Home grown food - where to start

[lightningxl]

Just some thought - look at high end produce in super market esp cut and come again veg maybe purple spouting broccoli/mange tout/ chillies/ vine toms/peppers etc Think twice about growing bulky cheap stuff that have long store life ie spuds/onions ect

How about looking at preserving produce for the winter dehydrating/bottling.

Lookforward to hearing about your green finger adventures...

[preppingsu]

Don't forget growing in containers on the fences, mind gone blank on what its called though

Are you thinking about vertical growing?

http://www.upcyclethat.com/vertical-pal ... nter/3745/

[Decaff]

Don't forget growing in containers on the fences, mind gone blank on what its called though

Are you thinking about vertical growing?

http://www.upcyclethat.com/vertical-pal ... nter/3745/

Thats the one! Thank you preppingsu.

[CynicalSurvival]

Thanks folks that is really helpful!!!

I will definitely buy some heirloom seeds, have had a good
look at that site already. Will need some potting compost too.

Hopefully I can patch up the greenhouse quite cheaply, and ty for the tip about glaziers . How bad a problem is it anyway if some panes are missing?

Seaweed - good idea! And improv composter from pallets

Sounds like i need to plan the site carefull according to what i hope to grow and perhaps if anything i will buy ready made raised beds to make life a bit easier plus they look nice which is motivating.
Thanks again

[CynicalSurvival]

On second thoughts I will invest in a couple of wooden composters... it has to be economical long-term to make my own good compost. And I have a bit of time until the planting season to build my own raised beds, whereas it would be good to get composting started asap....!

Came across this useful link about 'hot composting' -

http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/diy-in ... n-18-days/

[Waterbaby]

I don't know if you have children who want a kick around with a football,or any animals,but we've found it vital to sector the garden into useage.
We have to keep the dog seperate from the chooks,and the chooks seperate from anything they'll eat or scratch up.We have to take into account where the dog will cock his leg ,and try to protect any newly seeded/planted areas from the cat using them as his deluxe toilet facility.
We keep the compost close enough to the house to encourage use,yet far enough not to attract pests to our doorstep.

[CynicalSurvival]

I don't know if you have children who want a kick around with a football,or any animals,but we've found it vital to sector the garden into useage.
We have to keep the dog seperate from the chooks,and the chooks seperate from anything they'll eat or scratch up.We have to take into account where the dog will cock his leg ,and try to protect any newly seeded/planted areas from the cat using them as his deluxe toilet facility.
We keep the compost close enough to the house to encourage use,yet far enough not to attract pests to our doorstep.

Yes, absolutely. I can't totally get rid of the lawn as we have kids - ok, they spend more time on computers than playing with footballs but it is still nice to have playing space in the summer. But I might steal a bit of space from the lawn! We don't have dogs, and as for cats, I do my best to keep them out/away from growing space!

The area nearest our house is a pretty basic patio - we tend to sit there rather than on the shady/slippery deck (which we inherited), which is another reason to remove it! I plan to plant up some herbs on the patio - handy, nearest the kitchen.

[nickdutch]

In the spring I intend to get some rectangular window boxes and plant out my chickweed and dandelion seeds. They are both edible weeds and as they are weed they may be robust as buggery and therefore will require little maintenance. Possibly good to add to salads as well as to use the dandelion flowers in hot drinks. If you haven't captured any wild seeds yourself you can probably get them on ebay for about a £. people sell them to grow feed for their tortoises, but we can nibble on them too.

[ForgeCorvus]

Compost. I don't know about yours but our local council collect green waste as part of the bin collection which they compost in massive hot beds and then sell back to the public (fairly cheaply). Might be worth checking out.

Check out a copy of "The Thrifty Forager" by Alys Fowler for tips on Edible Landscaping (in other words food plants that don't look like crops)

Pots and containers of herbs and small edibles on the patio and lose the decking completly ?
Sounds like a good plan.

Think about building a Clay Oven (thanks to Jamie Oliver and Co they're fashionable to have now).... Cooking prep hiding in plain sight

[featherstick]

A note on compost:

There are different types. What is sold in big bags in the garden centre is very different from the composted kitchen waste we produce ourselves. Garden centre compost is usually a low-nutrient, relatively inert material to which nutrients and other ingredients have been added depending on its intended use. It's often made from peat which is destroying scarce habitats that have taken thousands of years to form. More responsible manufacturers are looking for alternatives to peat such as coconut fibre. Sowing compost is very mild. Potting compost may have longer-lasting nutrients added and be bulkier. None of it will add much to your soil other than organic matter. The added chemical nutrients are usually high nitrogen to promot quick growth so that you think the compost is great, and are very quickly depleted. Grow bags also fall into this category. If you are starting, all you need is a small bag of sowing compost. However I advise my Master Gardener families to buy seedlings when they start as this eliminates a bit of faff.

Kitchen compost is a very different matter as it is very close to the natural processes of recycling plant matter back into nutrients for new plants. It's rich in macro-and micro-nutrition, with trace elements brought in from all the exotic (to us) things you put into it - tea leaves, banana peel, avocado skins. It supports a hugh population of worms as it is composting, and gazillions of micro-organisms which will be beneficial to your soil and your plants. Kitchen compost in particular is rich in fungi which live in symbiosis with plant roots and process nutrients from the soil for the plant. Getting a compost heap going is a really important step in maintaining the fertility of your veg garden, especially considering how much fertility we take out in the form of produce.

Greenhouse- you must replace or block off all the apertures, or the wind will blow the greenhouse apart, leaving you with a mess of tangled metal and glass, and wrecked seedlings.