please be gentle ~ newbie in need of much nurturing !!

[newbiemum05]

Wow !!!

Thanks for all the hello's, its really encouraging to know I have a wealth of advice to draw from here !

Will definately look into getting some (reasonably sized) tubs ~ although I di try and grow a tomato plant once a couple of years ago and it only grew ONE tomato !!! I was so proud I even took a photo ~ lol

I want to feed my family organics ~ does this mean i need to get special seeds ?? ~ or can i use say the cheap seeds from nettos etc and treat them as organic ??

As you can tell I really am a margo ~ I will probably be asking several silly questions in the next few weeks ~ lol

thanks again !!

[Andy Hamilton]

ah silly anwsers is what we give best I tend to use a mixture of organic seeds and non organic, if you grow using organic principles then at leat you know that no nasty chemicals have gone into your veg.

Where did you grow the tomato plant? I grew one in a bucket in my lounge once and I forgot about polination. It kept growing flowers and then they would drop off. I had to hand polinate them in the end and I grew two tomatoes.

[Libby]

Hiya newbiemum

[newbiemum05]

Have to confess I grew it on my kitchen window sill ~ lol

Now am gonna sound silly - pollination ? (i remember it vaguely from school) lol

i'm afraid everyone has their hands full with me lol

[ina]

I think I have just worked out what SAHM means - stay at home mum?

Hi Newbiemum, and welcome!

Thanks to MMM I now know what SAHM means - because I hadn't been able to work it out! Probably because I'm no mum - new or otherwise. But I quite agree with you wanting to try and feed your kid organic food; it makes me sick reading all the stuff that goes into ordinary food that's supposedly "for children".
However, in a few days' time our ewes will start lambing, and as we are expecting a lot of triplets I shall end up being a "mum" to up to 100 lambs, all needing feeding... So if you need any advice on lamb rearing, ask me!

[Andy Hamilton]

pollinationis how many plants reproduce. An insect will pick up the pollen from one part of the plant (or another plant) to the part that will grow the fruit or reproduce. So with a tomato plant the pollen gets taken from a male flower to a female flower in order for the tomato fruits to grow. So on your plant the chances are only one flower got pollinated.

[Wombat]

Tomato plants are wind polinated so you have to shake the flowers around a bit every time you walk past, otherwise beautiful plants but no tomatoes! I had a similar problem wit early tomates in my plastic house.

Nev

[hedgewizard]

Thanks for that reminder Nev - do you think they'd pollinate all right in a tunnel with double doors open at each end? I'm probably too lazy to remember to shake them!

[ina]

They should be perfectly ok in the tunnel - that's how I had mine last year. You can also help the process by gently watering (or spraying) the plants, not just the pots. Mine had plenty of fruit, but as usual not a lot of ripe ones. Scotland, even in polytunnels, seems to be great for growing green tomatoes...

[Shirley]

Scotland, even in polytunnels, seems to be great for growing green tomatoes...

Yummy - lots of green tomato chutney then!!! Or fried green tomatoes.

Perhaps time to gather up those green tomato recipes

[Mandyz]

Hello newbiemum,
I'm new also.
And a mum in the making... well, that's the plan at least ;)
It is also one of the many reasons DH and I started changing our lifestyle a few years ago.

As for organic seeds, the only thing I would want to check for in seeds not listed as organic is whether or not they are genetically modified. Otherwise I'm not as concerned about what chemicals were used in growing the plant that created my seeds. It's not as if I live somewhere free of chemicals.

[hedgewizard]

The amounts of chemicals in non-organic seeds is very small, but the point is that buying organic seeds promotes organic practice by growers. If you're buying ickle packets of seed from the garden centre, you'll pay a premium for organic. If you buy from an online or postal catalogue that isn't necessarily true though - take a look at Garden Organic's online catalogueand you'll see what I mean - not all of their stuff is organic

[newbiemum05]

Well ... its official - my husband has accepted a job in Scotland so we are on the move at the beginning of July !!!

We will be moving to the fife area and we don't know much about the area - any advice would be gratefully received !

Esp : Farmers markets, farmshops, Box Schemes (we are trying to slowly make the change to organic)

[Goodlife1970]

Congratulations and good luck! Be sure to fill us in on all the details! Its a weird time isnt it,the time before the move? I can remember spending the last month or so practising my kitchen skills and making things that I needed for my "new life" (I have actually used most of them too! The blankets I knitted came in VERY useful when had no heating/hot water for the first two weeks (and that was July!) Enjoy planning for the future!

[Shirley]

CONGRATULATIONS on hubby's new job.

Fife is only a couple of hours drive from here - Aberdeenshire... I'm sure between Ina and myself, and the other scottish posters (WHERE are you???) we can find some good info for you re farmers markets etc.