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General => Top Tips => Topic started by: Amazin on March 15, 2005, 03:57:06
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If like me you start your seeds indoors, it's around this time you begin to realise you have more seed trays than windowsills. Well, worry no more - get yourself some cheap plastic 3-tier vegetable racks. Each tier holds a bog-standard sized seed tray and there's enough space between the tiers to let the light in and allow your seedlings to develop until the weather warms up enough for them to go outside. I've got three racks on one windowsill. Not only does this save space, it means I don't have to look at the bedraggled tip outside where my garden should be.
Oh, and don't forget to remove the bottom set of legs from the veg racks - the ones with the castors on - or you may end up chasing them about a bit at watering time!
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ooo, might have to think about that one!
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;D ;D
I really HAVE to start sowing this coming week end !!
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I just got a 5 tier rack thingy from Focus with some birthday money, doing wonders in my bargain greenhouse from Morrisons!! ;D ;D ;D DP
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I know that feeling, Wardy.
Early in the New Year I planted some exotic seeds - no, not the smokable kind ;) - edible passionfruit and suchlike. I accidentally left the bedroom door open and my two cats, who enjoy a good bask on a windowsill, happily settled down on the seed trays and... well the rest is history - as are the seedlings.
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Well the weather here today has been fantastic.
Got home from work and grabbed an old empty margarine tray. Stuck in the meconopsis seeds and some morning glory ones.
Now I expect I have to wait for something to happen. Hopefully not too long! :D
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Last week I planted some sweet peas in toilet roll tubes and the only thing I could find to take them all was the unused plastic salad crisper box from the fridge - we're nothing if not resourcefull, eh? Now if only I could find a gardening-related use for house dust... a very lightweight mulch, perhaps? At present it makes a very good indoor top-dressing.
Good luck with the Morning Glory, Marianne - I planted some seeds directly outside about four years ago and it's self-seeded ever since - so much so I have to give it the tug now and again to keep it from taking over.
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Amazin,
House dust is good on the compost heap.
The grit opens it up a bit. The wool fluff and fibres rot down. The crumbs (which I'm sure you don't have!) rot down. The traces of wood ash provide minerals, and the traces of coal ash weather down into good minerals. We get a little peat dust from the fens, which helps.
The man made fibres don't do any harm.
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Amazin - you're a genius.
I've got no room left on my windowsills and I've got hundreds of seeds in that are goign to need potting up soon.
I haven't got the ironing board out yet, though.
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Hi Amazin'. My window sill is only 8" wide so it won't accommodate a veg rack. But you gave me an idea and look what I constructed today. Thank you so much! :)
G xx
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/georgie_girl15/Doubledecker.jpg)
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I'm impressed G - but what I really want to know is............
How many of those are headed my way? ;D ;) :-*
Moll xxxx
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Hey, Moll, you made it! ;D
Surpirsed you didn't spot your tomatoes and chillis but what else are you after?
G xx
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You know my eyesight ;) What else is there? ;)
I love it here ;D
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Georgie what a good idea, How wide are your window sills Amazin? A veg rack? good heavens I'm lucky to fit a foot when I clean them. Mine are on the floor in the dining room and heaven help anyone who knocks them if they go out that way. The dog goes a bit manic if she sees something but I could fit a veggie rack on the floor by the door, how many does it hold?
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I must admit, I'm lucky Val - my windowsills are about 11 inches deep. However, you don't have to get the whole rack on there if you counterweigh the lowest basket at the inner edge i.e. nearest the window.
The cheap and cheerful (and often hideously coloured) racks are three tiers high (baskets approx 16" x 11", whole thing about 22" tall) with each tier holding a 'standard' size seed tray, but the great thing about them is that if you buy more than one you can stack them as high as you like, so it just depends on your budget (and how many hideous colours you can cope with). In your case, keeping the wheels on the bottom of the stack means you could just trundle them outside in the warmer weather.
The top tiers can continue to be used for plants as they get bigger while the lower ones are great for germinating or for smaller seedlings. And when they've done the job, you can easily dismantle and store them in very little space.
Funnily enough, as I'm growing lots of tall/ fast growing plants (cucumber, courgette, etc), I've got something very similar to Georgie's brilliant device waiting in the wings - a neighbour was chucking out a slatted shelf unit - 3 ft long, two shelves high and deep enough to take two 3"pots...
...altogether now: "Neighbours, everybody needs...." :D
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wow Georgie ! Fantastic work there !
:D ;D
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Awww, thanks Marianne. :-[
It's working a treat I must admit. Thankfully I sowed the last of the half-hardy seeds yesterday so from now on all new sowings can go straight outside. ;D
Btw Amazin, the cape gooseberies have all come up a treat and will be potted on into their individual 3" pots later this week. How are yours fairing?
G xx
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Aha - so it IS you - I thought I recognised that spark of genius in the shelving! I've just this very evening potted on my CGs into 3" pots. Not sure when I'll put them outside.
The trouble with sowing anything indoors (for me anyway) is that during the colder weather I'm not inclined to open my windows, so there's not a lot of fresh air circulating - I'm sure I heard a melon seedling coughing the other day.
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My window sill is - obviously - in the kitchen so I'm in and out the back door all day or at the very least the 3 cats are in and out of the cap flap so air circulation isn't a problem. I'm going to move the CGs to the minigreen house in late April/May and will probably leave them in there for the duration. Have you any idea how big they grow? There's no indication on the packet I bought (from Unwins).
G xx
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I take it you've got physalis edulis? I got mine from Suttons and according to the packet, they grow to - gulp! - up to 6 feet! It also says "One plant per grow bag". I look forward to harvest time - triffid and custard, anyone?!
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::) ;D :o
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I take it you've got physalis edulis? I got mine from Suttons and according to the packet, they grow to - gulp! - up to 6 feet! It also says "One plant per grow bag". I look forward to harvest time - triffid and custard, anyone?!
Yikes! I've just checked the packet and mine are Physalis peruviana. A quick Google reveals they grow up to 2' which is a relief, I can tell you!
G xx
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I planted 3 cape gooseberry seeds last year, grew to about 2ft. unfortunately even though I covered them in winter only one has survived :-[ and is showing new growth now. Lots of fruit on them last year but weather deteriorated before they ripened. I'm hoping for better things this year! :)
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Hi Ani. Well, it's nice to know you at least managed to get them to fruit, even if you didn't get to eat any. Good luck this year.
G xx
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I'll second that - best of luck.
Yes, the emptying of the celestial bathtub last July severely reduced my "crops" too (peppers, aubs, etc.). Tons of lush foliage, smaller harvest, took forever to ripen.
Physalis peruviana, huh? That's a new one on me. I've got edulis and ixocarpa (a purple variety) and... oh, blimey, I've just noticed - these are five footers plus as well! Help! RECIPES PLEEEEEASE!!!
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<Physalis peruviana, huh? That's a new one on me.>
I kid you not - this is not one of your 'coupla quiddus' gags!!!
PM me with your addy if you want some - I've got spare seed.
G xx
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Physallis - grrr! It's not the height of mine that was the problem (about 2-3'), but the spread. Had one in the garden (and still do... at the moment) and at the end of the year it died down. Then the next year, it came up and had spread all over the show, with roots absolute hell to get out. Popped up all over the place. Will have to tackle it in earnest this year.