the ones which are still occupied by the produce above.

Every year I re-evaluate production and have decided that this year the Rhubarb is in a too damp spot so I will move it to a bed, which I now use for my cuttings, apples last year as I cut down an old tree which roots from cuttings. So I will work on this bed when the cuttings are in their next stop a larger bed in the field, for two years before planting out. The old rhubarb bed will be for more herbs, so I will keep piling composting stuff on to the bed in an attempt to raise it out of the wet, in the mean time I will pray for a good summer for the rhubarb.

The beds for the beans and peas have their stakes in, wigwams and rows.
In the greehouse I sowed 60 Broad beans, 70 dwarf beans, 30 pole beans and 10 parsley; in the heat indoors 6 peppers and 6 cucumbers. 8 Tomatoes were sown in January in the heat, but you can buy plants cheap enough anywhere in a few weeks.

I also extened my bed system in the greenhouse and took an apricot out of its pot and planted it in a bed along with thyme, rosemary cuttings to go in the garden later and some cyclemen. In hanging baskets I put ivy cuttings which I had taken last autumn these will be filled with flowers herbs and hanging tomatoes; put up the canes for the tomatoes to climb and e tied too.

I will buy, on my way home tonight, compost for the greenhouse beds which I change every 3 years to keep disease at a minimum, in the bottom of the beds Iput goat manure to keep the whole thing fed and to produce large sweet fruits.

Cropping apples on cuttings
 

Hi Ecoprincess - do you know the variety of apple that you're cropping off cuttings? Does it crop and grow well and, I guess most importantly, is it a nice apple?

Thank you Ecoprincess
 

IN STEAD OF GOAT MANURE WHAT ELSE CAN YOU USE TO GET SWEET FRUITS?

Thank you for taking the time to post all this. I really appreciate it. I'm a complete novice so practical advice is great.