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Made a start but not much experience

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  • #1

    Made a start but not much experience

    Hi there!

    Looking for any and all advice your willing to share.

    Ive wanted to grow my own for quite a while, keep making bits of attempts but never really get that far. This year id actually like to get productive. Theres some knowledge there (read a fair amount and watched subscribe to YT) but not a lot of practical application.

    Current situation is fairly large urban garden (lawn) NW england. Ive made a 8' x 4' x 12" veg bed out of decking, needs filling. Got quite a few pots (hundreds of little 2/3" ones and a good number of tomato sized pots), hanging baskets, tarp style sacks etc from collecting over the years. Only really get sun on one side of the garden (large neighboring trees) where the veg bed is and the ground is normally quite soggy although rarely get puddles just 'squelchy'. Made a compost bin at the weekend before the rain set in again. Got a few bags of various types of compost/topsoil that have been sat around for a few years. Planted a blackcurrant winter before last which seems ok though hasnt fruited much (ive also not cut it back which i believe is going to make things worse?!)

    Things we eat:

    Potatoes (lots)
    Tomatoes
    Peppers
    Carrots
    Broccoli
    Swede
    Kale
    Spinach
    Beans (kidney mainly althuogh quite a lot of french too)
    Occasional turnips

    Things id like to eat more of:

    Peas
    Fruit (mainly bush although pear/apple trees would be nice, know its fairly advanced but like the idea of espalier along the garden fence)
    Rhubarb
    Cauliflower

    Obviously i know all this isnt going to go in a 4 x 8 bed. I plan to eventually build a 30 - 40ft x 3ft bed along the south facing fence (tree shadow moves across it even in summer). Money is fairly tight at the moment, so greenhouse is probablylonger term. Got some glass (Was a bargain!).

    The whole idea is to be as self sufficient as possible from the smallish area i have. On the dark side of the lawn i plan to house chickens, rabbits and quail.

    Essentially ive got a blank canvas with very high ambitions. Im rubbish with organisation and the whole process of getting there seems a bit overwhelming. Especially when i tried toms and peppers outdoors last year and the toms went black (plant and the fruit cracked) and the peppers grew to about 10" and grew the tiniest peppers ive ever seen.

    To try and limit what ive put my main concerns at the moment are ordering seed potatoes, trying to get in some fruit bushes and working out how to fill the bed/pots/planters with a suitable growing medium.

    Ebay seems to offer the best prices for seeds/plants but im skeptical about their suitability to my environment? As mentioned money is a bit tight. Im also a bit of a hermit so having the confidence to seek out local people isnt exactly natural to me.

    Sorry for the waffle but as you can see from my post im an all over the place kind of person.

    So.... any advice?
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Others will pop along with advice re positioning but just wanted to let you know that if you are starting from scratch on seeds then look in aldi, lidl, poundstretchers and wilko's before ordering from ebay. They have the common / popular varieties of veg and flower seeds cheaper (starting 29p / 39p a packet rather than the 99p start on ebay).

    Buy only what you intend to grow this summer as the once the sales start around end of August you can really expand your stash cheaply with 10p packs from wilko's or 50p packs from Wyevale.

    B&M and Wilko's have spuds / onions starting from 99p at the moment as well.

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    • #3
      Hi and welcome to the vine. As far as your blackcurrant goes it's still young - should fruit better this year. No need to prune unless it gets to big or congested, then all you do is take out up to 1/4 or 1/3 of the oldest stems to the ground. Shouldn't think you'll need to prune it for a few years yet though.

      Kidney beans are tricky in our climate so if you want dried beans you could try a climbing french bean - maybe one wigwam full for fresh and one to dry.

      Toms sounds like it was blight, & peppers are better under cover on this country.
      Another happy Nutter...

      Comment

      • #4
        Hi and Welcome to the vine

        I am familiar with the here, there and everywhere issue. I think you just have to get strict with yourself and focus on something do-able before moving on. Little steps are better than no steps

        In regards to ebay I tend to get seeds from premier seeds with no issues.

        Comment

        • #5
          Not sure about the potato's as the last time I had them in the ground I got loads of green and hardly a potato worth talking of. I grow mine in large tubs/pots/containers now. May be worth thinking of that but for other reasons.

          Draw up a simple Word doc, draw a rectangle that is 8x4 inches (should fit), or 20x10cms and draw in a total of 8 to 10 rows across it, then write in what each row can grow in it.

          Peas
          Beans
          Tomatoes
          Peppers
          Broccoli
          Kale
          Spinach
          Cauliflower
          Carrots
          Swede
          Turnips

          Not sure about the Peas and beans as they cover an area if you grow up a wigwam, so may not be at present worth the space they occupy. Also I do not like beans or peas so they get 0 space here.

