New member with lots of questions

[CADS]

Hi everyone

This is my first attempt at growing my own vegetables. We don't have a garden so will be growing everything in containers.

I am going to try the following:

Sweet peppers (mini mixed)
Tomatoes (3 sweet million, 1 tumbler and 2 alicante)
Chillis
Little marvel peas
Hestia runner beans
Courgette (Tricolour F1)

So far I have managed to successful germination of 2 chilli, 3 peppers and 6 tomato plants. But I don't know what to do next. I have used those little 'grow and sow' things that expand when you add water.

Please can someone help. When do I need to pot them and what do I use. The garden centre told me to use John Innes No. 3 but it seems try to clay once its be watered. So, I'm not sure if this is the right compost to use now.

I have 3 tomato plants in 15cm pots (I move these to 15cm because the roots were starting to appear from the bottom of the 9cm pots) in this compost and 3 much smaller plants (proper leaves starting to appear) in 9cm pots. Is this oK? When should I plant the small ones into bigger pots and what compost should I use.

Also, what do I do now with my chilli and pepper seedlings?

Finally, I can find any advice of growing the peas, courgettes and runner beans so any information would be great. So I haven't even started these.

I think that is it for now.
I hope this all makes sense.
CADS

[bramble]

Well, I always use just a standard bag of seed and potting compost. get a bag of perlite and mix through the compost, it will allow air to flow through and stop it from sticking together if it dries out.
Peppers and toms, just move them into a larger pot when the roots start to grow out through the bottom or when they have their first pair of true seed leaves. I usually pot them on into a three or four inch pot. Keep them in these until the first truss of flowers appear and then decide to either put them into their final growing place. This can be the open ground, a large bucket or a grow bag, the choice is yours.
Peas, I usually start these off in the greenhouse or on the window sill if you don't have a greenhouse. Benefits, stops gapsbeing left where some may not germinate and also stops mice or other creatures eating the seed.
Peas need something deep to start them off as they have deep roots. I usually save toilet roll innards (the cardboard ) and use these or you can make your own newspaper pots. ( you will find the info on here somewhere)
When they have a couple of sets of leaves you can plant them out and put in some stakes for support.
Corgetts and beans, I do not grow these so someone will give you advice about these.
Hope this is some help and the best of luck.

[bramble]

CADS, sorry, I forget to say, welcome to the vine. You will get plenty of help on here so don't be afraid to ask plenty of questions even though you may think they're silly. We all had to learn.
Read all the back threads, theres tons of information to be had from these.

[kirsty b]

Hi CADS and welcome,

The Hestia beans you are growing are dwarf and will be quite happy growing in a pot. You could always start the seeds off somewhere warm, (I remember reading that beans do like warm soil) like a sunny windowsill and then plant them out into the pots when they are big enough. They shouldn't need support, but if the crops are as heavy as my book here suggests, it probably wouldn't hurt to put a cane or two in the pot.

Its my first year growing courgettes, so I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help with those.

Good luck and enjoy your veg at harvest time

Kirsty

[Waffler]

Welcome CADS!
Your beans you can either start off in small pots indoors now, or wait until May and sow directly. Before we moved I used to grow beans in pots and generally sowed directly: erect a wigwam cane support in a large pot of compost (tie securely at the top with garden ties, or raffia or string), make a 1" hole each side of each cane (some people say one seed per cane, but I like the insurance of a second, and never had problems with too many plants) and pop one seed in each hole, cover with soil and water. If you do it in pots, just plant one seed per pot and plant out once they get to 2" or so tall. Be vigilant of pest control when the plants are still young; this goes for any of your plants and is one good reason to start seeds off inside.
Courgettes - I plant 1 seed per pot (3") about an inch deep. Plant it on it's side so the moisture cannot collect on the flat surface. Cover with soil and water. Plant out once you get probably 4 true leaves. I've done them in grow bags before, but without great success, but I know others have been successful this way. Otherwise plant one per largeish pot.

[Cutecumber]

hello, CADS, I'm new too (they all seem pretty friendly so far!)

I would say don't rush - there's no panic to get the runners or courgettes started yet, and they can't survive a late frost. I'll be setting mine off in couple of weeks, I think, but in a greenhouse. The hestia beans are great, by the way - I get a good crop off mine - you'll enjoy them.

