Tricks of the trade.

[oldherbaceous]

Now i was just thinking, maybe would could put a list of useful tips together, that would benefit the many people that are just starting out on their gardening adventure of life.

Well i will start off with, if you only need twenty of one type of plant and there are 180 seeds in the packet don't sow them all at once.
Just sow 30, pick the strongst and allow a couple of spares for any later disasters.
If you do this you will not end up with trays of plants that haven't grown well, and end up getting planted out too close together with the end result being very disappointing.

I'm sure we can put a good list of tips together between us.

[pongeroon]

Good thread OH.

A useful if obvious tip from me - when saving your own seed, label it with variety AND year. Stops you ending up with lots of seeds of indeterminate age that may or may not be viable.

[goldilox]

Store leftover seed packets in a tin somewhere cool. Mine all got eaten by mice one year when they were in a cardboard box.

[alan refail]

The most useful advice I can think of is: keep records of when you sow and when you plant out. If you get it wrong one year, you can adjust your dates until you get ones that work well and suit you.
What I have done for years is make a list of all my seeds, note down the suggested sowing time, then when I sow and plant put those dates down. It takes a while to set up and time to record, but those records are worth their weight in gold. It is, of course, much easier now you can set up a spreadsheet on the computer and edit it every year. It also helps if you keep some sort of weather diary from year to year.

[Beryl]

The most useful piece of advice I was given when I first started on the lottie by a gentleman now in his 80s and had been allotmenteering all his life.

Always start and finish at the same pace.
You will achieve far more. in less time and less back ache.

Beryl.

[Johnboy]

My advice is really a follow-up to OH's.
Always write things down and never rely on your memory because your memory, somehow, is always incorrect.
JB.

[oldherbaceous]

Watering of seeds and young plants.

I think most of the failures i have encountered, have been people over watering at critical stages of a plants life.

Seeds once sown need to be kept moist at all times, but not soaked constantly.

And when pricking out or potting on, especially at the early stages, vey careful watering is needed.
Always try and water the seedlings/plants an hour before pricking out or potting on.
Then once done, give the plants a good soaking and no more until the compost is nearly dry, one thing nearly all young plants hate is, having their roots sitting in cold wet compost.
Once the plants are growing away freely you can water more often.

[The Grock in the Frock]

Always label what you have planted and always use the pens that dont wash off the lable when you water.I learnt that one one my firts year of allotmenting

[Primrose]

Don't throw your empty seed packets away the minute you've emptied them. If your crops are successful, you might want to grow the same variety next year and you might not remember what variety it's called or which seed supplier they came from.

[John]

Great idea for a new thread OH.
My advice would be to hoe and hoe and keep hoeing whenever you have a few spare moments. Its the only way to keep on top of the weeds.

John

[Elaine]

I keep a diary for each year,consisting of;- (1) seeds-variety, company(T&M etc.) date sown, germination rate, pricked out, planted out etc.and progress. I record what we thought of the veg. when we ate it. (2) I also keep a weather diary for each week, noting extremes of temperature ,rain etc. (3) Also, a record of any pests and diseases, treatments/action taken.
We have found this invaluable over the past five years. At the moment, it's all written by hand, and kept in an arch lever binder but I might get around to doing on the computer....if I can figure out how to do it ! Cheers.

[Elaine]

P.S I also agree wholeheartedly with John, re. hoeing relentlessly. It works.

[Primrose]

Ten minutes of hand weeding every day, for those areas which can't be hoed, will stop you being overwhelmed by the wretched things.

And keep your eye out for empty containers from drinking water fountains and giant plastic mineral water bottles. They make wonderful individual cloches for early planted-out courgettes, etc.

[donedigging]

Working with heavy clay,

To plant seeds directly, make a drill, then sprinkle some mutli-purpose compost in the bottom, water then sow your seeds, then cover them with some more compost, not only does it give the seeds a bit of help to get going, you can also see where you have planted! but still label each row.

[Johnboy]

It is a good idea to leave a stout stick at both ends of a row so that you can run a line out between the sticks when you are unsure which is the crop and which are weeds.
When thinning crops out always protect the plant you wish to remain by holding the, say the carrot, with two fingers holding the soil firm either side when pulling out one you do not want. If you do not do this you will be amazed at how many good ones you pull or seriously disturb.
JB.