Me :)

[Amybee]

Hi everyone, just thought I'd introduce myself as I'm new to this site and to gardening in any shape or form!! I have constructed myself a small raised bed in the garden - loads of space for more but I thought I'd see how successful this year is before digging up the whole lawn! I also have a beautiful rhubard and 2 apple trees from the previous owner of the house which I made lovely crumbles from last autumn.

I planted my first seeds about 10 days ago in a propogator and already have little savoy cabbage seedlings - they were a bit leggy so after reading some of the advice on this (very helpful) site I have repotted them into bigger pots and put the compost level almost up to the leaves. Other than that they seem pretty healthy and vigorous! I also have a few cauliflower seedlings starting to show although no sign yet from the others I planted (leek, coriander, sweet pepper). I think I may have made the compost too wet in the cells, is this likely to be a big problem?

I've already picked up loads of useful tips from the forum and I'm sure you'll have lots of questions and disasters from me over the next few months! Wish me luck...

Amy XX

[nick the grief]

Hi Amy, welcome to the Vine. If you've read all the threads you will know that most of us a quite mad here. Rhubarb Crumble, thats a new one here, it's normally made into an alchoholic beverage/muscle rub here

I would get planning the rest of the raised beds as I'm sure you'll have great success. Can't remember if it's Jax or not that is in to square foot gardening, I'm sure she will advise you haow to get the most from you little plot.

Take some piccies of the plot for us all to see

[sewer rat]

Hi Amybee & welcome
Like the avatar ( I am fan of Shrek - possibly due to physical resemblance and shared Scottish accent )
You will be turning most of your garden into beds by next year I can assure you.
Wouldn't worry too much just yet about other seeds not showing - all seeds germinate at different speeds and require different conditions (amount of light & heat being the main inducers) so just be a wee bit patient - unlike me who is chomping at the bit every time the snow melts up here, or even in between the showers

[Jaxom]

Hi Amy and welcome to the vine. Were a good bunch of Grapes here.
Nick is correct I am in to square foot gardening but this is my first year so all my knowledge is based of book reading. So far .
This year we built a raised bed that is five-foot by nine feet. It has a permanent grid on the top and a support rail along the north side to grow beans etc up.
Like you I decided on just one bed this year. The aim is to do one bed well rather than two beds poorly. As there is only two of us in my home I will be staggering the sowing of each square foot in order to get the longest harvest from the minimum of space.

Mel Bartholomew is the guy who wrote e the books "Square foot gardening" and I would recommend getting your hands on a copy.

Nick, remember that thread I started called "Can you hear the voices" and I mentioned that people sound different from each other when they write their posts? Well all I can think is that I sound female to you
I am in fact a man.

Amy there is a web site for Square foot gardening and it has some helpful information it can be found at http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ i would still recomend getting the book which can be found at http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...951932-7027063 there are older copies of the book on amazon that can be bought secondhand a little cheeper.
Jax, who also answers to Jack.

[andrewo]

Welcome to the vine Amybee, rasied beds are great, and so is Rhubarb Schnapps.

[Shortie]

Hi Amy, welcome to the Vine. If you've read all the threads you will know that most of us a quite mad here. Rhubarb Crumble, thats a new one here, it's normally made into an alchoholic beverage/muscle rub here

I would get planning the rest of the raised beds as I'm sure you'll have great success. Can't remember if it's Jax or not that is in to square foot gardening, I'm sure she will advise you haow to get the most from you little plot.

Take some piccies of the plot for us all to see

Okay, so the schnapps I've seen and will be trying, but rhubarb as a muscle rub...? Do tell

Welcome to the vine Amybee. I love you 'puss.... I boots' image btw!

[Alice]

Welcome to the forum Amybee. You might like to try couregettes grown in a pot. A 12" pot will be big enough or 2 in a growbag. Just start the seed off in a 3" pot on the windowsill and plant on to bigger pot as required keep indoors until weather is warmer, put outside on fine days and leave out in a sunny position after danger of frost is past. I grow Yellow Zuchini as I cant find them in the shops or are very expensive. 2 plants gives me all 2 of us can eat. Good luck and do let us know how you get on.

[nick the grief]

Sorry Jax, I don't know why I did that. Obvious;y I don't listen to the voices I'll Substitute Sir Tom Jones or Windsor Davies for charlotte church & see if it works LOL !!!

It is funny how you get a mental (very mentalin my case) picture in you mind. I was chatting to someone on another forum & his name was Vic, I'd got it in ot my head old & Glasses, turns out hes about 6' & twenty years younger than me !!

[nick the grief]

Windsor Davies works best

[Amybee]

Thank you all for your kind welcomes and comments! I got home from work today to see little green leek shoots sticking up, Yay!!

Thanks Jax for your info on square foot gardening. I was inspired by the web site in the first place and it is very helpful, I have Dr Hessayon's book and I am debating buying Mel's book too.

Alice I do have some courgette seeds to plant, can any variety be grown in pots? Sounds like a good idea as I understand they spread a lot...

Had to put some netting over my nice beautiful bed to keep the blooming cat off... she was sitting on it this afternoon looking very smug having probably spent the day digging around and I shudder to think what else in it

I will keep you posted with further exciting developments!! My mother is amazed that anything is growing since I actually managed to kill a spider plant when I was living at home and she says they're pretty invincible...

[Amybee]

PS is it possible to grow sweetcorn in a raised bed system or are they too big?

[andrewo]

No sweetcorn is possible as you grow it in blocks rather than lines, you can also plant courgettes at the bottom (the native americans did this as it supressed weeds and gave two crops from one plot), you won't need many courgettes. You could go as wide as your bed.

[Mel]

Had to put some netting over my nice beautiful bed to keep the blooming cat off... she was sitting on it this afternoon looking very smug having probably spent the day digging around and I shudder to think what else in it

Hi Amybee - welcome to the site. As you can see I am a newbie myself. I will also be putting some netting over my beds as the little girl you can see in my avatar keeps jobbying on it. I put a fleece over it a couple of months back and she still does her business on there .

I'm growing veg in raised beds too; it's my first time growing so I'm expecting to learn lots over the coming months and make lots of mistakes probably! I've got the Dr Hessayon book you have bought and I also have the RHS Fruit and Vegetable book. I look forward to sharing experiences with you and other newbies!

Mel

[Jaxom]

It is funny how you get a mental (very mentalin my case) picture in you mind. I was chatting to someone on another forum & his name was Vic, I'd got it in ot my head old & Glasses, turns out hes about 6' & twenty years younger than me !!

Up until I was about 28 I was the only Jack around in my circles so I had a neat name. If people called out Jack then it was going to be me. All other Jacks were about 50 years older than I was, so as I didn't hang round with many 80 year olds there was no confusion. Then Titanic came out with Leo DeCaprio and suddenly I would be walking down the street and hear a woman shouting "Jack come back this instant!" or "Jack you are a bad boy. If you don’t stop it I'm going to have to smack you."
Then the first time I tried getting a yahoo profile or joining a forum I found that I could not use Jack as it was always taken. Most times it was by a kid named after Titanic.
If you look at your keyboard you will see that the C key is next to the X key. A typo lead to Jax and then a SF novel lead to Jaxom. Natural progression.
Jax

[nick the grief]

I've always been Nick (well the clean ones anyway ). One of the guys I work with has just become a proud dad & they name thier new daughter India, Unusual to say the least, but I wonder what the kids will make of it when she's at school, still I suppose we'll have loads of Chelsea's & the like by then. Anyway back to the gardening talk