I have a lovely big new veggie bed and have planted all the old faves. Two
new items I wanted to try are cucumbers and beans.
I have some seedlings of the continental/burpless variety. What is the best
way to support them as they grow? They have been planted in a row.
Also I can't decide what beans to plant. Can anyone recommend some tasty
varieties? Easiest support for them to grow on?
Cheers
Liz

I have just started this year growing the 'burpless' cucumber and they are
happy growing up a homemade trellis of garden canes...

Have you tried growing bush beans? I have just had a bumper crop of beans
'Brown Beauty' im in Queensland. These dont require any support and grow
approx 60-80cm in height...

Happy Gardening!
R

"Staycalm" wrote in message
u...
I have a lovely big new veggie bed and have planted all the old faves. Two
new items I wanted to try are cucumbers and beans.
I have some seedlings of the continental/burpless variety. What is the
best way to support them as they grow? They have been planted in a row.
Also I can't decide what beans to plant. Can anyone recommend some tasty
varieties? Easiest support for them to grow on?
Cheers
Liz

Ms Leebee wrote:
Staycalm wrote:
I have a lovely big new veggie bed and have planted all the old
faves. Two new items I wanted to try are cucumbers and beans.
I have some seedlings of the continental/burpless variety. What is
the best way to support them as they grow? They have been planted in
a row. Also I can't decide what beans to plant. Can anyone recommend some
tasty varieties? Easiest support for them to grow on?

French runner beans - yum !

Grew ours up on the fence, with help of stakes/wire/trellis - pretty
haphazard, just supporting as we went.

Never grown cuc's though .. but would be interested ... yum ( gotta get that
vege patch going !



Cucumbers grow really well if you allow plenty of water for that crop.
Vegetables are going through the roof in the near future.
Time to start that patch....

Ms Leebee wrote:
Jonno wrote:
Ms Leebee wrote:
French runner beans - yum !

Grew ours up on the fence, with help of stakes/wire/trellis - pretty
haphazard, just supporting as we went.

Never grown cuc's though .. but would be interested ... yum ( gotta
get that vege patch going !



Cucumbers grow really well if you allow plenty of water for that crop.

oh no ! ( see previous thread


Vegetables are going through the roof in the near future.
Time to start that patch....

Yep, exactly. My grocery bill is astronomical at the moment, and I buy
little crap/pre-packaged, lots of veg.

Dont worry to much they love being mulched Er not turned into mulch.
My missus goes crazye when I grow them and has cucumber on everything
even her eyes Its supposed to be a beauty treatment. i would suggest
that its for use when you get a black eye you know " you copped a
beauty" and she some how got it wrong. .Its certainly doesnt look good
when she applies the cucumber slices. Reckon the local green grocer ups
his sales when she got told this.


Ar women!!

"Ms Leebee" wrote in message
...
Jonno wrote:
Ms Leebee wrote:

French runner beans - yum !

Grew ours up on the fence, with help of stakes/wire/trellis - pretty
haphazard, just supporting as we went.

Never grown cuc's though .. but would be interested ... yum ( gotta
get that vege patch going !



Cucumbers grow really well if you allow plenty of water for that crop.

oh no ! ( see previous thread


Vegetables are going through the roof in the near future.
Time to start that patch....

Yep, exactly. My grocery bill is astronomical at the moment, and I buy
little crap/pre-packaged, lots of veg.

--


I thought it was just me...ours seems to rise every week, and we don't buy
much luxury stuff...although come to think of it, fresh fruit and vegies is
a luxury these days.

Ms Leebee wrote:
Jonno wrote:
Dont worry to much they love being mulched Er not turned into mulch.
My missus goes crazye when I grow them and has cucumber on everything
even her eyes Its supposed to be a beauty treatment.

It is - it's lovely and refreshing

It cant be she looks worse after the Treatment
i would
suggest that its for use when you get a black eye you know " you
copped a beauty" and she some how got it wrong.

That's steak, but a few slices of cucumber is certainly cheaper. been
bashing your wife ?

Nuh, earbashing only. Maybe she should try it on her ears. Certainly
would stop her over earing conservations with the first wife.
Its certainly doesnt
look good when she applies the cucumber slices.

