Hi there. Im a newbie vege gardener. This is my 3rd season growing and this year I truely wanted to survive 12 months of self sustaining veges. We invested in a tunnel house in the spring and this has grown plentyful of tomatoes (only eatable this past month) Courgette ready daily, the red pepper only just growing flowers now, cucumber and lots of lettuces. We have had a really horrible summer here in the south and the soil temps are really low. Most of my early outdoor vege either failed to thrive or went straight to seed. We are now finally eating brocolli, cabbages (red as well). Ive had a real hit and miss this year. The sweet peas were great for the kids. I didnt free up the soil enough for our carrots so they are only a couple of inches in size. Parsnips however are thriving. Strawberries did ok and some of my herbs died. We plant spuds both in and above the ground and always have plenty. Dug up some outdoor ones today to save them from frosts. Will plant more in the Tunnel house. Am aiming to use our tunnel house for winter crops. Any tips greatly appreciated. As you can tell from my ramblings, Im still learning lol
ords,
Apr 6, 2:10am
I printed off the section that was recommend in the other thread. I have heard of him before but never seeked out his words. Riverton is our local town, altho we farm just out of it. Ive not long planted silverbeet, cauli, brocolli and spinach outside. Some carrots are just up in the tunnel house. Will be planting more seed spuds for winter soon and will also continue to plant brassica both indoor and out. Im ready to start pulling out some tomato plants that have done their dash indoors. Ive also had terrible trouble with my lettuces rotting. not sure what Im doing wrong there.
missmuppett,
Apr 6, 2:59am
I put my lettuce & edamame woo hoo, all in pots.Ready to grow baby grow! :DMy hubby got home & said my my you have been on a mission. he he he missions on.Yummy.Very happy.Welcome Ords! :DLovely to have you onboard.
missmuppett,
Apr 6, 3:02am
When plantig out your seedligs, do you guys water them in!Also, when abouts do you feed your seedligs!Like with a liquid fert!Many thaks.
missmuppett,
Apr 6, 3:13am
I use horse shyte tea :D hahah, but I do have a Thrive one here, but have not used it yet.
artiste,
Apr 6, 5:11am
Hiya!I'm a newbie to & a bit of a lurker.I have been having a quick read every week or so for about a month.I love this thread! This has been my first year with a vege garden.Moved to a house with an abandoned vege patch and planted tomatoes, basil, corn, lettuces and carrots in December.Tomatoes seemed a bit of a flop - I ended up pulling out the plants over the weekend and have a bowl of green tomatoes to make green tomato chutney if I get a chance.For some reason the plants were getting a mouldy kind of disease so i just rescued the good tomatoes and threw the rest in the compost.Now have a big gap and looking here for inspiration for what to plant next - Ooooh so addictive (MB and veges!)
soc_butterfly,
Apr 6, 6:37am
welcome ords and artiste!That tunnel house sounds fantabulous ords, I'm a little jeally about that to be honest.Tomatoes have been a flop most places this summer, as has other things.bit of a hit and miss with the crappy pendulumous (is that a word!) weather over 'summer' and I use that term loosely.like miss's sphincter muscles.but that's another story *runs*.
I feed my seedings in the trays (with thrive or whateversonspesh) once the 'true' leaves have grown (the 2nd lot to appear) to give them a head start.Once sown out where they will stay, I make sure the soil has some compost and some slow release fertiliser of sorts, again, the onethatsonspesh!
Ords, your rotting lettuce.is it in the tunnel house!I did have one lot that rotted mid summer, I thought maybe they were too well packed and too well watered + heat = rotting.But that's just a guess!
I have grown everything in bins or washing machine innerds or pots or potato bags, due to our backyard being half dug up for drainage when we arrived a year ago, and still not excavated yet.The lettuces have thrived in pots, and another little gem I have found are Daltons packs of dehydrated grow bags.
They are white and I get them at bunnings for $4 each and they're about half a metre long and you slit the pack and fill it with water from the hose and leave it for 5mins to expand.Then you cut crosses on the top (remember to poke holes for drainage under it too) and poke your seedlings into the top.It is the bestest thing ever!
No pots needed, and the veges stay nice and clean above the plastic!The bag is full of coir like stuff with slow release fertilisers in it so nothing but watering needed!
Best deal I've found yet, and I load up with 4 or 6 (or ten shhh!) whenever I'm near bunnings and they dont take up much room when dry,I store them flat in the shed.or garage.or bookcase (shhhh!).
