Tamiyacowboy Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 you guys down south are lucky growing season in NW scotland wont realy start for almost another 3 > 5 weeks unless you have a pollytunnel. but i need to work the ground i want my pollytunnel on as it heather growing on it till only a couple of weeks ago, when i had the ground turned now i got to clear most the stones cover in plenty of lime and get it rotovated. so i can get potatoes in the ground this year to help break the ground up even more making it easyer to work. as for the small plots round the back of my house keeping it simple this year and only planting oinions,carrots,sprouts,cabbage,leeks and ofc a salad patch that my little cousins help with got me thinking of a piggy ? awesome animal for turfing up your garden and eating the rottens you will find. and will make for some awesome storn sausages and roast joints , can see it now storn made sausages from storn grown piggys i got one of those cheap walk in pvc covered greenhouses, was ok for the summer but a 20mph wind was enough to tear it to shreds here in norfolk. now i am going victorian style raised beds with coldframe tops. would love to live up there and try out cattle and goats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HootMaRoot Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 i had been thinking off geting pigs but i need to put a new fence up round my croft as the one round it atm is fairly old and has a few holes here and there. if i find work soon i will be fencing of another area that is covered in heather and puting a couple in there to turn the ground with the bonus of a few roasting joints and that. i would have loved the ground for cattle but only have 1/2 an acre+, plus all the common grazings in and around my village my last nextdoor neighbor got a couple of pigs to turn there ground and they made a realy good job plus with all that free fertiliser makes the ground a lot better. plus i dont think i have ever had pork that tasted that nice out of a supermarket Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eamo1978 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Thanks tamiyacowboy ill get some horse poop this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) i had been thinking off geting pigs but i need to put a new fence up round my croft as the one round it atm is fairly old and has a few holes here and there. if i find work soon i will be fencing of another area that is covered in heather and puting a couple in there to turn the ground with the bonus of a few roasting joints and that. i would have loved the ground for cattle but only have 1/2 an acre+, plus all the common grazings in and around my village my last nextdoor neighbor got a couple of pigs to turn there ground and they made a realy good job plus with all that free fertiliser makes the ground a lot better. plus i dont think i have ever had pork that tasted that nice out of a supermarket even a goat, that way you get goats milk and the lady a chance to brew up some lovely goats cheese, i would say the heather should give the milk a hint of flavour, maybe see if you can borrow a piggys for a couple weeks/month. use a stone walled croft ( small ) them walls will help protect you plants and give them a chance to do well in those winds you get. a few stacked car-tractor tyres will make idea potato boxes. Thanks tamiyacowboy ill get some horse poop this week. your welcome eamo. when you get first flowers on your cucumbers shout me, you will need to do some work to get sweet cucumbers and not bitter, this means taking of the male flowers all the male flowers. yes your store purchased potato's will be fine. july august save a few tennis sized potatos and keep them in a cool darkish place. keep chekcing them for little green sprouts over the winter and rub these off. after winter around feb-march grab a cardboard egg carton and place your tattys into these egg holders and put them on the sill ( not bright pure sunlight) after a couple weeks those nodes will become sprouts and when a inch or so high are ready to plant out, when your tatty looks like grandads shriveled up toe with green shoots.it is also time to give give soil a good turn over and some poop or compost mixed in bottom of the hole make sure soil is loose and well bulked up. drop in a tatty making sure most nodes are facing skywards and cover. as they grow start to mound earth around the tattys stem's making a mound. this causes the tattys to make new tubers all the way up the stems your lettuce can be harvested two ways mature and none mature. young lettuce leaf makes for nice quick salad leaf. a mature lettuce has more a crisp texture and the sweet heart centre. plant a smallish sized box for your quick hand salad leaf and grow on some in the garden for those lovely big hearts any problems give us a holler and we shall try help out as much as we can Edited March 9, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan A Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 (edited) my parents have gardens at home all our lives,my mom grows some fantastic apples. we have a huge green house,cabbage,onions,tomatos,lettice,potatos,colliflower,parcnips,turnips,cuecumber,carrotts. the greenhouse is quite big also full of apple trees,amoungst other veg. also residing in this greenhouse is a bath of my now "huge" pet turtles from which i have owned sinse my teenage years. in summer time they are moved out to a pond in the lawn. on top of that my dad has a huge garden spread out on some of our land on rear of house,in fairness i have never done anything around a garden but wouldn't mind in time,as it was mainly a hobby for my dad. it's nice to see stuff growing from just a little tiny seed and it's such