My Home-grown Journey

helenhugs

Great thread. I'm giving the garden another go this year. My dads recommended chicken wire across the bottom of the veg patch to stop the cats using it as their toilet, its currently covered with some boards as we were fed up of removing the poo. So as soon as we get that I'm hoping we can make a start. Its not a particularly large patch but we got a fab crop of courgettes last year just 1 sweetcorn lol we planted about 6, loads of lettuce & rocket, I got a pack of 6 seeds from poundland which I thought was a good price & we have lots left over from last year.
We got 2 big pots but aren't sure what grows well in them so any ideas on what to plant in them would be great. 1 I think we will be using for herbs, thankfully Dad warned me about the mint before I planted that lol (it spreads like wildfire apparently).
Looking forward to more tips & ideas
Hugs
Helen

phizzimum

Hi everyone, mind if I join in?

I'm determined to do better in the garden this year, and hope this thread will help to motivate me.

I've grown a few bits and bobs over the years. Can't bear the thought of a summer without a wigwam of runner beans growing. I grown simple things like lettuces and radishes, and we have raspberries and a blackcurrant bush too.

This year I want to expand my repertoire! I've had limited success with spuds, so I'm going to try growing them in a big pot this year. I also want to grown broad beans. Last year DH grew a few sweetcorn plants and the flavour of the corn was amazing! I didn't think I liked sweetcorn until I tasted these...so sweet! drool drool!
So needless to say we're going to give over a bit more room to sweetcorn this year.

I want to try growing toms from seed - is it quite simple?

Primrose

Phizzimum - if you're planning to grow some climbing beans, can I suggest you hedge your bets and grow a percentage of climbing French beans, rather than 100% runner beans. The reason for this is that runner beans depend 100% on pollination of their flowers to produce bean and if we either have a poor cold summer or bees are in short supply, your runner bean flowers will fail to set and you won't get any beans. Climbing French beans are self fertile, i.e. don't need bees, so the flowers will still set without bees and you won't be left with a poor crop. Best varieties are Cobra or Blue Lake, or if you fancy something different, "Blauhilde" by Tompson & Morgan. Blauhilde beans are purple podded and very attractive to look at but turn green when they're cooked. Tomatoes are simple to grow from seed. Don't sow before mid April if they're going to be planted outdoors as they will grow too tall and spindly before it's warm enougn to plant them outside. Put 2 seeds in each 3 inch pot and when shoots appear, remove the weaker one. Germinate on a window sill with the best sunlight you can get. Transfer into a bigger pot if they start growing too tall before the weather is warm enough to plant out, and in these circumstances, cover them with a jumbo lemonade bottle with the bottom cut off to make a mini cloche to let them harden off. . Poke a thin stick through the top of the bottle to anchor it and stop it blowing off in the wind. It's so much cheaper to sow your tomato plants from seed. If you want a tasty cherry tomato variety, try Gardeners Delight. For a normal size try Moneymaker or Alicante. Plant out in the sunniest situation you've got available, and preferably dig some well rotted manure or compost into the soil before planting. Pick out the sideshoots (the little shoots growing in the V gap between the main stem and leaves) as soon as they appear to prevent them using up the plant's surplus energy on surplus shoots & leaves. Gardeners Delight cherry tomatoes start ripening slightly ahead of the bigger sized varieties.

phizzimum

thank you for the much needed encouragment!

gtx

hi everyone

i'm so excited - the broccoli and the cauli's have started to germinate already!

my dh has built me a large trough along one wall - the sunniest spot in our backyard - and i can't wait to get stuff out there.

take care

gtx

kerik4

I finally got my act together yesterday and put together my new growhouse (Mr T's £15) and sorted out some seed trays and compost. Plan to sow the seeds (bought ages ago!) this afternoon! I lost impetus after the snow in February but plan to get back on track! Love reading the thread - great encouragement, so thank you. :T

notenoughcash

Oh wow, everyone's doing so well, isn't it just SO exciting!! I have a couple of extra pics I took in the garden yesterday, not much changed from a few weeks ago other than the winter onions and brassicas that went in last year have grown. I didn't notice until I looked at the older picture.

Been busy trying to cover things up a bit this morning, this cold snap's scaring me. it's my own fault for being so over-keen with my seed sowing, but there's plenty of seeds left in the pack if there's a disaster!!

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/ww162/mrsvela_2009/009.jpg

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/ww162/mrsvela_2009/010.jpg

huxley

Everyone seems to be doing well:D I am going to have to re-sow alot of my seeds given them a month in the greenhouse incase it was all that snow that slowed them down, but they are still not showing:mad: dh's flower seeds have all taken though mmmm if I didnt know better I'd think sabotage! Last week we built 2 massive compost bins 6ft square!!!(dh is a gardener we get alot of green waste, it might as well be made into compost for us:D ) at the allotment the wood was a bargain somone was having a roof replaced and the builder cut the lengths to 6ft for us and it only cost us the price of a drink, he was going to burn it all:eek: . Off to the allotment tomorrow as dh only has half a days work so we will try and get some beds up and running for this year

JayneC

Hi everyone,

Planted a few more seeds n onion sets this weeekend. I think my garlic is through - either that or the onions, can't remember what is where! I've made some labels from milk bottles now (thanks) so should be able to keep track of things in future:D

Planted leeks n broccoli outside and moved my spring onions into a Quality Street tin on my worktop! Do ya think that'll be big enough?! I might grow rocket in another?

I splashed out on 2 fruit trees from Aldi (an apple and a pear) yesterday. I've put one in the ground at the back of the veg patch and going to try to 'train' it along the fence. The other is in a large pot so we'll see how they get on.

My indoor seeds seem to be germinating quite well now apart from a couple of pots which i think may be parsley which can apparently be very slow. Or one might be cucumber! Oh well we'll find out eventually if they grow!

I have space for a wigwam of beans and a few sweetcorn in the ground - the rest will have to go in pots now!!

If I do well this year I may apply for an allotment. I've thought about it a lot but cos I work full time I'm not sure I have time to look after it properly.

See ya soon,

jayne x

morganb

My seeds have been VERY slow indeed but I see that four broccoli are doing something today so that's a good start.

Still indoors with everything. Hoping to plant up some salad tomorrow and get some broad beans and peas into toilet rolls in the conservatory.