Help with growing fruit/veg needed!

Hello, I'm Chris. I'm 19 and coming up to the end of my horticulture course which unfortunately feels like a massive waste of my time. I went on the course to learn about plants and growing but the course wasn't anything like I expected and all I have done is cut grass all year round.

The course has no guaranteed jobs afterwards as well so I was hoping that with some help I could set up my own business. I want to design good looking hanging baskets, with nice flowers in but don't know a lot about growing the plants and what looks good with what. I am willing to put the research in but would be very grateful for any pointers and tips you can give me.

Also the main reason I have contacted you is because I want to offer set up small sized allotments in peoples gardens. (so i dig them in, prepare the soil and plant the plants, Then just leave the owner to it.) So I was wondering if you could give me any pointers into doing this.

Finally I want to combine both for those who do not have the space for an allotment, I want to offer something that not a lot of people seem to know about. Potted fruit and veg and also fruit and veg grown in hanging baskets, I know you can grow things like tomatoes and strawberry's in hanging baskets and lettuce in little window side pots but once again will be very grateful if you could give me info into what I can grow in them and sizes etc.

oh and if you know any places where I can pick up the items needed for any of these for cheap then this would help me a lot as i'm on a low paying apprenticeship so only have minimal funds to start up.

Sorry about the big email but Thank You for taking your time to read this and Thanks in advance for any info you can help me with.

Sincerely.
Chris.

Thanks again.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Chris

Sorry to hear your course was a bit of a waste of time.

Afraid i'm going to have to take out your email address as its not GC policy to have visible emails, but members can still contact you via the boards or pm

 

Thanks for the welcome!

That's fine checking things on here is easier than I imagined!. Yea the course has been a big disappointment but I have enjoyed what I have done and really want to learn some more about the plants side of things. Ordered a few books and helping uncle on his allotment come summer! :D

Not to be cheeky but you know anything about planting in such small spaces as little pots and hanging baskets? or even a cheap way to make/buy them? As I haven't learnt much about the planting side of things so even the most basic of knowledge will be useful!

 

I've grown tomatoes in hanging baskets, they need feeding regularly as the nutrient is soon used up, same with veg in pots. There are lots of us that grow veg in pots, check out the container gardening section

Also, the search facility will be usefull. The media section we are still building but theres some good videos in there.

 

Oh there's a container gardening section?!!

Kudos on the website, It's very easy and simple to use unlike other sites. Makes it very efficient on finding what you need to find! Thanks for the help.

 

Hello and welcome.

The biggest battle you have when growing stuff in pots and baskets is keeping them fed and watered. Obviously if we get a hot summers day ever again, that will dry them out quickly, but much more easily overlooked is a fairly average dry day with a bit of a breeze, which also dries things out very quickly. Plenty of people manage it though, and some plants just don't care about being fed and watered once established (Rosemary springs to mind).

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Chris.

It's such a shame you didn't gain much from your course. As you're pretty much starting out on here to learn our ways of the gardening world, I think your best bet is to take your time and read through the different sections and threads, there's a lot to be gained. Look back at some of the older threads to as they can be of help. It's surprising how much you will learn from the experience of other members.

If there's any particular subject you need to find out about, then locate the appropriate section/thread and fire away with your questions, someone will help you out. Just be aware, we have a wicked sense of humour at times and things can go a little haywire. Good luck and we'll see you around the site.

 

Thanks for the welcome!

And thank you for the info, I read up somewhere that veg that doesn't flower is a lot easier to grow as it isn't as fussy as things such as wind and sunlight?

Is their any composts or anything that you can use in order to keep more moisture within the plant without killing it? and I have seen a bit about little self watering tubes for plants, is their any easy way to create something like this so it's cost effective?

 

I think I found the best compost recently for containers by complete mistake. Although it's slightly chunky Levingtons 'Waterlocker' compost would be perfect. I'd bought it to repot some indoor plants which it wasn't suitable for, so this coming season it will go into my outside containers that are in sun all day.

For containers you can use just about anything that has a base and a top opening, for instance welly's, old sinks and even toilet pans have been used. It's a matter of what you can find and using your imagination. Look around locally and see what you can pick up second hand.

I'm not a veg person, apart from tomatoes, so other members will help you out with that.

 

Don't forget drainage. I know it sounds daft when we're talking about keeping moisture in, but the old welly needs a hole in it to let the water out too, otherwise the conditions will quickly become anaerobic and then its game over the occupant of said welly.

 

Thanks Sheal I will deffo look into the waterlocker compost and see what its like!

And for the hanging basket I was thinking more along the lines of some cheap metal/mesh standard ones (hopefully cheap) which I could lay something in? To make it look good and maybe benefit the plant? as I am wanting to sell them on for small profit whilst the fruit/veg is just the shoots or small enough to be planted, This way the people can enjoy growing the plant themselves and hopefully will encourage them to then do more gardening.

Oh and i'll have to remember holes to let out moisture as I don't want to be drowning the plants before the people get them!! :P

 

Hi Chris,
Have You considered just adding some water crystals to the compost?
Regards
Crecia
too lol !!

 

Clueless was quite right about the drainage holes. Don't forget to put stones or broken pieces of pot over the hole so that the holes don't block with soil when draining.

 

Thanks for the reply's guys!

I haven't heard of water crystals so will do some looking into this! Are they good?

And I've heard of putting stones/broken pot in but wouldn't have thought this off the top of my head so probably wouldn't have done it!

Hope your all having a nice day!
All the best, Chris.

 

Water crystals are great, I used them on all my flower baskets with great success. Aldi sells them in their spring garden sales (sign up to their newsletters) Not a good idea to use in strawberry pots as strawberries like well drained soil.