total beginner......

Last post 17-08-2006 12:10 PM by Digger. 25 replies.

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26/04/2006 11:06 AM
jumpinjackjones Location: Joined on: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 14	Reply \| Contact hey folks! there is a little about me in the idle chat section! but basically, the land behind my house is a tip. have cleared it of rubbish- two skips, have been raking and strimming for a week, next step is turning it into a vegetable garden... i have never done any gardenning before in my life! i have tomotoes which i am about to put into growbags, i have pumpkin, carrot and walking stick kale seeds so far..... any tips for a very basic, first year vegetable plot would be ace, bearing in mind i have little disposable income, but am fit and strong! i refuse to grow potatoes, even though they are good for the soil. far, far too boring! will keep you posted!

26/04/2006 11:06 AM

jumpinjackjones
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hey folks! there is a little about me in the idle chat section! but basically, the land behind my house is a tip. have cleared it of rubbish- two skips, have been raking and strimming for a week, next step is turning it into a vegetable garden... i have never done any gardenning before in my life! i have tomotoes which i am about to put into growbags, i have pumpkin, carrot and walking stick kale seeds so far..... any tips for a very basic, first year vegetable plot would be ace, bearing in mind i have little disposable income, but am fit and strong! i refuse to grow potatoes, even though they are good for the soil. far, far too boring! will keep you posted!

26/04/2006 11:26 AM	In reply to
sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,465	Reply \| Contact Hi jumpingjackjones, welcome to the world of gardening, we all have to start off somewhere. I know when it comes to veg plots we are supposed to follow a rota system usually over 4 years but I don't have the room to do that, have only got 2 small veg patches and a few tubs. I am growing potatoes for the first time this year and have put mine in tubs and old compost bags and they are off to a good start. One bit of advice I can give you with regard to your tomatoes and growbags is when you plant them in there, cut the bottom off an old pot and place it with the bottom of the pot on the growbag and fill it with compost. Tomatoes like to be planted quite deeply (up to the first set of leaves), it gives them a good stronghold for the roots and you get more tomatoes. When you water, water into the growbag and only give liquid tomato feed into the top of the pot. I got this advice from Gardeners World a couple of years ago and mine have done wonders ever since. sue1002

26/04/2006 11:26 AM

In reply to

sue1002
Location:
Ipswich, Suffolk
Joined on:
06 Sep 2005
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9,465

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Hi jumpingjackjones, welcome to the world of gardening, we all have to start off somewhere. I know when it comes to veg plots we are supposed to follow a rota system usually over 4 years but I don't have the room to do that, have only got 2 small veg patches and a few tubs. I am growing potatoes for the first time this year and have put mine in tubs and old compost bags and they are off to a good start. One bit of advice I can give you with regard to your tomatoes and growbags is when you plant them in there, cut the bottom off an old pot and place it with the bottom of the pot on the growbag and fill it with compost. Tomatoes like to be planted quite deeply (up to the first set of leaves), it gives them a good stronghold for the roots and you get more tomatoes. When you water, water into the growbag and only give liquid tomato feed into the top of the pot. I got this advice from Gardeners World a couple of years ago and mine have done wonders ever since.

sue1002

01/05/2006 03:23 PM	In reply to
jumpinjackjones Location: Joined on: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 14	Reply \| Contact hi sue, cheers for that! did exactly what you said, re the tomatoes! was extra special careful, and set them up in two grobag greenhouse things i bought from the garden centre. did that on saturday afternoon when the sun was beating down and everything was alright in the world. this morning, got up to see that they had copped a gust of wind, broke up and smashed into a wall, so some repair work and stabilising is one of my first gardening jobs! just ripped off a 14 by 8 foot section of lawn, which i have stored upside for "loam" next year. i dont know what loam is, or what its for yet, but i will have plenty! soil is riddled with creepy crawlies, millions of worms- seems to be a bit on the clay side.... tips as to what would be good to do to it before i plant my walking stick kale, beetroots, carrots, pumpkins, runner beans and sunflowers would be helpful.... was thinking of two bags of manure, two compost, some insect killer and fish blood and bone meal, as titchmarsh reckons you need organic matter and fertiliser as well.... am i really really wrong?!

