The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: jacob and Georgina on May 21, 2011, 10:13:50 pm
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we made the decision at the start of the year not to plant too much in the green house/veg patch this year as our house is on the market and thought we would be too busy keeping on top of other jobs and hopefully moving house! however it has become apparent to us that with things the way they are at the minute with the housing market we may be here for some time and it does not right seeing all our veg beds empty!
My father in law has always been in charge of growing stuff before, not to much success i might add, he has left now which means it is up to me! being a complete novice to veg growing i was wandering what i could plant in the veg patch now that i will be able to harvest before next year just in case we do sell the house and are left with a load of veg in the ground wasted!
i realise it is too late to grow from seeds so will have to buy plants i expect, in the green house we already have peppers, tomatoes, cucumber and mixed lettuce. some things i had in mind were cabbage and cauliflower etc? and ides would be much appreciated!! ;)
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Hiya :wave:
We ended-up in a similar situation ourselves & had to tenant our home due to new job start-dates. Our tenant said she "loved" gardening & seemed very excited about our veg, but we have just learnt that she has trashed the garden (about 1/4 acre of "cottage garden" with fruit trees, raised beds & flowers) - we are absolutley gutted :'(
Anyway, back to yours, it's probably too late to start most stuff now apart from sowings of lettuces etc, unless you are looking at veg for later in the year - such as perpetual spinach. Most of the garden centres are selling seedlings at the mo, so you could try peas, broad & runner beans, pumpkins, courgette as well as the brassica family.
You could also try a "pot orchard" - blueberries (in eracacios compost) & small varieties of apples & pears, strawberries - at least you could take them with you when you move ;)
Hope your plans to move go ahead soon - good luck :hshoe:
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Cabbage and cauliflower occupy the ground for a long time before cropping, which if you are trying to sell might not the best idea. In Yorkshire I would still be thinking about sowing radish, lettuce, carrots, beetroot, french beans and maybe fennel and chicory. If you pick varieties that are termed early you probably can't go far wrong. Early varieties mature in less time so are a good idea for sowing later in the season.
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Hi,
Beetroot, carrot, radish, land cress, leeks (a bunch from the garden center), Lettuce. There are loads of things that can be sown or planted out; don't forget your Christmas sprouts. See what you fancy and give it a go. If I have any space in the garden, I have a look at the seed packs when I'm in the supermarket and check out the sowing times. If there's anything I like the look of in season; I pop a pack in the trolly. Good luck and happy planting.
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so much you can try to grow, be adventurous as well, always worth trying to grow something new, try to buy from seed companies especially if there are any local to you, avoid buying from large supermarkets, they are swines, if you must then buy from more ethical ones like Waitrose.
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thanks for all replies so far am i too late for pototoes? will try all of those suggested so far ;)
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For potatoes, plant earlies and you will get a crop - 'early' just means that they develop more quickly than maincrop types.
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we made the decision at the start of the year not to plant too much in the green house/veg patch this year as our house is on the market and thought we would be too busy keeping on top of other jobs and hopefully moving house! however it has become apparent to us that with things the way they are at the minute with the housing market we may be here for some time and it does not right seeing all our veg beds empty!
My father in law has always been in charge of growing stuff before, not to much success i might add, he has left now which means it is up to me! being a complete novice to veg growing i was wandering what i could plant in the veg patch now that i will be able to harvest before next year just in case we do sell the house and are left with a load of veg in the ground wasted!
i realise it is too late to grow from seeds so will have to buy plants i expect, in the green house we already have peppers, tomatoes, cucumber and mixed lettuce. some things i had in mind were cabbage and cauliflower etc? and ides would be much appreciated!! ;)
Go for broke , that little garden could well be the unique selling point for you and if not you still have the food. I'd go as far as to suggest that you always sell with a good laid out and cropping garden.
Two of the houses I lived in were sold with a garden full of well ordered veg and flowers & fruit trees .. the buyers said they were delighted with the gardens , they were what swung the sale in my favour.
Sow your seeds in the green house use the thing to grow seeds into plants quickly ... use John Innes seed compost ... in small trays and as soon as they come through grow for another three days then harden them off for three days in the tubs .. Stand tubs in water for three hours to lessen the transplant shock . Plant them at the recommended spacings , carefully plant them out and water them in . .. instead of sowing wastefull rows that you thin only sow 6 or so brassicas, lettuces , 15 carrots etc each week ( do you really eat six cabbages a week ?? ) You could still pick up on onions , kohl rabi , leeks , all salad crops ,swedes ,beetroot and turnips as well as dwarf beans climbing beans .
Succession sow every week in small amounts accurately & well spaced fill the garden over the next two months.
If you can get the plants started off in pots first so much the better but do be aware you canot easily transplant all veg and flower stuff.
Those carrots ...dibber a four inch deep hole , fill it with sand carefully sow just two carrot seeds in each hole ( it's called station sowing ) make the row fairly short say 15 stations each row , thin the weediest carrot when they are four inches high and do this in late evening to slow carrot fly . Eat the thinnings in salads don't leave them in the garden to attract carrot fly and easy to keep the weeds down if needed.
If you had a well laid out garden that helped sell the house would it worry you if the crops were too late sown to mature ?