Fruit and Veg Growing (or not)

[Carrot Cruncher]

I started to grow my own veg this year, a usefull skill to learn I thought. I planted a lot of containers, bags, and a raised bed for a late "harvest". Due to the bad weather recently I decided to pull up most of it today as it was about the right time for them anyway......what a disapointment:

Spuds, Planted in 5 sacks and the raised Bed: Total weight harvested about 4lbs

Beetroot, Planted in Builders Buckets: Total weight harvested 0, zilch, nada

Peas, Planted in containers: Total harvested...lots

Carrots, Planted in containers: Total harvested, enough to keep a skinny rabbit in food for a day or two


Ah well, you live and learn...better to make the screw ups now rather than when I really need it.

CC

[Bulldog]

CC for an experiment we planted 5 spud sacks and also some the traditional way in the ground.

Results.

Bags.
Small return and all small new potato size , nice but dissapointing for effort involved.

Ground.
We were amazed, loads of spuds and all nice big jacket spud size , really happy with results.

Next year im planting all my spuds the traditional way.

Also we stored spunds in hessian sand bags and they kept perfectly.

[Magz]

Ive been thinking about raised beds, and growing spuds in bags, not as easy as it sounds I take it?

[technobug]

for the last 3 years i've grown raddish and spring onions, first year i tried to grow sweetcorn too, but snails or something ate them before most of them got off the ground, of the 3 that grew, none grew even half sized, when the fields around had fully grown ones I couldn't see any actual corn things on mine. stuck a lawn mower over them in the end

[Bulldog]

Ive been thinking about raised beds, and growing spuds in bags, not as easy as it sounds I take it?

Magz the bags seemed to be doing really well , great big stalks shooting out and we watered them every morning / evening , i just think the spuds dont have room to grow.

The plot spud stalks were the same size so we were amazed how much bigger the spuds were when we dug them up.

[Magz]

I don't have a garden, just a 8x12 open top balcony, so was thinking of square foot raised gardening, and hanging buckets. were your bags black inside? I've heard spuds only like the bags with a bag lining.

[majestic]

make sure the solid is as good as you can make it.(all peelings veg scraps tea bags wood ash and a little urine will make some great compost after about 3 months keep digging it all in)

get a decent sized water butt and make sure you water regularly.

try and think how you can grow with minimal effort this will make it easier on yourself through the year

good amounts of mulch reduces the frequency of watering required - ridge up the soil so that rain fall is channled to the plants requiring water

hope that helps

Majestic

[Carrot Cruncher]

I think if I had left the spuds for another month they may have been ok in the bags (there were quite a few marble sized) but the weather made the choice for me as I didnt have room to put them under cover.

I made a raised bed this year as I had to clear a lot of earth from another area. The soil however wasn't the best, i did mix in compost but i dont think it was up to the job yet. I will keep mixing in compost etc and it should improve so hopefully I will have better results in the future.

The Beetroot was partly/a lot my fault as I planted it too late in the season.

The Carrots were a disapointment as they were Nantes2 variety and should have been fine but were very thin and straggly. I also learned that the book was right when it said to throw away the ones you thin out and not to transplant them (both my carrots and beetroot). The transpalnted ones were all leaf and no root.

Still, it was a good experience and I will make a better go of it next year after making the mistakes this year (hopefully)

CC

[Bulldog]

I don't have a garden, just a 8x12 open top balcony, so was thinking of square foot raised gardening, and hanging buckets. were your bags black inside? I've heard spuds only like the bags with a bag lining.

They were green bags......mmmmm......maby you have something regarding black linings.

[Brambling]

Thanks to an overzealous digger driver, I have no topsoil so raised beds are the only way I can grow veg. I used Pallet collars and then lined them with cardboard and filled with topsoil. I had a fantastic crop of toms, winter squash, beans, shallots and salad veg. I had a great crop of Kale, Broccoli and red cabbage too, but I had to move the girls and they ate them!
I'd post a few pics of this years efforts, but it wo't let me, says the file is too big?