Growing Your Own Vegetables

[Minnie]

My youngest boy has been picked to have a plot of land at school on which he can grow his own vegetables. Although it's on school grounds it's our responsibility to look after it etc. I don't know the exact size of the plot but I imagine it's not going to be huge. Now I know absolutely nothing about growing veg so wondered if any of you are green fingered types who grow your own produce? I could do with some tips such as what's the best type of veg to grow and look after on a small plot of land. Any advice at all would be much appreciated. Ta.

[bluemonday]

Would suggest some fast growing salad stuff to keep his interest up, radish pops up fairly quickly in summer ditto cos lettuce - Little Gem is a good variety.

[thebees]

Potato's have been my most successful grow. I tried growing carrots, parsnips, leeks, broccoli and cauliflower but they were 'a bit crap' at harvest time Happy growing Minnie & miniminnie x

[Slim]

My youngest boy has been picked to have a plot of land at school on which he can grow his own vegetables. Although it's on school grounds it's our responsibility to look after it etc. I don't know the exact size of the plot but I imagine it's not going to be huge. Now I know absolutely nothing about growing veg so wondered if any of you are green fingered types who grow your own produce? I could do with some tips such as what's the best type of veg to grow and look after on a small plot of land. Any advice at all would be much appreciated. Ta.

 

You can't beat spuds, they're easy, tough, and you can make all sorts out of them once they've grown. One easy way for spud success in a small area is to get some old tyres (the tyre places usually happily give them away if you ask), stuff the rims with newspaper, put some sprouting spuds in the middle and cover with compost. As the sprouts break the surface, put more compost on. When the tyre is full, lash another one on and keep going. You'll have a small tower of tyres full of spuds and it's great fun for the kids to maintain. It's brill taking the tower apart and finding layers of spuds as you go down.

[Minnie]

Bluemonday, was thinking of salad stuff with the summer (and hopefully nice weather!) on it's way. We try and have lots of BBQs in the summer so would be great to have salad we've grown ourselves to go with the burgers etc.

 

Spuds seem like a good idea for first time growers as well by the sounds of it. Thanks for the idea with the tyres, Slim, my boy would probably love that!

 

Sorry if this sounds completely thick but do you grow most veg/salad type veg from seed or do you buy them in pots ready grown to just transfer into the ground?

[thebees]

Either, or, Minnie. If you grow from seed it's best to start em off in trays indoors, thin out and transplant, if you buy partly grown ones it saves the messing about but it is cheating a bit.

[Minnie]

Either, or, Minnie. If you grow from seed it's best to start em off in trays indoors, thin out and transplant, if you buy partly grown ones it saves the messing about but it is cheating a bit.

Great, thanks. I'd kind of like him to grow them all from scratch, it's a bit more of an achievement for him then. It's going to be great having this little allotment to keep him occupied during the summer hols.

[Frances]

french beans (minature rather than climbing) are good but need watering, plant now as they need a warm soil to get going(easy to start in the non plastic egg boxes pack with compost, insert one bean, dampen , put box into a plastic bag leave on windowsill till germination (a few days), tear box apart and plant each small container in ground) - if you have a fence or can put in some bamboo sticks (a teepee like arrangement) then climbing french beans or mangetoout peas make a colourful display and once they start you can almost see them grow in front of your eyes - if you have a sunny sheltered spot (esp against a south facing wall) then a courgette should do well.

 

If you are putting in spuds (and the taste of a potato straight from the ground into the pot is great) I suggest a salad potato such as vivaldi or similar (possibly a bit late to get seed potatoes but just buy a kilo or so from supermarket leave each poato sitting in the containers of egg boxes till it starts to sprout then plant - vivaldi is usually a quick + vigouros grower and boils well which allows you to enjoy small potatoes early than main crop.

[Tempus Fugit]

one thing to remember with growing from seed, don't sow the whole packet or you'll have 5000 lettuce all ready at the same time ! (I had about 20 tomato plants surplus once, couldn't give them away)

If you have had trays of bedding plants you will have a stack of compartmented trays which are handy for sowing one seed in each pocket, or somewhere to 'prick out' seedlings into from a seed tray (use the plastic food trays from packed meat or take-aways). Make a mini-greenhouse with a clear polythene bag and pop them on a warm windowsill.

 

Spuds are good for beginners, (wait until they flower and start to die down before digging), they also keep and don't need to be used straight away when dug.

A wigwam of canes with french beans or broad beans don't take much space (and nice bright flowers !)

Peas need quite a lot of room for any quantity.

