Avoid These Mistakes When Growing Your Own Vegetables

My vegetables are too close together

When you buy vegetable/fruit seeds they come in packets with guides to sowing, planting out, harvesting, watering etc. When you sow the seeds, follow the guidelines, if it says so thinly I would recommend following the suggestions. Some of my first seeds were lettuces and tomatoes. I found out that my sprinkling approach meant that I had young vegetables growing on top of the next one.

I had to wait until they were slightly established, lift/dig the plant out whilst avoiding damaging the delicate roots and replant them again.

I would suggest thinking about the size of the plant/vegetables you are growing and sow accordingly.

How do I handle weeds in my garden?

When growing vegetables or any plants in fact, it is inevitable that you will get weeds. Often when you dig in new manure or compost it will of course help the plant you are sowing but inevitably weeds will prosper too.

I would recommend identifying what your plant will look like when it is 3 or 4 weeks old, anything else in the same area is a weed and should be removed while it is still small. With vegetables this is often easier than with other plants because we tend to sow the same varieties of seed together in the same area of the garden.

If you wait and let the weeds establish, they will be harder to remove as the roots will be deeper. Also weeds may grow close to your vegetables and it can be hard to remove the weeds them without disturbing the vegetable plants.

How do I stop pests eating my young plants?

I have mainly a container garden as I don't have much space in my garden for growing in beds. I have noticed that if I sow directly into beds, the plants struggle to develop sometimes. This can be because pests can easily get at the young growth or because conditions aren't 100% suitable for growing the variety being sown.

I would recommend that with a lot of plants you should start them off in starter pots. I have even found that sowing into regular containers works well and fewer pests get at the young growth. Peat pots can be bought fairly cheaply and if you sow your seeds in these they can be put into the ground once the plant has established.

Alternatively plastic pots are fine although you are more likely to disturb the roots when transplanting to the bed.

How do I avoid too many vegetables at harvest time?

This can sometimes be a nice situation but once you have given some to friends and neighbours there are some things that can't easily be saved. Lettuce is one of these; I recently sowed two different varieties of lettuce and it is likely that I will have lots more that I know what to do with.

All seed packets have sow by dates, I would recommend only sowing perhaps half of perishables like lettuce. The remaining seeds can often be saved for the following sowing season.

The alternative is successional sowing, meaning sow little and often. Every 10 to 14 days, sow a little more of the same seed. In this way your harvest will be spread out. Be careful about sowing past the last recommended sow date.

What size should my garden beds be?

A common mistake is making your bed to wide in an effort to save space. Unfortunately this makes it hard to maintain. You will need to be able to weed the bed frequently, closely monitor for bugs and diseases, water, feed and eventually harvest. Apart from not wanting to break your back trying to get to the plant in the middle of your bed, it can be easy to accidentally step on its neighboring plant.

I would suggest making your beds no wider than 4ft; you will then be able to access all part of the bed without too much difficulty.

How do I grow vegetables if I have a small garden?

If like me you have a small garden or have run out of space in your garden beds to grow vegetables, why not try growing in containers. The majority of the vegetables I grow are in containers. Container gardening doesn't require any special secret techniques, perhaps a little more watering and sometime slightly different sowing methods.

Pots or containers can be bought quite cheaply. We were able to buy some for 99p each at a local 99p store. You'll be surprised how much can grow in just one container or pot. One of the major benefits of container gardening is the pots can be moved for example if there is a frost due, you can relocate to a cold frame or greenhouse with ease. Also they are easy to position in the right sunny or shady spot in your garden.

How do I identify what I've planted?

When you sow your seeds, I would recommend adding a label. You can buy cheap plastic or wooden blank labels, write on them with a permanent marker and place them in the ground for easy identification later.

I have made the mistake of putting two different seeds close together and using masking tape as temporary label. I then found afterwards that I couldn't remember what seeds were sown on each side. At harvest time it is often fairly easy to find out but sometimes varieties of the same type of vegetable are similar.

If you are sowing in the ground I would suggest placing a label at each end of the row or section of bed that you are sowing in, then when you come to harvest the neighboring plant, you know where you can safely dig.

When labeling I write the seed name/variety on one side and the date of sowing on the reverse side. This makes it easier to know when to expect to be able to harvest.

February gardening - growing vegetables

There is nothing to stop the cultivation of vegetables in this time of year, as long as you follow some simple rules. To start your vegetable garden in front of you in this time of year, the hot pavement, so that your vegetables need to begin to sprout earlier than normal.

My tip top - Hardy vegetables such as beets and carrots, soil temperatures are over 46F for tender vegetables such as beans and corn germinate need a warmer soil temperatureto 54F.

Heat the floor

plastic sheeting, old cloth or a garden ideal cold frame can be used to heat the soil in your. Ideally, you should use one of these methods up to six weeks before sowing the seeds of vegetables. The coverage will help to help the soil temperature during the day and reduce heat loss at night. If the soil is heavy and wet in your garden you might want to consider a raised bed as a porous soil is much easierhot.

Cabbage, onions, leeks, lettuce, a cold can be short, just grown in the frame, without pre-heating of the soil.

In the course of the season and the weather starts to warm up you can slowly remove the lid and your plants will harden. If an unexpected cold spell should use batteries to protect your young vegetables in the cold.

What is a cold frame?

A cold frame isEssentially a mini-greenhouse or home for your plants go between between their time in your greenhouse and garden. It 's small sealed box built on a deep soil, the plant protects your offer of cold and especially cold.

In the greenhouse in mid-March and fruits and vegetables work

Chrysanthemums, dahlias and bedding plants are now moving from greenhouse gases on the frame to harden. A happy outcome to be craving for tomatoes take their place and asked a temperature of 12-15 ° C. (54 ° -59 ° F.). Decorative Chrysanthemums should be repotted in 4 & 1 / 2 inch pots when the roots of 3-inch pots are full, then you can transfer the frame.

Dahlia cuttings of 3-4 ins. can be taken. Taken with aHeel, one hundred percent, "strike" can be expected, but of course there will be fewer cuts.

Heliotrope or cherry pie at the end of the cuts in a sandy soil if kept root.

Stopper or top-dress the Aspidistra away maidenhair and other

Fuchsias regularly back and blew the prunings used as such.

Sow perennials in the frame or greenhouse for the seeds with finely sifted soil, shading them from sunlightGermination.

Delphinium seeds purchased from a specialist is a worthwhile investment.

Some of the directories make it desirable, potted plants, including the stocks that will give a drench of fragrance.

Stake and tie-growing plants rather than starting late schizanti must receive regular training.

What about the vegetables at this time in March?

After the onions and parsnips, peas, lettuce and radishes should be sown in rich soil at intervals of 10-12Days.

fit drill half-inch smaller seeds, sowing of peas in a drill a little deeper than the rest.

beans can be sown in the open frame or ground previously prepared and covered with bells.

Beds should now be ready to be transplanted for sowing Brussels, cabbage, cauliflower and at a later date.

The celery can be planted even leeks, under glass, if possible.

Attention to the carrot fly.

should be maintained in the orchard of fruit trees recentlymovement of grasses at their base: they have all the nitrogen and nutrients they can get.

In cold areas, peaches and other flowers on the wall by spring frosts could be damaged. Network protection can be given, covering the trees with a double thickness. The cover should be removed every day, when the temperature rises above zero. Some gardeners protect the flower buds of fir located between the branches.

New strawberry plants can still be planted, butcan not be the fruit of the season.

raspberry bushes new plants should be reduced to 12-18 ins., depending on their strength.

Very time consuming in a large garden, you have to do, what to do with the time you have.