Peas doing well.

[Florence Fennel]

That is so impressive Colin, brilliant. Just shows how much you can do in containers.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Wow

Do your caulis and PSB grow to full size in the Morrisons bucket? I have 32 caulis (4 different varieties) in 3" and 4" pots and was expecting to have to use 4 beds for them. If they'll go in buckets that will save a great deal of space.

Sylvan,

My caulis go all the way in buckets, but the PSB goes in the bins when the second earlies have been harvested.

Colin

[Potstubsdustbins]

Wow, very productive patch you've got there!

Have you always grown in containers? Did you patio your garden, or are there plants to grow in the ground?

Chris, the rear garden was totally slabbed when I bought the house, SWMBO claimed the front garden for lawn and flowers leaving me no choice but to go container when I got the GYO bug some 25 years ago.

I started like everybody with toms in growbags, changed to pots. Then tried spuds and it just seemed to grow (no pun intended).

Now as I get on in years I would not change as proper gardening would be to much of a physical challenge.

Colin.

[Potstubsdustbins]

And thankyou all for your kind words.

Colin

[Sylvan]

Sylvan,

My caulis go all the way in buckets, but the PSB goes in the bins when the second earlies have been harvested.

Colin

Thanks Colin. The container king

[Germinater]

Hi Colin.from one container grower to the other Q-wot do you do with all your comPost??do you condition it with fbd or manure??cos that's what iv found the most expensive part .think iv bought 600litres this year and il still need a few hundred more for my sprouts ..great garden too by the way..hope for mine to be that organised one day..

[Potstubsdustbins]

My ideas on compost won't suit everyone, but being slightly tighter than the ducks perverbial I try to reuse as much as possilble. I also have two daleks which are a great help.

As a for instance as I harvested my first early spuds, the compost was riddled to remove roots etc, this was put in the daleks. The compost was sweetened with BFB and now my caulis are growing in it.

Later as I harvest my second earlies the compost will be riddled and sweetened and my PSB will reside there.

The thing to remember is that BFB, Growmore etc are basic balanced fetilizers i.e. the NPK is 6-6-6 and
7-7-7- respectively. Whilst these will provide the basic nutrients for the plants you will have to use other feeds such as miracle grow, tomorite, comfrey tea etc to get the best results.

At the end of the year I use my dustbins (could not live without my bins) to store riddled compost over winter. I make a note of what the compost was last used for and change its use in the spring. The container growers crop rotation. In the spring out it comes its sweetened up and off we go again.

I always use new compost for seed setting to ensure it is truely sterile.

The only compost I throw away is any where the plants have shown some kind of disease. At the moment my courgettes have powdery mildew and that compost will go.

Hope this helps Colin.