gardening advice anyone?

Thanks for posting this thread, lovely idea 😉

I have decided to grow fruit bushes this year instead of just Strawberries, i have just bought today Raspberry, Blackcurrent and Redcurrent bushes 4 of each, never grown them before, would like to know how to plant them, could i grow them in a large container?

Just purchased chillies, tomatoes broccolli,cauliflower seeds plus early seed potatoes....any advice for planting.

Do you use raised individual beds outside or just in the veggie patch with all the others ?.

Just about to plan the beds....so any advice would be good. 🙂

Just purchased chillies, tomatoes broccolli,cauliflower seeds plus early seed potatoes....any advice for planting.

Do you use raised individual beds outside or just in the veggie patch with all the others ?.

Just about to plan the beds....so any advice would be good. 🙂

Hi Oaktree

If you have room indoors I would start your chilli and tomato seeds off to ensure a good crop production. Depending on the variety of chili seeds you have minimum temperature for germination is usually about 21C,, but some require temperature of 30C for germination. tomatoes don't need such a high temperature to germinate, usually around 15C.

Push the seed just under the compost. Be warned, when handling chilli seeds, use tweezers and a cocktail stick to push them in, or in my case I use latex gloves as chilli seeds can cause irritation to eyes/skin, please ensure that you wash your hands throughly after planting chilli seeds in partiuclar.

Don't plant out until about May (depending which area you are in) or until the last frosts have gone. I grow both tomatoes & peppers in the ground plus in container pots

Sow tomato and pepper seeds by March for harvesting from June.

Caulifower and brocolli i don't grow but you can sow those both from March, depending on the varities.

I will at the weekend or when I have time add to this forum a when to sow/harvest guide.

With regard to brocolli and cauliflower which varities do you have? Let me know and I can come back to you further.

Potatoes I can't give advice on as I don't grow them.

You can either grow in raised beds or in the veggie patch. A lot of my veg I grow in containers, but otherwise on a veggie patch, I don't have raised beds.

Happy growing.:)

Thanks Atlanticpearl. Good thread. I have just bought apple, plum, cherry and pear trees. Also gooseberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry. Strawberries are still in the ground from last year.
I do seem to have a problem with chillies. Seeds not germinating so maybe not warm enough. Plants only growing to a few inches then stopping.
I had a lot of tomatoes last year. They sprouted up all over the place. Not sure where they came from because I didn't plant any last year so it was a nice surprise.

Thanks Atlanticpearl. Good thread. I have just bought apple, plum, cherry and pear trees. Also gooseberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry. Strawberries are still in the ground from last year.
I do seem to have a problem with chillies. Seeds not germinating so maybe not warm enough. Plants only growing to a few inches then stopping.
I had a lot of tomatoes last year. They sprouted up all over the place. Not sure where they came from because I didn't plant any last year so it was a nice surprise.

Hi Ylangrose. You sound like you will be productive in the garden with the fruit trees and bushes. I hope with your strawberry plants you covered them with netting as the birds, especially blackbirds are partial to strawberries. Do you plan to make jams with the fruits or to enjoy them naturally?

What kind of chilli seeds do you have? If you know the names I can give you an idea re temperatures that they need for germination. See general advice re chilli seeds (previous post). At the moment I have chilli plug plants growing in the bathroom (it get moist from steam from baths/showers, but there is also a radiator in there and the chillis are right by the radiator & they are doing well there. Others are in an area where I have a high temperature for germination). Some of my more stubbom chillis, Dorset Naga and Bik Jalokia have taken over a month to show their heads, last year I had great success with Bik Jalokia, once I got the seeds to germinate! (I grow chillis both for pleasure and for business, they certainly make a lovely display when in pots in the garden..one of my new varitiets for this year is Bolivian Chili, which is supposed to look like a rainbow with chilli's of different colours on the plant at the same time....should be interesting). Back to the chillis, when they stopped growing had they started to flower? When my chillis/peppers/toms are in flower I feed them at least twice a week with diluted tomato feed? A suggestion once the seeds have germinated, water at the bottom of the stem not on the leaves...use a small water bottle that has like a filter in it (for example nestle bottles do, but other makes too) and just drop a couple of drops of water on each, they don't like to dry out but they don't like being saturated either, avoid watering the leaves as much as possible). Nice surprise for you last year with your tomato crop. When I was in the garden earlier, I noticed some Spinach tree seedlings shooting away, I grew the plant a couple of years back, but had to give the couple away that I had, because I could no longer eat the leaves, but I will leave these to grow where they are as they are unsual and had some colour to to the garden (its like spinach with green leaves, but they are tinged with pink like sugar crystals).

Hope that helps, - need any more advice just ask & happy growing.