[Gpdd] MISC. Growing your own veggies

[Penny Charlesworth]

Mieke ( and any other gardeners out there in GPDD land ),

Reading Ann's reply reminded me that I had neglected to mention growing 
grass for your herd. I was trying to keep my post short for our non 
gardening readers and forgot all about the grass.

If you have a row of deep seed trays or pots and sow grass seed in each one 
( you still have time now to do this for this year otherwise wait for the 
spring ) you can cut the grass in one each day and by the time you reach the 
last tray/pot, the grass in the first one will have grown for some more 
piggy delight.

I envy Ann her Florida climate. Great memories of lots of family holidays 
spent there. I grow commelina in pots for their lovely blue flowers but they 
have to live in my greenhouse for most of the year, only going out from June 
to October as they cannot survive our cold English winters. They are dying 
back now and I have to store them as tubers for the winter. There is not 
much leaf to spare for the piggies but they do love what they get.

Lemon balm would be easy to grow. You only need to buy one plant. It is 
perennial and survives the winter here with no trouble. My Dorian loves it. 
Just cut the leaves you need and, when it goes to seed, cut all the stems 
down to the base and it will come back the next year.

Well said Ann. Piggy poo and leftover hay makes a great addition to the 
compost heap but Mieke might not want that on her terrace. When we visited a 
garden in Madeira ( a holiday island in the Atlantic ) we were shown around 
by the owner. She kept rabbits and everyone else in the group was amazed 
that she made compost with their leavings so I had to mention that I do the 
same with my piggies' waste products and several people in the group wanted 
to know all about the Piggyfriends. It never hurts to spread the word.

Good luck with the hanging toms Ann. There are several varieties available 
here of what they call tumbling toms, bred for hanging basket growing. I 
haven't grown them myself but I have read that they produce a very large 
crop. Mine are safe from grasshoppers ( and anything else ) in the 
greenhouse. Fancy grasshoppers eating toms! Undoubtedly a different species 
from the tiny ones we get here. I have an image in my mind of them carrying 
off the toms to eat at their leisure!

Enough gardening for now or I will be sent to post on a gardening forum 
instead of the GPDD. I have to admit to being just a bit of an expert, 
Jaime, as I do it for a living. Semi retired now.

Penny and the Piggyfriends, who are munching what will probably be the last 
of my cucumbers. It is getting unseasonably cold of a night now and they 
will stop growing if this continues.