new greenhouse

[susie]

Hi all, have just found you and read lots of your postings. Have just set up new greenhouse and have transferred everything from small plastic covered areas. I am very keen amateur and would welcome some basic advice.
Can I grow strawberries in pots in the greenhouse?
Whats the best way to grow toms and cues, pots or growbags or thoses fancy growpots?
I could write here all night...have too many questions lol

[Alice]

Hi Susie, good luck with your greenhouse. You can grow your strawberries outside. Toms & cucs will grow in 12" pots or in growbags. The choice is yours. I'm using 12" pots this year. Planning to try half in greenhouse, half outside and see what the difference is. You can grow courgettes in greenhouse or outside. I prefer outside as they take up a lot of space and for me at least seem to do better outside.

[blackkitty]

Hi Susie
I grow my strawberries in hanging baskets, it keeps them away from the slugs, and I transfer a few of them to the greenhouse in Autumn as they get started much earlier then and you get some nice early strawberries. I grow my tomatoes in pots as I find they take up less room than growbags, but then I always seem to end up with loads more plants than I really need.

[susie]

thanks Blackkitty and Alice have done a lot of reading about 'the best this and that' but theres nothing like real people advice.

[nick the grief]

Hi Susie & welcome to the greenhouse owners club.

You can grow strawbs in pots in the Greenhouse leave them out side (potted up of course) till about Christmas & then Bring them in. If your greenhouse is heated you'll get a crop about 8 weeks or so before the ones outside will be fruiting.

Toms, I'd grow in pots unless you've got a big greenhouse as you'll have to kee changing the soil in the beds every 2 or 3 years otherwise you can get disease. In pots you don't have that problem cos it's ressh compost every year.

You can grow your Cue's in pots as well The black buckets that florists uses are good & you can buy them really cheap if you look round.

[Emma]

Hi,

I grow my cucumbers and tomatoes in what I think they call the ring culture method. You cut the bottom out of a large flowerpot and sit it in a grow bag. Then fill the pot with compost and plant your Tomatoes etc. in the pot. By doing this you are giving the plants roots more root to grow, you won't have to water them quite so often and it gives better stability for any canes you are looking at using for support. I know a few people who swear by this method and I must admit it has become a favourite of mine.
Em
-x-

[sewer rat]

Hi Susie
I'm with Em on her method of growing toms and cukes. I used it last year for my toms and cukes and they were all very succesful, so will be doing the same this year. Have also tried doubling up growbags =- stacking them two high, but this is just plain messy and it's difficult to line the bags up properly so that water, that precious liquid that no-one down south has, but we have in abundance up here - doesn't end up on the greenhouse floor.

[Janette]

You can make your own growbags out of the strong black bin bags you can get at Tesco, that way you can control the size and thickness, cheaper aswell. I mix compost and vermiculite to fill them which goes some way to helping us poor southerners with the watering problem.

Janette

[susie]

Thanks for all your helpful tips, I am trying a cross section of different ways of growing toms cues courgettes etc pots, in out and different soils types some with slow release some without. Have made one big boob so far I have sown so many seeds and was in such a rush to get going that I did not label some.............I hear you laughing...........well as you can imagine i now have a big prob.........not sure which are cues, courgettes or chillies so will have to wait for true leaf shape..........i have not bought lolly sticks and pen to label.

[poultrychat]

Thanks for all your helpful tips, I am trying a cross section of different ways of growing toms cues courgettes etc pots, in out and different soils types some with slow release some without. Have made one big boob so far I have sown so many seeds and was in such a rush to get going that I did not label some.............I hear you laughing...........well as you can imagine i now have a big prob.........not sure which are cues, courgettes or chillies so will have to wait for true leaf shape..........i have not bought lolly sticks and pen to label.

Hi susie - I'm not laughing as I rarely label anything I grow and if I do I never put down which one it is if it's a tomato then that's all the label will say, not type or anything - I find it makes it all the more exiting when the seeds emerge I do keep the seed packets though and at the end of the year they go back in the fridge if I liked them or get bined if I didn't have a good crop, that way I know what to reorder. Last year I grew my toms. in 5 inch pots (bottoms intact) and put those in the grow bags and had a really good crop and it does make a difference on support keeping them in pots. Aubergines were also in 5 inch pots and it worked really well - it's only cucumbers I need to master now - I've never managed to get a crop!

[Lesley Jay]

Susie if it helps I sowed my courgettes and cucumbers on the same day. The courgettes are now really big and the cucumbers are much smaller with smaller leaves as well.