The vegetable growers thread

[Isambard]

Lovely photos Aqua!

My Chinese cabbage is doing well but I can't see any growth from the winter onions yet.


Had a "grey water" crisis yesterday. I'd did a load of cooking on Tuesday and the left over veggie water that I didn't use for stock got thrown in there too.
But in the heat it "rotted" and all the water went foul and stagnant. So then I had to throw it all away and use the same ammount of water to clean the foul stench from the butt. So now it's just going to be what I can catch in the shower and rinsing water etc.

 

[madzone]

can you grow leeks in a tub?

They have a really shallow root system so you should be able to.

 

[aqua]

fabulous thats another plan for the winter then

any variety recommendations?

 

[madzone]

fabulous thats another plan for the winter then

any variety recommendations?

Whatever comes free on the gardening magazine
btw - don't take my word for it I could be completely wrong

 

[aqua]

*waits for Mrs Magpie to appear*

 

[davesgcr]

Leeks - and spring onions - grow well in tubs - just make sure they have enough compost /organic material .

Got some onions in little pots and they ahve done better than htose in the soil ...

 

[suzee blue cheese]

All my fruit/veg are grown in pots/growbags:

7 tom plants over two growbags, trussing nicely. A single tom has turned red so expect the others to start following suit shortly. Can't remember the variety but agree wholeheartedly with Mrs M that variety plays an enormous part in how tasty the fruit will be. Planted Alicantes last year in ignorance and was so disappointed - they tasted as bland as what you buy in the supermarket despite an organic upbringing.

Courgettes have been saved from the powdery mildew which carried off the first 6 fruits, but have harvested the first healthy one with several others coming along fast behind and both plants are flowering away wildly.

Chillis are doing well, capsicums are flowering but no sign of fruit as of yet.

Did french beans last year but decided to go for runners this. Flowering nicely with good bean setting. Noticed a single bean ready for picking this morning so will soon be cropping nicely - I hope.

Strawberries seem all but done. Had several tasty strawbs but was expecting them to be more productive as they're the kind that are supposed to fruit all through the summer. Alpine strawberries are consistenly excellent little fruiters and the best for taste.

I'd love to have a fig tree as they thrive in containers but not sure our garden is sunny enough for them to fruit well/ripen. Fresh figs straight off the tree are so delicious..

 

[Ozric]

Chili's and the battle of the Green Fly

I have a back room/conservatory that has given amazing results with Bird's Eye Chili's, until the other day I noticed one of them has been almost destroyed by Green Fly. I have tried washing up liquid and water to deter the little sap suckers but I think I need total anihalation to aviod any more destruction.
I have got some B&Q Organic pesticide but I wondered if anyone knew the rules for spraying this as other pesticides state 'not to spray on flowering fruit/veg', but there is no such warning on this spray.
Can I get away with spraying on the flowers or if I remove the flowers do I need to wait for the stumps to heal before spraying?

 

[aqua]

squish em

its very therapeutic

 

[Isambard]

Leeks - and spring onions - grow well in tubs - just make sure they have enough compost /organic material .
...

I noticed you said you can harvest leeks in the winter.
Does that mean i could plant some now?

 

[Ozric]

squish em

its very therapeutic

Doing that for a smaller plant but the main battlefield has just got too big

 

[davesgcr]

Its a bit late for planting leeks form seed now - best done in April or May - I buy started plants from a local nursery and just drop them in the garden and leave until the late Autumn or the depths of winter.

Seriously might be worth a try as they are hardy little things - and by starting them indoors and nurturing - they shouldbe OK - but the chances are they will have missed the developmental phase of the summer when they thicken up ! At the very least you will get something for flavouring as opposed to the centre of a dish (like leeks in cheese sauce - with gammon)

 

[hiccup]

I don't have a garden, or any space to grow vegetables, which makes me sad. But I do have a window sill:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigsky/33878457/in/photostream/

I currently have thyme, basil, chives and chillies. The chillies have done better than I thought they would, being outside and all. When I've turned all the basil into pesto, I'm thinking about planting some rocket and cress.

Any other suggestions for nice things to grow with very limited space?

 

[Ellie23]

Probably not good to start at this time of year but you can grow potatoes in a tub. Start by letting the things grow a bit and when the shoots are about 6 inches tall just cover them to the tips of the leaves with more compost, keep on going until the tub is full.

Harvest them as new potatoes when the plant flowers or leave longer to become old potatoes.

Not sure how you'd manage that on a windowsill though.

 

[Isambard]

Probably not good to start at this time of year but you can grow potatoes in a tub.

My mum does!

 

[hiccup]

My mum does!

But does she do it on a windowsill?

 

[lizzieloo]

Any other suggestions for nice things to grow with very limited space?

Radishes YUM!

 

[hiccup]

Radishes YUM!

That is a very good idea. I love radishes.

 

[kazza23]

My bell peppers have about twently fruit on them and look really healthy, my cabbage is looking pretty good. My sweetcorn has grown very tall, but does not seem to be doing anything else, and my strawberries have many small fruit on them, but I'm not sure how long they will last till the birds get them. My leeks are looking quite sorry for themselves though, I think I should have planted them further apart.
All my beans are looking quite good, but I don't think they aill give much fruit.
When should I be harvesting things? Is it just when they look ready?

 

[Ellie23]

My leeks are looking quite sorry for themselves though, I think I should have planted them further apart.

That's easy to solve. All you need to do is take out some of them and use them as baby leeks. If you choose carefully you'll leave the remaining plants with plenty of space tol carry on growing. Pull/twist the leeks out of the ground, don't dig them up as you'll damage the roots of neighbouring plants.

I think you'll find that in about February they will start to grow a think mainstem in the middle of the plant to get ready for flowering, that's when you'd need to have finished eating them.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Spend the morning building a new compost bin and have decided to plant these beauties in the old one.....