a money saver. i will take some pics of the lot when i get a chance. intresting thread! Edited March 10, 2011 by dan A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 (edited) my parents have gardens at home all our lives,my mom grows some fantastic apples. we have a huge green house,cabbage,onions,tomatos,lettice,potatos,colliflower,parcnips,turnips,cuecumber,carrotts. the greenhouse is quite big also full of apple trees,amoungst other veg. also residing in this greenhouse is a bath of my now "huge" pet turtles from which i have owned sinse my teenage years. in summer time they are moved out to a pond in the lawn. on top of that my dad has a huge garden spread out on some of our land on rear of house,in fairness i have never done anything around a garden but wouldn't mind in time,as it was mainly a hobby for my dad. it's nice to see stuff growing from just a little tiny seed and it's such a money saver. i will take some pics of the lot when i get a chance. intresting thread! same here, my granny and grandad used to run a farm when my mam was a little child. when grandad and granny passed away i missed hanging round the garden learning and watching. a couple years ago when the recession really started i was yearning for that childhood memory, so i decided to take over where my elders finished. After WWII and during there was the dig for england thing thats where gran and grandad started. i sit and wonder some days, that we are so reliant on produce from overseas and being imported, that if england went to war most of us would starve. alot dont even know where to start growing. its nice to see others going back to our roots and back to the land i have a few pictures from past seasons of fruit i have harvested, i have a new camera this year so will make sure to post some good shots of healthy fruit and also of problems that can arise, like overfeeding, wilt,blight, and fungal attacks. another note : garlic and hot peppers with some soap and water makes an ace anti bug spray so is handy to grow these fruits Edited March 10, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan A Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 (edited) listen fair play to you mate keep it up.. it's not everybody that actually makes the effort these days.a lot would prefer to just buy from shops. i myself will have a garden some day i hope and hopefully grow most of my own fruit and veg.(please god) Edited March 10, 2011 by dan A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78.8 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 yes your store purchased potato's will be fine. Hiya mate, Great thread you've got going Its obvious you know what your doing ... but I was always of the assumption that using supermarket tattys to use in this way lead to more blight & other unwelcome problmes? I 've always used seed potatoes and had fantasitc results (grown in Ikea bags / tyres etc)..am I wasting money buying seed potatoes IYO ? I've grown my own veggies for a few years now, tattys,sweet corn with squash and beans (3 sister method), onions, leeks, tom's, beetroots, lettuce etc.. and with young kids I've found it the best way to teach them how / where our veggies have come from . They love soil & planting the seeds and watching them grow and then picking / digging them up for tea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 Seed tattys are the best in my eyes, but with times getting hard and store purchased at hand they will still produce, but a chance of blight and likes as with tomato's to. i tend to use whats around at the time, but would say seed'ers are the best way so you are not wasting money. but i would try keeping a few back and chitting them up for a test grow, that could save a few pennys. my last years potato crop came from a red maris piper, i found one big sucker with a huge sprout so shoved it into the garden. when i dug up the plant i had around 1.5kg of tattys, nice smallish things ideal for salads. i kept 4 over winter and now they look like a old wrinkled toe with small green shoots. i also had no blight so hopefuly this year will be blight free to, my tom's season just gone was outside grown with no covering. i found them very hardy. the end of this season i am aiming for some seed jersy royals. my most strongest grows have been Long ridge cucumber and moneymaker tomatos, these two really go well, the MM's give a lovely mid size tom, the LLC gives a lovely long old style cue with black nipple spikes over the length. tattys are my next major hit well them and strawberrys. i am looking at a nice large potato box so i can add slats and build up to about 3ft high. and a nice 5x3ft raised strawberry bed ( maybe some runners and free strawb plants we shall see ) old'ish so grown up with garden veg and growing. myself i love the internet so get most ideas and info from there, but some of the info comes from long talks and watching others. yup dan i dont have my own yard i just use mum an dads lol, gives them summer veg and me something to do. if i could have my own land would be a croft or a cottage garden with my very own wooden shed, will have a chair old log burner old fire kettle and a nice old mug, maybe a few seed bags and pots, and a nice big greenhouse or poly tunnel ( tornado proof ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyLad Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Going to give the "grow your own" thing a go this year. Starting small and simple - dug out some of the grassed area in the back garden. Its the sunniest bit of the garden, south facing so should get most of the daily sunlight. I had an old scaffolding plank, and got some treated timber from B&Q to make the border of a raised bed. Also bought some of the plastic sacks to grow tato's in from teh garden centre, couple of bags of seed potato's too - early and main crop so should get a spread ;-) Not sure what I'm going to plant out..... beans would be nice at the back, then maybe some carrots or onions?? Not sure yet here is my "raised bed" - need to dig in some compost still (and nail the wood together..). Its only little - about 2.5m * 1m, so not sure how productive it will be... