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Heres something I have been doing for a while now. You save a worn one of those heavy duty shopping bags like the ones they have in wilkinsons. You line it with screwed up news paper and then slowly fill it up with your veg peelings and other organic kitchen waste. When it is almost full you cover it with about 2-3 inch of compost and stack it out of the way wilst you make another one. In April/May you can take it out again and you fill it up with some more compost and use it to sow your pumpkins and squashes directly into. You can then pop it into your greenhouse or cover it till germination has happened and the weather is warm enough. You then just pop it in full sun light and have no need for re-planting and the squashes have all the nutrient they need.
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That's a fab idea! I've got a couple of big plastic lined jute bags with damaged handles that might be set to use like that
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What a great idea ammi - Im thinking they would be good for dwarf french beans :-)Comment
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Great idea. I always throw away those big bags, as there is never a use for them once you get your shopping home. No good for general shopping as they are too big.
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Even better that in this weather you can just keep them at the side of your door and not have to keep doning the wellies and coat to go to the compost bin!!!!Comment
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ammi, we dont have wilkinsons so i'm not sure what kind of bags you mean - can you explain a bit more please? many thanks & sounds like half the grapes on here will be doing this!Originally posted by ammi View Post
and secondly, will i be too late to start doing it now?Comment
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Do you reckon it would it work as good with used compost/grow bags ?Location....East Midlands.Comment
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I do it all year round so I always have a couple on the go at any one time (once filled they can store for several months at a time). When they have been used I just empty them on to my veg patch and dig them in. The bags I mean are the ones that you can get instead of plastic bags. Most of the supermarkets do some type of them. Tescos do a black mjaterial typ one and morrisons do a plastic weaved type one (though they need a couple of extra holes poked in them to let the excess fluids out. The wilkinsons ones are the largest and are a heavy duty black weaved material and they tend to hold the bigger plants better. Our local shopping centre has a place called homewares and the do a brillint hessian one. You have to pay between 45p an a couple of pound for the bags and the never last as long as they should so this is how I recycle them.Originally posted by Scottishnewbie View Postammi, we dont have wilkinsons so i'm not sure what kind of bags you mean - can you explain a bit more please? many thanks & sounds like half the grapes on here will be doing this!
and secondly, will i be too late to start doing it now?Comment
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I suppose it could work with them but my main problem was that the growbags never seem deep enough for my squashes and pumpkins. My courgettes all half starved in a grow bag the first time I grew them but Ive never had that problem with my home made deep filled bags. Ive even grown some new potatoes in my green house using one, I managed to fill a large pan with lovely new potatoes on christmas day from it.Originally posted by Bren In Pots View PostComment
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what a brilliant idea! I never had enough compost for all my pot grown plants - so this would be good and save me a few pennies too!
Thank you for the idea I shall start asap! (but not leave them by the back door as dogs/chickens will have a great time
lol!)
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THis is a fab idea. Haven't managed to make a compo bin at home yet and posted on the container thread for ideas on how to grow squashes in pots but no one posted back. So this has killed two birds with one stone so to speak! I suppose any hardy bags will do. The tescoes ones we have, bag for life blue heavy duty ones tend to go at the seems so I tend to stick to my cloth bags for shopping. This will be a great use for the bags for life that aren't!
Can i just ask, when you say line with screwed up newspaper, do you mean all around the sides, or just on the bottom. I know i sound a bit dim here but just wanted to be sure!
Many thanks
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I only put aboy 4-5 screwed up sheets in the bottom and that seems to work fine. It helps to hold the moisture a little better than without the paper.Originally posted by jackyspratty View PostTHis is a fab idea. Haven't managed to make a compo bin at home yet and posted on the container thread for ideas on how to grow squashes in pots but no one posted back. So this has killed two birds with one stone so to speak! I suppose any hardy bags will do. The tescoes ones we have, bag for life blue heavy duty ones tend to go at the seems so I tend to stick to my cloth bags for shopping. This will be a great use for the bags for life that aren't!
Can i just ask, when you say line with screwed up newspaper, do you mean all around the sides, or just on the bottom. I know i sound a bit dim here but just wanted to be sure!
Many thanksComment
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Thanks ammi, am getting going on this now! Just have to tell my neighbour that there will be les scraps for her chooks!Comment
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Started my first one today... maybe we will get decent pumpkins this year (that is... if the dog and chickens don't get to the plants first....
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I was suprised to see that once I had put newspaper in the bottom and then my full kitchen compost crock that the bag was about 1/2 full already! I can see that I will get a few ready in time for planting!
Would you plant 1 pumpkin seed per bag or could you maybe squeeze 2 in?Comment
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i started one last week and hubby trying to be helpful emptied it into the big compost bin!!Comment
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