Raised Bed

[fleur]

Can anybody recommend what sort of vegetables to grow in a raised bed. I inherited it with the house. Last year I emptied out all the rubbish that was in it (house was being rented before I bought it) and have refilled it with compost from the bin (2 of those came with the house) and multi-purpose compost.

[Miss Understood]

What sort of position is it in Fleur? Sunny, shady, north facing, south facing?

How big?

[Lady Penelope]

:) Glad fleur has started this thread.

I have an area too in my garden (north/east facing) I eventually want to grow veg n stuff on and later position a greenhouse. I though of some carrots, potatoes, onions and garlic for starters.

On my raised bed last year (south facing) I grew some tomatos and runner beans successfully :) (though the beans were a bit few and far between, seemingly in a dry spell the flowers need to be given a good vibrating by the hose pipe to get them going!) :o


LPxxx

[Miss Understood]

:blush: :flirt: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Lady Penelope &#064; 17th March 2006 &#045; 7&#58;28 PM) 156208</div>

seemingly in a dry spell the flowers need to be given a good vibrating by the hose pipe to get them going[/b]

Could you expand on that a tad LP, or perhaps rephrase it? :bigeyes: :flirt:

MU in &#39;oooer Mrs&#39; mode

[Lady Penelope]

:lol: Trust you MU :P

No it&#39;s true..........I heard about it on Southern Counties radio........gardening talk.....seemingly you have to get the hose pipe and squeesh the end of it so you have a powerful spray, then give the flowers of the runners a good old tickle :hihi: I guess it&#39;s due to the lack of bumble bees around or something :rolleyes: it&#39;s meant to encourage more beans to grow. :blush:

LPxxx

[Miss Understood]

Ahhhh, artificial insemination&#33;&#33;&#33;

I do that to the flowers on my pepper plants which grow in the kitchen. When a flower appears and is open, I gently tap the stalk it&#39;s on for a few minutes to get the little boy and girl pollen bits to mix together. Works every time&#33; I have a constant supply of small, but perfectly formed peppers to throw into omlettes etc.

[phantos02]

I too have inherited a large patch of land at the end of the agrden which I intend to grow veggies in&#33;&#33;

I have started to clear it out as it is full of rubbish at the moment. We had a bonfore a couple of weeks ago to burn all of the growth we had cut back. There is a big pile of ash there now - I assume there is nothing wrong with me digging in all back into the earth? I only burnt natural stuff.

I have planted some pepper seeds indoors, about two weeks ago, nothing showing yet though. Just pot of earth sitting on the windowsill.. I hope they come up, then I can put them in my greenhouse (which I aslo inherited - lucky me) when it&#39;s a bit warmer.

I tried the same last year in my old flat but we never got much sunlight indoors, and all I got was one teensy pepper which I never ate because I was so proud of it&#33;&#33;

I am a bit new to all this gadening stuff. I got some good gardening books for my birthday though and I&#39;m having a good read as I&#39;m too out of it to go outside much atm.

[Miss Understood]

The way I did my pepper seeds was to put them in a tiny little seedling tray, watered them well and then stuck the little trays in a freezer bag before putting them on the sunniest window ledge.

The use of the plastic bag helps keep the moisture and warmth in. Perhaps you could try covering the pot with some? But don&#39;t make it too airtight.

Good luck&#33;&#33;&#33;

[phantos02]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Miss Understood &#064; 18th March 2006 &#045; 1&#58;43 PM) 156315</div>
The way I did my pepper seeds was to put them in a tiny little seedling tray, watered them well and then stuck the little trays in a freezer bag before putting them on the sunniest window ledge.

The use of the plastic bag helps keep the moisture and warmth in. Perhaps you could try covering the pot with some? But don&#39;t make it too airtight.

