The great, good and not so good bits about growing your own dinner 2017

Fruittea · 17 May 2017 at 9:10AM

Morning Everyone
Still raining here in Gloucestershire - I'll take a walk down to the plot and check the greenhouse for watering. That's about all for me - maybe bring something back for pricking out.
This is a useful link for crop rotation Londonlydia:
http://www.allotment-garden.org/crop-rotation/four-year-crop-rotation-plan/
It show the plot divided up into four rather than three. Which might work out to be less complicated. I try to rotate but on a small plot I sometimes break the rules and I inter-crop so much that I get a bit mixed up. Best things to remember change the potatoes around every year and try not to plant the same crop one after the other. Sounds as though you're doing very well and to be honest in the first year just have some fun and get used to growing.
Loveknittingsocks -I thin the beetroot to one every four inches - depends a bit on the type you are growing. Thin them as soon as they are pull outable - about 2cm.
Beetroots should really be station sown - so a couple of seeds every four inches and then when they are ready to thin pull out the weekest seedling. If you sow any closer you waste seed. If you don't thin then the beet won't have room to grow. What variety are you growing?
With all this rain - we'll all be weeding next week.

MissPop · 17 May 2017 at 2:41PM

Is it normal for my strong and healthy-looking seedlings to keel over and go all floppy after being transplanted to bigger pots...? Yesterday I lifted them as carefully as I could, planted as deeply as possible and firmed the soil around the roots... Not sure why they look so bad today

Fruittea · 17 May 2017 at 2:52PM

Hi Misspop - sorry to hear about your seedlings. It is quite a shock for them to be moved but most recover.
It might be helpful to know what they are. I try to handle the leaves only. If they are inside plants and very tender I use tepid water rather than cold from the tap to water them in. And give them lots of light.
Or perhaps they were a bit leggy? If so it's best to drop them down a bit in the soil.
Hope they recover for you.

MissPop · 17 May 2017 at 3:26PM

Fruittea wrote: »

Hi Misspop - sorry to hear about your seedlings. It is quite a shock for them to be moved but most recover.
It might be helpful to know what they are. I try to handle the leaves only. If they are inside plants and very tender I use tepid water rather than cold from the tap to water them in. And give them lots of light.
Or perhaps they were a bit leggy? If so it's best to drop them down a bit in the soil.
Hope they recover for you.

Thank you! They're tomatoes, this always seems to happen with my toms

The water was room temperature, and I did remember not to lift them by the stem

And they're back under my makeshift grow lamp, so hopefully they might perk up!

Dizzy_Ditzy · 17 May 2017 at 7:32PM

It's rained here for three days solid! We needed it but I'm sick of it now :rotfl:

Dizzy_Ditzy · 17 May 2017 at 7:34PM

LoveKnittingSocks wrote: »

Good evening!

The rain has been relentless here for the last couple of days but the sun finally showed its face this afternoon. My little container garden is going mad, and I'm amazed at how quickly things grow once they get started. My potato plants are huge and I think I've spotted a few flower buds - I'm really excited.

I've planted more onions, spring onions and lettuce, two more potato bags (slightly smaller) and some more basil. I've ordered some radish seeds and a blueberry bush which haven't arrived yet - I'm hoping they'll be here by the weekend so I can get planting.

My four remaining sprout plants are now outside under plastic bottle cloches - as soon as I put them out, the heavens opened, but they're still hanging in there

Please can someone tell me how big should my beetroot plants be before I thin them out?

I hope everyone has a great week :j

Your beetroot thinning depends on how big you want the remaining ones to be - maybe leave the width of a tennis ball between them to give them space? Mine will be picked at different sizes alternately

Welcome by the way! Happy growing

LoveKnittingSocks · 17 May 2017 at 9:34PM

Thank you for the replies and for the welcome

My beetroot are Detroit 2 and Boltardy. They're about 2cms now so I will have a go at thinning them out tomorrow - its too wet tonight. Still no sign of my runner beans - not that I'm impatient:D

My blueberry plants have arrived. I thought they'd be a bit bigger but they look healthy so I'm happy.

DS3 did another stint in the garden last week. There's still a long way to go but its a step in the right direction. He works really hard so I try not to pester him too much.

I was lucky enough to find three Kilner jars in the charity shop at lunchtime. They were only £2.50 so I couldn't resist buying them in the hope I'll have something to pickle before long!

I hope everyone has a great Thursday - one day closer to the weekend :T

CAFCGirl · 18 May 2017 at 7:13AM

Rain and sun and rain and sun!

I was out in the torrential rain last night in my dressing gown, garden clogs (with fluffy socks underneath) to shut the chicken coop up and then noticed one snail loitering with intent in the generalised area of my seedlings, and where there is one, there is many!

10 minutes later and soaked to the bone I had dispatched 32 of the little blighters! One of them even had the gaul to still have a piece of my runner bean plant attached to it!

This morning, the seedlings are all looking relatively healthy and just getting ready to throw the equivalent of a temper tantrum because they want 'space' up at the allotment. Soon my pretties!!!

Fruittea · 18 May 2017 at 9:46AM

Morning All
Lovely day here in Gloucestershire and I'll be off to do some gardening (paid work) this morning. Only a couple of hours and then I'll pop down to check the greenhouse.

Loveknittingsocks - Your beetroot should be fine to thin now and they are both round beets which will be great as small beets or grow them on a bit. But about 4 inches of space will be fine. Look out for Chioggia I can recommend it for the colour. And remember the blueberries need to be planted in ericacious soil and like to be watered with rain water - they grow in no time. Great bargain on the kilners. I always ask for them as Christmas pressies and have quite a collection now and I find I can never have to many. The runners should be up in about 10 days at this time of year - if they don't appear after that check them just in case in they have rotted.

CAFCGirl I hope you're dispatching those snails - it's nasty but they home a homing instinct so throwing them over a wall won't get rid of them. They'll be back.

maisymoo5 · 18 May 2017 at 11:47AM

Hi all, I'm new to gardening and new to growing anything having recently moved. I have at last got a greenhouse but no vegetable patch as yet so will be growing any veggies in pots for the time being. My cucumber is doing well as are my peppers, tomatoes and sprouts. I've got lots of lettuce,rocket, spinach and chard and some beans growing nicely. Also coriander and basil.I also am growing some flowers but it looks like my giant aliums and delphiniums are just not sprouting. I planted them some months ago but so far nothing. The rest of the flowers are doing well and I've planted some marigolds out already with a good sprinkling of snail and slug killer which is doing its job well from the bodies left behind each morning. I have grown some lupins from seed in an old egg carton. Could I just dig this into the ground as I don't really want to disturb their roots as the tray is quite shallow and do you think it is too soon to plant these out?

The great, good and not so good bits about growing your own dinner 2017

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free