Grow Your Own Magazine

it's an old sand playtray which i'd like to use, if i can.

it's 2ft X 18" X 2.5"

anything? or am i gunna have to think of another use for it?

thanks

i planted a cuke in one about that size, the first year I was growing [all in containers as we were renting].

As long as you mulch, water, feed and give it something to climb up - it will do fine.

Or

Spring onions, salads, herbs for the ground cover, and pop the cuke in about May/june time.

OR

Use it for a constant seed bed

OR

fill with a growbag and pop some toms in - pop some basil in beneath the toms to make sure the greenfly stay away from the toms

OR

Use it to contain the little seedling pots, so that they can go outside in the day and come inside at night to harden them off

So many uses. If it is see through - can be used as a cloche for just sown seeds in the raised beds - pop a terracotta pot on the top to stop it blowing away.

__________________
Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

At two and a half inches deep I wouldn't have thought it would be able to support a cucumber.

A planting area for the little one who has now outgrown the sand?

great idea

but i don't think she'd grow very well would i use a grow bag?

was thinking about lettuces....would i need to drill the bottom full of holes?(cus that would take forever....)

(oh, and it's on legs by the way)

ahh..toms....hmmm....toms and lettuces and spring onions...how much room would that take up? i have all 3 to grow. and it would be great if it was possible to get all of those (i'm only trying a few) and would they all be able to grow together? so to speak...

If you put a cane in each corner and tie it in the middle to make a bivouac, it grows up that.

With regard toms, lettuces and spring onions; yes; it is possible.

Toms spaced out in the middle
Spring onions in little batches around the outside. Lettuces again in little batches in between.

As long as you fertilise it regularly and don't let it dry out, it'll be fine.

__________________
Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

i don't really have much else apart from multi-purpose to use. what kind of fertiliser would i use? something like a tomato one? see, i really AM clueless

Two and a half inches deep? that's really pretty shallow. It will dry out unbelievably quickly in the summer - you'd almost have to keep it permanently sitting in a tray of water.

Still, you could have a go, as an experiment. Let us know how you get on.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

so. might i be better turning it upside down and using something like grow bags and cover it with plastic to make a greenhousey type contraption then?

but it's not very tall. (although i haven't measured it)

and it might not allow a lot of light...

Can you post a photo?

Seriously, I have grown a cuke in a very shallow plastic tray - and it was fine. Ditto toms.

Tom fertiliser would be good; but I would use a grow bag for the compost. It has manure in it so is much more potent.

__________________
Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

Get lettuce and radish in it. You could have several difference varieties in there no problem especially the small leaf types like rocket. Quick turnover stuff if you are keeping it in your garden. Only one hole needed for drainage. You don't want the water getting out too fast!

__________________
http://plot62.blogspot.com/

well, i've been out in the yard this morning giving a few bits the once over. and i was looking at it, thinking...frogs...frogs would love that with a few rocks in(the legs can come off)....but i don't have any frogspawn , and am not easily available to go frogspawn catching..

oh, but it would be good to have a one stop salad bar aswell...but it really is only shallow, yes. so growbag soil then?

also. if you pleases....what's the best way to sterlise the pots and stuff. i have a steam-gun, the kind you plug in. is that the best thing to use? or are we talking a full on attack with all sorts of nasty chemicals?..

Why sterilise? Was there some sort of viral problem last year? Generally I just scrub pots at the kitchen sink or if I'm feeling really flamboyant I might consider putting a few in the dishwasher!

Hot water and Ecover washing up liquid. Job done.

__________________
~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

well that's it, see. i have no idea what's been in them previously, they're given to me. and there's a miriad of others that i've collected and just had out in the back yard with all sorts of unmentionables could be lurking in there, and it would be easier if the steamer was used, as it can be used in the yard rather than my rather impractical kitchen....which is miles away from the yard.

Bucket of flash and remember to rinse would be my suggestion then but I doubt that you will have a problem, more problems are caused by using poor or old compost that by dirty pots. The main reason for washing them is to remove any old compost which could be harbouring virus or desease - not to do anything in particular to the plastic.

Does this help?

thanks

so is growbag soil better than multipurpose then?

it's a minefield out there

Depends what you want it for!

Seed compost is low in nutrients so as not to burn tender new roots from freshly germinating seeds its drawback is that the supply of nutrient is soon used up so...

General potting compost (the stuff that is generally on offer somewhere) is slightly richer and is what many people use when 'potting on' - transfering the seedings at a fairly early stage, say 2-4 true leaves, to individual cells or pots to grow on into small plants.

If you are looking to grow an acid loving plant like rododendron, camilia or heathers you need a compost that is suited to these types of plant - Ericaceous it the word to look for from Erica the latin name for heather.

If you want to plant trees or shrubs in pots their requirements are different again and there are composts designed to suit their needs.

So basically all the different composts are seperated by what type and what quantity of fertialiser they contain and by how acid or otherwise they are and what additives (water retaining gels etc) they contain. It is fairly important to be at least peripherally aware of this as trying to germinate a California Poppy (suited to thin poor soils with good drainage) in a John Innes No 3 with swell gel (rich and moisture retentive) is just not going to work well!

Hope this makes sense!

Terry

yes. thankyou


i shall gives it a go once i work out what i can put in what!