Anyone into gardening(not the flowery type)

[widepants]

Ok so maybe not the expected thing for rufty tufty biker types ,but I was just wondering if any of you horrible lot are into it.
Moved house at the end of last year and as the back garden is rather large then I thought Id give it a go.I started it as a game and something to do with the kids and now Im hooked.
The garden shed has been move to allow me to get the bike in and now I have rows of spuds ,onions ,carrots etc.
The spuds and onions were planted straight outside and are all poking their heads above gruond but the cauli brocoli and lettuce were all started off in pots in the shed.The thing is these have started well but are all rather tall and spindly. Is this because they were all hunting for light in the shed?
Any advice and tips would be good.
Will try and get some pics up when I get chance.
Come on ! I cant be the only one,and Dont say its because I is old.

There shouldnt be much too chance of frost atm so get your stuff outside now, you can always stick em back in the shed if frost is forecast.

Yeah lack of light causes spindlyitus, get some mange tout in, best thing i have ever grown. Oh and strawberrys as well, nom nom.

[JamesMio]

<Moral Disclaimer!> I do a bit of work with these guys on their website, but... </Moral Disclaimer!> for info on growing potatoes, or buying seed potatoes (I'll stop it with the blatant linking now), they're a pretty handy resource.

Either JBA for the seeds, or the Growing Potatos forum are worth a nosey. Anything you want or need to know re. tatty growing, Iain at JBA's a guru.

In the interests of research, I'm about to start growing my own spuds, onions and some other bits in the back garden so any pointers for easy stuff to grow would be most welcomed! Please bear in mind that my version of gardening at the moment is to occassionaly cut the grass when it gets above knee height, so they really must be easy to grow and very very low maintenance!

[widepants]

what I did with the spuds is to try and pull out my memmories of my weekend school job ,on a farm.I made a shallow trench laid the seed spuds along it and then piled the loose soil back up over the top to form raised rows.The stalks are now about 4 inchs high.You must keep the spuds covered to stop them from "greening" as they grow.
Oh ,and plant corn in squares not a line ,to aid polination(read that one in a book"

[Sir Trev]

You're not alone WP - I find tending a veg patch very therapeutic and relaxing after a cr4p day in the office. We can't jump on the bike to unwind every time we feel stressed so this was my alternative.

If you have space for a greenhouse then it will be a great investment. Otherwise a polytunnel will help protect tender seedlings until they can be planted out. You can make one out of flexi water pipe and polythene sheeting very easily.

Easy crops are salad leaves (any lettuce, rocket, etc), beetroot, carrots, onions, spuds, peas and beans. Tomatoes, cucumber and peppers in the greenhouse need a bit more care and regular watering but are not hard to grow. Plant a crown of rhubarb - it looks after itself! Then it depends on how adventurous you want to be, how much space you have and how good your soil is - parsnips (easy to grow but take up space for a long time), sprouts/cabbage/broccoli (need to prevent butterfly/caterpiller damage in summer and pigeon damage in winter), celery (easy but needs careful earthing up), pumpkins (quite tender - please eat them and don't waste them as lanterns!), sweetcorn (pick and then *run* in to cook them), and so many other options... Saves a fortune at the supermarket too.

veg patch2010.jpg

I don't know why I like growing vegetables, but I just do.
No science to it in my book, just bung em in the ground, water and feed em and they just grow.

Don't plant too many of one type at the same time or you'll end up with too much to harvest. Last year I had too much beetroot and ended up with purple wee all through August!

I want to grow veggies this year - but i'm in third floor flat I do have balcony away from frost with bascially 24 hour light but north facing - am i restricted to the normal salad leaves or can i grow carrotts in wellies and potatoes in a tub???

I thought this thread was about shaving of the nether regions. Whoops.

[JamesMio]

Originally Posted by Quedos

I want to grow veggies this year - but i'm in third floor flat I do have balcony away from frost with bascially 24 hour light but north facing - am i restricted to the normal salad leaves or can i grow carrotts in wellies and potatoes in a tub???

Dunno about carrots but I'm told you could grow tatties in a planter bag on the balcony easily enough...