AJuff Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Hello, new to vegetable gardening but determined to have a go. OH building raised beds for me this week - what do I fill them with? Top soil, compost in a bag? My compost bin is not ready yet! He has built me a coldframe to go in a sunny spot on the patio. Do I need to put something down underneath it to make it warmer? And lastly - I have ordered lots of cloches; hoop and plastic type. Will they prevent frost when there's a cold snap? Anyone recommend a good watering can? My new water butt is full already! Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tara.F Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 fill your beds with whatever you can get. Topsoil is fine, compast in bags is better. Add some wellrotted manure if you can get it (but don't do this if you are planning to grow carrots and parsnips there) You can put newspaper or cardboard under your coldframe but in my experience, this attracts slugs. remember to open the lid on sunny days to prevent mould build up. put some of your cloches up as soon as you get them. They will warm the earth and that will aid germination on your early sowings You know? growing veg is as addictive as keeping hens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJuff Posted March 15, 2008 Author Share Posted March 15, 2008 I know, I've been told I'm talking about veg too much by OH.! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 when I built my raised beds (see my rainwater thread) a few years ago I filled them with earth from around and about. I wished that I'd weeded it better 'cos it took me a couple of years to get rid of the ground elder! Now I chuck some horse manure on the appropriate ones (from a friend's Suffolk Punches) and my own compost on them. They are working really well now. I do have some cloches, but not many, and some fleece. But I have found that actually waiting a bit until things warm up is better because getting stuff in really early doesn't actually, in my experience, gain you much - putting them in a few weeks later, when things have warmed up, doesn't make much different to the time you are eating them! I have seven 4' by 16' beds, I have two for potatoes, two for brassicas and three for 'others' (courgettes, squash, tomatoes, etc. etc.). I grow salad crops whereever there is space. I grow enough leeks to keep me right over the winter - homegrown leek and potato soup all through the winter is fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessa the Duchess Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 when I built my raised beds (see my rainwater thread) a few years ago I filled them with earth from around and about. I wished that I'd weeded it better 'cos it took me a couple of years to get rid of the ground elder! Ah ground elder, a thug of a weed Took me three years of hand picking it every day to get rid Tessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessa the Duchess Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Anyone recommend a good watering can? My new water butt is full already! I bought a perfectly adequate watering can from Woolies, about 5.99 got a decent rose on it. Tessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 I know, I've been told I'm talking about veg too much by OH.! Nothing beats the taste of your homegrown veg! I've just spent a couple days with my Dad - he's fed up of allotment talk now I think! (did I tell you I got my allotment? ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJuff Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 Congratulations on getting the allotment! Is it far from your house? I'm just so pleased my veg patch is so close to the house! My sister has a huge garden in Kettering that she can't cope with. Shewas wondering about advertising part of it as a private allotment. How big would it need to be and how much should she charge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyren Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 My sister has a huge garden in Kettering that she can't cope with. Shewas wondering about advertising part of it as a private allotment. How big would it need to be and how much should she charge? A standard allotment is 30' x 100', and the average rent for a plot that size is around thirty pounds a year. However she might also have to add in the cost of public liability insurance, since she would effectively be allowing a member of the public onto her land. It's a nice idea, but it would need some legal work to avoid possible problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tara.F Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 but perhaps if she accepted no monetary payment (fresh fruit 'n' veg instead) she would avoid many of the pitfalls. I would thus be more of a friendly arrangement than a formal tenant/landlord relationship. go for it I say, the litigators and insurance companies are ruining the world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 My plot will only be 10m x 10m (about 33' x 33') so not massive. Ideal for a first timer though! It is only 400 yards from our house, so very close. Very good idea of your friends to rent out part of her garden, I wish more people would do this instead of letting gardens get neglected (or selling them to build on ) My friend's neighbours have badly neglected the end of their garden, it is just a jungle of brambles with a rotten greenhouse in the middle housing a family of feral cats. She is currently negotiating buying/renting it off them to extend her own garden to grow veg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Eat the ground elder - it's like spinach! Treat it like a weed and it'll