What are your three best ones?

[Raybon]

The ones I found on this vine are:

Never leave the soil bare, cover with cardboard/ vegetable mulch, or crop
Shade your cucumbers
Plant through cardboard, it keeps the weeds down, moisture in, and helps condition the soil

My offering would be:
Sow a good-sized seed tray of lettuce, grow them on and plant out as you need them. The ones in the tray will stay small. You don't have to keep sowing more! Have just made my ninth planting from the same tray.
I have done this for ages, then Monty Don gave the same advice on the telly!
I think he's been reading my posts....

[shushkin!]

Good tips Raybon

I do the same with cardboard to stop weeds popping up between my veggies. I cant say its pretty but heck it does the job.

[Bill HH]

Don't tell friends, neighbours or relatives when you have just harvested something.

[Dorothy rouse]

Cover soil, with cardboard, or similar, to prevent weeds, and nutrients washing away during winter months.

Start off seeds on your window sills indoors.

Use green manures on bare areas.

Cover/protect your crops with appropriate size netting.

Feed the soil, to replace nutrients used by your crops.

Ask questions on the Vine, cos lovely Grapes will help and advise you.

[Dorothy rouse]

Read the question asked first cos it says 'what are your 3 best', sorry!

[Bal]

1, joining the vine
2, using cardboard in the compost bin.
3,using easy fill hanging baskets

[taff]

mulch soil [thanks Two sheds]
tomato anti blight covers [thanks Zazen]
lasagne beds [another one from Two Sheds]

and general all purpose compost absolutely everything

[Nicos]

My first would be to try growing a new veg/fruit new each year as there is so much back up on here for advice .

Second...to follow Supersprout's thread on mulching-
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ment_5573.html

Third ...water collection/storage and soil preparation are just as important as actually growing the plants!

[Raybon]

Great Supersprout thread, thank you.

[mothhawk]

Pruning - 90% of plants will re-grow, no matter how severe the mistake (one exception would be lavender, but even that you can redeem by using the prunings as cuttings).

H/M compost - spread it everywhere and watch stuff GROW

general - share your successes and your failures, so folk can learn from you, and you can learn from them.

bonus tip - handle comfrey tea with care or wear a hazmat suit

[Greenleaves]

My three are:

Big Mally's tea tubes (not to mention his, do you know what this is water feature)
The collective knowledge and humour of those using the vine
Lasagne beds

[mr tiler]

What's comfry tea lol

[Bal]

My three are:

Big Mally's tea tubes (not to mention his, do you know what this is water feature)
The collective knowledge and humour of those using the vine
Lasagne beds

Hi guys have tried doing a search on "lasagne beds" but can't find anything, what are they

[Bren In Pots]

Here's an older thread that also contains a few links :- http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ing_75463.html

the vine search box isn't too good so instead use this one :-
site:www .growfruitandveg.co.uk

but take out the space after the www and add the words you're searching for in front so it looks like this :-

lasagne beds site:www .growfruitandveg.co.uk

[AllInContainers]

1) Ignore the rules:
You're working with nature, and nature ignores the rules all the time. Do eveything right and the plants still might fail, do something wrong and the plants might well compensate. It's all too easy to get caught up in the "do"s and "dont"s then get frustrated when things aren't perfect. Stick 'em in the ground or in a pot, chuck a bit of feed and water at them when needed, and instead of trying to MAKE it happen, just LET it happen

2) Have spares:
It doesn't matter what you do, you will lose something all the time. Maybe it's a weak strain, or disease, or freak weather, or pests, or vandalism/theft, or even reasons unknown .... have spares, or at least have a Plan B. An alternate crop you can throw into a new bare spot to make good use of it.

3) Enjoy it:
Depending on what you do, and how you do it, there might not be any significant money saving on buying food from the supermarket. So why do it? well there's knowing the quality of the food and what's gone into it, enjoyment, excercise, and fresh air. If you don't enjoy it, you will either give up, or be doing something loathingly which is not good for you or the plot/garden. If you're not enjoying it - change it. Maybe it's bothersome plants - get rid! Maybe it's too time consuming or too demanding physically - change your crops/techniques to make things easier. Also, remember to include plenty of R'n'R time wherever you grow. Take time to soak up the atmosphere and relax, and don't let it become a "workplace". Many of my successes have come from sitting out in the sun with a beer or glass of wine, and just letting my mind wander till inspriation hits. Hop up, do whatever it is that's sprung to mind, and settle back down with the bevvy, comfy chair and big grin