Ok, bed time, someone stop making me come here and read all this, and be addicted!
ords,
Apr 6, 6:54pm
our tunnel house is 6m long and was $1500. Cheap as chips and seems strudy enough. Last year I had a bumper tomato crop. I planted 6 plants beneath our bedroom window up against the brick wall. The heat from the bricks made them thrive. In full weather too. This summer has been crap from all perspectives. Ive got red onions thriving away. but so slow to come to the fore. I planted them along with my zuichini(sp), capsicum and cucumber. Have been eating the zichini for months, capsicum only just flowering and we ate the first cucumber last weekend. All these inside the tunnel house as well. I intend on putting heaps of seaweed on the garden. leaving it over the winter(on parts Imnot using obviously) and then will dig it over in the spring. The dirt in our tunnel house is from one of the old swede paddocks so it is full of yar and needs weeding weekly and sheep poo leaves you with stinging nettle. We did add blood and bone and organic fertaliser earlier in the peice but I do think our soil is lacking some nutrients so hoping the seaweed will help. Next step for me is to plant the tunnel house out in winter veges and also outside. Brasicas and carrots and spuds. I need to start a compost heap. Our food scraps go to our hens(fresh farm eggs) and we dont catch our grass clippings but do intend to use the waste from the vege garden and what grass clippings I can muster to start one up. Ive got a lot of straw mulch that we used for our above ground potatoes so that will be a great start. Just need to find something to keep it in.
All this from a person who claims to not be a gardner but I truely love my vege garden and with 4 boys under 7, youngest 5 mths,its my sanctury sometimes.
jes.c,
Apr 7, 12:17am
I bought Jiffys today they are sooooooo cool they are little discs that you put in warm water and they expand about the size of a kinder surprise, they are filled with dehydrated soil and compost and you can plant your seeds in them
missmuppett,
Apr 7, 1:31am
Welcome Artiste! :)Lovely to have ya here.Did't do aythig much today guys i the garde, just water.OH, Soc those grow bag watsits soud like the go! Thaks for the cool tip, might just have to head to bunnings soo. My cucumbers havent grown yet, hope they will hurry before it's too cold to eat salad! haha Easy dinner toight, I am off to water Masterchef.I look at the ingrediets ad plan what I am goig to grow.
SORRY ABOUT LACK OF n's In my typing! hahahahahahProper key board tomorrow with luck.Have a lovely night all.
PS - I won a $1 reserve lastnight o here for a upside down chilli planter. woo hoo! :)
ords,
Apr 7, 2:55am
Tea was a self sufficient meal. cassarole (only bought incredients were a couple of sauces) spuds, brocolli and cassarole had red onion, zuichini, carrot and silverbeet. Devine.
soc_butterfly,
Apr 7, 2:59am
Ords, gardening is our wee slice of paradise (eden) huh.A very good place to collect ones self sometimes.I can often be found in summer standing in a daze with a hose in my hand.'water play' I call it!
LOL @ miss' spelling, upside down planter indeeeeeed!I'll be wanting photos of you standing on yer head tending to it.
Jiffies, hmmmm I love the way they blow up but have never had much luck germinating in them.I do better for some reason with egg cartons lol!I found a jiffy in the garden the other day, from about 7 months ago.so much for breaking down!
My hollyhocks leaves are huge, I fear I may have planted them too late tho.not veges I know, but I was looking forward to some old english looking flowers for the last of the sun this summer.
Right, off to watch the end of masterchef.me fears Kirsty might be leaving this episode!
Hmm, might start a thread asking the flower gurus if they'll survive the winter.
As you were! <3
jes.c,
Apr 7, 10:52pm
oh i hope they work better for me. i do love the name tho he he he jiffy. i was trying to think of interesting things to plant things in, you know the whole re-use reduce recycle and someone told me to use the eco supermarket bags so i thought id share on here and if anyone else has any good interesting ideas please share with me lol
missmuppett,
Apr 8, 1:54am
I saw jiffy cups at the Warehouse toight, so I kw what you guys mean now. My silverbeets are almost double in size and I only planted them a few days ago. WOO HOO.Have a great night all :D MM
ords,
Apr 8, 8:16pm
Did some long overdue weeding this morning. Garden is thriving for now and just needs some fert dug in and all the winter crops planted. Started a compost today . not to sure whats the go with it but its done none the less lol. Took some pics. will upload later.
missmuppett,
Apr 9, 6:14pm
Oh cool, do post the pics Ords, I have been the only one to do that I thik so far. :) not much planned this weeked unfortuately. :( BOO.Do you guys reckon I could put my brocollis etc ad plant them straight into bags of soil!Like laid down on their sides! Hmmm. Kings has 3 bags of Veggie Mix on sale for $30 at the moment. :)Till Wed I thik they said their sale was from.
