We love hearing from you, so here is your chance. Introduce yourself and tell us what makes you selfsufficient 'ish'. Go on don't be shy, we welcome one and all. You can also tell us how you heard about us if you like.
hey everyone, sorry i have not had chance to reply to your feedback, which has been a great help by the way.
I am completely new to the idea of growing your own and am waiting for a few books in the post so that i can understand more about the subject.
Through experience and learning the hard way have any of you got tips and advice for people who are starting out? Can you only grow so much depending upon the space you have or can you alternate things?
How much space do you need to grow enough fruit and veg that will provide significant savings and hence resist temptation to just pop down the shops?
You can approach this dilemma many different ways, and even if you can't fully replace everything you must buy due to lack of space, you still have the satisfaction of growing something that you can use or eat.
You could specialise in one crop, something that is your favourite and ideally something that could be preserved, ie frozen, canned, pickled or made into preserves, etc. And you can alternate crops seasonally, beginning with greens in the spring, beans, squash, pumpkins, corn, tomatoes, etc in the spring, and then back again to greens. The variety of greens that are available to grow is seemingly endless, from plain old lettuces, to the fancy mesclun, to the asian greens, like bok choi, tatsoi (one of our faves!), and then spinach, sorrel (which is actually a perennial, but a very lovely addition to salads and fish dishes), etc. You can plant the seeds indoors to get an early start, and then transplant the seedings very close together, which keeps out weeds, as the plant grows, and saves space if your growing space is limited.
You can grow vining plants vertically, on fencing, etc, such as cucumbers, pumpkins and squash. Just grow smaller varieties, and use old stockings or panty hose in which the fruit grows, attached to the fence, to support the weight of it (hope that makes sense!). You can grow strawberries in pots and baskets, and I've a friend lackiing garden space who grows cherry tomatoes, triple bagged in old plastic carrier bags on her small back patio. She drapes another carrier bag over the plant when there's going to be a frost, and also like a sort of glass house to collect the heat.
You'd be amazed at how much you can cram into a very small space (we lived for a year in a 1 bedroom flat, with a tiny balcony, and I grew tomatoes, lettuces and a few other greens, and strawberries, and even that little bit we could grow was extremely satisfying.
Do you know of any good books that are great for getting into growing your own, especialy on a small scale. I am sure there are quite a lot of considerations you have to cover before you even start growing. It would be good to find a book that outlines all the conditions neede to grow the most popular veg.
I don't know if you can get it in the UK, but John Jeavons book, which I think is called simply Grow More Vegetables. You can usually find it secondhand (and if I can find it here, you should be able to find it there ).
I have a copy of Jeavons' book. It's good in terms of describing the whole "Grow Biointensive" method for maximising yield from a limited area, but for a complete beginner it doesn't offer too much practical detail on exactly what to do with each type of plant.
Maybe supplementing it with the excellent step-by-step descriptions in Growing Vegetables by Tony Briggs might be an idea?
Good point, Joe.... been a looong time since I was a newbie to veggie gardening... I forget sometimes!
When I first got into gardening in small spaces I also referred to a book called Square Foot Gardening, but I don't remember the name of the author of that one. It was a companion book to a PBS (a public tv network in the US) series, and extrememly helpful, even for the complete novice.
There are lots of things you can grow... but my way of working is to think of the things you eat the most... and then think of those on that list that are the most expensive to buy.
farmerdrea wrote:When I first got into gardening in small spaces I also referred to a book called Square Foot Gardening, but I don't remember the name of the author of that one.
I have that one too! It's by Mel Bartholomew :)
Another interesting book that I've got (but haven't really got properly stuck into) is Eliot Coleman's "Four-season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long" - lots of glass and polytunnels involved as you can imagine.
Unfortunately he's based in New England and some of his crops only work because at his lattitude (45 deg North) he gets just enough winter sun. So, a fair chunk of it isn't applicable over here in the UK - something I wasn't aware of when I bought the book. Anyway, NZ South Island is at about 45 deg South, so the techniques he sets out might be perfect for Canterbury!
All my text books seem to be out of date, and I haven’t found anything in my local library that I would personally recommend. (The techniques are still valid but the climate has changed don’tcha know.)
In fact the climate that I live in bears little resemblance to the instructions on most packets of seeds. (I was picking tomatoes in November and my chillies are still batting with no lights and only chicken-powered heating)
Try and find out what thrives in your local conditions because the less intervention the better. (& the cheaper)
Grow the staples you like to eat and something you can barter with aswell.
(Chilli peppers seem to be pretty good tender for me and you only need a few plants to fill your boots.)
Inch by inch, row by row, I'm gonna make my garden grow.
All I need is a rake and a hoe and a little fertile land..
Well I don't think there is very much Andrea can't grow.
I personally wouldn't be bothered with books. You can spend hours, even days if you are a slow reader like me and when you have finished you only have the ideas of one person, the author.
I suggest you just get your hands dirty and have a go from what you can see others in your area doing, then get on here and spend as much time as you would on just one book and you will have upto date advice from dozens of people who are doing the hands on stuff themselves.
And when I said earlier to go by what you see others in your area doing, make that a starting point but don't be caught up in the thought that because the locals don't grow some plants you can't because chances are you can grow a hellava lot more if you have a go.
My dear sister has, at my request, bought me the Allotment Book by (?anthony) Cleveley, which is very good indeed for those of us just starting out on the low road with vege plots. She bought it from amazon as it was several pounds cheaper than in the shops, about £12.
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