I want you to try it and get back to us. I bet you'll love it. Seriously.





No I dont like to waste food like that. I would want to eat it
after..... I could do both....

"Ms Leebee" wrote in message
...
meeee wrote:
"Ms Leebee" wrote ...


Vegetables are going through the roof in the near future.
Time to start that patch....

Yep, exactly. My grocery bill is astronomical at the moment, and I
buy little crap/pre-packaged, lots of veg.


I thought it was just me...ours seems to rise every week, and we
don't buy much luxury stuff...although come to think of it, fresh
fruit and vegies is a luxury these days.

Yep.
I wonder at house with pantries full of chips and bikkies. Yummo and all
that .. but how do they afford it ?!

They are heaps cheaper than fruit and veggies?

Liz

"Ms Leebee" wrote in message
...
meeee wrote:
"Ms Leebee" wrote ...


Vegetables are going through the roof in the near future.
Time to start that patch....

Yep, exactly. My grocery bill is astronomical at the moment, and I
buy little crap/pre-packaged, lots of veg.


I thought it was just me...ours seems to rise every week, and we
don't buy much luxury stuff...although come to think of it, fresh
fruit and vegies is a luxury these days.

Yep.
I wonder at house with pantries full of chips and bikkies. Yummo and all
that .. but how do they afford it ?!

--



A 1kg packet of choc biccies is about 3.99 a kilo of apples is 5.99 min. at
Coles; don't get me started on grapes, bananas, etc. 2 min noodles are
cheap; cooking a dietician approved diet of varied vegies, dairy, healthy
carbs, etc is exxy nowadays; we spend 2-3 hundred a week for us and 2
toddlers and that's mostly fruit veg, and other healthy stuff; when we had
less money and had about half that to spend we just couldn't afford vegies
other than carrots, frozen peas, onions and potatoes. Okish but not my
preferred diet for raising children. Unfortunately the drought looks like
making things worse; sustainable home gardening seems the only answer. DH is
very interested in hydroponic gardening, but that will have to wait until we
get our own place.

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 22:45:24 GMT, "meeee"
wrote:

A 1kg packet of choc biccies is about 3.99 a kilo of apples is 5.99 min. at
Coles; don't get me started on grapes, bananas, etc. 2 min noodles are
cheap; cooking a dietician approved diet of varied vegies, dairy, healthy
carbs, etc is exxy nowadays; we spend 2-3 hundred a week for us and 2
toddlers and that's mostly fruit veg, and other healthy stuff; when we had
less money and had about half that to spend we just couldn't afford vegies
other than carrots, frozen peas, onions and potatoes. Okish but not my
preferred diet for raising children. Unfortunately the drought looks like
making things worse; sustainable home gardening seems the only answer. DH is
very interested in hydroponic gardening, but that will have to wait until we
get our own place.

On that note, has anyone on this forum tried aquaponics? I saw it on
Gardening Australia a few months ago, did a follow-up google, and it
seems very interesting (although the literature all posted such a rosy
picture that my "too good to be true" indicator flashed). I would
imagine it would work well once you had sorted out contamination
problems and the balance between the number of fish and the biomass of
veggies needed to clean the fish-water of fishpoo and wasted feed. I
also had ethical queries about what to feed the fish.

Tish

"Tish" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 22:45:24 GMT, "meeee"
wrote:

A 1kg packet of choc biccies is about 3.99 a kilo of apples is 5.99 min.
at
Coles; don't get me started on grapes, bananas, etc. 2 min noodles are
cheap; cooking a dietician approved diet of varied vegies, dairy, healthy
carbs, etc is exxy nowadays; we spend 2-3 hundred a week for us and 2
toddlers and that's mostly fruit veg, and other healthy stuff; when we had
less money and had about half that to spend we just couldn't afford vegies
other than carrots, frozen peas, onions and potatoes. Okish but not my
preferred diet for raising children. Unfortunately the drought looks like
making things worse; sustainable home gardening seems the only answer. DH
is
very interested in hydroponic gardening, but that will have to wait until
we
get our own place.

