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How Does Your Garden Grow


Tamiyacowboy

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so as the title how does your garden grow ?

me i am getting old now, and as a kid used to watch my grandad and granny grow vegs and likes. now they have both passed away i decided to start where they left of.

last year i done my first budget garden, i spent around

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I grow my own fruit and veg. The usual tomatoes, cucumbers, chillies, cut and come again lettuce etc. Some years I grow King Edward potatoes in bags. Strawberries are a favourite. I've got 2 raspberry canes which provide us with enough fruit for puddings etc and making our own raspberry jam.

Leeks, red onions and garlic always go down well as do carrots. I grow various herbs too. I'm hoping I'll get my first crop of pears this year. Peas are a favourite of mine, love eating them straight from the pod. I grow radish, but I'm the only one who likes them. Beetroot are an easy crop and my missus loves them. Boil until they are soft and then pickle.

Have got a grape vine, but don't think it coped very well during our bad winter.

As well as growing my crops in dedicated beds I also plant between the normal garden plants as many crops have nice foliage. I make as much use of every space I can.

Some pictures from last summer.

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the back portion of our garden used to be a flower bed, but now its a little veggie garden, we didnt do that well last year after a bad flood but weve got some stuff already planted and ready to grow,

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My parents rent 2 allotments from a local charity. Last year we had 14lb of blackberries a week for 6 weeks, and broccoli for 5 months. It's so cool going into the supermarket and seeing the prices on stuff, and knowing you have a load for free at home.

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My parents rent 2 allotments from a local charity. Last year we had 14lb of blackberries a week for 6 weeks, and broccoli for 5 months. It's so cool going into the supermarket and seeing the prices on stuff, and knowing you have a load for free at home.

well - the price u baught the seeds at - Divided by the amount of seeds there are - then bobs ur uncle

prob somink like 1.6p (PENNIES!)

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my garden was the local builders tip. in the 80's we tried growing our own veg everything died off.

it has now been 20 years since that first growing test, in the following years we removed

2x jcb backhoe buckets, 16 scaffold poles + fittings.

we also had to dig a 8ft deep by 6ft wide drainaway, the garden used to flood to around a foot deep. the house is built on old prefabricated housing sites so the soil is of poor quality.

with only myself to do the work and a 20yr old overgrown garden it is the war of the roses and i am loosing the battle.

this year i am going full outside for my main harvests and small growhouses for my pepper

this years plants:

garden mint

spearmint

long ridge cucumber x2 plants

spring onions x40

little gem lettuce x15

festival sweet pepper mix x2

cayenne peppers x2

roma tomatos x3

moneymaker tomatos x2

french dwarf beans x5

selection of pea plants x5

i buy my compost cheap at roys of wroxham but places like b&q also seel 70lt bags for a couple of pounds.

my greenhouse is one of these cheap plastic covered things. i WILL WARN that these do not take the cold english winter, the plastic becomes brittle and splits very easy to the touch. the frames are very nice bed for a polycarb sheeting clad frame and this is my next project.

i also try to use natural means for pest protection and plant food. i also make my own plantfood from stinging nettles and grass clippings left to ferment in an old bucket with lid. boy oh boy that stuff stinks but makes my toms grow wild and with better taste.

is nice to see fellow growers in the forum hopefuly we can convert some more to homegrown foods

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cucumber 2009

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peppers 2009

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Toms 2009

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Greenhouse elcheapo model £25 gbp

Edited by Tamiyacowboy
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lol yes mint in an old sink or bath is a good idea.

so over the weekend the family been round and i decided to get the kids involved, we had three growbags and 6 kids.

each pair got a growbag and some duct tape. we taped around the center of the growbag and cut them in halfwraped a little more tape around the tops to stop them splitting and a few small drainage holes in the bottoms of bags. each bag was planted with either tomato plant or pepper/cucumber plants. a cheap and easy way to grow in small spaces and good fun for the little un's .

when choosing a plant, lets take a tomato plant you want it to look healthy, a light green/yellow plant is unhealthy and will no doubt die or require huge amounts of care once you get it home. a lush /dark green plant with healthy leave and growth will live a long time and produce fruit than a poorly one. Price to affects quality a 50p tomato plant will be better than a 20p plant they only cheap because they close to death door and those selling them want them gone quick. when choosing look for plants that are known or have the name on side. you may buy a tomato plant you think will give nice salad tomatos and end up with a plum tomato plant. Moneymaker and beefeaters are the well known types both grow well and have abundant fruiting.

N.P.K you will see alot on most plant foods these are the three main units a plant requires for growth.

