My Home-grown Journey

harib0uk

linni wrote: »

Thanks for the tip morganb. I've been wondering what to use for labelling my plants. What do others else use for plant labels?

you can get a pretty decent batch of plastic ones in Wilkinsons for about 69p edit: smaller than the 99p ones

I'm lucky in that I have access to off cuts of 2mm foam PVC which I just cut up and use.

Primrose

I'm desperately trying to hold myself back from sowing tomatoes and courgettes because we're still likely to have frosts in March and April and they will be completely killed off if planted outside before late May in most of the country. I've got loads of onion sets to plant out, some of which are starting to sprout and am worried that if I plant them out now they still run a heavy risk of being frosted and killed. It's so frustrating because the vegetable patch is now dug and ready to be planted in, but I don't want to lose any lovingly cared-for seedlings to frost (as I've done in previous years) so will try and delay sowing a little longer. For all those who are already under way, if you don't have cloches, look out for large 5 litre mineral water bottles in your plastic recycling tips and grab them. They make wonderful individual cloches for plants like tomatoes & courgettes once the bottoms have been cut off. They have saved my plants from being killed by frost on many occasions but you never seem to have enough of them just when you need them!

harib0uk

Primrose wrote: »

I'm desperately trying to hold myself back from sowing tomatoes and courgettes because we're still likely to have frosts in March and April and they will be completely killed off if planted outside before late May in most of the country.

I'm on the south coast and have just today put some tomato and pepper seedlings out in my mini plastic green house, was this not a wise move? Will they not be protected sufficiently?

Primrose wrote: »

I've got loads of onion sets to plant out, some of which are starting to sprout and am worried that if I plant them out now they still run a heavy risk of being frosted and killed.

I planted some Garlic, shallots, red & white onions out at the end of January.. the garlic is coming along fine but no sign of the others.. do you think they may have been killed by the frost? who long do they normally take to sprout? (sorry fist time this year so learning all the time!)

Primrose

harib - even for the south coast I fear you may be a little premature with your tomato seedlings. Are you planning to grow them permanently in your mini greenhouse until they fruit? If so, you may get away with it but if you're planning on eventually planting the tomatoes outdoors there's a strong danger that even if we don't have frosts, they will grow too tall & spindly before it's warm enough to plant them out and then they will never recover their vigour and crop poorly. (Believe me, I've been caught out like this sowing too early on previous occasions!). Your peppers may be OK because they need a fairly long growing season. To avoid disappointment if you want to grow your tomatoes outdoors, I'd be tempted to sow a few more seeds around the second week of April. With the warmer temperatures then, they will catch up and these will be stronger plants.
I think your garlic will be OK but unsure about the onions. Could you get some agricultural fleece (or some old net curtains) to anchor down on the earth to protect them for 2 or 3 weeks?

harib0uk

Primrose wrote: »

harib - even for the south coast I fear you may be a little premature with your tomato seedlings. Are you planning to grow them permanently in your mini greenhouse until they fruit? If so, you may get away with it but if you're planning on eventually planting the tomatoes outdoors there's a strong danger that even if we don't have frosts, they will grow too tall & spindly before it's warm enough to plant them out and then they will never recover their vigour and crop poorly. (Believe me, I've been caught out like this sowing too early on previous occasions!).
Your peppers may be OK because they need a fairly long growing season. To avoid disappointment if you want to grow your tomatoes outdoors, I'd be tempted to sow a few more seeds around the second week of April. With the warmer temperatures then, they will catch up and these will be stronger plants.

I am planning on planting them out.. I only have 3 seedings and am planning on planting some more so will wait until April as suggested. I have 4 pepper seedlings and again I'm planning on planting more! So not really a huge loss but would be nice if the grew well and fruited.

Primrose wrote: »

I think your garlic will be OK but unsure about the onions. Could you get some agricultural fleece (or some old net curtains) to anchor down on the earth to protect them for 2 or 3 weeks?

I did have some bubble wrap over the garlic but when they started shooting through I took it off, I still have some over the onions. They are growing in troughs if that makes any difference.

Thanks for your help

Chuzzle

Hello all

I am lucky enough to have an allotment.....although I hate gardening so the allotment is DH & DM domain. I'll help with harvesting and eating the stuff but hate the digging and the weeding. Although this year I am going to be in charge of the greenhouse so I have to get out there this weekend and start to empty it of all the carp thats stored in there!

We are on the Norfolk/Suffolk border and I think there is still a risk of frosts all over - at least until end of March anyway.

Good to see loads of people on the bandwagon as it were!

Loving this thread.

scotsaver

Glad everyone has been able to make a start, I've been out in the Garden all day, still a bit chilly but at least it's dry. So far I've planted the following seeds:- Chillies, Radish, Penstemon, Onions, Mini Peppers, Sweet Pea, Broad Beans, Peas, Parsnips, Peppers and Tomatoes. Some I have put on the Kitchen Windowsill and the rest I have in the Conservatory, my Greenhouse is not heated and I'm worried it might still be a bit cold in there. That's all my seeds in for February, have some others that say on the Packet to plant in March so shall leave that for another couple of weeks.;)

I have also dug over the new Veg patch a bit more, keep finding stones and trying to remove as many as I can - a real labour of Love.:cool: Just keep picturing all the lovely things that will be growing in there and that's what's keeping me going.:rolleyes:

I have also cleared an area at the back of the Garden which is in total shade - does anyone know if there is anything that I could grow there? Seems a shame to waste the space that I have cleared, otherwise I will put a Compost Bin there.

Good luck to everyone, fingers crossed for a dry weekend.:D

Primrose

Scotsaver - I have a north facing border which gets no sunshine and found to my great surprise that two thornless blackberry plants grow there amazingly well - and the fruit ripens too.
Lower down at ground level in the shade I've found that spinach seems to grow quite well. Swiss Chard, which is very similar would probably survive too. And I have a rhubarb plant growing in a very shady position beneath a north facing fence which provides a reasonable crop.

JayneC

morganb wrote: »

I made my plant label sticks by cutting up a plastic milk bottle and writing on it with felt-tip

Thanks for that tip. I will try that. I've cut a couple of bottles in half to use as kind of cloches in my window trough but just put the handle side inthe recylcling. Would much rather re-use than recycle though! Just need to find a use for baby milk tins and large chocolate tins (quality street, etc!) now, lol....

BTW I'm sure I read in my gardening books that it's ok to plant out onion sets now so they must be ok in the frost. I will check and report back!!

Jayne x

Primrose

JayneC - the large round Roses chocolate tins are ideal if you grow either your climbing beans or parsnips in empty loo roll containers. Just put an empty plastic bag in the bottom of the tin to catch any water or compost which drains from them to stop the base going rusty and then pack your compost filled loo rolls into the tin to keep them standing upright. The seedlings will then grow and can be planted out in their cardboard loo rolls to avoid any root disturbance. Over the growing season the carboard will just disintegrate and it saves the space of having to clean out and stack those pots after seedlings have been planted out. .