On that note, has anyone on this forum tried aquaponics? I saw it on
Gardening Australia a few months ago, did a follow-up google, and it
seems very interesting (although the literature all posted such a rosy
picture that my "too good to be true" indicator flashed). I would
imagine it would work well once you had sorted out contamination
problems and the balance between the number of fish and the biomass of
veggies needed to clean the fish-water of fishpoo and wasted feed. I
also had ethical queries about what to feed the fish.

Tish

Yep, that's the stuff he wants to do. He saw it on GA too, and is mad about
the idea. IIRC the guy was also working on growing his own pnd weed to feed
the fish with, so his setup would be totally organic and self sufficient in
every way. It looked like it would take time to establish, but be worth it
in the end. It's definitely what we want to do.

"Ms Leebee" wrote in message
...
Yep.
I wonder at house with pantries full of chips and bikkies. Yummo
and all that .. but how do they afford it ?!

They are heaps cheaper than fruit and veggies?

Possibly ...

erm, i don't think they are, although it could get that way i suppose.

but we make bickies etc rather than buying them, so what do i know. i
consider f&v to be "cheap", though.
kylie

"Tish" wrote in message
...
On that note, has anyone on this forum tried aquaponics? I saw it on
Gardening Australia a few months ago, did a follow-up google, and it
seems very interesting (although the literature all posted such a rosy
picture that my "too good to be true" indicator flashed). I would
imagine it would work well once you had sorted out contamination
problems and the balance between the number of fish and the biomass of
veggies needed to clean the fish-water of fishpoo and wasted feed.

i think one would try to replicate what you'd find in a natural pond with
fish. like, the water needs fish poo in it for the whole thing to work,
because that feeds the vegetation that oxygenates the water, (bla bla) so
you have to start out with sufficient levels of poo, and i'd assume that
like nature, it would be self-correcting (even if it corrects in a way you
don't like ;-).

i'd love to (sort-of intend to) try it one day. i don't eat fish though,
which could create a challenge ;-) although the rest of the family do, so no
worries there.

I
also had ethical queries about what to feed the fish.

what was the nature of your query?
according to one book i read (a permaculture oen actually), you can have
another pond next door for growing the creatures to feed to the fish (which
of course raises the question of what to feed _them_ g) speaking quite
ignorantly, it would be better to have a predator cycle working within the
pond itself, maybe. it certainly sounds like it takes some organising.
kylie

Tish wrote:

On that note, has anyone on this forum tried aquaponics? I saw it on
Gardening Australia a few months ago, did a follow-up google, and it
seems very interesting (although the literature all posted such a rosy
picture that my "too good to be true" indicator flashed). I would
imagine it would work well once you had sorted out contamination
problems and the balance between the number of fish and the biomass of
veggies needed to clean the fish-water of fishpoo and wasted feed. I
also had ethical queries about what to feed the fish.

If you are a microbiologist, or happy to learn fast, then give it a go.

The problem with the home garden is that everything has to run perfectly
as you really have such a small tank. Put in too much of the wrong thing
and you can have a large stinking mass very quick.

Oh, and I hope you don't mind a large electricity bill because you need
to run a pump all the time, plus heaters and cooolers, or you need that
tank sunk well into the ground.

Most people do not appreciate the cooler side. Last december, cousin ad
collected a pile of yabbies to use as beeding stock and they were left
in a 200 litre tank in a small farm shed. At the end of one very hot
day, all he had were lots of semi-cooked yabbies.

Probably a good idea to just take up hydroponics and get that working
well first.

Alternatively, first try a reedbed like they use for cleaning septic
tanks overflow/outflow to keep your fish tank water clean.

Terryc wrote:


If you are a microbiologist, or happy to learn fast, then give it a go.

You might want to look at the acquaponcics system on the Inventors tonight.

One large garden pond tub.
one water pump
some hydroponic channel, plastic U, gal guttering even?
hydroponic nuttirent.
Some filter
worm farm?

and away you go.

Again, it is a small system, so balances are still critical

Perhaps someone can explain the filtering and how the worm farm actually
worked (I was late turning it on).

You could have a look at the filters (blue balls) they use in pet shops.
Well most of my local ones do.