You could try a row of onions or beetroot, there's a type of lettuce where you just pick leaves and leave it to grow so saves space, you can use big clear drinks bottles with the tops cut off as mini greenhouses or a couple of wire coathangers bent into arches and polythene as cloches to keep the worst of the weather (and pigeons etc) off delicate things.

you can also put strawberries in a hanging basket at home to keep them interested

(broad beans are easy, use toilet roll centres or a tube of newspaper full of compost to plant the seeds, then just plant the whole thing in the ground)

 

Ask him what he like to eat because he will lose interest if what he is growing is not what he likes

Make a note of when things were planted, especially for things you can't see what they are doing, like 'early' spuds should be ready in 12-14 weeks but after the tops die down when the goodness from the tops swells the tubers.

 

good luck

[Slim]

Sorry if this sounds completely thick but do you grow most veg/salad type veg from seed or do you buy them in pots ready grown to just transfer into the ground?

 

B&Q have an offer on pre-planted salad at the mo, bought some last weekend to get the greenhouse started. With salad it's worth sowing through the spring, so you've got some at various ages and a constant supply. If you drink filter coffee, putting the spent stuff around your salad helps keep the slugs off.

[Minnie]

Ask him what he like to eat because he will lose interest if what he is growing is not what he likes

 

good luck

I'm pretty lucky with my youngest boy as he eats most veg/salad and is more than willing to try new things. My older boy is a different matter and would sooner set himself on fire than eat any veg other than carrots! What he doesn't know, however, is that there's cauliflower mixed in with his mashed potato and lots of other hidden veg in most of the meals he eats!

 

Thanks everyone for your great tips so far, very much appreciated. Looks like a trip to B&Q is on the cards for this weekend.

[Slim]

I'm pretty lucky with my youngest boy as he eats most veg/salad and is more than willing to try new things. My older boy is a different matter and would sooner set himself on fire than eat any veg other than carrots! What he doesn't know, however, is that there's cauliflower mixed in with his mashed potato and lots of other hidden veg in most of the meals he eats!

 

We found growing stuff encouraged the kids to try more veg varieties, so you might want to get the older boy involved too!

[Pollyparrot]

one thing to remember with growing from seed, don't sow the whole packet or you'll have 5000 lettuce all ready at the same time ! (I had about 20 tomato plants surplus once, couldn't give them away)

If you have had trays of bedding plants you will have a stack of compartmented trays which are handy for sowing one seed in each pocket, or somewhere to 'prick out' seedlings into from a seed tray (use the plastic food trays from packed meat or take-aways). Make a mini-greenhouse with a clear polythene bag and pop them on a warm windowsill.

 

Spuds are good for beginners, (wait until they flower and start to die down before digging), they also keep and don't need to be used straight away when dug.

A wigwam of canes with french beans or broad beans don't take much space (and nice bright flowers !)

Peas need quite a lot of room for any quantity.

You could try a row of onions or beetroot, there's a type of lettuce where you just pick leaves and leave it to grow so saves space, you can use big clear drinks bottles with the tops cut off as mini greenhouses or a couple of wire coathangers bent into arches and polythene as cloches to keep the worst of the weather (and pigeons etc) off delicate things.

you can also put strawberries in a hanging basket at home to keep them interested

(broad beans are easy, use toilet roll centres or a tube of newspaper full of compost to plant the seeds, then just plant the whole thing in the ground)

 

Ask him what he like to eat because he will lose interest if what he is growing is not what he likes

Make a note of when things were planted, especially for things you can't see what they are doing, like 'early' spuds should be ready in 12-14 weeks but after the tops die down when the goodness from the tops swells the tubers.

 

good luck

I was going to say keep to what he likes eating too, more likely to enjoy the results. Luckily my hubby is a professional gardener so he has lots of stuff already well on its way. We are trying some new yellow tomatoes this year & some red salad young onions for a change. Also a small round carrot called 'Parmex' about the size of a large radish so only need shallow soil unlike the normal long carrot. Also we have some minature fruit trees with two different fruits on the stem but would probably keep them at home in a tub, somebody would probably run off with it!!!! Happy planting & eating, there's nothing like it.

[Moghrey Mie]

My youngest boy has been picked to have a plot of land at school on which he can grow his own vegetables. Although it's on school grounds it's our responsibility to look after it etc. I don't know the exact size of the plot but I imagine it's not going to be huge. Now I know absolutely nothing about growing veg so wondered if any of you are green fingered types who grow your own produce? I could do with some tips such as what's the best type of veg to grow and look after on a small plot of land. Any advice at all would be much appreciated. Ta.

 

 

Go to a bookshop and buy a book about allotments

[Stavros]

I was kindly and reliably informed by the Isle of Man Constabulary that Marijuana isn't actually a salad.