Sustainable?

[Abdullah Ali]

Could someone live (solely) of the vegtables they grow? .

What I mean by that is can you have a constant supply throughout the year (taking into account growing time/season etc)?
What size land would you need?

[Riz]

salaam abdullah....

brother as you are full aware we have short summers in UK, so its going to be difficult to grow for example:- tomatoes twice in one season.. same goes for aubergines/courgettes etc...

the other alternative is an allotment ( local council) will give you information on them.. depending on the size of your allotment (and other factors) you should be able to gauge if you can self sustain yourself for the whole year.. http://www.allotment.org.uk/garden/Allotment_Site/index.php

I am glad to hear you're thinking the way you are, its wonderful to grow your own,

if you have any pics of the piece of land ( or garden) please feel free to upload pics and then we can take it from their,, its late too plant anything now but you can get ready for next season.....

almost all vegetables will grown in the British climate, you can grow them in containers also.. like i have been doing this season.. more pics coming real soon...

so in conclusion its easily possible to live of your own supply,

depending on size of land, etc...etc.. ( like you asked) i have never grown enough to last me the whole year as i use my garden ( so i dont know)

you can also use polytunnels to grow your veg more about that later.........................

[Abdullah Ali]

Can you list the vegetables/fruit it is possible to grow in a standard mud/grass/shed area?

[Riz]

do you know how much hours of light per day that mud patch gets ?

you can grow all veg you can find in the shops in u.k

here is a link http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/veg.htm

you need to get rid of the grass in early march and work in some well rotted horse manure, maybe some chicken pellets if you're feeling adventurous :).. you can sow seeds early indoors in small pots and then introduce outdoors as small seedlings and then you can sow straight into the patch.
also birds can eat the seeds sown outside,

depending on size of mud patch, youll be able to figure out if you need any top soil( wich can be brought from B&Q "dirt cheap" :)

radish growing in a old sink... i am growing some for seed aswell

[Abdullah Ali]

do you know how much hours of light per day that mud patch gets ?

you need to get rid of the grass in early march and work in some well rotted horse manure,

It's not south facing, and I think I get the sun from 11;00. I will check tomorrow. It's about 12m x 16m, maybe bigger.

When is the next season?

I was thinking of putting a high fence around, but this will stop some sunlight. Any suggestions?

[spiritual g]

abdullah,what vegetablaes or herbs do you use day to day?let me know and ill make you a list of time of sowing,lightschedule,ph,harvest time etc of ech one.that way we can prep your garden via internet in matter of moments.allah alim,g

[spiritual g]

Also ,some pictures would be great,and like riz says,you need to ph check your soil ,and feel it and look .if its thick and clay like,it needs digging out and refilling with correct maure and decent top soil making sure ph is correct.
If its silty it will also need top soil added along with some lime,again to correct ph.
so basically,i cant tell you yet what to grow and how without more info on what you have available and how much work your willing to give these precious plants .if you can get to grips with what youve got,whether it non usuable due to hassle or whatever,let us know ,as theres many ways round it.raised beds,is an example.hopefully youll take this on board.peace

[Abdullah Ali]

I will get pictures posted as soon as is practical. I imagine the mud to be ideal for growing. I intend to put a decent amount of hours in (when I get married maybe my wife will also).

I use potatoes,tomatoes,sprouts,cabbage,spinach,carrots, asparagus,lettuce,radish,onion,rhubarb,peas,sweetc orn,(i like)pakchoi, I am also very intrested in growing(and love eating) fruit. strawberry,blackberry..I don't know what else is avaliable to grow.

[Riz]

you have a fair size garden abdullah..

you can use chicken "mesh" as fencing

[Riz]

did you have a look at the hyperlink in the early post nickey nursery.. you can see a description of all the vegetables and the sowing dates in u.k...

in the next few days i will be posting on our new section "users garden" i will be showing how to start a flower patch from scratch...

[Abdullah Ali]

Yeah I have read it but it doesn't give me enough info (don't forget I know very very little at the moment). Is the flower patch purely for viewing purposes?

