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

Hi everyone and a Happy New Year. Thanks DD for starting a 2017 thread as I really enjoyed last years and learnt a lot.

I'm going to follow Fruittea's idea and add up how much I save again this year using Mr S (our nearest supermarket) for prices. I've still got loads in the freezer from last year and I'm still picking carrots, sprouts, leaks, cabbage kale off the plot with broccoli not quite ready yet. Undercover I've got yet more carrots and fennel ready, with onions and garlic growing well.

This year has to be a 'saving year' as I want to save enough money to have a proper driveway from the house down to the road so I'm up for the challenge of trying to be as self sufficient as possible. The plot is not as tidy as it should be but I made an effort yesterday and turned over one of the raised beds, and one of the beds undercover - hard work - I need to be fitter and lose weight

I think this year I shall try to grow a wider range of vegetables and not so many of each, trying to avoid gluts but having something I can pick fresh everyday. I'll obviously freeze any surplus but there's a limit to the number of times one can eat runner beans over the winter

Fruittea:- what is the growlamp you mentioned in the old thread, how does it work? Have you started sowing yet? I'm raring to get under way - just finished my admin so I have a bit more time at the moment to get organised.

Morning all,
Cold and frosty here need to wrap up well.

Fruittea, Sorry to hear about the allotment thieves, hope not much was taken. I suppose I'm lucky having my veg patch at home as we are very well alarmed both indoors as well as outside, I know who is where by the different sounds the alarms make, not to mention the CCTVs.

Thanks for the info on Garland growlights, I've googled it so I think it's to go on the 'wishlist' as it's looks just the job for starting off seeds. Last year we made the old kitchen into a utility room. It's also where I clean my veg and game so I was thinking of using that to start my seeds off as there's plenty of room.

Has anyone started sowing yet, I haven't so I'm going to spend the next few days (when I have time) going through all my seeds to make sure I have everything I need. I'm terrible with the seed catalogues, I always find things I would love to try but know I shouldn't, - must keep my hands in my pockets and off the internet so I don't spend.

Morning everyone - not so nice out today - drizzling and grey here in Gloucester.
Sounds like a good start for you Jazee I'm still pondering about with seeds - must get a wiggle on.
Thanks Zafiro my shed was fine but others lost tools.
I wanted to mention potatoes - last year I went to the Dundry nursery potato fair - it's near Cheltenham but there are fairs all over the country and I found it a great way to find out about the best potatoes for me. Here's a link to the site.
http://www.dundrynurseries.co.uk/event.asp
Or just google potato day and your area.
What was good is that I could buy just the right amount of potatoes for me as they were priced by the kilo of 20p per seed. So I bought around 6 varieties in small quantities and as I have limed space it was a great way to do things. There's usually experts on hand and even cooked potatoes so you really see what they're like.
I can highly recommend it.
All the best

I love Red Duke of York...

I ended up taking a little sabbatical in 2016, let's see if I can keep up this year. In the meantime here's a synopsis of how things went last year: I thought I'd got away with it, but the slug apocalypse got me in the end and I lost my entire plot of courgettes and pretty much anything I put out (this is despite using sand, ashes, nematodes and even wire entanglements made out of recycled copper). Blight also struck big time and got into my greenhouses, so my bumper crop of tomatoes could have been better but I can't really complain. If I still have tomatoes at Xmas then I'm happy, and I have three or four left. Potatoes (even the blight resistant varieties) were blighted quite early, but I still got good crops of smaller sized tubers, and they seem to have kept well, so I harvested them in time. My Oca crop did well again, as did my broccoli (which finally blew over this week). On to 2017...

Hello all. Small garden, small (unheated) greenhouse, so we're limited to tomatoes and chillies plus a mini peach tree under glass, raspberries and blueberries in pots, and strawberries and blackberries in hanging baskets. However, we also have dwarf stock plum, pear, eating apple and baking apple trees which produce more than enough for our needs.

I'll be growing 'ring of fire' chillies again this year (we like hot stuff!) - they're the long thin fruits, so freeze well. Looks like last years crop will be enough to see us through until this years are ready for picking.

We did try growing spuds in tubs, but the results weren't worth the hassle.