01/05/2006 03:23 PM

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jumpinjackjones
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hi sue, cheers for that! did exactly what you said, re the tomatoes! was extra special careful, and set them up in two grobag greenhouse things i bought from the garden centre. did that on saturday afternoon when the sun was beating down and everything was alright in the world. this morning, got up to see that they had copped a gust of wind, broke up and smashed into a wall, so some repair work and stabilising is one of my first gardening jobs! just ripped off a 14 by 8 foot section of lawn, which i have stored upside for "loam" next year. i dont know what loam is, or what its for yet, but i will have plenty! soil is riddled with creepy crawlies, millions of worms- seems to be a bit on the clay side.... tips as to what would be good to do to it before i plant my walking stick kale, beetroots, carrots, pumpkins, runner beans and sunflowers would be helpful.... was thinking of two bags of manure, two compost, some insect killer and fish blood and bone meal, as titchmarsh reckons you need organic matter and fertiliser as well.... am i really really wrong?!

01/05/2006 07:28 PM	In reply to
Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 5,230	Reply \| Contact Hi jumpinjackjones, If I were you i would do the above mentioned but minus the insect killer most of your creepy crawlies are beneficial and totally neccessary the soil needs to be teeming with life for anything to grow in it, the best improvement for most soil types is organic matter get as much animal manure into the soil as you possibly can in addition to this i presume that you will be having a compost heap? this is an ideal way to get organic matter for free, your brassicas like to have a little lime in the soil but that is not what others require so i would recommend that you do the Kale,cabbage cauliflowers etc in a seperate bed with some added lime if your soil needs it, you could use an all round fertilizer such as growmore which contains the essential nutrients and then use high potash for fruit and flowers bonemeal is good for healthy roots but i would only use it sparingly and fish blood and bone is a good all rounder.If you are sowing carrots do not put any manure at all in the ground where you wish to grow them the roots will fork all over the place and will produce inferior plants, bbetroot needs to be sown where it is to be grown as it will not transplant well,runner beans like plenty of moisture but not sitting in wet so add some grit to the planting hole they do not need a nitrogenous feed because they obtain their nitrogen from the atmosphere.Pumpkins need plenty of water and plenty of sunshine. good luck my friend have fun and do let us know how you get on. digger Sage of the fells

01/05/2006 07:28 PM

In reply to

Digger
Location:
Northern UK
Joined on:
18 Jul 2005
Posts:
5,230

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Hi jumpinjackjones, If I were you i would do the above mentioned but minus the insect killer most of your creepy crawlies are beneficial and totally neccessary the soil needs to be teeming with life for anything to grow in it, the best improvement for most soil types is organic matter get as much animal manure into the soil as you possibly can in addition to this i presume that you will be having a compost heap? this is an ideal way to get organic matter for free, your brassicas like to have a little lime in the soil but that is not what others require so i would recommend that you do the Kale,cabbage cauliflowers etc in a seperate bed with some added lime if your soil needs it, you could use an all round fertilizer such as growmore which contains the essential nutrients and then use high potash for fruit and flowers bonemeal is good for healthy roots but i would only use it sparingly and fish blood and bone is a good all rounder.If you are sowing carrots do not put any manure at all in the ground where you wish to grow them the roots will fork all over the place and will produce inferior plants, bbetroot needs to be sown where it is to be grown as it will not transplant well,runner beans like plenty of moisture but not sitting in wet so add some grit to the planting hole they do not need a nitrogenous feed because they obtain their nitrogen from the atmosphere.Pumpkins need plenty of water and plenty of sunshine. good luck my friend have fun and do let us know how you get on.

digger

Sage of the fells

02/05/2006 10:00 AM	In reply to
sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,465	Reply \| Contact Hi jumpinjackjones and digger, now the ground has had a good soaking from a good downpour there are loads of worms about, they help to break the soil down. You could always pick a few up and put inside your compost bin/heap. We had quite a strong wind here over the weekend, when I got up yesterday I noticed that next doors patio umbrella was upside down in the garden, it had come over the fence and broken one of the branches off the cherry tree. It was a good job it hadn't gone the other end of the garden towards the greenhouse as I wouldn't have been very pleased! They obviously hadn't listened to the weather forecast, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to leave an umbrella up when heavy rain and gusts of wind are forecast. Mine is still in the shed and probably will be for another month or so, and then when I do bring it out, it will have a cover over it overnight and be well anchored down! sue1002

