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New article - grow your own for those with nowhere to grow!
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Bugs



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

PostPosted: Tue May 31, 05 7:35 pm    Post subject: New article - grow your own for those with nowhere to grow! Reply with quote
    

Andy from Selfsufficientish (which incidentally is coming up for its first birthday - happy birthday from Downsizer )has given us a really inspiring overview on how he manages to grow good food in the confines of a town centre flat - https://www.downsizer.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=126

sean
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 05 8:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Good article. I especially liked the bit pointing out that you can move compost without a car.

Mad Dad



Joined: 12 May 2005
Posts: 407
Location: Nowhere near where I want to be
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 05 8:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Good idea. Liked the idea of picking your own herbs while you are cooking. I'm trying my hand at herb growing at home this year myself for that reason.

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 05 9:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Good article and happy birthday selfsufficientish

selfsufficientish



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 364
Location: Bristol
PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 05 12:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Cheers for the birthday wishes

Nothing like picking your own herbs whilst you are cooking, when the weather is as nice as it has been (in southern england, of late) and all the windows are open a lovely smell fills up the living room. Is far better than the smell of home brew

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 05 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Selsufficientish, that's a neat article I

If you have space with your other veg, can I reccomend something like Paris garden, or another mini variety of carrots? I've often grown them in containers, and it works really well; they're really pretty, the foliage is gorgeous. Rocket, sorrel, and mizuna all do well in containers too, so along with little gem lettuce you've got a whole salad in containers there.

I'm experimenting with what may prove to be the best mini vegetable of all time this year, one called 'micro tom', the smallest tomato variety I've ever come across:
https://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/veg5.htm#VEG187

selfsufficientish



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 364
Location: Bristol
PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 05 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

cheers cab, not heard of that vartiety of toms. I only have three windows in my flat so not much room for any more plants at the moment. Will try and squeeze in some rocket though I think. Debated carrots this year and it is more about how deep your window box is for the growing root veg. Next year I think I will replace one of my boxes for a much deeper one and have a go at carrots and perhaps so other root veg.

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 05 1:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Paris garden carrots will grow in a few inches of soil or compost, quite happily. Tiny little round carrots, sweet as sugar.

Rocket would be my first choice salad veg in a box; quick growing, expensive (and poor quality) when bought, and it really benefits from being very, very fresh.

You could also boost your growing space by putting something in hanging baskets outside of or inside the window, I guess. Again, there are some belting good tomato varieties for this.

selfsufficientish



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 364
Location: Bristol
PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 05 1:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

cab wrote:
Paris garden carrots will grow in a few inches of soil or compost, quite happily. Tiny little round carrots, sweet as sugar.

Rocket would be my first choice salad veg in a box; quick growing, expensive (and poor quality) when bought, and it really benefits from being very, very fresh.

You could also boost your growing space by putting something in hanging baskets outside of or inside the window, I guess. Again, there are some belting good tomato varieties for this.


Ah thats what those carrots are called, yep did think about them this year but I much prefer beatroot so that took its space. I am really central in Bath, as it is a world heratige site, any kind of alterations even as simple as hanging baskets would need permission from not only my landlord, but the council too.

I am trying out some cherry toms this year in the window box, they are in smaller tubs at the moment and will take up the space of the radishes when I pick them out.

Right off to buy some rocket seed today then
[/i]

tawny owl



Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 563
Location: Hampshire
PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 05 7:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Excellent article.

Tip I read in one of this month's mags for making drainage holes - use a heated screwdriver; supposed to be less likely to damage the container.

I'm sure people know this already, but be careful when picking rue - if you get the juice on your hands and then go out in the sun, it can given you a nasty case of photodermatitis.

Bugs



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 05 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Good point about the rue, Tawny Owl...I would not grow it, but then, I wouldn't eat it either. It's not the thing that can cause miscarriage is it? Or is that just in goats? I think I remember the blessed Bob (do you think Bob would like to join our site?!) saying that he uses it in a mixed salad sort of thing but doesn't advise it to other people for health reasons. Hmm. Perhaps I ought to read a book...a little education eh?

tawny owl



Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 563
Location: Hampshire
PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 05 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yes, it's one to avoid during pregnancy, along with hyssop, juniper and quite a few others, even sage.

Self-sufficientish, out of pure curiosity, what do you use it for? It's not generally a culinary herb, is it? It's a bit out of the ordinary in a window box!

Tawny

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 05 9:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I keep dried rue in, I use it for the occasional batch of sack.

selfsufficientish



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 364
Location: Bristol
PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 05 11:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Well to be blunt I read that it can stop you farting, I thought my girlfriend might apprechiate it. Also it is one of the old herbs that the Romans bought over so I thought it would be nice to grow it for something different.

Haddock



Joined: 24 Apr 2005
Posts: 81
Location: Marburg, Germany
PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 05 11:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

selfsufficientish wrote:
Well to be blunt I read that it can stop you farting, I thought my girlfriend might apprechiate it.


If my wife finds out about this I'll be on a constant diet of the stuff

Perhaps I could add it to curries and chilli's.......to downsize the wind affect.

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