N = green growth healthy leave and abundance of leaves,

P = roots and stems, this give the plant healthy roots and allows plant to feed,

K= flowers and fruit, this is the main thing you gardeners require, it gives a boost to plants for flowering and fruit producing

so a 20-10-4 is 20% n - 10% p - 4% k this would be good for start of the season once your seedlings have become plants and producing growth. once your plant starts to produce flowers we need to change these numbers you will need lower N and higher P&K.

so you will need two types of fertilizer/plantfood, one for when your plants are youngish and another for when you want nice juciey fruit/flowers.

with compost we have a rule, anything that had died from a problem we will uproot and burn. do not add anything that had died from unknown cause to your compost bin burn it instead. stinging nettles have a very high N rate same with grass clippings. throw these into your composter to boost your mix. the local fishing shops sell worms. 1 pack of red worm will help a lot keeping your compost bin in tip top condition always remember to turn your heap it helps keep air in the mix and good for the bugs and biobes

Edited by Tamiyacowboy
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Someone gave me a tip last week for potatoes.

Use an old dustbin, half to 3/4 full with quality soil and you'd be surprised how

many spuds you get.

Well hopefully I will. Lawn only and it's a rented house so no converting to

veg patch - will have to try the dustbin trick and see what we get.

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Someone gave me a tip last week for potatoes.

Use an old dustbin, half to 3/4 full with quality soil and you'd be surprised how

many spuds you get.

Well hopefully I will. Lawn only and it's a rented house so no converting to

veg patch - will have to try the dustbin trick and see what we get.

large pots dug into boarders act as ideal growing pots.and halfed growbags can be leaning against fences.

the dustbin is a cool idea, we tend to make lard box type enclosures, you grow spudds in the bottom and as plant grows upwards we add more slates around the box and raise sides, we then back fill the pot and the potato will start to form more tubers. i have heard of them being grown in old tyres and also large throw away poly bags.

well my baby seedlings and plants have started the hardening off, i place them out in the garden each day untill around 6pm then move them indoors, this helps the plant become used to the changing temps and allows quicker transfer into a colder garden. i will get some pictures of the plants growing for you all to see.

my tips and tricks:

Use old toilet rolls as seed trays , fill with soil give a good soak and plant seeds. these will rot away when placed into the ground so no need to remove them you may need to split them so roots break free.

food containers like old clear meat packing once washed makes for awesome micro cloches, seeds under these will germinate faster than those left on the window sill uncovered.

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I've used all sorts of containers for potato's. As long as it's high enough to keep topping up with compost it's ideal. As the green foliage breaks the surface top up with another few inches. What happens is what would have become leaves become new tubers instead because they are under the ground.

Using old compost bags I've harvested about 30-40 good sized spuds per bag, sometimes more.

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I've used all sorts of containers for potato's. As long as it's high enough to keep topping up with compost it's ideal. As the green foliage breaks the surface top up with another few inches. What happens is what would have become leaves become new tubers instead because they are under the ground.

Using old compost bags I've harvested about 30-40 good sized spuds per bag, sometimes more.

Ahhh of course, forgot all about that bit, keep topping up to keep the new shoots from becoming leaves. Doh.

I see what you were saying now Cowboy!

Edited by Smoothybb
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A good tip I've picked up from my parents:

The bottles from office water coolers make awesome cloche. You whizz the flat end off with a jigsaw and the hole in the top stops them getting TOO hot and keeps the air circulating. It also means you can use a long cane to grow the plants up! You can usually get loads free by just asking around.

I also made a potato cannon out of one, but that's a story for another day ;)

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boarders and compost heaps.

this week i found an old wooden pallet ask the lady if i could have said thing if i gave her some cucumber and tomato plants.

pallets are wonderful things, split down they make for good raised boarders on the very cheap, four pallets nailed together into a box makes for a very good composter to, the air slates in sides allow good air movement around your heap and allows faster rotting down.

after i have harvested my goodies, i cut down all plants check for any mould or likes and if clear they get chopped up int the compost heap. i also add a couple of egg shells to give calcium to the mix, and all green house hold waste, peelings and likes, i also like to keep a few old teabags behind and break these open into the heap also.

Urine:

around 40% nitrogen, i know it sounds awful but taking a wazz on your compost heap will speed up the rotting down, most nitrogen in ready mixed plant food is urea aka urine, being very brave you can use this human waste product on your plants to a 10 part water to 1 part urine is ideal.

today i woke up to that very countryside smell as the fields are treated with animal waste product, very pongy but its the countryside and things just would not be the same without that wafting stench. it is also a que to me for my planting out and likes.

