Guest Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Great to see so many of you having a go at growing veggies. I have a big lottie and this past year have been totally self sufficient if fruit and veg - and kept family and friends in goodies too. I can not recommend highly enough the sheer pleasure you will get when you eat your first home grown potato, pick your first salad leaves. Do keep us posted on how you do - and photos too later in the summer would be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 I can not recommend highly enough the sheer pleasure you will get when you eat your first home grown potato, pick your first salad leaves. You're spot on Kooringa. I started a few years ago with some herbs and leaves. Picking them, cooking with them and eating them gave me a real buzz! It also encouraged me to grow a whole variety of things and I still find it hugely rewarding and exciting. Good luck to everybody else who is starting to grow their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Kooringa, how much time do you spend at your allotment each day? We have 3 small veg beds and some fruit trees dotted round and we seem to be constantly at it. How on hearth do you manage a whole area the size of my garden? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Kooringa, how much time do you spend at your allotment each day?We have 3 small veg beds and some fruit trees dotted round and we seem to be constantly working on them. How on earth do you manage a whole area the size of my garden? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellcat Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Damn! Helps if you log in first. Not sure how i did the quote thing though. So, how DO you manage it? Is it all day everyday? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Probably a little bit every day Helen - that's the only way we manage ours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggtastic Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 Is it difficult to grow rocket as I spend a fortune on the bags from sainsburys? Rocket's great - really easy as long as you remember that it's a cool salad crop. It grows best at the start and end of the season as it's really prone to bolting if it ever lacks water/gets too hot. And once it starts to bolt you can't stop it. The leaves then become a little bitter and it's best replanting. I've heard of some people having success during the hotter summer months by providing shade from the midday sun. I plant one per sq ft, use it as a cut and come again salad, and make a number of sowings of the season in order to always have fresh plants I grew cherry tomatoes last year outside. Got to the size of a marble but never ripened Too far north not enough sun not enough warmth An alternative could be the variety of tomato - get hold of the veg catalogue from http://www.plantsofdistinction.co.uk/ - it has over a 150 different tomato varieties. It's simply stunning. Pick the ones with the shortest growing season and cold tol. A shorter season should mean that they fruit and ripen quicker and an increased level of cold tol should mean that you can plant earlier and that it will last further into the end of season. A few options could include Alaskan Fancy - plum (says it should do well in scotland) Glacier (very cold tolerant, nearly down to frost, starts to fruit at 8" tall, ) Stupice (very early Czeh var., potato leaved, cold tol. ) ...but there are others. It's worth checking out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
