beginner fruit/veg garden

Been following this thread since you started it, you've inspired me almost to the point of getting off my large backside and doing this!

Good job bud @Inevitability , when I start my veg garden, you will be the first person I contact.:)
 
mpower111 said:
Been following this thread since you started it, you've inspired me almost to the point of getting off my large backside and doing this!
Good job bud @Inevitability , when I start my veg garden, you will be the first person I contact.:)
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Hehehe. Like they say at Nike ... "Sweat shops and child labour FTW"!!!
No wait... That's not the one. :D

Cpt.SpAce.Cowboy said:
Looks great! What cucumbers is that?
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National Pickling. Those 2 plants are putting out flowers (out of 6), but they don't exactly look like the picture of good health (neither do the rest of them). There's not much YouTube / internet content specifically about this variety so it's not easy to judge. Thing is, when I look at my plants, they only have a few small light-green leaves and these flowers. When I look at YouTube / internet content showing healthy cucumber plants (not my variety), they show an abundance of large dark green leaves.
So I'm a bit worried.

...Say a prayer for them!
 
Inevitability said:
Hehehe. Like they say at Nike ... "Sweat shops and child labour FTW"!!!
No wait... That's not the one. :D


National Pickling. Those 2 plants are putting out flowers (out of 6), but they don't exactly look like the picture of good health (neither do the rest of them). There's not much YouTube / internet content specifically about this variety so it's not easy to judge. Thing is, when I look at my plants, they only have a few small light-green leaves and these flowers. When I look at YouTube / internet content showing healthy cucumber plants (not my variety), they show an abundance of large dark green leaves.
So I'm a bit worried.

...Say a prayer for them!
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Strange that they are so yellow. Looks like they are in the sun? So you going to make gherkins with them?
 
The fastest growing and easiest to maintain are weeds. they don't need much light water or anything else.
 
Cpt.SpAce.Cowboy said:
Strange that they are so yellow. Looks like they are in the sun?
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They are in the sun, yes. That part of the garden gets maybe 8 hours of full sun now (07:00 to 15:00).
The greenhouse plastic supplier said that the product he would supply (Patilite) would deflect the sun's IR light so it would help prevent the plants from getting burnt by the sun. I don't want to have to buy a fertiliser... I'm a cheapskate.

Cpt.SpAce.Cowboy said:
So you going to make gherkins with them?
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Ya, that's he main aim... but these cucumbers are also supposed to be good to just slice and eat, or in salads. And if thats the case, my kids might not leave any for pickling! :D
And this is why the cucumbers are my biggest hope for this whole beginner garden project... Cos everyone in the family will love them. And if I can grow these successfully, the feel-good factor will keep me trying to grow more (and different kinds of ) food
 
Inevitability said:
They are in the sun, yes. That part of the garden gets maybe 8 hours of full sun now (07:00 to 15:00).
The greenhouse plastic supplier said that the product he would supply (Patilite) would deflect the sun's IR light so it would help prevent the plants from getting burnt by the sun. I don't want to have to buy a fertiliser... I'm a cheapskate.


Ya, that's he main aim... but these cucumbers are also supposed to be good to just slice and eat, or in salads. And if thats the case, my kids might not leave any for pickling! :D
And this is why the cucumbers are my biggest hope for this whole beginner garden project... Cos everyone in the family will love them. And if I can grow these successfully, the feel-good factor will keep me trying to grow more (and different kinds of ) food
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Now I wanna plant cucumbers for pickling! :D I have never grown cucumbers before! Do these cucumber make a big vine or not?

If your gonna plant in pots I think your gonna need fertilizer unfortunately... because there is only a small amount of soil in pots the nutrients get used up quicker (That's at least how I see it) I use a liquid fertilizer that u mix with water and then you just water your plants normally.

I bought Vanilla plants 2 years ago, I didn't really know how to care for them so I messed them up. They need lots of humidity and a greenhouse is perfect for them! So when I get my greenhouse going I am definitely trying that again! What I messed up with them is their roots. They basically don't need any water. And I gave mine to much so they rotted. They are part of the orchid family and have aerial roots so they get water and nutrients from the atmosphere so you just mist them twice a day. And you plant them in bark so that the roots don't rot.
 
Cpt.SpAce.Cowboy said:
Now I wanna plant cucumbers for pickling! :D I have never grown cucumbers before! Do these cucumber make a big vine or not?
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Please do! I'll have someone to compare against and see what works and what fails.
From the limited content available on the internet / YouTube ... Yes they will vine out (so it's not a bush-style variety), which is why I build the trellis. I read that vining cucumbers suffer from a few common issues when allowed to vine on the ground (both pest and disease realted). Plus it's a huge space saving to have them grow upwards.

Cpt.SpAce.Cowboy said:
If your gonna plant in pots I think your gonna need fertilizer unfortunately... because there is only a small amount of soil in pots the nutrients get used up quicker (That's at least how I see it) I use a liquid fertilizer that u mix with water and then you just water your plants normally.
Click to expand...
I was hoping that the 50% compost in my soil mix would feed the plants enough. Fertiliser will be a real grudge buy... I wanna try everything else possible (tea bags, epsom salt, whatever) before that.

Cpt.SpAce.Cowboy said:
I bought Vanilla plants 2 years ago, I didn't really know how to care for them so I messed them up. They need lots of humidity and a greenhouse is perfect for them! So when I get my greenhouse going I am definitely trying that again! What I messed up with them is their roots. They basically don't need any water. And I gave mine to much so they rotted. They are part of the orchid family and have aerial roots so they get water and nutrients from the atmosphere so you just mist them twice a day. And you plant them in bark so that the roots don't rot.
Click to expand...
Now you talking about 'Higher Grade' Gardening to a beginner! :p
Misting twice a day!
 
