A Hello and a couple of questions

[Maiden98]

Greetings.

I've been lurking here for some months now trying decide whether to start growing my own vegetables, and have decided finally to take the plunge.

Before I put my name down on an allotment list, I've decided to turn my weed and nettle emporium aka my back garden into a vegetable plot; the thinking being that if I cant muster up the energy and enthusiasm  to clear and cultivate my small garden, I would have no chance with an allotment.

In the meantime I've decide to grow some salad crops in containers whilst I clear my small jungle, so at least I'll have something growing :)

I have one question about likely germination rates for bush tomatoes.  As I have a lack of space at the moment, 4 or 5 plants/bushes would be about right, so approximately how many seeds should I sow to hopefully get 5 decent plants..10?..15?..more?

I was also wondering how well do radishes grow in containers?

Anyway, there's my little introduction, any advice would be appreciated :)

Kev

[Maiden98]

[nilly71]

Welcome to the site Kev :)

I think radishes will grow well anywhere and are very quick.

As for tomatoes, there are so many in a pack that sowing too many won't really make much difference. You could allways give the extra young plants away.

Have you taken any pictures yet?

Neil

[Trevor_D]

Hello and welcome.

To get 5 tomato plants, I'd sow 8. But then you can always give the others away, so why not sow 10?

Radishes seem to grow anywhere.

(Sorry, Neil - you beat me to it! At least we seem to agree!)

[manicscousers]

Hiya, Kev..welcome to a4a  ;D
we grow radish and salad leaves in plant troughs, plus small, round carrots..happy growing  ;D

[cornykev]

Hi Kev and welcome, great name that, anyway clear a small patch and sow your radishes, they don't take long, so before you finnished digging you'll be eating them.
I plant out my tommies in buckets, so you can space them where ever you want and if your growing nettles in the garden then thats a good sign for healthy soil, cut down the nettles soak in a bucket of water for a good feed and throw them on your compost heap afterwards.   ;D ;D ;D

[Jeannine]

Hi and welcome.. well done to you,bit of advice, put your name down now for a lottie now, there a waiting lists for most so it won't hurt, you can always cancel if you feel it is not for you, but if you don't get on the list you may wait a long time once you fel you are ready.

Do you need any help woth choice of tomatoes for growing in pots?

XX Jeannine

[Maiden98]

Thanks for the replies and advice :)

.

Have you taken any pictures yet?

Not yet, but I will do some before, during and after shots :)

To get 5 tomato plants, I'd sow 8. But then you can always give the others away, so why not sow 10?

Sounds good to me, thanks :)

we grow radish and salad leaves in plant troughs, plus small, round carrots..happy growing  ;D

hmm hadnt thought of carrots *goes browsing seed supplier sites* :)

if your growing nettles in the garden then thats a good sign for healthy soil, cut down the nettles soak in a bucket of water for a good feed and throw them on your compost heap afterwards.   ;D ;D ;D

I'll do that with the nettles.  Unfortunately for my soil, there's also a mass of what I suspect is Japanese knotweed all over the place.  So I'm thinking Napalm, cover, raised beds.  I do the accounts of a turf contractor who can let me have a load of topsoil at a knockdown price. :)

Hi and welcome.. well done to you,bit of advice, put your name down now for a lottie now, there a waiting lists for most so it won't hurt, you can always cancel if you feel it is not for you, but if you don't get on the list you may wait a long time once you fel you are ready.

Thats a good point, I was just afraid that if by some quirk of fate, I was offered one too soon, I'd have to turn it down, then go to the bottom of the list.  Maybe I'll ring the council to find out how long the waiting lists are.

[grannyjanny]

Jeannine. Great minds think alike ;D. I won't finish it off ;).

[SueK]

Hello Kev and welcome,
Definitely get your name on the waiting list!  When I put my name down for an allotment at the nearest site to us, I was told that the waiting list was approx 5 years!

[Digeroo]

Welcome Maiden98. 

Growing vegetable can be seriously addictive.  Do get on that list.

[Maiden98]

I think I'll take all of your advice and get on the list now.  I dont drive, so the only viable site for me really is the one thats about 10min walk away, which limits my liklihood of getting a plot even further.

[gwynnethmary]

Welcome to A4A kev- I was just like you and now am well and truly hooked!  Go for it!

[detailista]

Any way you can get to know someone on the allotment site? Or wander down there on a sunny sunday and say hello?

I know it shouldn't work by nepotism and obviously I don't condone it but can't ignore that I know a few people who have got themselves in that way.  

Good luck :) 

[keepondiggin]

Definitely get your name down now- a few years ago I was mulling over whether to get an allotment on a particular site-made some enquiries and they had a waiting list of approx 12-18 months- now that same site's list has been closed as the waiting list is 10 years!!

I fortunately put my name down just over 3 years ago for any site in my area and managed to get one last year ater 3 years of ever expanding numbers of containers etc in the garden at home.I was so pleased when I got that phone call from the site secretary to have a look at plot and just told everyone my news!!
So yes it is addictive this growing lark,also even if you're not sure whether you have the time at the moment in a few years things can change and the worst case scenario is that you don't accept the plot when it does come up but there will be loads of other people waiting so don't worry  :)

[lincsyokel2]

I grow carrots in multipurpose compost in an old glassfibre bath, fed on liquid growmore, you get carrots straight as a ruler that way.

[grannyjanny]

How much MPC does that take & what do you use it for afterwards? I wish we had room for a bath. We need a new bathroom suite ;).

[Maiden98]

Well I made a start this weekend on tackling my jungle, and after a couple of hours graft I came to one inescapable conclusion...I am totally unfit and need to lose weight :P

Got some seeds ordered; salad leaves, 2 varieties of bush tomato, radish, and got some sweet and chilli pepper seeds free with a book, so can get some stuff going in containers.  Cant wait to get started with them..I can see how seedaholicism can take hold, and I only decided to start this last week hehe

[Plot69]

Well I made a start this weekend on tackling my jungle, and after a couple of hours graft I came to one inescapable conclusion...I am totally unfit and need to lose weight :P

In that case, put your name down for two plots. My 24 year old Son has decided to join the army, they said he'd have to lose 20 pounds and raise his fitness level and he's asked me to help him. So I took him down the plot, put a fork in his hand and told him to get on with it.

Judging by the amount he's sweated over the last few days I'd say he was half way there.

There's a pretty big bonus for me there as well but I've not told him what it is yet  ;D

[nilly71]

Yes, it easy to get addicted. You will soon be standing and saying 'my name is Kev, and i'm a seedaholic'. Then we encourage you by offering seed swaps ;D

Give it a week and you will be so proud of your effort on your plot. It's hard work but when you look back to the photo's in a years time and your soil next year will be much easier to dig. It would of all been worth while.
Just clear a bit at a time and make sure all the weeds are out. Don't get to hung-up on growing loads of stuff now, some stuff can be planted in Autumn.

Neil