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Self Sufficient Gardening / DIY Gardening

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    #32
    baords dyslexic
    Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭baords dyslexic


    the drifter wrote: »
    How suitable is a conservatory for growing some salads such as lettuce indoors?

    Very, you need to try it out to get it right though. Main problems can be excessive heat in a locked up conservatory and you may need use some shading after about April 1st (fools day for those that don't ;)). If you have automatic blinds then that might be really good.

    Also depends on which way the conservatory faces? I'd have one on the north side of a house for growing stuff for the garden but most are on the south side and get too hot in the summer.


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    #33
    the drifter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,348 ✭✭✭the drifter


    baords dyslexic wrote: »
    Very, you need to try it out to get it right though. Main problems can be excessive heat in a locked up conservatory and you may need use some shading after about April 1st (fools day for those that don't ;)). If you have automatic blinds then that might be really good.

    Also depends on which way the conservatory faces? I'd have one on the north side of a house for growing stuff for the garden but most are on the south side and get too hot in the summer.

    Thanks for the reply...mine faces south east it gets a lot of sun and can be very warm in the summer time.

    My other option is an attic room which gets warm but its well shaded.


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    #34
    baords dyslexic
    Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭baords dyslexic


    the drifter wrote: »
    Thanks for the reply...mine faces south east it gets a lot of sun and can be very warm in the summer time.

    My other option is an attic room which gets warm but its well shaded.

    I'd go for the conservatory but remember that lettuce seed won't germinate when its too hot so put them somewhere not in full sun to start with then you could improve the conditions by growing your pots/trays.growbags on a large tray (no holes) full of pea gravel or sand and keep it very wet so you get a more humid enviroment around the plants, you can even get growbag and larger sized trays. Other advice is to water the carpet when it gets hot :D.

    Obviously watering might also be a more of a problem in a hot conservatory and where I'd expect to water only once a day you might need to water at least 2 or twice. Again obvious if you've gardened for a bit but you water the compost not the plants and if you have to water from overhead then you don't do that in full sun.


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    #35
    evilmonkee
    Registered Users Posts: 326 ✭✭evilmonkee


    Ophiopogon wrote: »
    What's your other experiments anyway, Evilmonkee?

    I currently have some shop bought potatoes, garlic and onion planted, the intention is to compare these to my "proper" seed ones.

    I have some potatoes planted in January in old dog food bags (everything is planted in make-shift pots/bags etc.),
    Some of these have been shifted outside and planted directly into the soil - this in itself is an experiment as we have VERY clay soil.

    The indoor ones are planted in (varying degrees) of a mixture of my clay soil, some grass only compost and some normal compost. This will hopefully give me an idea of how easily my soil can be amended to improve it - the grass only compost was literally left to rot then scooped up. (already had to mound these up in the green house)

    I have a bag of weeds etc. turning into compost - this is left in the sun but open, so hopefully it will turn to compost instead of mulch. It's an experiment to find out how quickly I can create compost (without any equipment).

    Our grass was left since ~October to grow high, cut it and am now monitoring how long it takes for me to dry the full load in my "dryer", raking it every 2 days. The "lawn" is ruined but hopefully this will have given me a good load of brown matter to gradually add to the compost bin, while adding more fresh grass to dry over the growing season.

    I also have a collection of used tea bags building up, I intend to use the tea leaves to create a barrier against root pests for my seedlings this year, hopefully this will help the poor little plants once they get outdoors.


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    #36
    CamperMan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,835 ✭✭✭CamperMan


    baords dyslexic wrote: »
    I think its really quite simple if you want to be Self Sufficient in food and live in Ireland you need to grow a Sh!T load of spuds. Thats the long and short of it! Lets say you are working hard outside most of the day and need 3000 (3k) calories so thats going to require you to eat seven and a half pounds of spuds if you don't have any other calorie rich food source. At that rate in a year you'll eat your way through at least 2700 pounds of potatoes, 2700 pounds of potatoes is nearly One and a Half Tons.

    OK so thats a big generalisation but if you don't grow potatoes what else are you going to eat that stores well, grows well in Ireland and provides a lot of caloires if the SHTF and you are left to grow your own?

    why are the Irish obsessed with spuds?, around here (in Germany), the neighbours have plenty of fruit trees, herbs, and vegetables, I don't think they bother growing spuds.. even the local super markets have small amounts of spuds...

    When we bough the old house in Germany, we were surprised to see so many fruit trees in our own garden, there are apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, a pear tree, goosberry bushes, strawberries, various herbs growing in the garden....

    And we had lots of fun eating fresh fruit last year ;-)


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    #37
    baords dyslexic
    Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭baords dyslexic


    CamperMan wrote: »
    why are the Irish obsessed with spuds?, around here (in Germany), the neighbours have plenty of fruit trees, herbs, and vegetables, I don't think they bother growing spuds.. even the local super markets have small amounts of spuds...

    When we bough the old house in Germany, we were surprised to see so many fruit trees in our own garden, there are apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, a pear tree, goosberry bushes, strawberries, various herbs growing in the garden....

    And we had lots of fun eating fresh fruit last year ;-)

    Simple question, what can you grow in Ireland that will provide the same amount of calories as a crop of spuds in a limited amount of ground (plus keeps over winter, can be grown with a minimum of skill in a great variety of soil and requires very little equipment)?

    Survive first, then if you have the time and energy survive well. Growing potatoes isn't going to take all your time up so you'd be stupid not to grow other crops and survive well.

    btw how did you keep the birds of the cherries?


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    #38
    CamperMan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,835 ✭✭✭CamperMan


    baords dyslexic wrote: »

    btw how did you keep the birds of the cherries?

    didn't really have a problem with birds and cherries...


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    #39
    Tabnabs
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 15,691 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tabnabs


    We had big problems with starlings eating our cherries from the Lidl bought cherry tree. A simple net is standard issue and can be bought in any garden centre or (again) in Aldi/Lidl.


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    #40
    baords dyslexic
    Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭baords dyslexic


    Tabnabs wrote: »
    We had big problems with starlings eating our cherries from the Lidl bought cherry tree. A simple net is standard issue and can be bought in any garden centre or (again) in Aldi/Lidl.

    Depends on the size of the tree, I used to work in a place with a few std cherries and the best you could do was net a branch or two.


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    #41
    CamperMan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,835 ✭✭✭CamperMan


    Tabnabs wrote: »
    We had big problems with starlings eating our cherries from the Lidl bought cherry tree. A simple net is standard issue and can be bought in any garden centre or (again) in Aldi/Lidl.

    our cherry trees are BIG.. you need a ladder to get to the cherries :D


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    #42
    baords dyslexic
    Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭baords dyslexic


    CamperMan wrote: »
    our cherry trees are BIG.. you need a ladder to get to the cherries :D

    So were ours only the birds didn't need ladders :D


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    #43
    johngalway
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,271 ✭✭✭✭johngalway


    fodda wrote: »
    I thought nettles grew in disturbed land usually around rubble etc? Poor land?

    If you muck out a shed and leave the dung in a heap you'll have nettles forever.


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