act like one - use it to your advantage and it disappears really quickly! When we moved here the veg plot was all compacted and damp in winter and hard baked in summer. We have clay here, but next door is on chalk. We get lots of flint in our ground and the odd chunk of chalk too. So we decided that raised beds was the best option. Where I have sown parsnips, I make a large hole with a dibber and fill it with fine topsoil, otherwise they fork on the stones and all I get is a rooty mess with lots of greenery and nothing worth eating. The beds soon build up over time and you will find that they soon overflow! We did have an allotment a few years ago but it was a constant fight against the rat population there - we reckoned we ended up with a third of the produce that we were hoping to get. My coldframes have gravel over soil in the bottom - it makes a nice damp spot in the height of summer and there are always frogs in there to keep away the slugs and snails. Also the coldframe is where you harden off your seedlings ready for the wide open garden! I used the plastic and hoops until next door's cat was pushing its way underneath and having a snooze on my plants, so now I use fleece to keep frost off - except I now have polka dot fleece where the squirrel has taken big bites out of it to line her nest! There is always some sort of challenge with veggie growing! With regard to watering cans - test them for comfort before you buy. If you suffer with backaches, then go for a smaller can, also the position of the handle can be awkward too. My favourite has a long spout and I hold it from the cross bar when I water and the main handle for carrying. It holds about 4 litres and I can lift that up to reach the highest shelf in the greenhouse, anything bigger is too much for me. No questions are daft - I'm still learning too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chili pepper Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Hope you dont mind me using your thread to ask questions AJuff, I'm a newbie to growing things too! What do the terms first and second early and maincrop mean when referring to potatoes? Is it to do with when you plant them or harvest them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chili pepper Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Just thought of something else too, Alan Titchmarsh (now known just as Alan as I quote him all the time to hubby!) says not to thin out carrot seedlings as it encourages carrot root fly attack, but I planted them in a seed tray in my coldframe so they cant stay there. Should I just start again and plant some more directly into the ground or will it be OK to transplant my seedlings? Sorry for all the questions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Just thought of something else too, Alan Titchmarsh (now known just as Alan as I quote him all the time to hubby!) says not to thin out carrot seedlings as it encourages carrot root fly attack, but I planted them in a seed tray in my coldframe so they cant stay there. Should I just start again and plant some more directly into the ground or will it be OK to transplant my seedlings? Sorry for all the questions Try to do this of an evening and minimise handling as much as possible as its this that causes more stuff the carrot fly uses to locate your carrots to get into the air... The earlier you can do this then the better though..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Carrot flies keep low to the ground, some people use a fleece barrier around (or enviromesh) a bit like fencing it off - about 2.5 ft high! Or fleece or mesh over the top. Not a bad idea with this weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Carrot flies keep low to the ground, some people use a fleece barrier around (or enviromesh) a bit like fencing it off - about 2.5 ft high! Or fleece or mesh over the top. Not a bad idea with this weather. I believe its not that they can only keep low to the ground (else they wouldnt get over my 6ft garden fence) its that they cannot descend very quickly after gaining some altitude, so a 18" barrier around a small area of carrots will ensure that they clear both sides of it and miss your carrots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Good point Matthew - it never occurred to me! See - I still have lots to learn! Some people have tried growing onions and other smelly plants - basil springs to mind - alongside their carrots to mask the carroty smell. Not always with great success. I guess it also depends on the weather and if their breeding cycle has been affected. I am a miserable failure when it comes to carrots - lots of green promising fronds and nothing below ground - yet parsnips are fine. I've even tried the round ones in cells to no effect! What am I doing wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 - don't ask me - I can grow carrots but not parsnips! I do know that carrot seed is best bought each year. Covering with fleece or enviromesh throughout can help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Sounds like we should swap! I dig a deep hole with a dibber and fill up with topsoil from the garden centre (hopefully it doesn't contain weeds), but it does contain a lot of sand and fine grit - hopefully it will help tame the clay! I've had a few failures with parsnips mainly because of stones, but I keep raking them out - my grandmother's soil was extremely stoney - but she had fantastic veg of all kinds - whopping great carrots that never forked! I had filled the runner bean trench with lots of kitchen waste - yesterday I was digging up parnips from there that had sprouted from the tops! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
