Gardening/School gardening thread

[Bladestorm]

Good luck with it Trev. I hope you have loads of success. I'll definitely share it with anyone I think may be interested.

I've been dabbling into a bit of gardening attempting to cultivate some seedlings. So far I have the obligatory herbs, celery, 2 avocado plants and some miniature orange capsicum seedlings but whether they truly grow and fruit (as their sourced from Suparmarket veges/fruit) is another thing.

My biggest challenge right now is privet. Anyone got any tried and tested ways to stop it continually growing back in the garden?
I've pulled root systems, tried various poisons and still can't keep on top of it re-growing in a large chunk of my yard. I feel like I spend every second week and 1/2 of my green bin just on the privet alone! Unfortunately, my yard was neglected for 10 years while I was away and it's become a real struggle to try and clear it, let alone think about how to landscape.

[BigTransformerTrev]

^ I'm not on Facebook otherwise I'll be giving more thumbs up than that John Hopoate guy.

All the best with the new venture Trev. One thing you have in spades is entrepeneurship. I admire that in people.

Good luck with it Trev. I hope you have loads of success. I'll definitely share it with anyone I think may be interested.

.

Cheers guys. Did our first market stall today. Sold a bit early on but nothing for final couple of hours. I swear, most of today the market stalls (about 10) have outnumbered the people looking. Think I need to go somewhere busier for my next one.

[morg176]

Finally, after five years, I have allocated space at a school to garden.
Ironically, due to corona. I have 4 large metal above ground beds,
And more kids than I need to help but we soldier on.

I was thinking flowers, 2x veggies and a herb/extra garden.

Will try to do alot from seeds this time (may end horribly)
Will put snow peas and radishes in on friday, just so there is something in the ground.
Have plenty of 128 plug trays and plenty of seeds.
Will grow many at home incase it all goes south for whatever reason.

We have airated and dug up the soil in all for beds.
Will plant some radish on friday as they will give us time to grow the seedlings we need.

If the seedling growing goes well, we can sell? them to other teachers (maybe) for their gardens.
Most teachers only put in 6-8 plants in each garden bed.
I intend to try intensive gardening, did that last time with the flowers.

See how it all goes
Hope, clench and pray it goes well...

Thoughts and advice are welcome!

[morg176]

I got to grow some plants all from seed with some students in term 2.
Not the best time to grow, but we had a go. Everything from seed, so it was time consuming. Grew lettuce, radish, snow peas, carrots, strawberries (long shot), shallots, tomato, cal poppies and cosmos.

Most germinated. Radish and snow peas were growing well at end of term.
Lettuce and carrots were small but improving with rain.
Everything else was struggling as it was cold.
Tomato seeds were only just planted.
Students enjoyed it!

Seedlings at home are slow and often very leggy..
Read that maybe struggling for light. Built a daggy diy growlight
From led rgb glowstrip and will test it tomorrow. Just need it to strengthen the seedlings. YouTube says pink light should work 2-4 inches above the plants. Hope it works.

If you have experience with grow lights, feel free to chime in.

[Bladestorm]

I can't help with grow lights but I can recommend the use of a small greenhouse (a frame with a plastic cover over the top - bunnings sell them from around $39 up).
I recently got some tomato seedlings and planted 3 in my front garden and 3 in pots placed in the little greenhouse ... the 3 in the front garden have barely grown, the ones in the little cheap greenhouse are thriving despite how cold it is. Similarly, basil growing outside isn't growing at the moment while the one I put in the little greenhouse is growing a treat. I recently brought a slightly bigger one and have sweet corn, basil, coriander, snow peas, cauliflour and wintermelon seedlings growing in pots inside it. What I like about these greenhouses are that they are portable, protect from animals like possums and the plastic covering can be removed in summer.

I've taken to trying to grow things from seed cultivated from our food recently. Currently, I have 2 young avocado trees (and 2 seeds germinating). They may never grow fruit (will find out in 5 or so years) but I'm excited by the fact I've been able to grow them and I'll be happy even if they are just ornamental. I find 2 in every 8-10 avocado seeds I try seem to germinate at the moment but it's an extremely slow process compared to other plants.
I've also got 2 celery that are almost ready to harvest regrown from the base of store brought celery. I'm not sure how they'll taste but exciting giving it a go. I've just planted some mandarin seeds from mandarins picked fresh from a farm and chilli seeds just to see how successful seed planting can be.

[morg176]

Have had my pink light led rig running for nearly two days.
Lettuce seeds have sprouted which is a surprise, as have one or two radishes.
It will be interesting to see if this works as intended.
I've read that blue light is better for seedlings, but mine are a bit stunted from the cold

Advice and anecdotes welcome : )