Growing in fishboxes

[annacruachan]

Hi everyone,
Been watching the forum for a few days and decided it was too good to miss! I'm seventy and have been growing veggies in gardens for about fifty years, but find myself now on a small slate island off the west coast of Scotland with about one inch of soil to work with! Luckily OH is a sailor and brings me back fishboxes and drums of all sizes that are washed up around here - all nice and clean, well scoured by our stormy sea. I also have an unheated GH and one of those small plastic ones.
Most things are growing well, but some don't want to germinate - courgettes, for instance; I've never had problems with them before - and the pricey White Lady beans I bought from Marshall's have produced just two beans! Any and all suggestions gratefully received!
The number of different varieties some of you are growing is staggering! I thought I was being quite adventurous with my five varieties of tomatoes and three different types of squash!
I can see I'm going to enjoy being part of this group.

[blito]

Hello and welcome

sounds an amazing place to live and a long way removed from the bulk of the people around here with their lush, pampered allotments.

from your description of your locality i`d say you deserve respect for growing anything! gardening on the edge! thats hardcore!

[Scottishnewbie]

I hope I'm still up to growing veg when I'm 70! Well done to you - you are an example to the rest of us

[sweetiepea]

Hello and welcome!
Grew lots in fishboxes years ago, but in a very different climate! Sorry I can't recommend varieties to try, but hope we'll meet again on the vine. I think we'll be calling on you for lots of advice!

[Spangles]

Hi Annacruachan - not far from you - North Connel. Luing is a lovely place to live. I scour the shore between North Connel and Benderloch when I'm out with the dogs for drums, fishboxes etc.

Hope you enjoy the forum - I've not posted much - only just joined - but the tips etc. are amazing and I spend my time imaging some of the veggie plots etc. oh the joys of gardening and the peeps on here are so friendly and I think some of them have the same warped sense of humour that I do

[jackie j]

Hi and welcome from someone way down south. There seems to be a lot of peeps on here from scotland lol

[TonyF]

I put this on the tips section a few weeks ago, I use fish boxes all the time, excellent way to grow things or just to keep small germinating seeds on in pots, keeps the plants warm when it's cold and cool when it's hot. And I half fill the boxes with potting compost (having blocked the drainage holes with polythene and making small holes to drain) and grow seeds in the compost.

Excellent bit of wombling and usually free from fishmongers if you can't get the wild variety of box.