Beginners advice for compost????

[redlandrover90]

Hi there,

As a complete beginner I am looking at what vegetables to begin with next year.

A few queries...

What sort of veg can be sown now for overwintering in a small greenhouse ready for putting out early next year?

Also what sort of compost would anyone recommend for sowing seeds in, potting on and then planting out in containers? I understand that different veg may need different compost but is multi-purpose good enough for most things?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[Capsid]

Broad beans, garlic, spring onions, onion sets, spinach, winter lettuce can be sown now.

Multipurpose compost will be fine.

[Demeter]

Hi there,

As a complete beginner I am looking at what vegetables to begin with next year.

A few queries...

What sort of veg can be sown now for overwintering in a small greenhouse ready for putting out early next year?

Also what sort of compost would anyone recommend for sowing seeds in, potting on and then planting out in containers? I understand that different veg may need different compost but is multi-purpose good enough for most things?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

You have just about enough time to plant / sow - garlic, onions (pushing it a bit), broad beans (as long as you choose a suitable variety - aquadulce claudia or Sutton are recommended) or early peas (again , choose a suitable variety such as Meteor or feltham first). I also recently sowed All The Year Round cauliflower - it says sow October, but you might get something if you're quick. I'm not sure whether caulils are suitable for container growing, but worth a try if you like them

I would use multipurpose if I were you. Have used this for most things this year with success. I am not certain what the benefit is of using seed compost (someone else will no doubt come along to enlighten us both!) although I have also used that now and then and it seemed to work OK too!

[ecoprincess]

I used multi purpopse compost, and it was fine!

[bluemoon]

I use a peat-free multi purpose for everything except blueberries and it is great.

[Wren]

I use just a peat free, multi purpose compost too for everything.
Brassica's do not like a acid compost an peat is acidic, so for sake o me brassica's an preserving the peat bogs i buy a big bag of the peat free version of multi purpose compost an that suits everything just fine.

Wren

[redlandrover90]

Thanks for all the replies.

I'll go and get myself a couple of multi purpose composts then!

I'm going to overwinter some runner beans and try some peas too.

Thanks again.

[Demeter]

Do you really mean runner beans?
These are really quite tender plants and are most unlikely to overwinter successfully. The beans for overwintering are broad beans, either Aquadulce Claudia or else Sutton being the most commonly recommended varieties for this.

[Two_Sheds]

I'm going to overwinter some runner beans

Let us know how you get on !

[redlandrover90]

Whoops, Sorry I meant broad beans!!! I might be a begginner but I do know runner beans wouldn't do very well at this time of year!! I got myself some Aquadulce Claudia and so they'll be going in tomorrow.

[Demeter]

Whoops, Sorry I meant broad beans!!! I might be a begginner but I do know runner beans wouldn't do very well at this time of year!! I got myself some Aquadulce Claudia and so they'll be going in tomorrow.

(I wouldn't have known that a year ago...)