A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening New ambitious mini garden in Germany

Hi All,

This is my first time writing here so here is a blanket apologies for any and every spelling mistake. So now that is that done Sorry this is a lot to read or comment on but i appreciate and assistance.

Basically I have moved to Bonn, Germany from Australia and find it extremely hard to constantly pay for veggies when i can (or try to) grow my own. I have picked an extremely ambitious task of growing here because;
a) There is no garden, or no place for a garden
b) The weather is extremely humid and only a couple of months of getting quite cold
c) I am going back to Australia for a month in about 10 days, so i will be very kindly asking my lovely girlfriend to take good care of my little garden (its ok i have the chocolate and roses ready)

My experience in growing vegetables was in 3 large plots last spring/summer at my parents house. Where I had great success with 3 types of tomatoes, 2 types of beetroot, spring Onions, Basil, Coriander, Eggplants, Cucumbers, Chilies, Lettuce, Rocket, Spinach. Beyond my wildest dreams everything survived 15degree lows to 40degree highs. But i had produced really good soil with a tonne of nutrients and they received great water etc...

So here is my first problem with my latest experiment.. The capsicum Plant I brought from a store here was unfortunately neglected for around a week (emergency call to go look after a sick pony) so anyway it lived in the container it came in for around 1 week with only a good soaking in water when i got it and a water before i left. When i returned the leaves were sagging and the fruits that were on there looked like they were dying. I am not interested in saving the fruits that where already established more so trying to lift the health of the plant to make it thrive for a while. There are fresh shoots coming and i would like to give it the best chance of becoming a great little plant.

Here is a bit of what i have.






The rectangular box is lined with news paper the mixed with 20% sand, 40% composted horse manure (about 2yrs old), and then 40% rough potting mix. The horse manure was pretty wet so i didn't water heaps when I mixed it all together. The Capsicum plant is basically what i brought home from the store, i took off a bunch of leaves low down to try and encourage a bit of strength. I also took off a few fruits because they were clumped together and looking to sad to keep. The plant gets around 5 hours or more of direct sunlight a day. So this is the real problem all the leaves are sagging and the fruits that i have left look wrinkled and well... dying. Any advice.



I am also being ambitious and have put some basil in there and seeds for snow peas (sugarbeens), and mini-eggplant (Ophelia), sitting about 1/2 inch under some soil. Like I said i am not experienced and a am just having a go.

The bigger round pot has the same mix of sand, manure and potting mix but with some different seeds and seedlings. there is the left over basil either side of the pot, this looks to be happy. There is also some German Kahl (Grünkohl, used for a stew and sausage dish), it was just there as seedlings when i was at the store, this also looks a little average, but i have only planted the good seedlings and picked off the dead leaves. This pot also has seed for Feldsalat (just a type of salad leaf), small red beetroot and spinach.

Ok so like i said this is alot to read or comment on but i appreciate and assistance.

Cheers for now.

Leigh

Welcome, Beanie. What color is your capsicum supposed to be when ripe? A lot of vegetables will slow down and stop producing unless the produce is removed when ripe. So I would remove those red ones at least. If they are as infirm as they look, I would probably not use them in a meal. I have nothing to add beyond keeping it watered but not soaked. I would also try turning the box to see if sunlight from a different direction would aid in resuscitation.
Good luck!

Hihi! Thanks Tina, Well that is amusing & why didn't i even think of this. I guess this would have been a question to ask the attendant at the store. After a little search on the Internet i think i have a good representation of what the plant should look like and yes the ripe fruits are Orange. So there was no tag on the pot so i couldn't be sure but I will go with my gut instinct.


I will turn the boxes throughout the growing to change up the sun as well.


I would sure appreciate any other advice/thoughts from anyone.


Thanks again