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 Going to give the "grow your own" thing a go this year. Starting small and simple - dug out some of the grassed area in the back garden. Its the sunniest bit of the garden, south facing so should get most of the daily sunlight. I had an old scaffolding plank, and got some treated timber from B&Q to make the border of a raised bed. Also bought some of the plastic sacks to grow tato's in from teh garden centre, couple of bags of seed potato's too - early and main crop so should get a spread ;-) Not sure what I'm going to plant out..... beans would be nice at the back, then maybe some carrots or onions?? Not sure yet here is my "raised bed" - need to dig in some compost still (and nail the wood together..). Its only little - about 2.5m * 1m, so not sure how productive it will be... perfect small raised bed, the walled back will help act as a heatsink. tomoatos and beans-peas at the back. lettuce between those. carrots i am not sure of they need some care, onions ( shallots - spring) are ideal they can be right at the front. a cucumber can be shoved in with the tom's - peas-beans. if you get stuck for seed's give me a shout and i throw some of my stock in post to you buddy. oh and once your started it is fairly hard to give up once you get your first big harvest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyLad Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Bought one of those plastic covered greenhouse shelf things from Tesco today - beans, tomatoes, red chilli's in the seed trays/pots. The Green bags are potatoes, and some more are chitting in the greenhouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 (edited) Bought one of those plastic covered greenhouse shelf things from Tesco today - beans, tomatoes, red chilli's in the seed trays/pots. The Green bags are potatoes, and some more are chitting in the greenhouse is looking awesome there happylad will warn you the plastic on those houses get very fragile in cold weather, so would advise not leaving it out over winter. first frost will cause it to get brittle. i have a 6x4 walk in greenhouse like that. am going to use that rippled carport roofing stuff to cover it, mine is cheap take off of the guardman houses. keeping my eye out for those interwoven green color covers they work well. on a new note i have some new tomato seeds ( 100 or so) these are heritage toms called the amatuer , grow to around 2ft high and crop well and heavy. i instantly thought of you happy lad and our other gardener on the isle of stornaway . i came across those red nose growing pots, for £2 you get a 4 inch pot, a packet of seeds ( the amatuer), and two square dried cowpats ( compost ) not to bad i dont think, so i purchased four and well its fae the kids. give me a holler if you fancy trying some. the super sunburnt strawberry is getting more sunburnt and has that lovely " you want to eat me " smell to it. my four potatoes ore chitting really well, my beans are in and sprouted. i have also finaly after two months, have a honeydew melon seed that has sprouted (yay yay ) let's hope she breaks soil surface soon. Edited March 27, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyLad Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 (edited) Melon sounds impressive - wouldn't have thought we had the climate to grow melons here though Yeah - I'll have a go with your tomato seeds if you have some going spare - I'll PM you my address. Cheers Edited March 27, 2011 by HappyLad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 (edited) Melon sounds impressive - wouldn't have thought we had the climate to grow melons here though Yeah - I'll have a go with your tomato seeds if you have some going spare - I'll PM you my address. Cheers i will chuck a few seed into the post for you happy lad, get you of to a healthy start and a nice first harvest. cucumber , moneymaker and amatuer toms, an a few pea's and melon seed. yeah i think they would grow fairly easy in a kitchen window just like you would a small grape vine. but greenhouse i could see them doing well. i found my GH gave me a top temp of 90 inside and 75 outside, used to come out of there feeling like i had a steam sauna. i loved my cayenne peppers, they kicked life into my spag bog and done really well outside and not in greenhouse, i found my sweet peppers grew well to not under plastic/glass edit : will pop them in post in the morning Happylad Edited March 28, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyLad Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Had a disaster today - my cheap plastic greenhouse blew away. All my seed trays and pots turned over and strewn everywhere :( (not yet sowed the toms and cucumber sent - so they are safe ) Have some more seeds, so going to have to start again tomorrow - and make the greenhouse more secure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) Had a disaster today - my cheap plastic greenhouse blew away. All my seed trays and pots turned over and strewn everywhere :( (not yet sowed the toms and cucumber sent - so they are safe ) Have some more seeds, so going to have to start again tomorrow - and make the greenhouse more secure argh damn dude. my GH was torn to shreds to so i know how you feel, dont be disheartened. dig a 6 inch to 12 inch trench so you can sink GH into it. backfill