Jody's 2011 Veg log

Well, I was given some Tomato plants when I first moved into my house last year. They came from a very friendly neighbour that has been growing for years. I had, up to that point, never grown anything but ended up having a really sucsessful year producing well over 200 tomatoes. I honestly didnt think I would be that bothered but absolutely loved looking after them and seeing the fruits of my labour at the end of the year.

I had a chilli plant last year that a friend gave me. That ended up pretty large with loads of flowers but no fruit.

So this year we are going for it big time. We may have bitten off more than we can chew (for n00bs) but only time will tell.

This years list is:

Tomatoes - Gardeners Delight (very sweet) probably 12-15 plants and also tumbling (trailing) tomatoes
Carrots - Purple dragon and standard orange carrots. Hoping for about 40+ plants
Onions - Red and White 50 ish plants
Peas - 5-8 plants
Potatoes - No idea how many
Chilli - 2 Red Habs,4-6 Scotch Bonnet and 6-8 Cayenne slim
Lettuce - A few squares worth
Salad - A few squares worth

I have started on my raised beds for easy management and just planning when to plant so it all doesnt ripen at once. Going to make a cold frame next so I can harden the plants off without using the greenhouse.

Some pics of last years crop and my progress in the last two weeeks

Last year just before it started to get cold. My greenhouse

Plot for my raised beds in the top right of this pic. As it would have looked a week ago

Raised beds that are far from finished

Some of last years crop (money maker)

and Gardeners delights

Any advice and comments welcome

 

[hittmann]

Very nice, I started off with 1 plant a few months ago now I have Over 300 with plans to add more in around a week then more again at the end of Feb.
Only a small percentage of those are chilli's I can't recall how many Chilli plants exactly but i think it's around 15. Will definitely have more next year after the work I've done in the yard this year

 

[queequeg152]

i like those bags you are using for the tomatoes. ive only seen that done with rock wool.

 

[Jody]

Grow bags from a local shop. £2 each It comes with a mix of peat, soil and nutrients etc. Would prefer to go peat free this year. We had no idea what we were doing last year. Learn as we go on.

Hitmann - I feel the same. Started with a few plant that I thought would die and ended up with a greenhouse full of produce. Never thought I would get into gardening.

 

[Yabba]

I found growbags a pita to water properly. Nip into your local Morissons and grab some of the black pots ( 8 for 99p ), they much easier to play with in the greenhouse and make staking simple

If you like runner beans you could sow a row along the north side of one of you raised beds and grow them up a munty frame. Take very little room and give a huge return per plant.

Spuds on the other hand take a lot of room for relatively little yield, if you wanted to grow them then you might want to do them in bags instead of your raised bed.

Your chilli plants will need sparking off as soon as possible if you want to get a crop given the short growing season we have this side of the pond. I'm in Red Rose County and started mine on Jan 1st

Other things to grow are leeks, start them off in a deep tray round march/april and plant them out when you get space around july, gives you something to eat in winter. Sprouts/psb/cabbage can go in after your onions come out in august.

Enjoy growing, it's addictive

¥

 

[Jody]

Hi Yabba,

Thanks for the info. I was thinking about using pots for the tomatoes this year to I can move them about in the greenhouse. Although I found watering OK with the growbags as they retained a lot of the moisture.

Not keen on beans but am hoping the peas will give a good yield. The longest sides nearest the fence are south facing so will get a lot of sun over summertime. I plan on doing a row of peas (at the back) in one bed so I can stake them and the tall plants are at the back. Same goes with the other bed which will have a row of toms at the back. Never heard of a munty frame but rest assured I am gong to start researching them now.

Spuds are going into a bag to save precious bed space. Although I said to my missus they look like a lot of hassle for little return.

As for the chillis.... I asked a question on here about a week ago and plenty of people suggested I get planting the Habs and S.Bonnets now. I planted them on Tuesday and have got 6 growing already within 4 days. I have made a reflective box to try and increase the light from the little tube I am using.

The Cayenne are looking OK although I only put some seeds in as an experiment. I am going to put the main crop in the next 4 weeks

Heres some pics of my chilli sprouts

My mylar backed box

First Red Hab sprouts

Cayennes

 

[wordwiz]

5-8 pea plants are not likely to provide much produce. The sites I have seen suggest getting maybe 20 pounds from 100 feet, though that seems extremely low.

Mike

 

[Jody]

Well, managed to get my raised beds filled over the weekend. They took 240 litres of compost per bed to bring the level up after turning it over with top soil.

Planted some onion sets and also started some potatoes. Should be starting tomatoes, lettuce, peas and carrots in the next two weeks. I know peas wont produce a massive amount but its all experimenting this year.

Also planted some coleus, oregano, basil cumin and plenty of bulbs in the garden.

Put some nets up to stop our neighbourhood cats using it as a litter tray and also a small plastic tunnel to keep the frost away.

First of this years flowers

This sprung up 10/03/2011, didnt think it was worth a new post although its a beautiful flower. Looks great in natural light

 

[woody3says]

Purdy flowers! Happy growin

 

[siling_labuyo]

First of this years flowers

Pretty flowers. I assume they are some kind of lilies?

 

[Jody]

They are crocus which I believe comes back every year. We havent planted them but inherited them from the previous house owners. We didnt have the house at this time last year so every plant that appears is a surprise and a mystery.

 

[woody3says]

As long as it's not fireants or termites, poison ivy or oak, surprises are an awesome bonus! Best of luck to you on sprouting the very rare and mysterious Money Tree