02/05/2006 10:00 AM

In reply to

sue1002
Location:
Ipswich, Suffolk
Joined on:
06 Sep 2005
Posts:
9,465

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Hi jumpinjackjones and digger, now the ground has had a good soaking from a good downpour there are loads of worms about, they help to break the soil down. You could always pick a few up and put inside your compost bin/heap. We had quite a strong wind here over the weekend, when I got up yesterday I noticed that next doors patio umbrella was upside down in the garden, it had come over the fence and broken one of the branches off the cherry tree. It was a good job it hadn't gone the other end of the garden towards the greenhouse as I wouldn't have been very pleased! They obviously hadn't listened to the weather forecast, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to leave an umbrella up when heavy rain and gusts of wind are forecast. Mine is still in the shed and probably will be for another month or so, and then when I do bring it out, it will have a cover over it overnight and be well anchored down!

sue1002

11/05/2006 09:49 PM	In reply to
jumpinjackjones Location: Joined on: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 14	Reply \| Contact digger... sue.... you pair stitched me up! you never said it would nearly kill me! jesus christ its hard work! got my pumpkins and beans in, got some onions in too... might have to extend my patch! carrots and kale still seedlings in little square pot things.... still havent repaired smashed to pieces growbag greenhouses (do i really need them?!!!) dug flower beds all over the place, but flowers seem a bit boring, so i'm thinking of putting more veg in a long two foot border down the side of my garden.... recieves full sunlight until about three or four, then is shaded by the fence... can i grow anything there? i'm thinking three or four is almost sundown anyway? still a bit concerned about the amount of grubs and things in my ground... some of them look like witchety grubs and can't find an exact match in titchmarshes book. closest thing to it is the crane fly larvae. if its not that, i don't know what the HELL its going to hatch into! chased three naked aborigines from my lawn this morning.... neighbours raised an eyebrow... also, quite a few big deep red chrysalises ('scuse the spelling) got a feeling my veg is going to get eaten before theyre grown! i'll keep you posted! chris oh yes. frazzled all my sunflowers to a crisp in an experiment to make them super size. didnt work.

11/05/2006 09:49 PM

In reply to

jumpinjackjones
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Joined on:
26 Apr 2006
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14

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digger... sue.... you pair stitched me up! you never said it would nearly kill me! jesus christ its hard work! got my pumpkins and beans in, got some onions in too... might have to extend my patch! carrots and kale still seedlings in little square pot things.... still havent repaired smashed to pieces growbag greenhouses (do i really need them?!!!) dug flower beds all over the place, but flowers seem a bit boring, so i'm thinking of putting more veg in a long two foot border down the side of my garden.... recieves full sunlight until about three or four, then is shaded by the fence... can i grow anything there? i'm thinking three or four is almost sundown anyway? still a bit concerned about the amount of grubs and things in my ground... some of them look like witchety grubs and can't find an exact match in titchmarshes book. closest thing to it is the crane fly larvae. if its not that, i don't know what the HELL its going to hatch into! chased three naked aborigines from my lawn this morning.... neighbours raised an eyebrow... also, quite a few big deep red chrysalises ('scuse the spelling) got a feeling my veg is going to get eaten before theyre grown! i'll keep you posted! chris oh yes. frazzled all my sunflowers to a crisp in an experiment to make them super size. didnt work.

11/05/2006 10:38 PM	In reply to
sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,465	Reply \| Contact You've done the hard bit, getting it all started, the rest should be a breeze. Your growbag greenhouses, are they the ones that are covered in plastic? I started off with a 4 tier greenhouse and that was taken up in a gust of wind, resulting in the loss of most of the seeds I had started off. Then I got another one and the dog ripped up the cover on that one. The first one was then bolted down onto the concrete base beside the shed and another gust of wind ripped the cover into shreds. I bought a third one and a replacement cover for one of the others only to find it was a different make and it was too small. By this time I was so fed up losing the covers so we bought a proper greenhouse last year and used the shelves as staging for it. I wouldn't recommend those plastic covered ones to anyone. The grubs you have found sound like the crane fly larvae (leatherjackets), the best thing to do is pick them off - I found loads of them in the window boxes with my primulas. I have read that one way to get rid of them is to water the ground, cover it in black plastic overnight which should bring them all to the surface, then next morning take the plastic off and the birds should eat them. What experiment did you try with the sunflowers? am intrigued. [Edited on 11/05/2006] sue1002

