PLASTIC GARDENING STUFF etc - plants do grow without it

[PLUMPUDDING]

Now gardening is the latest trend all all the magazines and internet are bombarding people with adverts for plastic raised beds, tubs, "earth boxes", things with supports etc, etc, etc. at vast expense.

Very few state that they are made from re-cycled plastic, which I don't object to, but new gardeners should be told that they can grow veg without wasting money on all these gimmicks. I agree that plastic pots are useful and it is very easy to get these for nothing - lots of garden centres have a cage near the car park where you can help yourself to used ones. Nets and crop cover are also worth buying, but as for the rest... It is very easy to knock a few boards together to make raised beds and lots of crop supports can be home made from canes or any straight hazel or other wood.

The thing that is really bothering me is that if people think they are
saving food miles and being environmentally friendly by growing their own, and then are using vast amounts of things made from plastic (made from oil) then it is rather pointless.

You don't need to spend a fortune to get the health benefits from
growing your own produce either, so it isn't necessary to buy an arsenal of sprays (also using oil) to kill everything that crawls or flies or eradicate
every weed. Slug pellets are the only necessity in my garden. You will also benefit from eating produce that doesn't have chemical residues on or in it.

I know magazines make their money from advertising, but all these new gardeners should be made aware how easy gardening really is. Plants want to grow and if you work with nature and give them the conditions they like you will get a crop. Some years one crop will do better than another, but it would be difficult not to get something edible even if you haven't a clue about gardening.

Also people should try reading what suits the crops they want to grow before they start, either a good basic book, or on the internet and not be sucked in by all this silly instant rubbish on some programmes on TV.

Sorry this is a bit of a rant but I've just got a gardening supplies leaflet with the post and the majority of the products are totally unnecessary.

[Southern Softie]

I agree that you need to be careful what you spend or the list of bits you buy can be extensive. I now keep a list of things that I have bought in the year to establish what I am paying out. This includes seeds, pots, compost, fleece and all. That helps me keep a check on spending.

I have, what I consider, a fairly large veg plot in my garden and I tried not to spend a fortune to build it up. I made my own raised beds by phoning around some local scaffolding companies for old boards and got 50 at £2 each wit ha £20 delivery charge. They have to throw them away if they get damaged so were more than happy to sell them on. With a bag of nails (nail gun very handy), a saw, a hammer and a bit of graft I had a dozen raised beds within a day.

Other that that I don't think I have spent much. Wilkinsons have a very cheap range in pots, seed trays and lids to get you started, which I stocked up on last year and just washed out and reused this year.

I have scrounged a huge net off some friends and made some frames for them to drape over.

It's all an adventure really and it doesn't have to look like it's come straight out of the new Gardener's World garden with waist level beds and symetrical designs. The aim to to grow vegetables. Plant, tend, harvest and eat. After that it's just down to how pretty you want it to look, it's down to eating fresh veg....mmmmmm

[FelixLeiter]

You make a very good point there, Plumpudding. On our allotment when I was a boy, my father made a point of sowing everything direct. I don't remember him spending a single penny on pots, compost, fleece (no such thing in them days, though) or any other paraphernalia which cost money. The only expense each year was seeds and the rent on the plot. Manure came free from the stables next door (very handy). Seed potatoes were always a bug-bear because of the price, but were discounted through the allotment society. Transplanted crops were always sown into a little nursery bed and lifted when required. They would wilt for a few days, but soon grow on to give fantastic crops.

These days, if you're not fannying about with little seedlings in modules, you're considered not to be doing it properly. I despair at how often advice is given — in magazines, on the telly, on the interweb or where have you — to start things off in trays, pots and such. I've seen such advice given for raising fennel, parsley, coriander, Swiss chard, pak choi, even rocket. All these crops are perfectly hardy and robust and grow well from a direct sowing, even one early in the year. Some actually do better for not having their roots disturbed. Of course there are crops which need to be brought on, tomatoes for instance. But If I was a beginner, I would want to know what I need to be doing, and what is just plainly a waste of time and resources.

[Primrose]

I do agree with a lot of your comments. I suspect that a lot of new gardeners (and some older ones) are spending a great deal more money on gardening accessories than they are saving on actually growing their vegetables. I sometimes have to keep a check on myself when I see a new accessory become available and ask "How many tomatoes, parsnips, beans, etc, will I have to grow over how many years before I repay the cost of buying this?" That usually does the trick and the money gets put back into my wallet! In some ways the gardening programmes have done a great disfavour to new gardeners. They seem to make people think that gardens have to be treated as adjuncts to their living rooms with the same fashionable needs applying.

[alan refail]

How about the three S's?

Soil
Seeds
Simple tools

But you'd never make much of a programme/lifestyle statement/profit out of promoting that

[Johnboy]

Hi Felix,
I'm afraid that I must take issue regarding Modules and Nursery rows.
To me nursery rows are where the faffing about occurs and modules will give you a better produced plant every time. With nursery rows you get all kinds of damage and are open to all the pests at the stage where the plants are at their most vulnerable stage.
You may appreciate that I have been gardening since long before any plastic came on the market and in my early days it was nursery rows, clay pots and glass cloches. All bad news in my opinion.
You are of course as entitled to your opinion as much as I am but when you are out in the elements digging your nursery bending and stooping sowing your seeds I am sitting at my work bench. When you are again out in the elements tending your plants I am under cover with everything to hand. All my plants are raised on the stagings in pots or modules in one of my tunnels and are all in tip top condition.
I agree that there are many things on the market that I simply detest but plastic pots and modules here are of professional quality and have been used many many times.
Some of the things that are meant to be ornamental to me are absolutely grotesque. Many things are on the market are simply to catch people who are new to the hobby and some of the prices simply horrify me.
JB.