Good luck&#33;&#33;&#33; [/b]

Good idea MU I am going to do that right now :)

[fleur]

I don&#39;t know which way the garden faces, raised bed is in bottom right hand corner and the sun comes from the bottom left :unsure: The bed is about 6ft by 2ft. Today I put some onions, parsnips, leeks (suppose to be good for high blood pressure),and have covered it with netting to keep cats off, (my 2 cats).
You have to IVF with marrows as well, using a small paint brush (whole new meaning to tickling stick :blush: )

[Beth]

love this thread as I have just made some raised veggie beds in my garden&#33;&#33; :D

my first problem is I dont have enough soil at present, I did ring some people from the paper to ask about top soil but I resent having to pay 80 quid for 3 tons of muck&#33; :lol:

I have my potatoes chitting in the garage and have peas started in the green house.....but its so cold up here still, everything is having to be planted later than normal, I am hoping to get a boat load of seeds in this week though fingers crossed and touch wood that we have now seen the last of the snow&#33; :D :cold:

[Lady Penelope]

:thumbs: good for you Beth,

Us girlies and our seeds hey? Btw.....I nearly did a double take, wots &#39;chitting&#39;? :lol: Is that where you leave the spuds to sproat a wee bit before planting? :unsure: Never tried spuds, might give it a go this year.

Top soil and dead expensive tell me about it. :yes: I&#39;m lucky as a have fabulous soil, though I suffer from Ground Elder :( When I first moved in, it was like digging into a plateful of speghetti bolognaise :o

My dining room/office is like a greenhouse at the mo....ooodles of seed trays. :D Mayhem and the dawg to boot.

The only thing I don&#39;t like doing is pricking them out :yawn:

But I love it when they do this ;) :flowers2:

LPxxx

[Beth]

hahaha......yep, I think my house will end up like a big green house&#33; I would love to put seeds in the conservatory but thats the cats territory&#33;

yes, chiiting is when you let spuds sprout a little before planting.

Thank God for mr Titchmarsh and his wonderful books&#33; :D (and the person who bought me the book for christmas :friends: )

[Beth]

so hows everyones little plots doing?? :D

I have got some raddishes coming up now and the carrots are stating to show
the peas and the runner beans are doing nicely in the platic green house and finally the toms have also shown lickle leaves&#33;&#33; :lol:

the potatoes are in and I have just made hubby drive me to the DIY place to get me some canes so I can soon plant out the peas :thumbs:

I got some great little start your own herb kits from the pound shop and they are on the window sill and keep asking me to plant them on, but its too cold out side and I have run out of room in my green house&#33; :D

so hows your veggie patches doing????? I want to know :lol:

[Lady Penelope]

:lol: Well Beth it&#39;s :P at the moment, the only raised bed I want right now is my bed&#33;&#33;



Too many diddly tiddly pollicy nipply stuff to fight in the world at the mo to even contemplate :rolleyes:



I have a raised eyebrow at the mo.............will that count?



:lol:

[phantos02]

I have two different types of tomatoes, some courgettes, and some coriander, all just peeking through in the last couple of days.

I did have one sunflower seedling come up only to be promptly eaten by a slug :angry: so yesterday I put some slug pellets scattered on the shelves around the pots. I have already caught three of the little b*ggers.

My sweet pepper seeds have been planted for about eight weeks but are showing no signs of appearing :( . I think I have a duff batch. Shame, they were the ones I was really excited about&#33;

I have got next week off work, my plan is to sort the garden out and dig over the patch I am going to use for veggies. It&#39;s probably a bit late to put my carrot and parsnip seeds in but I might try a few, you never know.

[phantos02]

yesterday I dug over half my veggie plot (it&#39;s quite big - I got tired&#33;). Now I have put in some carrots, parsnips and spring onions. I also started some pumpkins in the greenhouse.

Then I went to Homebase and bought a small pepper plant (as none of my pepper seeds have sprouted), a chili plant and an indoor cucumber plant.

I have quite a collection now, but I&#39;m a real novice so I bet most of it won&#39;t grow&#33;&#33;&#33;

[fleur]

Sorry I&#39;ve not been on the site for awhile.
In the garden weeds are doing very well. Some onions and lettuce have appeared in the raise bed, I think the carrots have gone south. I&#39;ve some marrows and tomatoes grown from seed in pots waiting to go out. Hoping to make some marrow & ginger jam.
Havn&#39;t been well enough to do much gardening & it keeps on raining.

