In message , Jim A
writes
I'm new here, so 'Hi Everyone' and many thanks for the faqs - I've been
inspired to empty and refill my compost bin today to get it going
properly this year.

I have a small garden in Wiltshire. There's not a great deal of space
for growing food, and the small sunny areas there are I've devoted
mainly to pretty things (with the occasional tomato plant which didn't
do too well last year, but I'll try & learn from what went wrong for
this year).

I have one bed, about 7 foot by two which doesn't have anything in it
at all yet. I'd like to grow some veg or fruit, but am not sure what
would thrive on a limited amount of sunshine - it gets only a short
amount of sun in the evening. Any ideas what I should consider? I
don't want to grow anything taller than the standard fence panel as I
don't want to steal any of my neighbours' precious sunshine either.

TIA,

Jim

What do you like to eat - fruit and veg wise? The bed may be rather
short of space to plant a fruit tree or large bush but lots of veg and
some soft fruit (e.g. strawberries) could be grown. But I'd concentrate
on veg if I were you .... so what do you like eating?
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

Gopher wrote:
Jim

What do you like to eat - fruit and veg wise? The bed may be rather
short of space to plant a fruit tree or large bush but lots of veg and
some soft fruit (e.g. strawberries) could be grown. But I'd concentrate
on veg if I were you .... so what do you like eating?

That sounds encouraging then. I'll eat almost anything except rhubarb,
gooseberries, beetroot - I'm not keen on 'tart' fruits. My wife won't
eat curly kale but I think that's about it.

Our staples are potatoes, carrots, swede, cabbage, broccoli, courgettes
and some salad (lettuce, rocket, cucumber, radishes, etc,).

Neither of us eat a great deal of fruit but we like pears and plums.

Cheers,

Jim
--
www.slowbicyclemovement.org - enjoy the ride

On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:20:16 +0100, Jim A
wrote:

What do you like to eat - fruit and veg wise? The bed may be rather
short of space to plant a fruit tree or large bush but lots of veg and
some soft fruit (e.g. strawberries) could be grown. But I'd concentrate
on veg if I were you .... so what do you like eating?

That sounds encouraging then. I'll eat almost anything except rhubarb,
gooseberries, beetroot - I'm not keen on 'tart' fruits. My wife won't
eat curly kale but I think that's about it.

Our staples are potatoes, carrots, swede, cabbage, broccoli, courgettes
and some salad (lettuce, rocket, cucumber, radishes, etc,).

Neither of us eat a great deal of fruit but we like pears and plums.

Good luck, but I don't think you're going to achieve anything like
self-sufficiency from 14 square foot of soil.

I should stick to a few rows each of lettuce, radish and carrots.

Grow a couple of tubs of potatoes on a patio or path somewhere.


--
(¯`·. ®óñ© © ²°¹° .·´¯)

®óñ© © ²°¹° wrote:
On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:20:16 +0100, Jim A
wrote:

What do you like to eat - fruit and veg wise? The bed may be rather
short of space to plant a fruit tree or large bush but lots of veg and
some soft fruit (e.g. strawberries) could be grown. But I'd concentrate
on veg if I were you .... so what do you like eating?
That sounds encouraging then. I'll eat almost anything except rhubarb,
gooseberries, beetroot - I'm not keen on 'tart' fruits. My wife won't
eat curly kale but I think that's about it.

Our staples are potatoes, carrots, swede, cabbage, broccoli, courgettes
and some salad (lettuce, rocket, cucumber, radishes, etc,).

Neither of us eat a great deal of fruit but we like pears and plums.

Good luck, but I don't think you're going to achieve anything like
self-sufficiency from 14 square foot of soil.

Indeed not! :-) But it should be good experience ready for when I
finally get to the top of the waiting list for an allotment (I've been
on the list only 2 years so far so could be another 2 or more).

I should stick to a few rows each of lettuce, radish and carrots.

Thanks. That sounds great.

Grow a couple of tubs of potatoes on a patio or path somewhere.

