Hi all!

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AshMcD

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Hi all!
« on: January 01, 2009, 21:00 »
Well, I thought I'd make a little post about what I'm trying to do. I'm moving into a house with a little bit of mud in the garden and I thought I'd try to do something productive with it!

I'm not going to be lazy and ask you all how to do everything! I'll figure out how and when to plant things as I'm sure it's all been posted lots before.

Firstly, here's a little map of my tiny plot :D



I have two questions. Would I need to put some kind of support up for the cherry toms/chillis against the wall at the back?

Secondly, I figure I should spend a couple of weeks weeding the hell out of it to make sure it's clear, but then how should I prepare the soil? What should I do to make sure the soil is of good quality?

The rows would be about .5m each with gaps in between. Does that seem logical? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

Thanks :)

Ash

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compostqueen

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« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2009, 22:56 »
you can grow toms up the back wall, training them up canes.  Spuds take up quite a bit of room so factor that in your plans. You can get very neat varieties of chilli but some are huge so choose your variety wisely  :D
Sweetcorn is very big too and needs growing in blocks or you grow a row of Minipop baby corn  :D   If you can take advantage of wall space you could grow toms and strawbs in hanging baskets

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Yorkie

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Hi all!
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2009, 22:57 »
Hi Ash,

Good luck!  If I calculate correctly, your bed will be about 8' square - that's not much so you'll need to be careful how you lay stuff out.  You might find 'square foot gardening' a useful search term for info on gardening in small spaces.

The type of tomato will dictate whether they are self-supporting or not, but if I were you, yes I would put canes up against the wall to support tomatoes.

Re the chillies and peppers, I believe they usually do much better under some form of cover e.g. a mini greenhouse - but others may well know better as I'm not really a chilli / pepper grower.

You might want to consider using a salad or first / second early spud variety rather than a main crop, as they have closer spacings and so you're more likely to get a few more tubers in.

I'd suggest that you check which way your sun shines, as if the wall is north-facing then I doubt anything in the bed will get much sun.  It is also true that north-south rows allow slightly more sun to get to the plants than east-west rows, so if this is possible it might be worth considering.

Also, walls tend to create rain-shadows so you will need to make sure you water plants next to one much more thoroughly in dry-ish periods.

As for preparing the soil, none of your plants are parsnips or carrots, so I'd simply suggest putting manure or fertiliser down at some point in order to improve what will probably not be very good quality soil.
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days all attack me at once...

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compostqueen

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« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2009, 23:03 »
Forgot about your soil, sorry  :D   Growbags are cheap as chips so you could use some of those to boost your garden soil. Toms, chillies, corn and spuds are heavy feeders and will like manure if you can lay your hands on some.

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woodburner

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Hi all!
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2009, 16:03 »
Are those no dig beds you've marked out? Or just indicating the area you will be planting with each?
I demand the right to buy seed of varieties that are not "distinct, uniform and stable".

 

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