          Thats about 10 rows with one thing in each, across the bed. You can reduce the row width for some, say down to 10 inches.

          Fruit - seperate bed seems better
          Rhubarb - needs an area opf its own, gets big and also need manure, lots of it to grow well.

          For a bed that size I will suggest somewhere like Lidl, Aldi, Wilkinsons for general seeds but I use Moreveg as they do smaller packets well suited to a garden veg bed size. Just bought a Summer Brocolli from there (amongst others) and hoping it will crop as indicated in late summer. But at 50p if it doesn't then no great loss.

          Attachmnet should show a rectangular bed I need to make for a friend, similar proportions to yours and how I suggested they split it. The veg are just thoughts I have, and as I have the seeds it means I can supply those also.

          To fill the bed get 3 cheap bags of compost and one bag of manure. Put into the bed and dig it in. Then repeat with another 3 + 1 for a bit more depth. Likely to be enough then for this year.

          If you did grow potato's in containers then half compost and half manure and 3/4/5 potato's. Once harvested you can tip the old mix out into the bed.
          Attached Files
          Last edited by Kirk; 23-02-2017, 10:55 PM.

          Comment

          • #6
            Not really got any specific advice, apart from enjoy !

            You're lucky not having a large plot full of tenacious weeds to hack away at before you can start ��

            Just spend the first year having fun and trying things out - see what works and what doesn't.

            Comment

            • #7
              Originally posted by freshpatch View Post

              Current situation is fairly large urban garden (lawn) NW england. Ive made a 8' x 4' x 12" veg bed out of decking, needs filling.
              First things first then- I would sort out the where you're going to grow things. Is the decking bed in it's final location? Assuming it is then if it's on the lawn you want to cover the grass with cardboard or newspapers or similar. I use newspapers loads simply because I have easy access to them, lay them out to cover the grass which obviously blocks out the light and prevents it from growing through.

              Originally posted by freshpatch View Post
              Got a few bags of various types of compost/topsoil that have been sat around for a few years.
              Cover the newspaper/cardboard with this and level it out.

              Now you have somewhere to plant out into you can consider what to put into it. This year whilst you get things sorted you could consider using this bed for square foot gardening....

              http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ing_44388.html

              ....... until you have had an opportunity to make your larger bed.

              Don't forget spuds and fruit will go into containers until you have more space available.

              Comment

              • #8
                Welcome to the Vine by the way

                Comment

                • #9
                  Thanks for the advice. Plan to take the sqft approach for the decking bed with things like peas and beans going where the larger bed will be as to not overcrowd the area. Potatos will be done in sacks as i can site these on concrete areas.

                  Got access to plenty of horse manure locally just a bit concerned that it might not be rotted enough to use for this years planting. Maybe stick to store bought for this year.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Welcome along.

                    Peppers in the UK will be very hard to do without an unheated greenhouse or similar. Kidney beans are probably not worth trying in the UK.
                    You can grow french beans in containers - use a wigwam for support.
                    Rhubarb should go on a patch of its own - its quite tolerant of semi-shade and once it gets going is pretty tough. If you can't get hold of manue then use up some of your compost and add plenty of chicken pellets of blood fish and bone.
                    Kale is probably one of the hardiest brassicas
                    Tomatoes are suseptiable to blight - especially outdoors - though varieties like Mountain Magic and Crimson Crush are regarded as far more resistant - though that comes at a price as they cost a lot.

                    Anyhow - make sure yu have with it - good luck
                    sigpic
                    1574 gin and tonics please Monica, large ones.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Welcome to the vine Fresh patch! I would agree that peppers can be difficult outside, I find that they crop much less than chillies. Try a mild chilli variety instead, you may have better luck.

                      Originally posted by happyhumph View Post
                      Kidney beans are tricky in our climate so if you want dried beans you could try a climbing french bean - maybe one wigwam full for fresh and one to dry
                      Canadian wonder is a true red kidney bean....it's no more difficult than growing any other french bean. The only problem with this variety (imo) is that it's a dwarf varietydont less crop for the space it takes up.
                      Dwarf French Bean Canadian Wonder (Kidney) - Moreveg

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Ooh - hadn't seen those. Interesting they are pink when you she'll them fresh then turn red.
                        Another happy Nutter...

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Originally posted by happyhumph View Post
                          Ooh - hadn't seen those. Interesting they are pink when you she'll them fresh then turn red.
                          thought you might like them! though I do find dwarf ones crop less...and there are other beans you can dry for chilli etc.

                          Comment

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