when placed into trenches. a cheap rubber bungie with hooks can be used to help hold it down. use a small concrete slab hook bungie to either side of GH floor bars and then place slab onto the GH floor, the bungie will have that little give and the slab should keep it grounded. if not a couple of tatty bags will be fine in there till they sprout up above soil if you get stuck happylad i have some little gem lettuce seed some spring onion french bean and some marrowfat peas, give me a holler if you need a backup grow Edited March 31, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78.8 Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Had a disaster today - my cheap plastic greenhouse blew away. All my seed trays and pots turned over and strewn everywhere :( (not yet sowed the toms and cucumber sent - so they are safe ) Have some more seeds, so going to have to start again tomorrow - and make the greenhouse more secure Sounds like this has happened to alot if us mate, I had the same thing with the 6x4 walk in plastic green house. Came home one day and found the whole canvas was in my neighbours garden ....blowing around their veggie patch . Some of the poles in the frame had bent, and my plants were battered. But, I put it all abck together and had a great harvest Defo keep going Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyLad Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 New seeds planted - tomato's, chilli's, sweet peppers, cucumbers and some melon seeds I'll get the green house thing sorted out tomorrow........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 New seeds planted - tomato's, chilli's, sweet peppers, cucumbers and some melon seeds I'll get the green house thing sorted out tomorrow........ good going buddy, now its april and the showers so frosts should start to clear out. have another two strawberry getting sunburnt, the first one looked very poorly and ill ,,,..... so i ate it and WOW what a devine tasting strawberry it was. now have 9 basil plants and 8 parsley plant seedlings growing like crazy. 4 other strawberry plants have not done so well. they look very straggly but maybe once outside they will come on in leaps and bounds. took out the wind meter yesterday and clocked up 60mph gusts in the garden, so not very good temps in norfolk are the usual, lots of daffodils are out and i see easter being full of dead/dieing daffs. well must go in a rush to do some conservation work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sphinx Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Cut my hedge and grass, plus started to axe away the old tree stumps !. Need to get the digger in to rip 1/4 of the garden away to make the drive way bigger !!! Gav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 stumps removal. dig around the stump so you can get right under it with hands , chop the rooting system connected to said stump. take a heavy car or 4x4 /truck hitch a good strong rope or strap under the stump an root system. second gear drop clutch and a couple short sharp tugs. slip to first gear and then pull from the ground save back breaking digging and chopping of every single root. also in my time we used to let customers keep the stump in on some jobs. larger ones can be chainsawed to a rough mushroom shape or hollowed out and dished to hold a plastic membrane and become a cheap bird feeder/ watering hole. we also used to drill a large deep hole through the heart of the stump a good 6/8 inch deep and stuff full with stump root crystals, these kill the stump and root then allow it to rot away natural. large stumps can be dug up with a large rootball left, washed down and re planted upside down gives a wierd but natural effect and allows a perch for climbers and climbing roses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 so here is one of my semi mature temptation strawberry plants, these are the ones planted from seed last year. i like to call this picture " NOM NOM " because that is what i shall be doing very soon cookie monster cookies with strawberry slices and a nice smooth white lemon icing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyLad Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 New seeds planted - tomato's, chilli's, sweet peppers, cucumbers and some melon seeds I'll get the green house thing sorted out tomorrow........ Not seeing any shoots at all with these - been 2 weeks since they were potted How long do these thing usually take before they sprout?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamiyacowboy Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 (edited) Not seeing any shoots at all with these - been 2 weeks since they were potted How long do these thing usually take before they sprout?? give them time buddy, they can take between a few days to a few weeks, give it few days if nothing shows move them to a window sill too boost the soil temp. may want to take them indoors. leeds being far more north than the broads your weather is tied to scotlands and may be a little cold. if you cannot get them indoors keep them in the greenhouse and place a plastic bag over the pots to act as a double greenhouse i tend to sew a few seeds at first, then a couple three weeks later sew a couple more, the will help if your first set does not germinate. my amatuer tomatoes are just showing, they took a couple week on the windowsill, my money makers had been planted a good three weeks earler and are going well. cucumber took a good week on windowsill. melon seeds failed they did pop a root but ended up rotting away. beans are now around 6-8 inch high planted about two week ago. any more probs shout me and i throw some more in post. Edited April 14, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.