Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi All,

We are looking to get an allotment to grow our own veg but in the meantime we are going to start growing some stuff in our crap garden.

The garden is 2 levels, the level just outside the back door is about 10ft x 6ft but it's pretty dark in this section. The second level up is about 10ft x 10ft which get a lot of sun during the day and is open and airy. It's all concrete though so we will have to use planters to grow veg.

I realise we are late to the grow your own party so can anyone tell me what I can plant and will be able to harvest this year?

Does anyone have any plans for planters? I am no carpenter but I will try my hand at anything. Or we could just get some plastic planters from homebase?

We want to grow lettuce, herbs, chillies, peppers (if possible?), potatoes etc.

All help appreciated.

Cheers
Stu

I don't have any plans to constuct your own planters, but we did find a place locally which gets marble fireplaces delivered in really big wooden crates - they make fantastic planters and the firm is happy to give them away as they struggle to get rid of them. Have a drive round your nearest industrial estate and see what you come up with

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Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

i grow lots in planters as only have some small place for my plot in the garden,

i have and am growing


cucumbers
pots
carrots
beetroot
sweetcorn
strawberries
pac choi
spring onions
cut & come again salad leaves
toms

i have just sown some more carrots in pots, the one thing i will say though is why not invest in a greenhouse and then you can put them in there in the winter as you will have to fleece a lot otherwise

everything i have grown in a pot has been a great success, also have a look at peoples blogs on here as some have great ideas, anything is worth a go,
good luck (ps this is my first year growing as well)

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Gardening - A labour of love that begins with daybreak and ends with backache!
http://clarkiesveggieblog.blogspot.com/

Before I got my allotment and grew at home in an east facing 10' square plot, I grew all sorts of things - but it was in the ground rather than containers. French beans, lettuce, rocket, herbs and even a couple of potato plants. The plot only had sun between dawn and about 11 am in high summer. Since then I've grown carrots, potatoes and peppers in pots. I think you can grow most stuff in pots, the only problem being the chore of keeping them fed and watered.

Why don't you get one of those little plastic greenhouse thingies? I have grown really good tomatoes and aubergines in those. Also, I've grown tumbling tomatoes in hanging baskets. Carrots are good in containers 'cos it keeps them away from carrot fly. Grow bags are a good option too. I've grown lots of salad and herbs in those. Basil did particularly well in my plastic greenhouse in a grow bag.

Good luck

I'm new to this gardening lark too. I've got leeks and spinach growing in what is basically a large box. 2x3inch post at each corner and some planks attached. I bought them as plants from the garden centre so is cheating really, but was too late starting to grow from seed. Also got some January King cabbages in pots and some Kale in large window boxes. Thats if the birds and the slugs dont get em. Good luck

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Taking it one day at a time and still smiling...

You can do lettuce this year if you're quick.

Some herbs can still be started off now - depends what you want to grow. You also have the choice of growing from seed (good for things like coriander, basil or parsley that you might use a lot of) nicking a cutting off someone (good for things like mint, sage or rosemary that are hard to grow from seed) or buying a small plant from the garden centre (good for anything that you only ever really want one of, especially if you can't get a cutting off a friend or neighbour!)

Chillis and peppers will need to be started next year - too late this year. Sow them really early in the year (like Jan/Feb) as they need a long growing season. Or buy as small plants from the garden centre, but you might as well have a go at seeds first as there is plenty of time to buy in plants later if the seeds don't come up!

(Worth doing tomatoes as well: but again start them early next year, they are popular for a very good reason! Actually lots of good reasons - they are quite easy once you get the hang of it, and they taste a huge load better than anything in the shops, not to mention that you can get much more variety than is available in the shops, different sizes shapes and colours)

You're probably too late to do potatoes this year, although you might be lucky if you've got a few sprouting in the kitchen, might as well give it a go. Otherwise, start early next spring.

Other things that you've just about got time for - various salad leaves, kohlrabi, beetroot, radishes, spring onions, maybe carrots. You may want to put in some onions or garlic for overwintering to harvest next summer, over the next couple of months. Now is also a good time to start thinking about fruit bushes and strawberry plants, if that interests you at all.

Probably others will have some more ideas too. Good luck!

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Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about.

Get hold of some big skip buckets that are about 2ft deep and the same across (mine are bright yellow) they make brilliant planters (have carrots in one and onions in the other). Bog standard buckets are good. I have some strawberries in some Chimney flues left over from building the extension - they are wide concrete tubes that I put on paving slabs put gravel in the bottom and compost on top of that, they're quirky and I might paint them daft colours at some point.

I've got Kohl Rabi in a large polystyrene box I get fish delivered in and some tomatoes in more boxes.

Plastic troughs from garden centres are handy for quick croppers like radishes which can still be planted.

There's a type of broad bean that can be planted in October - got them today Thompson seed - just checked - Aquadulce Claudia.

Spring onions and red spring onions (they're lovely) can still go in, I did some in the garden plot yesterday with mixed spicy winter hardy leaves.

Kale Scarlet - if you're really quick.

Gawd listen to me it's my first year and I'm actually giving some advice to someone else

There are brill grapes on the vine that will give more knowledgeable advice than me - I'm still learning at playschool level

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Hayley B

OH is competing in the Macmillan 4x4 challenge (in aid of Macmillan Nurses) partnering Julia Bradbury (Watchdog presenter) in March 2009 http://www.justgiving.com/mac4x4juliabradbury

If you have a Morrisons supermarket near you they sell their old flower buckets at 10 for a £1 - great for growing toms, peppers, cucumbers etc in, and cheap too!

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Kermit aka Jade

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad

Thanks for the advice folks.

I am going to get started over the evening this week.

Can you recommend a site to get seeds from? Also what compost should I get?

Sorry for the questions but I want to make sure I get it right.

Cheers
Stu

I get a lot of my seeds from The Organic Catalogue - not everything in it is organic, as they sell heritage seed varieties as well, but there's a good choice of varieties. You might find a lot of stuff is sold out at this time of year, though they seem to have spring onions and oriental salad leaves in stock (the two I just quickly checked).

Multipurpose compost works OK for most things, I find - I usually go for a peat-free organic one. The MiracleGro one has worked well for me this year, at least for growing in modules. My raised beds contain a mixture of topsoil and whatever compost was going cheap at the garden centre, supplemented by manure from my bantams

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Small Plot? No Problem! - my blog about growing organic veg

If you've got a Wyevale Garden Centre near you, they're selling all seeds off at 50p per packet. The seeds I bought on sunday would have cost over £75, but I got them for £19

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Always look on the bright side of life
View my blog - http://chooksandveggies.blogspot.com/ updated November 1st 2008