Hi all
New to this site and to the grow your own thing but really want to have a go for next year especially as I have a little girl who I would like to encourage eat healthily and learn where food comes from!
So I dont have a space to plant in the ground but intend to get some large containers, a grow bag or two and a windowbox initially. I have been given a few things to start - seed packets for lettuce and some salad leaves, a few herb seeds, some sweet pepper seeds, spring onions and french beans....however I dont really have a clue where to start!
Can someone offer some advice on where to get started and top tips so I may succeed with a few things! Also how do you grow garlic?! Because i love it! Do you plant from seed or can you plant a close or head?!
Thanks in advance - I cat wait to get started!!
Jenni x
So glad you joined in, Jenni, and lovely to have an enthusiastic newcomer asking for advice. Well done you. I am not a gardening type but I have just been told by Fiona that garlic grown from seed can take three years to produce a crop. She buys her bulbs for planting from the Isle of Wight Garlic gang and has done so for several years.
The great thing about starting at this time of year is that you cannot really start to plant ( ) but you most definitely can start reading up, researching and planning.
Planning is the most fun part I think.
The very best of good luck and I am sure that your little girl will have a ball from early springtime onwards.
Never knowingly underfed
Welcome Jen, sounds like a good plan to get your youngster eating healthily and knowing where food comes from.
Tomatoes are a good bet, as they are much tastier than in the shops. Danny posted a list of the tastiest somewhere . The things you mention are all good starters as they are all pretty easy to grow, relatively quick and can work well in containers. Other things to think about are round carrots, radishes and maybe some cress, you can even start that now on some damp kitchen roll.
Hi, Jenni. I haven't grown garlic, but I've a feeling that right now is the about the right time to be planting garlic bulbs. Buy a whole head and split it up into the seperate cloves. Don't use garlic from a greengrocer, though - better to get one from a garden centre or elsewhere for planting (so I'm told). As you want some positive results, I suggest you follow this advice, just to avoid any disappointment with greengrocer offerings. I'm not sure whether growing garlic indoors works - it might need the colder weather outdoors to prevent it growing all leggy. You mighty try growing a head (ie several cloves) in a tub outside. Maybe other Forumites who have actually grown garlic successfully can corrobrate my suggestions, or put me straight.
I grow winter salad leaves in an old crate lined with plastic sheeting (holes punched in bottom and sides for drainage) in a cold, leaky greehouse, and have had good results. So if you have somewhere cool and reasonably accessible such as a porch, you could try some of these, as something to have a go at right now. Just cover with a fleece or a bit of old curtain net if the temperature plummets. Just keep an eye on them and don't let them get too dry - just nicely damp. Plenty of seeds choice available at garden centres.
Have fun - and good luck.
Gone crazy. Back soon.
Hi Jen
I grow garlic every year, as already said, you need to get it from a garden centre ideallly, as apparently supermarket ones can have viruses, and after you've spent time and effort growning, you don't want to find it uneatable at the end.
I plant it around now, as it needs a cold spell to help it get big next year. You split the bulb into cloves and plant each clove separately. How deep depends on youe soil type, heavy soil, needs only to be about 1" under, lighter soil can go heavier. For several years I planted with the top of the clove poking out and although I got loads of green growth, which you can use in salads and stir fries, but the bulbs were tiny, so for the past few years I've planted deeper and got better results.
If the soil is frozen or waterlogged, plant in pots of compost (deeply) and stick in a cold frame or a sheltered area, then plant out in spring.
Good luck, homegrown garlic is lovely
Garlic- plant it now: buy bulbs from Isle of Wight or Garden Centre- don't use supermarket garlic, split them up into individual cloves. Pop it in and leave it to it- a sunny spot is best- just watch out for Blackbirds pulling the cloves up, when they see a little bit of something poking up through the earth they cannot resist pulling at it!
Kateuk makes things at http://www.etsy.com/shop/finkstuff and sometimes she does this too http://www54paintings.blogspot.com/ and also this http://finkstuff.weebly.com/
Thanks for your lovely words of advice so far peeps...have ordered some early purple garlic bulbs so will try and get them in a few little pots. As we are getting to the point of loosing sun, do I just leave in a bright sheltered place??
Yes Danny Im already enjoying planning it out and have got two books for container growing from the library to have a read through. Gonna get hubby to knock me up some troughs in the new year with my father in laws scrap wood (he is a joiner so plenty going spare i hope!)
So im quite nervous about even getting started with my seeds, do I just pop them in seed trays when it says to on the packet and leave in the kitchen on the sill? (i have a south facing garden so nice and sunny come lunch time) then once they start to sprout, plant out??
Thanks again guys!
Yes- follow the seed packet advice come the Spring- most packets are sensible!If in doubt just look stuff up on Cattage Smallholder....
Kateuk makes things at http://www.etsy.com/shop/finkstuff and sometimes she does this too http://www54paintings.blogspot.com/ and also this http://finkstuff.weebly.com/
Toffeeapple said:
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Strawberries do well in containers,get the perpetual ones, mine in hanging baskets in the greenhouse have been fruiting since May picked a few yesterday.Also autumn fruiting raspberries ,saw some in B&Q with berries on last week.
Seed catalogues are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than the web and playboy combined . (after Michael Perry)
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