[Miss Understood]

Sorry to hear you&#39;ve not been well Fleur, hope you&#39;re feeling better now.

I&#39;ve got some tomato and cucumber plants still in the kitchen ready to go out for two weeks now but it&#39;s been so wet and cold, I&#39;ve been reluctant to put them out.

[phantos02]

Hi fleur, how are you feeling?

It has been so wet here too... my garden has ballooned in size because of all the weeds (mostly sticky-jack and nettles :( ).

My carrots and spring onions are just beginning to show but we have a huge silver birch tree which is dropping twigs, leaves and catkins all over the the veggie patch because of the high winds we&#39;ve been having. We even had a large-ish branch come off one windy night, narrowly missing the greenhouse roof :blink: . So we are now getting quotes from tree surgeons because we think it will have to come out. Which means I can&#39;t plant all the rest of my courgettes and pumpkins outside yet because they will probably all get trampled on :unsure: . I have repotted some of my tomato plants though and given them away as I have too many, and my indoor cucmber plant is still looking healthy. Had some of my home grown coriander on a nice curry I made the other day :thumbs:

Mumski any signs from your peppers? Mind you, I think can they can take four weeks or so to show. A friend of mine said the best time to plant them is in February but I should think indoors any time would be fine.

[Domestic Goddess]

My blackberry bush is growing apace - no berries yet though. I only planted it last year, should I expect any berries this year?

[phantos02]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Domestic Goddess &#064; 27th May 2006 &#045; 6&#58;23 PM) 168786</div>
My blackberry bush is growing apace - no berries yet though. I only planted it last year, should I expect any berries this year? [/b]

I wouldn&#39;t be surprised DG. Blackberries are probably the easiest berries of that sort to grow. The bushes dont really need any looking after, but be careful, they can spread really quickly and get out of control. We cleared a load of it from the back of our garden a few months ago and it&#39;s already popping back up in the most awkward of places.

I quite fancy raspberries or loganberries, might give them a go next year.

[Beth]

its too early for berries just yet :) it will have white flowers first and then in the autumn I am sure it will be full, as long as the birds dont get there first&#33; :lol:

I was just given a blackberry bush, a Bedfordshire Giant, apparnently&#33; I have put it in a pot to try to minimise its growth&#33; :D

[phantos02]

I now have a handful of tomatoes the size of peas, I have cut one cucumber but haven&#39;t been brave enough to eat it, there are some courgettes a-coming and one of my pepper plants has two small green peppers on it. :thumbs:

I have planted my pumpkin plants out this week so hopefully I&#39;ll have some big ones ready for halloween :)

[phantos02]

Well done mumski :thumbs:

I looked at your pics - you have a lovely garden. I like the flower beds separated by the bricks :) that&#39;s give me some ideas for my garden now :D

[sp54]

We have had our first potatoes, and cut our very first home grown cucumber. Mr sp was very proud of himself :rolleyes:

Our tomatoes are coming along a treat

Also growing for the first time - courgettes which are doing really well , aubergine which is the size of a cherry tomato at the mo, melons, pumpkins, leeks, onions, beetroots and radishes :thumbs:

It is so satisfying, isn&#39;t it?

[Miss Understood]

Because I put my tomato and cucumber plants out v. late, they are only just now flowering but, there&#39;s an abundance of flowers so I&#39;m hoping for a goodly crop in a few weeks :D

[phantos02]

We ate our first home grown cucumber yesterday, it was delicious&#33;&#33;

SP you are right it is very satisfying&#33;

We have two more ready so they are going in a nice "welcome" salad tonight as our second student has arrived today and we are having the family over for dinner :)

[phantos02]

I have got tiny green caterpillars eating holes in my tomato plants :angry:

I put the affected plants out in the rain in an effort to get them washed off, but there are still tiny black dots ont he leaves which I am afraid might hatch out into more caterpillars??