New to this

[Suspect Sprout]

I have to say i'm some what overwhelmed by all the information out there and it's kinda putting me off a little, although I feel determined to give it a go

Is it too late to start growing seeds in pots indoors? I thought about growing usual salad stuff, runners, and strawbs in hanging baskets.

What useful tips can you give me to get me off to a good start?

When growing seeds in pots indoors, I know this sounds like a dumb question.... but, how many seeds do you put in per pot?

[nick the grief]

Hi SS,

No it's never too late

It' depends how many "things" you want to grow ! 40 tomatoes might be too many. I usually use 5" half pots and try and get them as evenly spaced as possible. The number depends what you are growing. Courgettes you only wnat 1 or 2 per pot. Brussels etc you can get 20 in there cos you prick them out as soon as they are big enough to handle by the leaves.

Go for it, you'll enjoy it no end - honest

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Suspect Sprout and welcome! It is not too late at all. Infact runner beans do not need to be sown until April. All the packets of seeds that you buy will have sowing and planting times on the back of the packets so these will give you guide lines. A good book to buy is The Vegetable And Herb Expert by Dr.D.G.Hessayon. You can get it from garden centres and it costs £7. Peas and beans can all be sown directly into the ground but I have no luck doing it this way as the mice pinch mine so I sow peas and all types of beans into cells. One bean per cell or root trainer - these are at the garden centres. Let them grow in the cell and then plant outside. Seeds like salad leaves just sprinkle a few on the top of some compost in a plant pot and cover with a thin layer of fine sand and water. When the seedlings are big enough prick them out into a seed tray carefully holding the seedling by one small leaf not the stem. Then plant out when they are big enough. Courgettes, squashes, marrows and cucumbers sow one seed per 3 inch pot and plant outside when big enough and all danger of frost has passed. Carrots, parsnips, beetroot, fennel and pak choi sow the seed directly into the ground as thinly as possible. I hope this will help to get you started.

[Suspect Sprout]

Hi Nick,
I'll give you a bit more info... the plot is a raised bed, all kept in with railway sleepers, approximately 4 metres x 2M (sorry for old measuring scale!)

I would like to grow the following salad stuff:

Toms
cucumber
rads
lettuce
spring onions
peppers

Other items include:

Runner beans
Leeks (maybe)
Courgettes

I would also like to have a go at raspberries and strawbs, although wondered whether strawbs would be best in a hanging basket, which is an option.

[Suspect Sprout]

Hi Lesley,
What are cells?? scuse my ignorance, I really am new to this!

I have got the book you refer to, but wasn't sure if it was adequately up to date, or 'good'.

[Suspect Sprout]

Forgot to add Nick that there are just 2 of us! So don't want to grow a whole shops worth, but it would be nice to farm out some of the produce to mum!

[Lesley Jay]

Suspect Sprout that book is excellent. As for cells they are the size of a seed tray and there are 24 squares in each. These squares are the cells and they help the roots to form in a good shape rather than them getting tangled up together if they are planted straight into a seed tray. You will see them in the garden centre. Root trainers are even better because they are slightly bigger and so the roots have more room but they are much more expensive. When I grow tomatoes I sow one seed per 4 inch pot and let the tomato grow up in that pot. You can transplant to a bigger pot before planting them outdoors if you have the room. Make sure that you buy a variety of tomato that is for growing outdoors - a good one is Ferline.

[nick the grief]

Careful of the sleeper SS, they can leach the creosote into the ground. If you can dig out and line them with plastic then back fill. You should be able to get all that in without too much bother. Try looking at the square foor gardening site (if you search this forum theres a link somewhere) and et hold of two books. Joy larkin - grow your own vegetables & growing in beds by pauine pears.

You can get them fromthe HDRA site (groworganic they are called now) these will give you loads of Ideas & the 2nd one give the planting distances for raised beds

[WiZeR]

welcome SS. I too am an absolute beginner at gorwing veg. I can't really give you any expert advice. However one thing to remember with hanging baskets is that they need a lot of watering, so if there is a possibility that you cant water every day (or even twice a day in a hot summer) then you may need to re-think. I know how you feel about being put off by all the info. But as I get into it more and more I find that there isn't much to panic about. You will not get everything right first time, you only learn from experience. I have the afore mentioned book and find it one of the best. You should not need to buy another book really. But if you want another then I can recommend Joy Larkcom's "Growing Vegetables".

Good luck with your adventure and remember - It's FUN!

[sewer rat]

Hi SS and welcome to the 'Vine
Loads of info will fly in your direction whenever you ask a question, but don't get too bogged down in the technicalities - it has to be fun or you won't keep at it.
As to whether it is too late to sow - bloody hope not!!!! All I have in the ground at the moment is garlic and rhubarb, have shallots in pots in greenhouse, and tatties chitting in the spare room on top of the wardrobe. It's still too cold up here - even in the greenhouse. Weather permitting I hope to be fully underway by mid - late April.
Bookwise, I have both the Joy Larkom book and Hessayon's Expert book - both really good and between them you should find out all you need to know.

Remember - Enjoy

[Suspect Sprout]

cheers you lot! Lesley, yes, get what cells are now!!

I have nothing growing, not even in pots! Will go out at the weekend and buy the first few packets I think!!

Happy with the watering issue on baskets, we successfully had loads of hanging baskets last year. Yes they are a commitment to water, which is why i'd rather have something productive out of them, not just flowers!

[nick the grief]

Having re-read the list SS, the only bits you may struggle with are the raspberries & strawbs Thes might take up a bit too much space if all you've got is 12x6 feet.

You could always grow the raspberies around a post rather than in a row - you won't get so many but if there's only two of you that might not be so bad.

The strawbs you could grow these in planter bags (bit like big growbags - westlands do these) and have them on a table so you don't have to bend down to pick them & it will keep the slugs off as well. They'll need feeding in the bags, but you could use a soluble feed when you water them. They'll need replacing every 2-3 yrs but you can root your own runners.

To hide the table have some pots of flowers in front!

It can be daunting when you first start, but you'll soon get the hang of things and before long you'll have a lottie plot like the rest of us.

[andrewo]

You can also do your fruit in pots and troughs. Get an old plastic bin for strawberries and drill 1-1/2" to 2" hols around the sides (make sure you have also put drainage holes in), leave a foot at the bottom for crocks/drainage. Plant strawberries through the holes and backfill with compost and grit. When you get to the top, put more strawberries (I have done this for 5 years and get bumper crops and no slug problems as the whole bin is raised on bricks). You can fit a trellis to a wall and place a trough beneath and plant your raspberries in this as they only have a shallow root system.

[Lesley Jay]

Andrewo what a great idea using an old dust bin for the strawberries. I think I will do this for my daughter and my son to have in their gardens. Roughly how many plants do up put in the sides of the bin?

[SueA]

Suspect Sprout,you can start most of the things you want to grow in pots indoors either in a propagator or just in pots with a plastic bag over them until they germinate. Like Andrewo I think growing the strawberries & raspberries in tubs or troughs is a good idea, Ive got Autumn gold raspberries in a large tub & strawbs in a raised bed & strawb. pot. You might want to try 'cut & come again' lettuce (or packs of mixed salad leaves) as there are only the 2 of you. I grow these in a large shallow pot & just snip some off when I need them & they carry on growing all through summer.