[Primrose]

Having experimented with growing seedlings both in nursery rows and in modules, now that I have a mini plastic greenhouse to give them a kick start, I have to agree with Johnboy that starting seedlings off indoors does produce much healthier plants, and more of them. Last year I sowed my kohl rabi in nursery rows ourdoors and many of them were eaten by slugs, infuriating when their seed isn't cheap. This year I have grown them in modules and have got some magnificent little seedlings, the first of which have been tall enough and healthy enough to plant outdoors, and I'm sure they will now have a very good start. Similarly, I'm growing the few cabbages, sprouts and PD Broccoli plants I've got space for in individual pots and these too are producing some good little seedlings. I like to reduce the number of slug pellets I use to an absolute minimum for the sake of the wildlife in our garden, and starting seeds off in pots and modules does allow me to do this and raise seedlings which can be planted out when they're big enough to be less vulnerable. My Cavalo Nero seeds have been sown straight into the soil this year and they're looking very sorry for themselves.

[retropants]

I agree, the majority of seedlings that I have direct sown are devoured by snails & slugs. Some come up and are gone before I've even seen them, the only evidence on very close inspection is almost microscopic stems sticking just out of the soil!

ETA: our allotment is almost a Steptoe's yard of a variety of recycled wood and other found items!

[alan refail]

Hi JB & Primrose

Despite my earlier post, I do agree with both of you 100%
Now that I do my main growing under cover, I find sowing in modules is invaluable, mainly because it gives time to sow when the space for growing is not free for quite a a few weeks.
Having said that, all my plastic pots and modules are (free) recycled and have lasted (with a few losses) for 10 to 15 years now.
I agree with both of you that most of the other stuff advertised is a waste of money.

[glallotments]

I agree with JB and Primrose too.
We garden on heavy clay and seedlings that are sown directly into the soil need to be sown in a shallow trench of compost if they are to have any chance of germination and then they have to be kept well watered so that the compost doesn't become too dry. Seeds couldn't be planted as early as they are in the greenhouse and as already said they would be at the mercy of the slugs!!

The plastic modules we use over and over again so although there is an initial cost in subsequent years we only need to buy the compost.

[Johnboy]

Hi Plumpudding,
What I forgot to say in my previous posting was that in essence I do wholeheartedly agree with your rant.
There are so many charlatans in the gardening industry, those who have jumped on the ever expanding band waggon, purely to exploit the uninformed.
I feel that Alan's posting to keep it simple is clearly good advice.
I use designated beds for convenience but these raised beds are totally unnecessary. By designated beds I mean that they are bordered with 4" treated timber. The original raised beds started off as designated beds and it was by the addition of compost year on year that they would become raised but today they are simply a waste of time and money.
The importation of vast quantities of soil, of very dubious quality, and at enormous cost, fails to give you any growing advantage whatsoever when most of the people have not even tried the soil that they have and what is worse is that they will never know.
There is so much unneeded plastic on the market which to me should be curtailed by the government and only things that have a genuine use be allowed to be made. To me this would be worthwhile legislation and put paid to some of the rubbish.
JB.

[Mike Vogel]

Regarding sowing direct, I would think that much has to do with the condition of the soil. If it is difficult to get it into a fine tilth, then sowing in trays or pots with a good seed-compost is probably worthwhile. Another solution, though, is to take out a drill and fill that with the compost instead.

Pots, greenhouse, fleece, seed-trays etc are great if you want to extend the season. To some this may seem unnatural, so don't sow your carrots and beans etc too early. However, this doesn't mean that you need to spend lots on plastic pots and trays; most food-packaging does just as well. I've not bought a plant pot for many years; I just use margarine-pots, yoghurt-pots, etc. Yes, I know they are made from oil, but they don't contaminate the plant and they are indefinitely reusable.
mike

[Parsons Jack]

I was looking around our local garden centre a few days ago and spotted some very flash looking timber framed raised beds about 9ft x 4ft An absolute bargain at £90 a go I thought One of those isn't going to grow much is it. There are so many people just waiting to rip the unsuspecting off these days

[Compo]

I have thought about this and decided that what I do is the only and probably the best way to conserve plastics and other stuff as much as possible. My allotment is a hive of recycling actitivity. I save all the pots that I am given, or that I buy, using them year after year. If I do have to buy any pots or seed trays I try to buy as good a quality as possible. The flimsy seed trays and pots just break and have to be binned after one or two uses, If I use timber it tends to be recycled, old pallets, reclaimed stuff etc.

I compost a lot of shredded paper from various sources, and sawdust from when I cut up logs for burning at home. I use plastic bottles as cloches etc for young plants, and I collect rainwater in a water tank from my shed roof. If I could find a cheap wind generator for my shed I would use that too for heating the greenhouse in winter. But I won't use oil or calor gas for that.

Not only are things much cheaper this way, but greener too, but I do believe that one day waste will be valuable commodity and who knows the council might be buying it from us rather than us paying for it to be taken away

CoMpO

[Primrose]

Was browsing around the National Trust shop in Sissinghurst today and couldn't believe that they were charging around £5.90 for two poncy wooden spindles with a length of string wound round them for marking out a sowing/planting line. What's wrong with a couple of bit of stick with string tied to them? . Some people must have more money than sense, although I suppose maybe this is providing a village craftsman with some work somewhere.