11/05/2006 10:38 PM

In reply to

sue1002
Location:
Ipswich, Suffolk
Joined on:
06 Sep 2005
Posts:
9,465

Reply | Contact

You've done the hard bit, getting it all started, the rest should be a breeze. Your growbag greenhouses, are they the ones that are covered in plastic? I started off with a 4 tier greenhouse and that was taken up in a gust of wind, resulting in the loss of most of the seeds I had started off. Then I got another one and the dog ripped up the cover on that one. The first one was then bolted down onto the concrete base beside the shed and another gust of wind ripped the cover into shreds. I bought a third one and a replacement cover for one of the others only to find it was a different make and it was too small. By this time I was so fed up losing the covers so we bought a proper greenhouse last year and used the shelves as staging for it. I wouldn't recommend those plastic covered ones to anyone. The grubs you have found sound like the crane fly larvae (leatherjackets), the best thing to do is pick them off - I found loads of them in the window boxes with my primulas. I have read that one way to get rid of them is to water the ground, cover it in black plastic overnight which should bring them all to the surface, then next morning take the plastic off and the birds should eat them. What experiment did you try with the sunflowers? am intrigued. [Edited on 11/05/2006]

sue1002

13/05/2006 09:16 AM	In reply to
Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 5,230	Reply \| Contact Hello jumpinjackjones and sue1002, sue 1002 is right my friend you now have the hard work done now you just need to keep the momentum going or it will revert back to a wild jungle in the sunny border you could grow pumpkins and courgettes they like the sun and plenty of water. good luck my friend digger Sage of the fells

15/05/2006 09:56 PM	In reply to
jbthe beginner Location: Joined on: 15 May 2006 Posts: 2	Reply \| Contact Hello ya'll, I'm a brand new member not to mention a brand new gardener and had to laugh when reading jumpingjackjones postings - they sound like me! I think that half the fun is learning as you go along and hopefully learning by your mistakes (I know I am!) so just go for. I bet the stuff you harvest is at least twice as nice as the supermarket.

15/05/2006 10:26 PM	In reply to
Janeth Location: Kent Joined on: 13 May 2006 Posts: 16	Reply \| Contact Hello jb - welcome! I'm fairly new too - hope you enjoy the chat. I grew pots and onions last year - yummy and lasted for ages too. I'm being a bit more ambitious this year - parsnips, leeks, cabbage, caulies, etc.Everyone here is great at offering agood dvise.....

20/05/2006 07:17 PM	In reply to
jumpinjackjones Location: Joined on: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 14	Reply \| Contact hello there! amongst the range of healthy and nutritious varieties of slug food i am growing, i have runner beans... after tucking into my sunflowers, lupins, pumkins, busy lizzies and practically everything else in my garden, they have decided to have a go at my beans.... i was hoping that they may leave me something at least, by way of saying thanks, but sadly not... have gone mad with slug pellets and smashed up shards of ceramic tile and am wondering whether or not to replace my recently decimated beans with fresh seeds... or will they grow back?! i am left with four or five inch high stems and nothing else whatsoever on the affected plants... the rest are untouched... they are clearly working from end to end. what do you reckon? please nobody suggest slug traps. the thought of them makes me nausious and i couldnt. ........sigh.........

20/05/2006 07:17 PM

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jumpinjackjones
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hello there! amongst the range of healthy and nutritious varieties of slug food i am growing, i have runner beans... after tucking into my sunflowers, lupins, pumkins, busy lizzies and practically everything else in my garden, they have decided to have a go at my beans.... i was hoping that they may leave me something at least, by way of saying thanks, but sadly not... have gone mad with slug pellets and smashed up shards of ceramic tile and am wondering whether or not to replace my recently decimated beans with fresh seeds... or will they grow back?! i am left with four or five inch high stems and nothing else whatsoever on the affected plants... the rest are untouched... they are clearly working from end to end. what do you reckon? please nobody suggest slug traps. the thought of them makes me nausious and i couldnt. ........sigh.........

