Vegetable Growing Equipment

 

The main point in growing one's own vegetables and fruit is that you are learning as you do so; this is the most important thing to remember, because this means that you are able to do so in a future emergency. This also goes for survivalism because you are then ready to tackle problems that you would not get over without the learning stage. 

EQUIPMENT -

This is a mini-greenhouse I use, which has since this time been moved to the house-wall which is south-facing and thus gets the heat from the wall. This small greenhouse is enough for most of the seed-trays I use in the spring.

The poly-tunnel is at the bottom of the garden and this had tomatoes growing in pots last year which can be seen on both sides. To be honest the same type of plants did a bit better outside the poly-tunnel so this year I am going to grow peppers inside This is not a very dear one but has survived some very strong winds over the autumn and now into early winter. There is a small raised bed I bought from Homebase; this fits together and can be taken apart easily. I painted it with a preservative to help since not all 'treated' stuff seems to last. Have plans to do this again with another type before I start planting. Greens and grass-cuttings are just thrown into the bed, but I moved these into the larger bed and put this one away for the winter. 

I bought a small wooden cold-frame, and built a larger one myself, both of which served well last year, and are ready to go this year. The larger one was filled with grass-cuttings, small twigs and leaves taken from the woodland in autumn and is breaking down well. This will be covered by soil this year and planted up.

A mini poly-tunnel is netted to cover greens such as cabbage, cauliflower (which failed last year, hard to grow these), broccoli etc. Unfortunately we had a very strong windy day in the summer last year and the netting moved and cabbage white butterflies managed to get in without permission. Did some harm but not that much to have been a disaster. (Share and share alike.)

TOOLS -

I use a stainless-steel spade, usually a border-spade because (being a short-arse) this seems easier to use. The fork is a very old one that has been handed down to me. I use Wolf-Garten tools for the following, each of which can be used on different size handles -

• Rake,
• Small fork,
• Hoe,
• Trowel,
• Three pronged tool (no technical term known),
• Tree pruner (loppers),
• Fruit collector.

Have other equipment but these are the ones I use most, and a mattock for breaking down hard soil. Also a potato-digger tool which digs up enough soil to plant a potato in. The tools I have had for years, and some of the Wolf-Garten have served me for about 20 years or more. It is well worth investing in good tools.

POTS -

Luckily many years ago I worked in a garden centre and nursery and managed to get hold of loads of different size pots which were thrown away (what a waste). Still have enough of these to use for the moment, and have some larger containers for growing which have lasted many years too. 

Seed-trays don't last too long but I have enough this year; next year may need to look at more permanent versions to last much longer. What I now do is to recycle old plastic packaging which came from supermarket-buying, but this is something I have tried to cut down so not so readily available. 

This has been a short post just to help those who may be starting out with this; the most important things is to try to get the best you can afford because these will last longer (usually, though not always).