Just dropping by to say "hello". I'm going to be subscribing to the
group and will be asking lots of questions in the next few months and
years :-)

I've done a bit of gardening in the past, nothing very serious, and
reckon myself to tend towards "plantswoman". That is, I like being
knowledgeable about plants. I enjoy choosing and planting them. But
I'm not very good at weeding and maintenance.

I'm going to be moving to a new house, with over an acre to play with.
I want to grow as much for the kitchen as I possibly can. And I shall
be needing lots of advice with respect to bunny-proofing, wind
screening, poly tunnels, and growing at altitude. My new garden is set
at over 1500 feet and has winter winds predominantly from the East,
summer winds from the West.

I know it is going to be a challenge. But I am certain I shall find
lots of help and advice here.

I guess the main question for now is ... *Will* I be able to grow
anything at all?

See you soon.

Beth

Hi Beth!

I'm also at the stage of organising a "new" (to me) garden. Ours is about
1/2 acre. I want to grow vegetables too & am going to start off with some
raised beds.
I have sweetcorn sprouting nicely in little pots in my utility room (I don't
have a greenhouse as yet) & was wondering if anyone can tell me how big they
should be before planting them out?

I'm trying to learn from books, magazines & newsgroups as I've only been
living & gardening in the UK for 4 years (previously lived in South Africa)

I'm sure you'll find lots of useful info here.

:-)
Jayne

"Beth" wrote in message
om...
Just dropping by to say "hello". I'm going to be subscribing to the
group and will be asking lots of questions in the next few months and
years :-)

I've done a bit of gardening in the past, nothing very serious, and
reckon myself to tend towards "plantswoman". That is, I like being
knowledgeable about plants. I enjoy choosing and planting them. But
I'm not very good at weeding and maintenance.

I'm going to be moving to a new house, with over an acre to play with.
I want to grow as much for the kitchen as I possibly can.

On Thu, 15 May 2003 12:50:29 +0000 (UTC), Jayne
wrote:

Hi Beth!

I'm also at the stage of organising a "new" (to me) garden. Ours is about
1/2 acre. I want to grow vegetables too & am going to start off with some
raised beds.
I have sweetcorn sprouting nicely in little pots in my utility room (I
don't
have a greenhouse as yet) & was wondering if anyone can tell me how big
they
should be before planting them out?

I don't know about planting them out but you'll need a good number planted
close together to make sure they pollinate each other and to get a half
decent crop.
Tim.

"Jayne" wrote in message
...
Hi Beth!

I'm also at the stage of organising a "new" (to me) garden. Ours is about
1/2 acre. I want to grow vegetables too & am going to start off with some
raised beds.
I have sweetcorn sprouting nicely in little pots in my utility room (I
don't
have a greenhouse as yet) & was wondering if anyone can tell me how big
they
should be before planting them out?

I'm trying to learn from books, magazines & newsgroups as I've only been
living & gardening in the UK for 4 years (previously lived in South
Africa)

I'm sure you'll find lots of useful info here.

:-)
Jayne

Size is not such a big problem, depends on the size of pot they are in. I
plant mine out when they are only about 6 inches high, but they are only in
fairly small 3" pots, so they haev to go out before root restriction becomes
a problem. The more important bit is that they should not go outside until
the last frosts have occured. Bit of guess work there really. I plant mine
out at the end of May, and live in Oxon, in the middle of the country near
to one of the weather stations which records some of Englands
earliest/latest and worst frosts, which is odd since we aren't that far up
the country just a long way from the warming sea!.
Duncan

"Beth" wrote in message
om...
Just dropping by to say "hello". I'm going to be subscribing to the
group and will be asking lots of questions in the next few months and
years :-)

I've done a bit of gardening in the past, nothing very serious, and
reckon myself to tend towards "plantswoman". That is, I like being
knowledgeable about plants. I enjoy choosing and planting them. But
I'm not very good at weeding and maintenance.

I'm going to be moving to a new house, with over an acre to play with.
I want to grow as much for the kitchen as I possibly can. And I shall
be needing lots of advice with respect to bunny-proofing, wind
screening, poly tunnels, and growing at altitude. My new garden is set
at over 1500 feet and has winter winds predominantly from the East,
summer winds from the West.

I know it is going to be a challenge. But I am certain I shall find
lots of help and advice here.

I guess the main question for now is ... *Will* I be able to grow
anything at all?

See you soon.

Beth

Jealous already, a whole acre to play with, the plans would just race
through my head and I wouldn't know where to start. Poly tunnels will be a
great help with veggies of all sorts, if you want to grow exotic's you could
place on poly tunnel inside another, as Bob Flowerdew has done, then you can
heat the inner tunnel and the outer one will be frost free.

You should be able to grow almost anything you want with good preparation,
and well placed and tended poly tunnels regardless of prevailing winds.

Duncan

My new garden is set
at over 1500 feet and has winter winds predominantly from the East,
summer winds from the West.

Now that *is* going to be interesting! I imagine that, at that altitude
a good fresh easterly wind is really going to hit home. Very best of
luck. As a not-very-expert-at-anything gardener, my only advice is not
to bite off too much of your acre in one go unless you're more or less
full time and are full of energy. Is this "virgin ground"?

Mine are about 3" tall at this stage. I'm in the south-west (South Glos) & I
think our frosts are over now, so maybe I can plant them out by the end of
the month.
I want to plant some pumpkins too.

:-)
Jayne

"Druss" wrote in message Size is not such a big
problem, depends on the size of pot they are in. I
plant mine out when they are only about 6 inches high, but they are only
in
fairly small 3" pots, so they haev to go out before root restriction
becomes
a problem. The more important bit is that they should not go outside until
the last frosts have occured. Bit of guess work there really. I plant mine
out at the end of May, and live in Oxon, in the middle of the country near
to one of the weather stations which records some of Englands
earliest/latest and worst frosts, which is odd since we aren't that far up
the country just a long way from the warming sea!.
Duncan

"Jayne" wrote in message
...
Mine are about 3" tall at this stage. I'm in the south-west (South Glos) &
I
think our frosts are over now, so maybe I can plant them out by the end of
the month.
I want to plant some pumpkins too.

:-)
Jayne

That's my plan, pumpkins, courgettes, marrows, sweetcorn, tomatoes, outdoor
cucumbers, they'll all get planted out sometime in the next 2 weeks I
reckon. Mind you we did have a frost wednesday night here in Oxon, so I will
keep a close eye on the weather before planting anything out. Also if you've
got some fleece handy you can always cover them if a nasty night is
forecast. Provides a bit of protection.
Duncan

Andrew wrote in message ...

Hello. It's me again ...

I imagine that, at that altitude
a good fresh easterly wind is really going to hit home. Very best of
luck.

I found the Postcode Plants Database
(http://www.nhm.ac.uk/science/projects/fff/) and plugged in my new
postcode, ML12. The thinking behind this is that the native plants
growing in this area ought to be a strong pointer to what might grow
successfully in my new garden. (It's a great resource BTW - I'm
impressed)

Next problem. A postcode area does of course cover quite a large area.
I'd like to cross reference the results of this search against a list
of plants that will grow at given altitudes/climate zones.

Question: does anybody here know of such a resource? Internet for
preference as I can then do an electronic matching in Excel or
something ...

TIA

Beth