Gardening.. Grow your own..

ColJack

Gold Member
I've just been mowing the lawn and the patio and clearing the scrub from the corner of my garden that used to/is going to be the veg patch..
Does anyone have a veg patch and do you have any tips please?

I'm going to get a half dozen grow bags to mix in with the dirt there ( after I dig it over and sieve out the roots and rocks etc.. )... can / should I bury some of the grass cuttings about a foot down where it will hopefully rot down and provide nutrients etc??

there's a couple of fields near us with horses in them.. recon it's worth a trip down with a bucket and spade one day? would the owners mind?
 
Hiya

Have you any ideas what you fancy growing? I LOVE growing my own -I had to miss last year aas I was recovering from an op on my skull and this year I can't because we aren't sure when we will be posted back to the UK :cry: ...
I grew in pots/tubs,,,, it was called my "potio apotment" :p
If I can be any help I will....here are a few pics of just a bit of my greenery...
You can't beat own grown tomatoes (my speciality ;))
 

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Hiya

Have you any ideas what you fancy growing? I LOVE growing my own -I had to miss last year aas I was recovering from an op on my skull and this year I can't because we aren't sure when we will be posted back to the UK :cry: ...
I grew in pots/tubs,,,, it was called my "potio apotment" :p
If I can be any help I will....here are a few pics of just a bit of my greenery...
You can't beat own grown tomatoes (my speciality ;))

Last year I grew tomatoes, peas (what I didnt eat on my salad as pea shoots) lettuce and herbs, This year I'm adding cues onions carrots and spuds yummy cant wait
 
I keep all my egg shells and sprinkle them around the plants or buy sharp sand they dislike crawling over anything sharp
I did that too... and used copper tape and "best" off all was going out in an evening on "slug patrol" -armed with a tub and a plant label to pick em up and then doused the little critters with salt ;) -
Also when I trimmed any plants I would drop the leaves on the patio over night and often the little s*ds would munch them instead :sign0151:
 
Your garden looks awesome! I'm waiting for the council to get back in touch with me about an allotment but they are taking their sweet time!

No tips yet Coljack, but hopefully you'll be growing belters like Capricorn's soon! :)
 
I'd love to grow some veg but we have a bad slug problem here.

grow in pots, get some copper tape and put a band round the outside of the pots.. slugs won't cross the copper..
it either tastes nasty to them, or hurts them in some way..

EDIT, ah I see Capricorn already gave that tip..
try 2 bands of copper spaced a little apart and wired up to a 9v battery.. same thing as you get with your tongue, but across the slug...!!!
 
I did that too... and used copper tape and "best" off all was going out in an evening on "slug patrol" -armed with a tub and a plant label to pick em up and then doused the little critters with salt ;) -
Also when I trimmed any plants I would drop the leaves on the patio over night and often the little s*ds would munch them instead :sign0151:

The old fashioned beer traps work well too I fill a jam jar almost full of beer they drink it get piddled fall in and drown every few days I change the beer (I just buy the cheapo value beer for this)
 
Hiya

Have you any ideas what you fancy growing?

I've got 3 cherry tom plants on my windowcill at the moment, donated by a work mate.. need to go outside soon I think..
I've got seeds for leeks, spring onions, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots and parsnips so far..
I wouldn't mind a go at some mushrooms too..
I need to plant them up at some point but haven't gotten round to it yet..

so I can plant in pots? that will save me some hassle with digging out a raised veg patch..
what sort of size should I be looking at for pots then?
 
Hi Colin

Great thread! :D x

Regarding the horse poo, whenever I have read in forums about using it as manure, it always says "well rotted horse manure". I think this is because if you use it straight from the horse, it can scorch seedlings and can contain lots of weed seeds. I think it has to composted down for a while first if you are using it for growing veg.

Please note, I love growing veg, but it is a bit of a hit and a miss as I am very keen but not very knowledgeable.
 