[Riz]

Yeah I have read it but it doesn't give me enough info (don't forget I know very very little at the moment). Is the flower patch purely for viewing purposes?

the flower patch will give you an idea on what we can grow in u.k...

a bit of love and attention you can almost grow anything in a green house or a polytunnel ( i have neither)

in the next tutorial i will be showing how to grow "ginger" adhrik.. in a container

so please stay tuned :)

[Riz]

that was then ......

[Riz]

( please click pic to enlarge) this is now........ in the same patch as above.....

i will be giving you a description of all the flowers and seeds ive used in the coming weeks.......

[Abdullah Ali]

Quite a transformation. Well done!
You know the season starts in feb,march.apr,may does this mean I can't start at any other time? how long does food take to grow? And,How long does food last when it has been dug up? (sounds silly maybe.).

[Riz]

our growing season usually ends in sepetember... some veg take 6 weeks from seed to harvest.( radish) so you can grow these twice in one season at seperate times so you always have fresh radish to eat.. instead of having loads at one go.. you can do the same with coriander and basil.....

. so you have to time it right or otherwise the weather wont be good later on in the year and youre produce might not finish in time..

a good gardner knows when to start the seed and a rough guess on when it will finish..

i have courgettes that are in the final phase at the moment, i grew them in a container so i could keep the predators at bay snails/slugs etc..

more pics and tutorials to come later on........

[Abdullah Ali]

So we have a window of feb-sept, to grow?

[Riz]

So we have a window of feb-sept, to grow?


the good thing about growing you own is that you can let some vegetables go straight to seed instead of harvesting all your crop.. this way you will have seeds next season to germinate ( and you will know when to start the seed and when it will finish) because you will have experience from growing your own, so every season inshallah it should get better and better..

later on in the year when inshallah we have more people registering and posting, we should have a "seed exchange programme" this way you can swap seeds from other users for free...

[Abdullah Ali]

Should I aim to start growing,and get everything in place, for february?

[Riz]

please read to get a better idea.. more content is coming soon inshallah....

http://www.muslimgrower.com/discussionforum/showthread.php?t=2

[Riz]

Should I aim to start growing,and get everything in place, for february?

in feb we might still have frost on the ground,, but yeah you should be ready for it. couple of seasons ago it was snowing in april ( crazy british weather lol)
diffrent vegetables have diffrent dates ( start and finish) but all will be made more clear in the future.......

you see with flowers like tulips and others, you can sow them in september and get flowers in ealy march

[Abdullah Ali]

I am almost soley intrested in growing food at the moment, although i might grow a couple of flowers.

[Riz]

here is a useful guide for people...

planting times for vegetables

http://www.recipes4us.co.uk/Growing%20Vegetables.htm

[Abdullah Ali]

How will I be able to provide food for me during the winter months? taking into account food can't really be grown/produced in this period.
Also I started reading about 'crop rotation'.

[Riz]

How will I be able to provide food for me during the winter months? taking into account food can't really be grown/produced in this period.
Also I started reading about 'crop rotation'.


well you wont be able to... unless you grow enough to last you the whole season..

but the whole point is that you start of small and gain knowledge and every season improve your skill and in a couple of seasons, you will have the idea of what you can grow and what you can sustain for the whole season.. there is no feeling like planting a seed in the ground and watching it germinate and the leaves unfold and with in a few months you can eat what it offers.. its a miracle

indoor growing is very popular as well using special "grow lights" you can grow most things indoors in a spare room.. this way you can control the environment like light/water/soil conditions..

we are writing up a tutorial on "indoor growing" soon so look out for it..

[Riz]

How will I be able to provide food for me during the winter months? .

abdullah do you live in the u.k?

[Riz]

^ well if you do live in the u.k. I am sure you are aware of the short growing season we have,

[Sakeena]

How will I be able to provide food for me during the winter months? taking into account food can't really be grown/produced in this period.
Also I started reading about 'crop rotation'.

i guess this is where indoor/greenhouse growing will be quite handy because you can control the environment to ideal conditions