Good idea - I'll put a tub out front where we do get plenty of sunshine.

--
www.slowbicyclemovement.org - enjoy the ride

Jim A wrote:
®óñ© © ²°¹° wrote:

/prune/

Grow a couple of tubs of potatoes on a patio or path somewhere.

Good idea - I'll put a tub out front where we do get plenty of sunshine.

A good deep tub. Put six inches of peat/potting compost in, and 2, 3 or
four spuds, depending on the area of the base.

Cover them with another six inches and allow the spuds to sprout, then
when the shoots are well clear of the surface, put another batch of
spuds in, in the spaces between where you planted the first lot.

Continue thus until the tub is nearly full.

Keep well watered and give plenty of fertiliser. Favourite is free - get
a bucket of water and steep nettles and some other weeds in it. When it
stinks something rotten is the time to apply it. I mix it to the ratio
of about a pint of smellystuff to a bucket of water. Keep adding water
and weeds to the brew to keep it going.

This fertiliser is really good for tomatoes, too.

--
Rusty

Rusty Hinge wrote:
A good deep tub. Put six inches of peat/potting compost in, and 2, 3 or
four spuds, depending on the area of the base.

Cover them with another six inches and allow the spuds to sprout, then
when the shoots are well clear of the surface, put another batch of
spuds in, in the spaces between where you planted the first lot.

Continue thus until the tub is nearly full.

Keep well watered and give plenty of fertiliser. Favourite is free - get
a bucket of water and steep nettles and some other weeds in it. When it
stinks something rotten is the time to apply it. I mix it to the ratio
of about a pint of smellystuff to a bucket of water. Keep adding water
and weeds to the brew to keep it going.

This fertiliser is really good for tomatoes, too.

That's great thanks. I went to a talk about bulbs a few weeks ago where
a (vaguely) similar method of planting in a tub was mentioned.

Unfortunately I don't think there's anywhere I can put a smelly bucket -
I have some shop-bought fertiliser I can use for now.

I planted the seeds for some carrots, radishes, lettuce and tomatoes in
pots today and finished preparing the bed for when they appear and can
be planted out. Many thanks everyone for getting me started.

--
www.slowbicyclemovement.org - enjoy the ride

In message , Rusty Hinge
writes
Jim A wrote:
®óñ© © ²°¹° wrote:

/prune/

Grow a couple of tubs of potatoes on a patio or path somewhere.
Good idea - I'll put a tub out front where we do get plenty of
sunshine.

A good deep tub. Put six inches of peat/potting compost in, and 2, 3 or
four spuds, depending on the area of the base.

Cover them with another six inches and allow the spuds to sprout, then
when the shoots are well clear of the surface, put another batch of
spuds in, in the spaces between where you planted the first lot.

Continue thus until the tub is nearly full.

Keep well watered and give plenty of fertiliser. Favourite is free -
get a bucket of water and steep nettles and some other weeds in it.
When it stinks something rotten is the time to apply it. I mix it to
the ratio of about a pint of smellystuff to a bucket of water. Keep
adding water and weeds to the brew to keep it going.

This fertiliser is really good for tomatoes, too.


That's a great idea! I never thought of multi-layered spuds in tubs.
Only question .... wouldn't the lowest level be ready long before the
levels above? I grow only first & second earlies and always in tubs. Any
way to increase that production by using the same amount of containers
is most welcome.
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

Gopher wrote:

That's a great idea! I never thought of multi-layered spuds in tubs.
Only question .... wouldn't the lowest level be ready long before the
levels above? I grow only first & second earlies and always in tubs. Any
way to increase that production by using the same amount of containers
is most welcome.

Not really - the time it takes the sprouts of a ready-chitted spud to
grow six, twelve, or even eighteen inches will make little difference to
what goes on underneath, just so long as the temperature, moisture and
nutrition suit the tubers.

The new tubers grow off the sprouts, so you should end up with a tub
full of spuds.

--
Rusty