I have grown in everything from washing up bowls to dustbins :p
Potatoes -especially new potatoes are a great thing to grow and you could stick them in the ground with very little efffort -they will crop better there too

Spring onions and carrots love growing in tubs -
carrots especially if you want to eat them whilst still young -when you grow in the ground they will fork every time they hit a pebble ;). I have grown them in buckets n allsorts - to reduce the risk of carrot fly try and get something about 14" tall as they fly at about 1ft so owt above that should be safer -or you can screen them with cardboard
I also grew tomatoes in buckets too - I have put on a pic of how I did them in troughs too - tomatoes have 2 lots of roots -1 for food 1 for water -so if you cut the bottom off an old pot and sink it into the compost you feed into the top one and water into the bottom one -it makes the roots dig down for water so your plants are strong. Also when you do plant them outside -dig the hole so that the first pair of true (proper) leaves are just sitting on the compost once the hole is filled in -the stem underground will grow roots from it -again giving stronger plants :D - they may look tiny at first but mine went crazy...
I have a tomato fetish and at one point I had 74 tomato plans and about 18 varieties on the go :eek:
Salad leaves are great grown in tubs -even washing up bowls -they taste much better than supermarket ones and save a fortune -and you simply take the outside leaves off as you want them -so fresh salad all the time :D
 

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Your garden looks awesome! I'm waiting for the council to get back in touch with me about an allotment but they are taking their sweet time!

No tips yet Coljack, but hopefully you'll be growing belters like Capricorn's soon! :)
I have put down for an allotment for when we move home - they are on our street -but there are 32 people in front of me (lets hope they lose interest;))
We are actually considering selling up when we move back an looking for something with a bigger garden -but if not I will keep on growing in pots :D
 
I have grown in everything from washing up bowls to dustbins :p
Potatoes -especially new potatoes are a great thing to grow and you could stick them in the ground with very little efffort -they will crop better there too

Spring onions and carrots love growing in tubs -
carrots especially if you want to eat them whilst still young -when you grow in the ground they will fork every time they hit a pebble ;). I have grown them in buckets n allsorts - to reduce the risk of carrot fly try and get something about 14" tall as they fly at about 1ft so owt above that should be safer -or you can screen them with cardboard
I also grew tomatoes in buckets too - I have put on a pic of how I did them in troughs too - tomatoes have 2 lots of roots -1 for food 1 for water -so if you cut the bottom off an old pot and sink it into the compost you feed into the top one and water into the bottom one -it makes the roots dig down for water so your plants are strong. Also when you do plant them outside -dig the hole so that the first pair of true (proper) leaves are just sitting on the compost once the hole is filled in -the stem underground will grow roots from it -again giving stronger plants :D - they may look tiny at first but mine went crazy...
I have a tomato fetish and at one point I had 74 tomato plans and about 18 varieties on the go :eek:
Salad leaves are great grown in tubs -even washing up bowls -they taste much better than supermarket ones and save a fortune -and you simply take the outside leaves off as you want them -so fresh salad all the time :D


I went to a jumble sale a few weeks ago and there were 8 kitchen bins minus lids they let me have the lot for 50p carrots and spuds are going in them :)
 
Also Col - if you are growing in pots - I got a load of black florist buckets last year from Morrisons (The type that they display cut flower bouquets in). They are about 10 for a quid as they just throw them out otherwise. Don't know if other supermarkets do it...the guy in my local Somerfield looked at me like I was mad then gave me them for nothing lol Mine are approx 10.5" high x 10" diameter so handy for lots of things. Mine have strawberries in them.
 
If you have any luck let me know. I would love to have a little patch - decided to start a while back while in B&Q saw rocket and lettuce pots with the word 'easy' on them, so thought I'd give it a whirl. They were dead within days.
 
great tip Sausage, I'll ask at Aldi tomorrow, they have / had a lot of flowers recently so they might have the buckets lying about...

For the record, My name is Dean, ColJack is my internet name because I was / am a big Stargate SG1 fan and Col. Jack O'Neil was the main guy in it.. :)

I did read an article about doing 'taters in old tyres.. with the added bonus that as the plant grows, you can drop another tyre on and fill it up..
I may do something similar with a stackable raised bed frame..
 
Your garden looks awesome! I'm waiting for the council to get back in touch with me about an allotment but they are taking their sweet time!

No tips yet Coljack, but hopefully you'll be growing belters like Capricorn's soon! :)


Be warned some councils have up to 5 year waiting lists.

i grow all my veg in pots, haning baskets and large potato bags over the patio and have move veg in my garden than flowers.
 
Hi Dean - I have the memory of a goldfish so will have to keep calling you Col if that's ok :D

I made my raised beds from second hand scaffolding planks. Got them from a plant hire place. Once the planks have imperfections they can't use them. Elf and safety. They look perfect to me and were only £5 for each 13 ft plank. And they delivered them. Also got a lower bed made from a chopped up pallet. Freecyle is good for pallets and landscaping stuff.

Anyone desperate for land who can't get an allotment might want to look at this useful site....

Landshare - connecting growers to people with land to share.
 
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