Be aware that the courgette plants can get big very quickly, and it's ok to start them in larger pots, or even in their final pot (but sow a couple of seeds and take out the weakest plant if they both germinate). The full-grown plants can be real monsters, so give them a good big container and be realistic about how many you need or have space for.

I would get the peas going asap, and, as the others say, try to use something with a bit of depth for their roots. You can also sow them directly into their final place as long as you minimise risks by sowing two as above. The peas will probably need some support, so consider that.

When you pot up your tomato seedlings, it usually best to do it in stages - don't go straight to a big pot. I believe that this is because too much room can make it put its energy into growing leaves and stem, rather than flowers and fruit. They are ready to plant into their final pot when the first flowers are opening.

For tomatoes and chillis (and peppers are similar to these) I use an organic grow-bag compost and I mix in some of our home-made compost to make it go further. I've been doing this for five years and all seems well. I decant the compost into my pot, plant the tomato and then mulch it with some straw. This year I am going to try under-planting a few with some small plants to see what happens.


Apart from the peas, possibly, your crops will need extra feeding as they only have a limited supply in the container. Think about getting a liquid feed - it should improve your results.

[Two_Sheds]

I grew same crops as you on a windy balcony on Brighton seafront...I just used multi-purpose compost, not John Innes No.3, which is a bit 'heavy'.
Good luck

[dexterdoglancashire]

Hi CADS and cutecumber - welcome to the vine! As you can see everyone is very friendly and has lots of useful advice. Looking forward to hear how you get on.
Best wishes
Bernie aka Dexterdog

[tattiefritter]

CADS, I've been using JI number 2 to pot on this year up to about 4" pot size and JI seed compost as I always found the normal multi-purpose drys out really quickly and is a pain to re wet (though its probably me being a numpty). My seedlings seem to be coping ok. I will be using normal multi-purpose mixed with JI to pot up larger pots though as I can only find JI in 20 litre bags and even if I could find a large bag of it there is no way I'd be able to lift it!

[JennieAtkinson]

Hi CADS and welcome to the Vine!

I grow some veg in pots last year and doing a few more this year, but watch that they don't get too top heavy and topple over. Its very frustrating seeing your prize veg squashed against the wall!

[Flummery]

Hello CADS, come in and make yourself at home. All I would add to the good advice is that you should beware of planting anything outside until you are sure there'll be no more frost. Here in East Yorks I put things outside in early June. This means that tender stuff, courgettes, beans etc. are grown in their pots in the greenhouse until then. On good days I bring them outside to harden off but put them back in the greenhouse at night. Alternatively you can drape some horticultural fleece over them if there's a frost warning, but it's a real downer to get great luscious plants going and then have them blackened off by a late frost. You should do really well in containers. Best of luck - and you won't believe the difference in flavour!

[CADS]

Oh, this exciting. I can't believe I got some many replies. Thanks everyone.

A couple of questions

1) Should I replant my tomato plants that are in JI no. 3, using multi-purpose compose instead. Or should I leave it until then need to move to bigger pots?

2) Can anyone give my some sort of idea what size pots for all my seedlings, sweet mini peppers, chillis, little marvel peas, tomatoes, hestia drawf beans, courgettes, etc, when they go into their final pots without have hundreds of pots crowding the patio. I am planning to put the tomatoes in their own individual pots but want to try and have two plants of each veg in a container.

Thanks
CADS

[Cutecumber]

Are the tomatoes thriving? I think I might wait unless there's a growth problem.

I sow my small seeds (i.e. not beans or peas or courgettes) in small cells, then move the seedlings, once they've got a few proper leaves, into 3 inch pots. For the tomatoes, when the first flowers open they go into their final pot.

For larger seeds, I either use rootrainers or a 3 inch pot - I have some strong square ones which fit together well in a tray and so save space. Runner beans and courgettes will quickly fill these, however, so either have a slightly larger pot available in case they romp away (5 inch, say) or put them into their final place straight away from the 3 inch pot.

In terms of the final pots, it's the bigger the better, to be honest.

For one tall tomato plant - grown up a cane, say - I use a container which is about a foot deep and about 10 inches across. You might not need a container exactly twice that size for two plants, but they will really drink a lot of water in hot conditions and you need to think about that.

I would put one courgette on its own in a large pot - at least the size I mentioned above, and I would be tempted to grow the tomatoes on their own, too. Several peas can go together and several hestia plants, but don't go mad! Chilli plants can be quite big and bushy, but it depends on the variety.

Does that make any sense?