Inevitability said:
Please do! I'll have someone to compare against and see what works and what fails.
From the limited content available on the internet / YouTube ... Yes they will vine out (so it's not a bush-style variety), which is why I build the trellis. I read that vining cucumbers suffer from a few common issues when allowed to vine on the ground (both pest and disease realted). Plus it's a huge space saving to have them grow upwards.


I was hoping that the 50% compost in my soil mix would feed the plants enough. Fertiliser will be a real grudge buy... I wanna try everything else possible (tea bags, epsom salt, whatever) before that.


Now you talking about 'Higher Grade' Gardening to a beginner! :p
Misting twice a day!
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I will definitely do the cucumbers!

I don't drink tea so I can't do that :p, but try that! Anything will help! The fertilizer I use is organic at least.

It was to "high grade" for me as well that's why I failed...but I shall try again!
 
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Been a while since I posted an update, so here it is...

Mint patch is progressing...
mint1.jpg

I planted some coriander into 2 ice-cream containers, but forgot to mark the date. But it's somewhere in the region of 15 to 20 days. They are starting to show their first true leaves.
coriander2.jpg
coriander1.jpg

Also planted some rocket. Theses things germinate really fast! I soaked the seeds into water for 24 hours, and they were already germinating in the water! Then I took some of the seeds and put them into into a paper towel for 2 days, then transplanted into an ice-cream container (see next post for the video link of how to do this), and some I sowed directly into a seedling tray after soaking.
This is day 5 (since I took them out the seed packet)...
rocket2.jpg
rocket1.jpg

And finally, on the same days as the rocket, I soaked some lettuce seeds for 24 hours and did the same trick (half directly sowed into seedling trays, and half soaked in a tissue with the aim to transplant after it germinates). But I screwed up the tissue half cos I took them out of the packet and forgot to put them back in so they all dried (...and they had germinated very nicely in the paper towel! what a waste! :( I'm an idiot!! )
lettuce1.jpg
 
Here's the "Paper-towel" method to germinate seeds. I am currently testing the "baggie method" mentioned.

[video=youtube;dirz0WIMQi0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dirz0WIMQi0[/video]
 
PHOTO_20161112_163659.jpg
My tomatoes are looking good, but I don't know what's up with those brown leaves?
Also, how can I structurally support this plant?

PHOTO_20161112_182651.jpg
Just planted some other tomato plants (on the right) called Sweetie Red or something.
On the left are 4x Jalepeno pepper plants
On the top there are 2x Spanspek plants too.
All the plants in this box took off really well after replanting (bought as plants from nursery)

PHOTO_20161112_182657.jpg
I had some left over from the trays I bought, so in this box in the middle you can see 4x spanspek. If they all take, I'll probably have to thin a bit? First time planting these.
In the corners are left over tomatoes and Jalepenos as well. If they take well I might give them to friends

PHOTO_20161112_182702.jpg
The big plant is my spaghetti squash. It really took off, with lots of flowers too. There are two of them. To it's left is a watermelon plant but it really isn't growing much. In front of it are 5 black corn plants. They produce corn stalks that are apparently great for popcorn. But they also grow very slowly.
 
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Pakka said:
Also, how can I structurally support this plant?
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Trellis... Many different variations, and can be very cheap to build. Example:
1.jpg

Pakka said:
In front of it are 5 black corn plants. They produce corn stalks that are apparently great for popcorn. But they also grow very slowly.
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I bought a pack of mielie seeds... from what I've Googled/YouTube'd, there's a real need for planting many plants tightly together for them to pollinate properly.
 
Gosh, I wish I could share some of my mint from my garden...it grows like a weed and is taking over! We pull it out and a week later it's back...we can't drink enough mojitos to keep up with it :)

Wow, your guys' veggie beds look incredible! We are finally having some success...I have realised that companion planting really is a thing (my 2c worth) - tomatoes, marrows, gem squash and basil LOVE each other! I used Janes Delicious Garden (it's a book) as a starting point to know what to plant where and what to plant together...it definitely helped! I've also realised cucumbers don't like to be dry...I planted seeds straight into the ground over a month ago and only now, since all the rain, have they germinated...I have 2 babies that I hope can keep growing :-)

keep up the good work all :)
 
T-Rad said:
I've also realised cucumbers don't like to be dry...I planted seeds straight into the ground over a month ago and only now, since all the rain, have they germinated...I have 2 babies that I hope can keep growing :-)
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I forgot about my cucumber plant update. I finally had a female flower this week, but now there's no male flowers to pollinate it! So it's gonna drop.
Ah well, at least it's a good sign that the plant is willing to put out a female flower (...I think)
cucumber1.jpg
 
Pakka said:
View attachment 401812
My tomatoes are looking good, but I don't know what's up with those brown leaves?
Also, how can I structurally support this plant?
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Looks like blight,I see u planted new tomato's. Check on youtube how to prune a tomato.

You don't ever want your tomato branches to touch the ground they will disease.

Also look into if you have determinate or indeterminate tomatoes,i think yours is indeterminate cherry tomatoes.

Usually you want one stalk rather than two tomato's stalks,otherwise the plant get too big and more fruit set. This is done when you prune them.

Here's a vid on it
[video=youtube;Bgmmz2hCNlY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgmmz2hCNlY[/video]

As for staking them,i also use those bamboo's in your photo with a cable tie loosely under a brunch just to hold them up.
 
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