Peas are a great crop to grow in containers but not many people recommend you grow them in containers, I think this is because they take up large amounts of space in the garden.
There is a variety of peas called Burpee’s Peas ‘n-a-Pot and these are low growing so can be grown in containers. These seeds are available from a number of seed companies including Burpee.com.
I highly recommend you try growing these peas in your container garden next year!
There are two main types of tomato. Many get confused about these so I thought I should quickly talk about each of the types of tomato here.
Cordon – These are the varieties that are grown on a simple stem. They need to be trimmed and supported throughout the growing season. With these varieties you should only allow four trusses to set. There are many varieties available varying in colour, size and shape.
Bush – These varieties are mainly outdoor varieties, these make growing tomatoes outdoors so much easier. As the name suggests they grow as a small bush which grows to only 1ft high. The major advantages are that the plant does not need supporting and trimming. However as the plants are low growing it can cause the tomatoes to rot, lay hay or straw around the plants to prevent this.
Hope that helps
We all have snail problems. They are slimy, horrible and eat my precious vegetables! Snails can be hard to stop, however hard you try you always get one muching on your veggies.
Here are a few ways I stop them.
Upturn a flower pot, snails will soon find there way under them to get in the shade. Then it is up to you to ‘get rid’ of them however you wish.
Make beer traps and get ‘em drunk. The snails will become tipsy and fall in the beer and die. A great way to die!
Simply check for snails daily and again ‘get rid’ of them in anyway you want. You will find that you will be able to get rid of 60% of snails by just doing this.
Slug pellets, I don’t like them and don’t use them but they do work. If you are having big problems with snails then you may decide to use them.
So how do I ‘get rid’ of the snails? I collect them and place them in a jar full of soapy water, it will kill them instantly. Another famous method of killing them which an old friend of mine does is collect a whole heap of snails and drops a brick on top of them, it’s a quick and painless death for the snails.
Disclaimer (I have to have one!) – In no way do I encourage the killing of animals with this post. The information is for entertainment purposes. (Sorry about that. I have got to have a disclaimer)
On my daily read through all of my top forums I ran across a post from a man who was unsure about how to plant cucumbers so I thought I would post here about it.
Cucumbers should be sown under glass as they can be a little temperamental. The seeds should be sowed March – April. Place the seeds on there side in 3 inch pots ¾ filled with quality compost, topping the pot up with compost.
Plant the Cucumbers in larger containers, the greenhouse boarder or in containers in late March. Plant one per pot or two per regular growbag.
If planting the cucumbers outdoors things need to be done a little differently. Before planting the small plants outdoors they need to be hardened off, this is a process in which the plants are placed out doors for longer amounts of time daily until they become used to the colder outdoor temperatures. Plant the cucumbers outdoors in late May or early June once the risk of frost has passed.
Once planted outdoors you should keep the plants well watered and make sure that you feed the plants with a general feed in the summer months.
It really isn’t as hard as people say!
Is it possible to grow tomatoes year round in a greenhouse?
Realistically it isn’t, however it is possible to harvest tomatoes for 7 or more months of the year. By making several sowings indoors from November to May will extend the harvesting season massively. August – September is when regular gardeners harvest their tomatoes but I consider us Container and Greenhouse gardeners the elite gardeners.
Extending the season isn’t easy and nature can be a difficult thing to work with but there are ways you can extend the season easily. Making sowings in November in a heated greenhouse will mean that your plants should have green tomatoes on there before others have even begun sowing. Tomatoes grow best at 65F (18C) so you should make sure you greenhouse is constantly at that temperature.
The rest is simple, work, work, work!
As garlic reaches maturity, the leaves will soon begin to brown and die away. This is telling you that it is time to harvest your crop of garlic. If you harvest the garlic too early the cloves will be very small, harvest too late and the bulb will have split.
Proper handling of garlic after it’s been picked is almost as important as looking after it whilst it’s growing. It’s really is essential that garlic is dried properly, otherwise it will rot. The bulbs are often hung up in a cool, dry place. After a week or so, take them down and brush the dirt off gently - don’t wash the bulbs at this stage.
Then enjoy the delicious results of growing your own garlic in your own garden.
Garlic is part of a vegetable family called the allium family, this includes onions, shallots and leeks.
Garlic is growing from cloves, Once the plants are ready for harvesting each clove will produce a bulb which should contain a number of cloves (10-12 on average)
When planting garlic you should always choose a well drained variety which gets plenty of sun throughout the day. Cloves should be planted upright about 2.5 cm under the soils surface, plant the cloves 2 inches apart in rows which are around 18 inches apart.
Once the garlic cloves begin to grow you should keep the beds well watered and weed free. Regular checks for pests and disease should also be done.
Turnips are a fantastic vegetable but are often not grown by gardeners, maybe this is because of the low quality turnips sold in most supermarkets?
My favorite variety is called Oasis a variety which is well known for it’s great taste which is commonly described as tasting similar to melon. I like the varieties that can be picked at tennis ball size as in my opinion makes the turnips taste much nicer.
Growing Instructions
Turnips are quick growers! The plants like soil which is none acidic and is pretty well drained. Sow the seeds between April - July and regular intervals. You should sow the seeds thinly ½ an inch deep in rows that are 10-12 inches apart.
Once the seedlings are big enough to handle you should thin the seedlings to 4 inches apart making sure you keep the strongest plants.
A common problem with turnips is that they become woody, you can avoid this by growing them as quickly as possible. This means that watering is essential and feeding with a general fetiliser is also an option to consider.
Hope that helps ‘ya!
I know there are a lot of people who read my blog who are totally new to gardening and planting there first potato would be a daunting task. So hopefully this post will be helpful to a number of people for next spring as well as now for planting second cropping potatoes.
Potatoes can be grown in most soils, they are ideally suited to a sunny location where the soil has recently been dug. If you are planting main crop potatoes or second cropping potatoes it would also be a good idea to sprinkle a little Growmore on the soils surface.
Plant the tubers 5 inches deep, 12-15 inches apart in rows which are around 27 inches apart. Alternatively if you are growing in pots you should only one potato in a twelve inch pot.
When the plants are around 9 inches high you can begin earthing up, this is the process in which the soil is drawn in around the plants to stop sun light getting to the potatoes under the soil.
The potatoes may need a little watering in dryer whether but this is only really important once the tubers have begun to form.
Harvesting can begin once the plants begin to flower however if you wish to store the potatoes you should wait until the haulm (tops) begin to die. When harvesting make sure that you harvest ever single potato however small, as these will grow again next year and this can cause problems.
So that is the basics, I will post in more detail about planting potatoes in spring when earlies, second earlies and main crop potatoes should be planted.
In my blog I do mainly focus on container gardening but growing vegetables is raised beds is also something that I want to talk about here.
The basic principle is to have a number of raised beds which are ideally 4ft x 10ft in size. The beds are divided by paths which I recommend are covered with wood chippings or are flagged to prevent weeds growing. It’s that simple.
Growing vegetables in raised beds takes a lot of work out of gardening, you won’t be standing on the raised beds so no major digging will be required, less bending down will be required as well as a number of other benefits.
I will be talking about growing fruit and vegetables in raised beds more over the next few weeks. Please, if you are interested in learning more about raised bed gardening post a comment 
