Green Fingers?

i am planning on growing my own vegetables and stuff in my garden and was hoping some of you numbskulls may have a bit of advice or knowledge for a complete novice in this field.

i am looking to grow Chili Peppers, or ordinary peppers, strawberries and maybe more but aint sure of the kind of hassle and cost involved in this kind of thing.

i am looking to do this asap so obviously summer growing stuff would be necessary...

Alan f*cking Titchmarsh......HAH

Its really cannabis that you're trying to grow isn't it?

oi this is a serious thread!

i want to do my own strawberries mainly but just need some starting advice in plain english without all the 'garden jargon' that all the garden nerds come out with.

thought it would be a long shot with you ill-educated bullies.

You need some seeds, space, soil and this...

Just go to a garden centre and ask. I know that you can already buy the strawberry plants and they take little attention.

well it is a hard job to keep the strawberries free from insects and viruses and cats [beep!] on them ..need to get a net or something to cover them , ours were not very big ...we had to go to sainsbury and get some more for dessert .

Conner - yeah, do you think it would be better to grow them in pots then? obviously the soil would be littered with bugs and things whereas a pot would be a little bit easier to maintain and stuff wouldnt it?

did you use and special grower on them or just left them naturally? i think id be tempted to add fast growing stuff to them?

Jack - yeah i will do, i aint a fan of talking to shop worjers though, generally they are blaggers, thieves and w*nkers!

Floody - Go fork yourself.

You are class

what do you mean?

from what i remember i dont think the insects were too much of a problem , it was birds when they saw the red colour swooping down and pecking them to bits , unless you can erect a small greenhouse in your garden you can use pots to grow them , when you water them dont get any on the actual strawberry as that will cause disease ..just water the soil and the leaves around , apparently if you can though grow them in the garden ..they taste better .

They take a month or so to grow i think ...there are different types of plant as well .

cheers mate, great help. a bit of intelligence!

greenhouse is a no no. im on a budget!!

do you think planting the seeds now is fine? for how long do they continue to bear fruit? i am probably going to try and get the seeds tonight and see what they say in the shop. B&Q will sell them wont they?

I'm doing well this year in growing me own. Not much space in me garden so I can't grow alot but I did learn from last year.

In a plastic little greenhouse I've got red peppers , coming along a treat , due to be ready in a couple of months.

Got loads of tomatoes round the garden , there nice and green , I'm just waiting for them to go red now. In fact i think I've doen too many of them. I've had to spread them out the front.

I've got some more blueberries coming after the birds eat the first lot , got them covered up now.

I've just finished my first set of strawberries nice and big , tasty too. A second batch is growing now. I bought them as plants instead of doing them from seeds as it is easier. They even regrow for next year.

Done some potatoes this year , yet to see if there ready.

And the last lot was some small beans. Not sure what happened to them but I only got one. Next year I'll plant them straight into the ground.

As I don't have much room I have put some in the ground , some in grow bags , some in pots. But all the other's I've put in the old recycling boxes and just added compost to them that comes with fertilizer mixed in with it. Then just watered them as normal.

I'm gonna branch out next year and do carrots and mushrooms.

Steely don't forget to put slug pellets round the bottom of them or the slugs will eat them all.

i think the usual months for strawberries are may , june and july ...Wimbledon ... the plants last a few years ..


Hey Smithy ..can i come round for dinner .....

I have strawberry growing in troughs, and they are doing great. A very easy fruit to grow is Rhubarb if you like it. It grows very quickly, and you get quite a few picks during the summer. The plant stay all year round and is very strong.

Also have an apple tree planted in the garden - was only planted this summer, and had one apple off it, although very small. As the tree grows, more and more apples will come. Just glad that it has rooted properly as we are seeing new leaves growing meaning it is doing fine since being transferred from a pot into the ground.

We are currently getting a fence put up - should be finished by the end of the day hopefully. Once this is done, I will be creating a vegetable patch in the garden. Not sure yet how I am going to acheive this lol, but I will have a go.

You like the sound of me assorted fruit and veg line then Conn

im impressed. i thought this would be a dead thread.

smithy your veg haul is mightily impressive. for a complete amateur what do you think would be best then? just planting in a grow bag? a pot? ive seen these special strawberry growing pot things.. are they necessary?

would places like B&Q or homebase actually sell the strawberry plant as well as the seed then? the plant seems an awful lot easier and quicker?

how much cash do you think all this will set me back roughly?

Tesco were selling Strawberry plants not so long ago as specials. But yes Steely, you can buy the plant from B&Q or Wyevale.

The pots are pants in my opinion. I had one last year and it didnt really help that much. You can just do it in a trough... We keep our trough them on a graden table - this way the strawberry dont lay on the floor when fully grown.

excellent, a trip to b&q is on the cards this evening then.

ok i will take your advice and ditch the pot things. what kind of return can i expect on the average plant do you think? ie how many decent strawberries roughly do they produce?

indeed ...add a nice bit of mince and i`ll be happy .