Vertical garden diary

[Dave Rennie]

Thanks veggiechicken,
I'll see how I can resize in phone without needing to use computer, would be easier that way.

[vixylix]

Dave they look fab - fingers crossed they give you a cracking crop!

Lovely to see the kids getting involved too

[Nannysally99]

Brilliant pictures and ideas.
Keep the pics coming won't you

[Dave Rennie]

Thanks Vixylix & Sally,
Yep I will keep the pics coming, all quiet at the moment though.
The little one keeps popping out to check if anything has shot up

Little observation today, these small green pockets go dry quite quickly. Today we had a few hours of sun and they were close to bone dry when I arrived back from work.

The big Ikea pockets retain the water, probably because of more soil/water in each pocket, and shaded from the harshest part of the day.

[Dynamite]

How do you get such good quality pics uploaded as the site limit on size is absolutely shockingly low.

Rob

[Jay-ell]

Dave - what are the Ikea ones made of? Does the fabric let excess water drain easily from the compost? I'm guessing the little one needs to use the trampoline to check the top pockets

Dynamite - You can get higher resolution by hosting the photo on a different site such as photobucket and linking to them.

[Dave Rennie]

How do you get such good quality pics uploaded as the site limit on size is absolutely shockingly low.

Rob

I upload the images to https://postimg.org then link to them in my post. That way this site doesn't pay for the bandwidth of the images.

[Dave Rennie]

Dave - what are the Ikea ones made of? Does the fabric let excess water drain easily from the compost? I'm guessing the little one needs to use the trampoline to check the top pockets .

Yes the fabric does let water drain out.
I think it's polyester. Similar to an umbrella.

As for the trampoline... we'd like to grow something underneath it. Any recommendations for a low growing, shade dwelling, edible plant?

[Dave Rennie]

Quick update from Slow Grow Farm.
3 days in and the first few shoots are starting to appear in the vertical planter and the seed trays.





It’s a good job we’re not relying on this as a food source!

The strawberries are ripening nicely, and there may be a few ready to enjoy in the next few days.





I’ve just purchased some bits and bobs to experiment with a microgreens project.
I plan to start over the weekend, and will post a record of it all here too.

Over the last year I’ve started eating loads of salad, and I really want to be able to grow our own all year round.

[Dave Rennie]

A few more shoots appearing this morning.



The Mrs started a rosemary cutting last night, and planted a red onion that was beginning to sprout.
Not sure what will happen with that...

[vixylix]

No matter how many times I see it - I still absolutely love seeing those little green shoots popping through

[Dave Rennie]

Yep, it's great hey
My daughter was delighted to see them too.

[Yasai]

Do you not have a problem with slugs and snails? My stuff isn't safe four feet off the ground, never mind down there. I'm down to 2 cucamelons and I haven't even planted them out yet. Hoping to put everything in the ground tomorrow, and hoping it doesn't all get eaten.

[Dave Rennie]

Do you not have a problem with slugs and snails? My stuff isn't safe four feet off the ground, never mind down there. I'm down to 2 cucamelons and I haven't even planted them out yet. Hoping to put everything in the ground tomorrow, and hoping it doesn't all get eaten.

Hi Yasai,
We do have problems with slugs, coming in the house at night, onto the BBQ when it's closed etc, but not had problems with them on the plants yet.

Your situation sounds like a nightmare!
Is there nothing you can do to prevent it?

[Yasai]

Well, I only have one of those small, plastic greenhouses but it's stood on concrete, so I keep sprinkling salt all around it; I can only assume that the damage would be worse if I didn't do that. What isn't in there is on a table in the garden to get full sun. Last night, something -foxes? Cats? Who knows- knocked some of them off for the heck of it; so I picked some half-eaten plants off the ground this morning. Hopefully, with this dry weather we're having and morning watering, the damage won't be too bad *she said optimistically* Having said that, I'd have them on my plants rather than in the house any day