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Peas,

as a young lad i loved eating fresh peas from the pod. there i was roaming tescos as you do hunting down the ripe stuff and healthy foods i stumbled upon a packet of dried peas. BIGGA marowfat peas by batcholer, cheap and without a brain i purchased them.

fastforward to today:

omg 12 peas planted all 12 have poked through the soil, i ecpected the freeze drying to kill the seed but nope they all growing.

cucumbers are now in flower around 10 flowers per plant but no fruit showing yet, nice thing is my mate the robin is back with a friend or maybe his mate. i been feeding them all last year and by jove he returned to pinch my fatball left out.

tomatos have started to flower already and the lettuce are growing at a huge rate all still on the windowsill. last night i place a single plant outside and this morning it is still alive and kicking. so the weekend i will be transplanting into the gardens soil.

my salad box is going from strength to strength, i planted up an old wine bottle box with some compost and soil for weight and good drainage. i placed mixed salad leaf seeds into the box. empty around 1/3 -1/4 of pack into palm and gently knock them random over the soil, place a light dusting of soil over the top and water well. in around 3-4 weeks you will have a carpet of green leaf ready to use in salads. take a couple of leaves from each plant or cut them with sissors like your trimming the lawn. keep this up and the leaves will keep coming back every few weeks

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i love growing stuff :) i have 2 massive Rhubarb plants (nom nom NOM!) 3 gooseberry bushes although i think they may have died off this winter :( a 6x4ft area of Strawberries , a cherry bush, 3 apple trees, potato patch and some other fruit i cant remember the name of

they dont grow that well here (besides the Rhubarb before the snails get it) but in my patch in wales they grow like mad, i was walking my aunts dog one day and found a strawberry plant, took it back and planted it next to the Rhubarb, a few months later it was all over the place! they are only small but really sweet.

out neighbours in wales grow allsorts though

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Everything you grow always tastes much better than anything you can buy simply because it's as fresh as it can be.

Lost the fruiting canes on one of my raspberries during the cold weather, but the plant is fine. I just won't get any fruit off it this year. The plant right next to it the canes are fine so will still get plenty of raspberries this summer. :)

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been three weeks and my green peas have not sprouted. i have lost around 40 seeds

my problem looks to be white mould on the seeds themselves. i purchased a bag of dried maro peas.

put them into pots, two seeds per pot so i get a good root system. a little water and have left them, watering here and there when needed.

i had me worrying that no seedlings had popped through the soil so i dug a few seeds up to see what was happening. the first 5 seeds had a white mould and the seedling roots had rotted. this had me worried so i dug up all 40 seeds, every seed has a white fungus/mould growing on them. i have two seeds that sprouted ( i think) and have very mild mould growth.

so my question is what the hell is going on. i expected seed shoots and ended up with rotting seeds

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I grew my own runner beans for the first time last year.Nothing can beat the taste of freshly picked fruit or veg.This year i was hoping to do runners again and some spring onions.We have just got a 2 year old springer spaniel tho so i wont be able to grow anything this year.Hes a bit of a nutter so there is no way i will be able to stop him eating everything :( .

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i love growing stuff :) i have 2 massive Rhubarb plants (nom nom NOM!) 3 gooseberry bushes although i think they may have died off this winter :( a 6x4ft area of Strawberries , a cherry bush, 3 apple trees, potato patch and some other fruit i cant remember the name of

they dont grow that well here (besides the Rhubarb before the snails get it) but in my patch in wales they grow like mad, i was walking my aunts dog one day and found a strawberry plant, took it back and planted it next to the Rhubarb, a few months later it was all over the place! they are only small but really sweet.

out neighbours in wales grow allsorts though

Wild strawberries, awesome!

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went to wales at the weekend (with the marder :P) and checked on my plants, gooseberry is doing well but the strawberry seem to have died off a little and the rhubarb is smaller than it is here

my rhubarb in my dads back garden, bearing in mind i have already eaten 5-6 bits of it ;)

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you can compare its size to the bucket on the right :helpsmilie: and unfortunately it is covering the gooseberrys i have next to it (didnt realise how big it would get), if you look closely you might see them on the left and right hiding in the rhubarb leaves

this plant is comping up to 2 years old now and its doing great :D

not bad for 99p eh?

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the 3 apple trees we got for 99p each are doing OK too, planted last summer

Edited by midi-mania
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  • 2 weeks later...

Nearly Mid May

its mid may and we have had what looks like our last frost in the east here.

i did not expect the frost but it has taken its toll on my plants, i am left with 2 battered and just hanging on tomato plants, 1 bean plant and all but 1 lettuce survived.

so i upped my gameplan:

1 bag farm manure 50lt for

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If flower bads are properly dug and maintained it's always worth growing veg among the flowers in any gaps there may be. Beetroot are a good one as they have nice foliage. Carrots are good among Marigolds and this benefits the carrots as the Marigolds keep away the nasties. Lettuce always work well too.

My strawberries are going good. I'll have a massive amount this year, which I'm really happy about as I love them.

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  • 1 month later...

Need Some Help

been 2 years since my grandmother passed away, we tend her grave an a weekly basis, but lately i have been finding the flowers planted have been destroyed. at first we thought i could be problem people but later found it to be pesky rotten rabbits.

so i ask you gardeners, what flowers can i grow on a grave that the bunnys will not eat, something they dislike ?

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