Growing Vegetables

Pig Cat

Pig Cat

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Well it's new garden and new veg patch for me, so I want to do things properly, especially as I want to encourage my six-year-old to enjoy gardening. I thought it might be worth starting a thread so we can share gardening ideas and tips.

My first question is about when to sow lettuce and spring onion seeds outside. I am aware that there is bound to be another frost over the next few weeks. Would it be OK to sow these outside now or should I wait. It does say on the packets that sowing in March is OK, but I'm not convinced.
 
Lettuce and spring onions are so easy you may as well give it a go.

I find that with both, its worth sowing a little, then a bit more in a week or two's time and so on, until you've run out of seeds or space or time.

This way you end up with a constant supply, rather than having loads in May, and scraggy dead stuff in July.
It also means that if your first few sows fail, it really doesn't matter.
(Another super easy, prolific veg is radishes. Never a fan until I grew them myself. Now my favourite growing veg!)
 
Pig Cat said:
Well it's new garden and new veg patch for me, so I want to do things properly, especially as I want to encourage my six-year-old to enjoy gardening. I thought it might be worth starting a thread so we can share gardening ideas and tips.

My first question is about when to sow lettuce and spring onion seeds outside. I am aware that there is bound to be another frost over the next few weeks. Would it be OK to sow these outside now or should I wait. It does say on the packets that sowing in March is OK, but I'm not convinced.
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You should be fine, they'll be germinating underground for a while and by the time they come out, the frosts should be almost over.

Onions need a very fine soil to grow in so give the soil a good raking to break it up first. Take the opportunity to rake a fertilizer like growmore in at the same time.

Good luck, we're in the third year of our veg patch. There is honestly nothing like making a salad from home-grown veg to go with your 8oz sirloin from the BBQ.

Jules
 
Ground is still cold and it depends on the aspect of your patch. There isn't much I start off directly outside this time of year except some roots that don't like being handled. I'd get lettuce started indoors (trays), spring onion is quite hardy so you shouldn't have any problems sowing directly outside.
 
cruciate said:
(Another super easy, prolific veg is radishes. Never a fan until I grew them myself. Now my favourite growing veg!)
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Oh absolutely. I've found that so much veg tastes so different when its fresh from the garden. Garlic is another favourite of mine that I never used to like. Fresh Garlic is fantastic.
 
I'm pretty sure lettuce are fine to be sown now, I don't think they will worry about a bit of frost.

You can also sow.

Beetroot, Radish, Parsnips, Broad Beans, Early Peas, Brussel Sprouts and Leeks.

The things that really don't like frost are Runner/French Beans, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, and potatoes, pretty much everything else will survive.

I have just spent the day out in the garden building the rest of the raised beds for the wife to grow some salad stuff in. I don't have the allotment any more as I don't have the time, so we will be growing some fruit and veg in the back garden, in a much reduced space.
 
Julese34 said:
Oh absolutely. I've found that so much veg tastes so different when its fresh from the garden. Garlic is another favourite of mine that I never used to like. Fresh Garlic is fantastic.
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Oooh, love garlic!

Always assumed it was a mediterrean veg and wouldn't grow well in the Manchester climate
You've obviously had some success though
 
Garlic grows fine, just make sure you buy some garlic from the garden centre to grow as that type grows in our chilly weather. Supermarket Garlic won't do well as that was grown in a hot and sunny place, and needs the heat to do well, so Manchester is probably not ideal.
 
We always bring all ours on in the greenhouse before planting outside.

I've never had much luck sowing straight into the ground, but it sounds like others here have.

Something I can really recommend (if you like it) is mange tout. Costs a fortune in the supermarket but is so prolific it's untrue when you grow it yourself.
 
The last few years have seen plenty of false spring dawns, a week or two of unseasonably warm weather followed by more cold stuff.

It even snowed on the 23 March in 2009.
 
cruciate said:
Julese34 said:
Oh absolutely. I've found that so much veg tastes so different when its fresh from the garden. Garlic is another favourite of mine that I never used to like. Fresh Garlic is fantastic.
Click to expand...

Oooh, love garlic!

Always assumed it was a mediterrean veg and wouldn't grow well in the Manchester climate
You've obviously had some success though
Click to expand...

Ohhh Yesss!

Got the Bulbs from the Isle of Wight Garlic Farm - Solent Wight variety - absolutely awesome. Drop a crushed clove into your bread maker (if you have one) on a standard white loaf progam (2 if its a large loaf) - proper garlic bread!
 
Find that the easiest, cheapest,and best garden is the one that you drive to. Yes, the green grocer . With the current uncertainty about the weather there's really no telling what's going to happen. If you want something in the yard, large pots or plastic buckets that can be moved easily might need to be considered.
 
Planting in the ground is usually better as the soils retains a warmer temperature at ground level. You can always mulch or cover with horticultural fleece if you think the weathers too cold, but it's too early to be planting out tender plants yet anyway, but some salad from seed will be fine.

I tend to start lettuce in the greenhouse, remeber lettuce, like a lot of green veg, does not like getting too hot, but I sow just about everything else directly, especially beans and peas, they don't like having their roots disturbed.
 
Planting in the ground directly is only better when the temperature is right and a cover might protect from frost but it wont do much for ground temperature retrospectively, you need sunlight for that.

I've also found beans & peas very easy to transplant from indoor trays or pots, keep the root ball roughly together and plant with a seed or two to get a staggered crop from multiple plants. The only veg I haven't managed to transplant are carrots.
 
I grow lettuce under one of these raised bed covers, much better results than when I tried on open ground (they all got eaten):

Plastic-Cover-for-Raised-Bed_600.jpg


I made a raised bed from some spare decking, but you could just stick it on a patch of earth.
 
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