Revisited! Great 'Grow Your Own' Hunt: share your top tips on home cultivation

saintwarwick

katyk wrote: »

Can anyone advise me how to 'save' seeds from this years crops to use next year? I have chile peppers on windowsill and dwarf broad beans in garden, as well as blackcurrants, redcurrants, blueberries. Also have potatoes, onions and red cabbage but assume they would be harder to gather from.
All are grown from seed packets this year
Many thanks
Katyk

You dry the seeds from the plants, ie when the chilli's are ready for cropping chop them as normal and keep the seeds from inside, dry them out and store until the following year. Should be ready for sowing the following year. The same for broad beans, take the beans out of the pods and dry them but I think it will be cheaper to buy a packet of seeds for this as it will be a shame to waste the broad beans. Potatoes can be grown from old potatoes which have started shooting and can also be grown from peelings. Not sure about onions and cabbages.

katyk_2

Do I need to save them for next year or could I harvest a few now and plant them right away since they are being grown indoors? Would be nice to have some to replace the current plants when they die off,.
Katy

Groovybaby_2

Whether you have little room or lots of space, you can feed your family all year round if you plan a bit. In the ideal world you prepare the grounds with manure etc and it will make for better veg, but if you are a novice just have a go and plant some seeds. I'm short of time so I do what I can in the garden and I successfully grow at least 10 varieties every year.
Easiest to grow:

• lettuce/radishes
• tomatoes (sunny spot needed)
  However I have a lot of success with green beans, onions, courgette/marrow (you need room for the latter 2). I

My Top tips:

• buy small plants at car boot sales/village fetes
• read the pack for seeds or buy "The Vegetable Expert" book
• water as much as possible, especially during dry spells
• share seeds or seedlings with friends or swap them for more variety
• net carrots and brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, colis) to stop bugs & pigeons eating them

Have a go, it costs pennies and even if you don't succeed at all varieties, I assure you there will be a crop for quite a few meals:beer:

tone21_2

I took on an allotment in June 2008 - This can be done quite easily by contacting your local council and asking for the allotments in your area - you will find that some have waiting lists. I have just handed mine back as I have moved house and am now on a waiting list which is a shame.

In terms of an allotment it all depends on the size of the plot and what condition it is in when you take it on - mine was overgrown and it took 2 weekends solid to clear the weeds etc but come sept / oct this was all worthwhile.

In terms of costs I scavenged across the freecycle pages and picked quite a lot up for free (well the cost of me picking it up) such as water butt, compost bin and rotted manure.

The seeds are cheap especially if you wait till the end of the season as most places drop to half price.

I also bought some young plants from B&Q - Tomatoes, Courgettes, Squash and someone on the another plot gave me some potatoes.

In the end I had a fantastic crop of:

Lettuce - Very easy to grow
Potatoes - Again very easy
Courgettes - Bought from b&q and planted and we get loads of vege's off it all the way through till October
Cabbages - Easy to grow but a nightmare keeping the slugs and caterpillars away
(With cabbages don't use pellets as they are fine to begin with but they attract slugs to begin with and kill them as they eat them until they die off - then you have loads of slugs around and the pellets don't work anymore - I found using cheap beer in pots as a good deterrant!!!)

All in all I would definately recommend an allotment - I am 30 with 2 kids and a full time job but as long as you can spare a couple of hours per week on an evening and the same on a weekend you will be fine.

You will find that around March / April it is quite intensive as tyou are planting and then at the end of the aseason when you clear and prep for next year but it is worthwhile to pull your own veg and eat it

Primrose

katy - it's best to wait until your chilli fruits are mature before you harvest the seeds from them. . However, you can cheat a little in the time factor by hard pruning back your chilli plants once you've picked all the fruits. Cut them back on the main stem to the bottom two sets of leaves, ease off as much old compost from the roots as you can without damaging them and repot with some fresh compost added. Water and give it time to recover and you should get fresh shoots, flowers and more chillis forming. Once flowers start appearing you'll need to water regularly with a liquid fertiliser. Tomorite will be fine for this. The only problem you can sometimes get with chillis grown permanently indoors is an attack of white fly and the best way of getting rid of this is to put the plant under a tepid shower for a minute, or spray with water until dripping using an empty household cleaning spray dispenser.
To get new redcurrant & blackcurrant plants, wait until autumn, cut off some shoots from your bushes and stick them into some deepish pots of compost. Keep them in a sheltered position throughout the winter and with luck in Spring you'll find that they will have developed roots. Don't be too impatient to plant them out though. Give them a little time to expand their root system before transplanting out into open ground. I think you'll find it difficult to save the seed from onions & cabbages as it means letting them go to seed rather than eating them and seeds are easy enough to buy in packets.

Amanda4242

I've not grown any veg before but I have a large patch of ground I could use at home. The soil is pretty weedy, but I guess once I dig and turn it I can plant seeds and give it a go?