20/05/2006 08:46 PM	In reply to
Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 5,230	Reply \| Contact I use horticultural grit around all my delphiniums and lupins just make a circle about two inches wide around each plant and this does work well for me ,but after you have made the circle check that you have no creatures inside the circle because slugs are crafty, this has worked in my garden for a good few years but you should check occasionally for breaches in the grit circle because some critters can disturb it , hedgehogs do a lot of scuffling about and they usually don't do any harm but they may inadvertantly move the grit creating a gateway for horrible slugs as for the beans i am not sure if they will recover so i would plant a few more just in case. digger Sage of the fells

20/05/2006 08:46 PM

In reply to

Digger
Location:
Northern UK
Joined on:
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Posts:
5,230

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I use horticultural grit around all my delphiniums and lupins just make a circle about two inches wide around each plant and this does work well for me ,but after you have made the circle check that you have no creatures inside the circle because slugs are crafty, this has worked in my garden for a good few years but you should check occasionally for breaches in the grit circle because some critters can disturb it , hedgehogs do a lot of scuffling about and they usually don't do any harm but they may inadvertantly move the grit creating a gateway for horrible slugs as for the beans i am not sure if they will recover so i would plant a few more just in case.

digger

Sage of the fells

23/05/2006 12:14 PM	In reply to
sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,465	Reply \| Contact I too have gone mad this year with slug pellets around the beans after losing some of the plants to them, and sowed new seeds directly into the ground to replace them. Have also found a deterant that can be used on pots, we sprayed some WD40 around the base of the pots and haven't had any slugs or snails in them since, it makes them too slippery to climb up. sue1002

28/05/2006 10:39 AM	In reply to
Herbidaceous Location: Joined on: 28 May 2006 Posts: 9	Reply \| Contact [b]Posted by:[/b] jumpinjackjones hello there! amongst the range of healthy and nutritious varieties of slug food i am growing, i have runner beans... after tucking into my sunflowers, lupins, pumkins, busy lizzies and practically everything else in my garden, they have decided to have a go at my beans.... i was hoping that they may leave me something at least, by way of saying thanks, but sadly not... have gone mad with slug pellets and smashed up shards of ceramic tile and am wondering whether or not to replace my recently decimated beans with fresh seeds... or will they grow back?! i am left with four or five inch high stems and nothing else whatsoever on the affected plants... the rest are untouched... they are clearly working from end to end. what do you reckon? please nobody suggest slug traps. the thought of them makes me nausious and i couldnt. ........sigh......... [url=http://www.defenders.co.uk/slug_control.htm]http://www.defenders.co.uk/slug_control.htm[/url]

28/05/2006 10:39 AM

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Herbidaceous
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[b]Posted by:[/b] jumpinjackjones hello there! amongst the range of healthy and nutritious varieties of slug food i am growing, i have runner beans... after tucking into my sunflowers, lupins, pumkins, busy lizzies and practically everything else in my garden, they have decided to have a go at my beans.... i was hoping that they may leave me something at least, by way of saying thanks, but sadly not... have gone mad with slug pellets and smashed up shards of ceramic tile and am wondering whether or not to replace my recently decimated beans with fresh seeds... or will they grow back?! i am left with four or five inch high stems and nothing else whatsoever on the affected plants... the rest are untouched... they are clearly working from end to end. what do you reckon? please nobody suggest slug traps. the thought of them makes me nausious and i couldnt. ........sigh.........

[url=http://www.defenders.co.uk/slug_control.htm]http://www.defenders.co.uk/slug_control.htm[/url]

03/07/2006 08:44 AM	In reply to
jumpinjackjones Location: Joined on: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 14	Reply \| Contact morning team! how are we all doing? am currently being amazed by my pumpkin plants! no pumpkins or anything, but great plants!!! and my sunflowers are huge! no flowers or anything, but impressive plants! anyway... my tomato plants, planted as described by sue, are going yellow from the bottom up... any ideas? have been watering regularly and possibly over feeding a little due to my being over keen! could this be it? shall i revert back to water? do i pull them off or will they get better?

03/07/2006 08:44 AM

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jumpinjackjones
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morning team! how are we all doing? am currently being amazed by my pumpkin plants! no pumpkins or anything, but great plants!!! and my sunflowers are huge! no flowers or anything, but impressive plants! anyway... my tomato plants, planted as described by sue, are going yellow from the bottom up... any ideas? have been watering regularly and possibly over feeding a little due to my being over keen! could this be it? shall i revert back to water? do i pull them off or will they get better?

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