In other news I really need a new keyboard. hahahahahaha this nkey thig is drivig me isane! haha :)
artiste,
Apr 10, 4:03am
lol Miss Muppet it wasn't until you mentioned the 'n' problem that I went back to reread your post and noticed they were missing!Amazing thing the human brain!
Well pleased to read I wasn't the only one who's tomatoes were a disaster.I was so proud of myself they grew really well and had heaps of green tomatoes and then that was about it.
Silverbeet is growing madly though!Yummo!Just bought some more lettuces as my summer ones are pretty much over.Waiting for my late corn to ripen and have some brilliant capsicums doing there thing.Such a sense of achievement.Oh and I agree with Ords, a bit of a sanctuary away from the kids when you get the chance lol!
akalea,
Apr 10, 4:29am
Been reading for awhile and have learnt a few things.Thanks.I started off some seeds which were supposed to be leeks.Yeah right I now have a dozen or so tomato plants.MMM might have to buy some buckets and bring them up onto the deck or inside.Lucky we haven't had any frosts yet.By the way does anyone know what looks alot like worms but much shorter.I have heaps in my compost heap!Thanks again
soc_butterfly,
Apr 10, 7:24am
Ords I'm so jeally of your tunnell house.hell all your garden.I'm still sticking things in pots around here.
I dont see why the bags wouldn't work miss, they say you only need 20cm depth for vege gardens, but I'm not sure that applies to root veges tho, which broccoli isn't.
I've just put some polythene over a pile of weeds, a friend of mine does it regularly and ends up with lovely soil.easy peasy and I must say my plastic compost bin that was left here isn't doing much to the food scraps I've been putting in there along with greenery.probably not layering things correctly.*sighs*
My rainbowbeet and lettuces are doing well currently, and my tomatoes are finally ripening.go figure!
soc_butterfly,
Apr 10, 7:25am
Bon voyage Desp!I hope the shift goes smoothly for you, hurry home to us!
missmuppett,
Apr 10, 3:43pm
Yes hope the move is goig OK Desp, I do't envy you - movig sucks a bit eh! hard yakka!
Ords - looks excellet!woo hoo!Love love love the T house!Very cool.I have a similar raised bed plated with camelia trees, & yest I dug up a small patch of my front raised bed garden too - I will try & post a pic later.I am off ridin now on my horse. I should prob up load a pic of my chooks garden too - just to show you what I am workig with.Probably a really good way of keepig o top of how much work time effort ad $$$ are going in!Will check back later on.I thought I would plant out vege betwee the camelias, what do you guys think!
ords,
Apr 10, 5:49pm
The tunnel house is awesome. The tomato plants have all but done their dash but in my clean up, Ive found some that have sprouted so will see how they pan out. Its a little empty as I need to plant it out for the winter. Altho there are carrots up the back that have popped thru and I plan to plant a row from front to back. I had made a compost bin out of a plastic drum but its not that easy to empty so will help hubby to make one out of old wee wooden gates. I think I will plant one more section out in brasica and see how they go. We are getting some small frosts now so dont want to waste $. Ive asked hubby to build a wee plank/bench in the tunnel house so that I can plant seeds etc keep them off the ground. My goal is a winter vege garden but it may just be too cold here.
soc_butterfly,
Apr 10, 9:05pm
good going miss, I'm jeally of yours too!was dat some damn wabbits I saw there in the last one!Love wabbits.
I've had great success with pansies I bought from garden centre last year at this time.They just haven't stopped blooming for a year!I suppose a lot have also self seeded.they're the one stable flower that's just not stopped for a year.
I'll get some photos one day lol!
ords,
Apr 10, 9:16pm
They say that some flowers - is it marigolds! help to keep certain bugs and pests away from the veges. Lovely pics.you look to be rural as well!
missmuppett,
Apr 10, 10:21pm
Yeah we are rural, love it out here. though, close enough to town for essetials like milk & bread & wine (not in that order usually!) haha :) I am absolutely had it now also, I didn't "do" my back in, but there have been a few muscles used I didn't know I had! haha I am planning a trip to the hospice shop for some net curtains to help protect the garden this week.I also spet half a hour squishin the worlds tiniest catapillars!Honestly what a mission. I must google other ways to keep the blighters off!
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