I have a 9 month old and a 9 year old, so time is limited, so would need to sow something that is relatively easy to keep in check so any ideas much appreciated please. I really really want to give this a go

Primrose

Amanda - Lettuce and mixed salad leaves are easy to grow. If you sprinkle some mixed varieties into a small freshly dug patch they are capable of being sown outside now the weather is warming up. Thin or transplant them out when they're between 2 and 3 inches high and pick a few leaves whenever you want them. A useful and easy green vegetable to grow is Perpetual Spinach. Sow thinly in a row and keep well watered and you'll be able to pick leaves throughout the year until next Spring as it's pretty winter hardy. If you like courgettes, one or two plants will provide a good crop if you pick them small and keep them watered although you'll need to sow one per pot indoors and plant out late May/early June when danger of frost is past. Similarly, tomatoes are always worth growing but most varieties will need to be staked up with a pole. If you buying "Tumbling" varieties, they will grow low on the ground (as they're also suitable for hanging baskets) but it's best to put a little straw underneath them to protect them from slugs, etc. Strawberries are good too as the plants are winter hardy and last for up to three years. You can also create new plants from the little "runners" with roots they produce after they have fruited.

Calephetos

katyk wrote: »

Can anyone advise me how to 'save' seeds from this years crops to use next year? I have chile peppers on windowsill and dwarf broad beans in garden, as well as blackcurrants, redcurrants, blueberries. Also have potatoes, onions and red cabbage but assume they would be harder to gather from.
All are grown from seed packets this year
Many thanks
Katyk

The website I buy my seeds from (I am like a kid in a sweetshop with seeds...*cough*) has advice on seed-saving at the bottom of most vegetable pages. The company is Real Seeds, and it's always heartening to see what they're growing in wet Wales - makes me more confident I can get crops going in chilly Lancashire...! Not sure if I can post the link, but it also has a seed-saving section with instructions.

Depending on what sort of plant you've sown, seeds might not breed true - commerical seeds are usually hybrids, so you'll get something, but it might not look like its parent plant, and sometimes might not be fertile, but I've never met anyone who had difficulty with supermarket chillies, for example.

SJ_Jones

I live in a flatshare in SE London, & I have a balcony off of my room. In this I grow:

Tomatoes - 3 plants (grew last year in a growbag, BIG success, trying this year from 3 individual pots...)

Dwarf Beans - :mad: 3 plants (grew last year all in 1 big pot, very little success, trying this year from 3 individual pots...)

Raspberry Bush - Last year had very little, but that's normal for 1st year, looks like lots more coming through this year.

Courgettes - had 2 plants in 1 pot last year, doing the same this year, but 2 plants each in 2 pots... they grew one at a time, but were gorgeous!! And you have to pollinate them yourself if not many bees etc around.

Carrots - in a trough-type-pot, suspended over the railings... They grow, they're not big, they're not plentiful... but they're tasty!

Radishes - in empty plastic meat containers from Tesco (ie they were sold containing chicken wings, beef joint etc)

Garlic - a little experimental, trying this from my own cloves

Salad Leaves - oriental & lams lettuce, did well last year. Grew in troughs on ground last year, this year suspending over balcony railings to make room for other things

Various herbs - bought from Borough Market & Tesco... too hard to grow from seed (Mint, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Parsley & chives)

Aubergine - tried last year with little success, learnt a bit more for this year, and trying again with plants from Tesco

Butternut Squash - tried last year, as yet haven't bothered this year, may be tempted if I get bored. Again you need to pollinate them.

Strawberries - First attempt this year

Flowers - growing poppies & wildflowers to try & attract bees. butterflies etc



I may qualify for farm status(!) as up until Friday I had a Mallard Duck nesting in the Raspberry Bush... she left with 8 little ducklings :T (with some assistance as I'm 3 floors up!

sianfish

I have been growing for a few years now. Initially it started with just a pot of peas and has expanded each year.

I've grown many different types of veg, but have ended up sticking a certain staples (for me) and a couple of "treats" as a lot of what I grew either needed a lot of tending or didn't like my soil.

I have a couple of beds of garlic/onions/spring onions as they're a great staple, easy to grow and store well (garlic and onions).

Lots of beans (dwarf/french climbing/broad/runner) and peas which help with the bees (and of course some sweetpeas for looks and wildlife bonus).

Courgettes as they're pretty easy as long as they don't get too wet and the leaves die, easy cut and come again veg.

A couple of different cabbages/kales on the off chance they're not destroyed by caterpillars and slugs.

Tomatoes in the greenhouse and hanging upside down in pots from hanging basket holders (a whole cut in the bottom of a bucket) as you can't beat a homegrown tomato (as long as the weather's not too bad and you get blight).

Raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants. Raspberries go wild which is great but turn into a pest when they travel underground and turn up in the lawn of other beds.

1 pot of peas gave me the bug.