Growing your own.

[Oh How Original]

Growing my own fruit and vegetables has been something that's took my fancy for quite a while.
Me and my Dad have "negotiated" the garden, he's going to split it in half so the dogs have got plenty of space to play and the other half is mine for doing whatever I want.
Bit of a long shot, but just wondered if anyone on here actually does it, or knows of a decent Forum to join to get advice on what to grow in small spaces etc...?

[chewbacca]

Carrots and leeks are thin. 

[Oh How Original]

Carrots and leeks are thin. 

 

I didn't know that, cheers

[HATZY]

have a look on fb mate, im joined to a few local groups for hardens and growing etc, great resource for knowlage

[Oh How Original]

Hadn't thought of that actually, I normally prefer the Forum style layout though as stuff is a whole lot easier to find and keep track of, but perhaps some people will have some ideas on other Forums dedicated to home growers and whatnot.

[deejayy2k]

there was a thread quite a while ago on gardening might be worth digging it up 

 

EDIT: here it be http://www.msuk-forum.co.uk/topic/80092-how-does-your-garden-grow/

Edited November 18, 2013 by deejayy2k

[Oh How Original]

Ta muchly, I'll give it a good read.

[Sharkfat78]

Plant spring onions instead of normal onions as they're smaller.

[Tamiyacowboy]

keep this one open and i will throw my advice when and if needed. 

 

lets start from the very basic thing, soil. 

 

how much soil do we need to grow, or the most asked question how much will i get.

the most easy way is per ft, a square foot will hold one tomato plant and a few onions.

but a more better choice than an onion is basil, now tomato and basil are companion plants

they like to grow together, and help keep bugs away. so be it a little growbag ( 3-4 tomato plants )

or a little 1ftx1ft square you will get fruit/food.

 

so dig over your garden do this a couple times to break up the surface, give it a good running over with the rake

get those big stones out.  now some horsey poops ( farm manure can be brought in a bag like compost, b&q and likes)

3 bags will do a mid sized plot, give this a digging in to. your soil is now ready.

 

easy grow plants : 

 

tomatos, they are like weeds in the food garden they go fast big and hold lots of fruit.

a winner in the sandwich, salad and spagbog. they have full flavour.

 

lettuce, like little gem do not need a big amount of space unlike its bigger brothers.

they grow small tight hearts with a very fresh crisp crunch, not like these supermarket things.

 

Sweet peppers / cayenne pepper, both these grow in the english garden, some will fruit some will not

mostly small size fruits but all the same very sweet and flavoursome again more so than the hydroponic grown stuff today.

 

herbs thyme parsley basil all work well , i also plant out some salad leaf, things like rocket a spicey'ish like spinich.

 

Rasberrys or ok you may struggle with them at first, but Strawberrys are a 100% go and get. a small bed of strawbs makes summer all the more worth

and all that toiling of the soil and care pays off. i cannot express a newcomer to find a strawberry called Temptation. ( flowers from early all through to winter)

i have flowers and fruiting still on my plants now in mid november.

 

main thing is find a south facing window in the house, this will kickstart an early garden

you can start your plants off from seeds here on the sill and transplant when they get bigger,

[chewbacca]

Tamiyacowboy: MSUK's very own Percy Thrower 

[jordanp]

raspberrys and strawberrys are really good ive had mine fruiting till september this year , my raspberry bush is now 3 year old, so you treat the bush right itl continue to thrive

 

i grow all my stuff in container's, ive had great success with potatoes and cabbages

[RCbutcher]

Ide like to grow tomatoes and mix in some erbs. But im dr death thumb with plants which makes me more commited i havent grown anything in this place tho the garden is shared and full of everyone's dog doo. 

[Tamiyacowboy]

Couple of growbags. 

 

if you lay the growbag down on the floor then grasp it round the center.

you end up with two bags. now wrap some tape around the center and cut the bag in half. 

 

pop a tomato plant or two in each bag half. you now have 4 half bags and four to eight tomato plants.

around the bottom of the tomato plants you can pop in your basil, parsley , thyme, sage,

chives., use two of the half bags to grow some herbs in the tops as well as your toms. 

 

the other two bags with toms in, around the bottoms of these toms plant some baby little gem lettuce,

stand them up in a nice sunny spot and pop out every couple days to water them. stick a few canes in the shape of a wigwam around the bag

to allow your tomatos to climb up and give you somewhere to fix them to. 

if left alone your tomatos will get top heavy and bend over cutting off flow to the fruits and damaging that section. so tied up toms work better.

 

lettuce the little gems you want to pick these when they are around the size of your fist and nice and solid when given the slight squeeze test

like to do to test a melon for plumpness. 

 

Sunny windowsil, we all have a window thats lovely and sunny, so compound your growing and

pop a little slimline tray on it, plant into this Salad leaf mix.

when it starts to grow up you have an on tap source of salad leaf for that quick ham sarnie or cheese and tom roll.

 

 

home made burgers, mix a little egg yolk with some minced beef and a handfull of bread crumb.

work with a fork , you can add some grated onion or a dash of chilli - garlic.

then take your meat mix and form it into small patties , roll it into a little flour just to dust em.

then pop it into the frying pan with a splash of oil. cook untill juices run clear and meat is not RED.

 

run outside grab a little gem lettuce, run it under water and give it a lil shake off. now take knife and start from the top cut across the lettuce

throw burger into bun top with a slice o cheese, drizzle some relish and seal with a nice fresh lettuce top and the bun top.

sit back and enjoy your homemade burger with home grown salad garnish. good thing is in summer time everything is close to hand

frying pan can be changed for a bbq and the kids sent out on foraging duty. 

 

 

Once you sart to use and cook with your home produce, you start to see and taste the difference.

your toms maybe a bit small but boy they are juicey and soft, not like those hard pingpong balls your sold.

your lettuce has that crisp but just picked feel and its taste is double that you normaly have.

and minced beef a cheap pack o value minced beef a egg yolk or two and a couple handfuls of bread crumb

you got burgers any size you want and they aint no horse in them burgers either.

 

bread crumb i make myself, use three to 5 rounds of bread after the sunday roast has cooked

and oven gets turned off, pop your bread rounds in and leave them to dry out.

a quick blitz in a blender and you have breadcrumb, cheap simple and easy. same crumb can be used to make chicken dipper for the kids

or real fish fingers or breaded fish fillets. dunk the meat/fish in egg yolk, then roll in the crumb and either deep fry or shallow fry.

 

 

both gardening and food can be simple and easy, its just making what you have work, and trying new things.

maybe the next year you empty those used growbags into a very large pot and fill it with strawberrys.

or throw some potatos in for some baby mini spuds in a container. or even try a hand at a sweet pepper plant

all can be used and even frozen for use in the colder winter months.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Tamiyacowboy