A London Vegetable Garden - Advice?!?

[rightsidebrain]

Hello,

I am new in these here parts and unsurprisingly I have stumbled across this veritable pantheon of gardening knowledge in search of help.

I live in a flat in London and although I do not have the luxury of a garden, I do have access to a rather large roof space. As I love cooking, I thought it would be a tremendous idea to grow some vegetables and fruit on my roof with the aim of becoming the Hugh Fernley Whittingstall of the suburbs.

However, my knowledge of gardening is limited. I thought perhaps if I were to upload pictures of my plants in their current state and wrote a little about what I have done so far, someone would have the technical wizardry to drag them from their near-death wiltery and set me on the path to self-sufficiency.

I am currently growing all of these plants on my kitchen window sill as I was a little worried that they were two small and dainty to brave the roof top...

BASIL

My attempt to grow some Basil seemed to be going remarkably well, yet they seem to have stopped changing at all. Do I need to separate the plants?



THYME

Like the Basil, my Thyme seedlings seems to be flourishing and have now appeared to have stopped...



JALAPENO PEPPERS

The Jalapeno Peppers seemed to not be growing at all and I was literally about to throw them out when some signs of life appeared. They have since grown quite steadily and today I split them into two pots fearing that they would get too crowded. Does anyone have any advice with regards to growing Jalapenos?



TOMATOES

The tomato seedlings were arguably showed the most impressive growth, yet in the last few days they have begun to wilt and generally look miserable.

I took them from the jam jar I had grown them in and separated them into two separate pots.

I then tied them to barbeque skewers in an attempt to keep their stems from snapping.

Can anyone help with my tomato growing as I am unsure as to how to proceed.



COMPOST BIN

Finally, I constructed a compost bin to put on my roof-top.

I did this with guidance of an American internet article about compost bins for those who have no garden. I have been unable since to locate the article again.

I made the compost bin out of a plastic dustbin. Around the base I have carved a number of wholes for air / drainage. I then put the bin onto a old wooden bath mate in an attempt to give it better aeration.

Into the bin I have been putting all my vegetable peelings, newspapers and some top soil.

I have been stirring it every other day.

My flat mate however has recently taken an interest in the bin and seems to think that it is taking so long to break down because I do not have any worms and because it is too dry. He subsequently poured water into it which has left it both smelly and wetter than I had imagined it should be.

Has anyone got any advice to get me bin back on track (or indeed onto 'a' track in the first place...)

[alan refail]

Hi rsbrain and a warm welcome to the forum
How nice to think we are a veritable pantheon of gardening knowledge

Writing from an acre plot in NW Wales, I must admire your determination to get your rooftop productive. I'm sure you will have failures and then success after success.

You don't say when you sowed the seeds, but if your photos are as they are now I would suspect too late for tomatoes and peppers this year, but keep the plants going and fed. The basil looks fine. You could, when they are a bit bigger, divide into smaller clumps and repot. If you sow a similar pot more thinly (plenty of time this year) you can grow them on in the kitchen like the pots you buy in the supermarkets. Coriander, parsley etc also do well like this.

I am a great fan of salad leaves, most of which grow very well in containers - have a look at this recent thread.

In one of my posts there I put a link to this very helpful site. It's well worth a look.

Whatever happens, remember: if you want to grow something, go for it, keep a record of what you sow and when and learn by your successes and mistakes.

Cofion gorau o Gymru heulog - Best wishes from sunny Wales

Alan

[PLUMPUDDING]

Hello there, You're doing really well with all your seedlings, but I should start potting them up individually and getting them outside now as some of them look as if they need a bit more light. Does your roof have some shelter from the wind?

Your compost is doing well, but would probably benefit from a few more air holes and some worms, although if you've put some soil in that should have introduced a few micro-organisms to help the compost break down. It is a bit of a balancing act to get the moisture content right. The vegetable waste is quite wet, so a bit of shredded cardboard etc should dry it up a bit and balance the carbon content with the nitrogen from the veg.

[pongeroon]

Hello rsbrain and welcome.

My basil did the same thing, germinated well, grew a bit , then stopped, but still looked healthy just like yours. It was indoors on a windowsill, so I put it in the glasshopuse and it took off again for while. I have just divided it into smaller clumps and repotted (carefully, basil doesn't like rough treatment) and it is getting away again. I think the large pot of basil i bought from the farm shop may have given it some incentive too!

I always find basil a bit iffy and drama-queenish, but its so delicious its worth it.

[rightsidebrain]

Wow, thank-you all for such quick and helpful replies.

I shall try and address each of your questions / points as accurately as I am able, but bear in mind I am novice with a poor grasp of the correct terminology.

ALAN -

Thanks for those two most helpful links and for the kind words of encouragement.

Rather foolishly I did not take a record of when I planted the tomatoes / peppers but at a guess I would have to say around a month ago.

I have split them into separate pots and put them outside on the windowsill, so with any luck they will perk up a bit although they are looking rather bedraggled at the moment.

I had intended to buy some grow bags for my roof to put the tomatoes in, but the description on the bag itself said only to plant the tomatoes when they had started to flower. With this rhetoric firmly engraved on my retina I must confess I have been waiting for them to flower before I planted them outside. I gather that it may be too late for this??

As for the Basil, I think that I will opt to separate as it doesn't seem to have changed much in the last few weeks which I fear may be due to lack of space?

PLUMPUDDING -

Thank-you as well for your encouragement.

With regards to shelter on my roof, there is currently none to be spoken of. I do however have some A3-sized Seed Trays. Would they be sufficient? It is not also beyond the realms of possibility that I construct myself some sort of perspexy-wood box on the roof if you think this would be better?

As for the compost, I'm not sure there is a way of saying this without sounding foolish so I shall just race headlong into the abyss of duncery - when you say worms, can I just go and pinch some of your average joe worms from my local common or do I need to locate some special "trained in the mountains by David Carradine" type worms?

PONGEROON -

Again, thank-you for your advice. I too am a big fan of Basil and have already harvested some to put in my tomato-based pasta sauces.

As I said to Alan, I think I may well break the Basil up into separate pots, probably with a "control" group in a seed tray on the roof to see how they fare.


I will endeavor to keep you all posted on my progress and thank-you again for you help.

[Monika]

As for your compost bin:

drill lots more small holes round the outside and in the lid so that more air gets to your compost. If it's now too wet, tear up some card board (loo rolls and kitchen paper rolls, corrugated card or even newspapers) and mix it in with your compost and it should become drier again. If you haven't seen ANY worms in the bin, could you not import some from somebody else's bin or compost heap? They will soon multiply if they like the conditions.

If it smells sour, sprinkle on some garden lime. and you'll only need to stir it once every ten days or so.

Good luck and don't give up, you'll get it right eventually!