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View Full Version : Gardening help please...for a real novice!



Mouse
05-05-2012, 04:19 PM
I have decided I would like to grow some veg with the mindees, but haven't a clue where to start.

I can amanage cress on cotton wool, but that's as far as my green fingers go :o

I want to get tubs to plant things in. I was thinking carrots, peas, beans etc.

So, any pointers would be very much appreciated :thumbsup:

How deep do the tubs need to be? Do I buy plants or seeds? Can seeds be put straight into the tubs, or do I need to grow shoots indoors first? Anything else that is easy to grow?

I love the idea of a green house, but thought I'd better start small :D

francinejayne
05-05-2012, 04:33 PM
We have grown carrots, beans, potatoes, onions and tomatoes successfully in pots!

Cauliflower, broccoli and pumpkins were a complete failure!

I have grown everything from seed and started them indoors - which is defo a good idea considering the weather at the moment! When they are big enough re-plant them outdoors. Don't let the children water them too much - children love the watering can but they can water the plants too much - which is why I think some of mine failed!

loocyloo
05-05-2012, 05:18 PM
courgettes grow well too! peas are quite easy, and you can keep some in kitchen and eat the shoots in salad :D

i've been growing veg with the children, and have been for the past 4/5 years, but every year its different and some things grow and some don't !!!

this year all my seedlings have grown :clapping: except my tomatoes :( where as last year, my tomatoes grew fantastically, and i couldn't get my beans to grow !!!

i have seeds sprouting on windowsills ( i use the plastic boxes fruit & veg come in, and cover them with cling film until they start sprouting. then i leave the cling film off and once they are big i usually put them outside in either the ground, or last year i used big pots ( and not so big pots ) think my biggest pot was 15inch diameter and then i put canes in for peas & beans to grow up.

when things haven't grown from seed, i have bought plants from the garden centre/wilkies/plant stalls and grown those on!

good luck, its lots of fun!


i think ;)

manjay
05-05-2012, 05:24 PM
I usually start with seeds in the greenhouse but on the windowsill indoors is just as good. Small plants from the garden centre are also a good way to start. We are quite exposed where we live so plants need to be pretty hardy before they go out.

You can do anything in pots. Favourites here are mange tout climbing up a homemade stick wigwam, spring onions, strawberries, courgettes, tomatoes (these work fab in a hanging basket type container). Carrots don't work well here as they seem to need plenty of room. You wouldn't get many of them in a tub - although the baby ones are ok. In fact we have tried everything:D. We have had sprouts and leeks over wither this year and we have just planted up some rasberry canes.

I would say just experiment:thumbsup:

mushpea
05-05-2012, 06:43 PM
Just go for it and try anything,, we have an allotment and I take the kids over the year, last year I took a raspberry of the plant for a little fella, he ate it and the next thing I new the plant was stripped bare and he had a very red face and hands:laughing:
I have a green house in the back garden its a plastic walk in one but I am determind to get a solid plastic/pvc one this year, anyway we grow most of the stuff in there then plant it over the allotment when the weather is better,
I grew garlic in pots over the winter and this year I am going to grow some more stuff in pots for those children who dont get to go to the allotment, probably peas, beans, carrotts, tomatoes, peppers, mainly things that we would eat, you can also get dwarf fruit trees that grow in pots, strawberrys, raspberys and black berrys although we pick them from the wild.
any size pots will do and anything can be used as pots, I have old toy boxes, a mop bucked that got a whole in it, some big barrels that we cut in half and grow potaotoes in,, we even have an old toy plastic bob builder hat that cracked with herbs in. wellies are fun to grow things like strawberrys or tomato plants in and plastic bottles cut in half and the bottom half can grow tomatoe plants/peper plants and the top half you can turn upside down and put in big pots for a slow relase watering system.
I have also used two long plastic planters , put canes in them and tied the canes together at the top to make an arch and planted beans in each one well, the kids did, so it will be like a little den if they grow.

Mouse
05-05-2012, 08:14 PM
Thank you for all the ideas. We're off to shopping tomorrow to see what we can get :thumbsup:

Just another thought - we've got an old tyre floating around. Could I lay it flat, fill in with soil & grow things in that? I'm thinking the children could sit on it, lean over it to dig, climb on it if the plants got too tall.

miffy
06-05-2012, 08:48 PM
Thank you for all the ideas. We're off to shopping tomorrow to see what we can get :thumbsup:

Just another thought - we've got an old tyre floating around. Could I lay it flat, fill in with soil & grow things in that? I'm thinking the children could sit on it, lean over it to dig, climb on it if the plants got too tall.

That would be great for growing tomatoes in, not sure one tyre would be deep enough for potatoes.

Hope you had fun shopping

Miffy xx

Mouse
07-05-2012, 08:06 AM
Well, we've got peas, spring onions, carrots, mini cucumbers, strawberries, lots of pots and a sack for the carrots.

Wish us luck!

littlecheeks
07-05-2012, 03:22 PM
strawberrys are great! they last year after year too. tomatoes always do well, you can get small plants that will come out soon.
my kids also love peppers, all different colours. you wont need massive pots for most things. x

scoobydoo1
07-05-2012, 03:29 PM
I also grow my own veg its great. When I start minding I thought the mindees could plant and grow their own sunflower or beans and take home to show parents, also they could take home some tomatoes and some other stuff. The potatoes are mine because they taste so much better home grown, I can't give them up. xx

Kezzle
07-05-2012, 05:02 PM
I grow my own veg some i start off indoors some i plant straight out. I vaguely follow the instructions on the packets and just kinda plant and water and hope for the best. It's fun. I have tomatoes growing which i put out too early and have took a lot of the bad weather... not sure if they'll survive to bear fruit, i've covered them and hoping for the best. got some beans or peas growing can't remember which the in laws gave them to me. They're doing well have kept them indoors untill they're a little bigger.

In the past i've managed to grow a cucumber, pumpkin, carrots all from planting straight into the ground and hoping for the best. Lettuce is soooo easy to grow and does great in pots. My strawberries grew great in an old wheelbarrow and have survived freezing snowy icy winters uncovered and provided great fruits they're still standing two years on. On a non veg note i had a sunflower last year i think it grew out of some spilt birdseed. I had mint randomly pop up one year in my garden. Smells great. I've chopped it right back and put a raised bed on top of it now though so we'll see if it pokes it'd head through again at some point. It came back before when i chopped it down. I like planting new things and just seeing what makes it out of the ground :)