Yet another newbie

[Papaver somniferum]

Hello, forum.

I'm in my first year of gardening: I kept waiting until I had the free time and money to put up a greenhouse, until it dawned on me that such a time might never arrive and I should simply get on with it.

Now I've built my greenhouse, and an electronic control system (so that it can run itself when I cannot) and put some raised beds in the garden. I'm happily blundering about making all the usual mistakes.

My biggest problem at the moment seems to be malnutrition. I think I've over-populated my grow bags. I give loads of NPK and Mg and trace elements, but the cucumbers and tomatoes still keep forming very pale, yellow leaves. My neighbour wonders if I'm pushing too much phosphate.... anyway, I'm here to learn.... thanks for letting me join the forum.

[Husker]

Hi Papaver, and welcome. It's great to have you with us. . You may want to hold off on any more fertilizer for a while, until the plants are more established. Just make sure they have water but not too much. Best of luck with your growing.

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Papaver!! Welcome to our forum!!

[Papaver somniferum]

Thank you, both.

I think, next year, I'll try bigger containers (I'm not sure that grow bags are deep enough) and only put one plant in each, then there should be less need for supplementary feeds and so less room for error!

The heart of the problem is that, having raised plants from seed, I didn't have the heart to throw out the wekest, so I've ended up with three plants sharing each bag. At least, that's what I believe is the matter..

I'm toying with the idea of putting up a lean-to greenhouse for cucumbers for next year: then there'll be more room for everything else in the main greenhouse.

Nick

[golden14]

Keeping the cucumbers separate is a good idea as I have found they just hate being with anything else or even near to any other plants, might just be me though.

[jimbuckleybarrett]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum. Don't worry about mistakes, it's a learn curve.

Originally Posted by Papaver somniferum

Now I've built my greenhouse, and an electronic control system (so that it can run itself when I cannot) and put some raised beds in the garden. I'm happily blundering about making all the usual mistakes.

I would love to hear more about how your built your green house and in particular the electronic control system .

Jim

[Papaver somniferum]

Oh disaster!

I just spent 30 minutes explaining all about my greenhouse control system and listing all of the plants that I've grown, made a false click of the mouse, and all my prose vanished.

In a nutshell:

(1) the cucumber plants still look weird but they're pumping out cucumbers like there's no tomorrow.

(2) I've learned that not everything likes to spend all year in the GH: some things need to be planted out early, some late and few like to stay put.

(3) The system is essentially home-made, built around a set of control boards made by a company called PC-in-Control. I plan to put up a web page about my project, time permitting, and I'll post the URL when the page is working.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Nick

[jimbuckleybarrett]

Originally Posted by Papaver somniferum

Oh disaster!

I just spent 30 minutes explaining all about my greenhouse control system and listing all of the plants that I've grown, made a false click of the mouse, and all my prose vanished.

Been there - it's madding! Now I type my long posts up in word and then copy and paste.

Originally Posted by Papaver somniferum

(3) The system is essentially home-made, built around a set of control boards made by a company called PC-in-Control. I plan to put up a web page about my project, time permitting, and I'll post the URL when the page is working.

Please do let me know I be very interested in how you automated the system - this would be something I would enjoy doing (probably more than the gardening itself )

Jim