Veg growing newbies 2nd year common room 2010-2011

lemonpopcorn

hello all, i like this shiny new thread and it's exactly what I've been looking for.
I think ive got a smallish garden but i'm gonna measure it tomorrow and then start to make a garden plan.
My dad was a really good gardener and I loved eating freshly grown stuff from the garden.
Sadly he passed when I was little so I've got no-one really for good advice apart from my uncle maybe, but he's down south so growing conditions are very different there.
I'm in the very windy and wet north east so it will be challenging but seeing others fantastic gardens gives me hope

katholicos

Welcome to all the newbies who are joining us this time/next time around (i count myself as a newbie as this year has been my first growing year as well!)

Today i ripped out the tall tomato plants from the square foot bed, i also harvested the remaining patty pan squash and ripped them out and put them on the compost too. Had a furtle back in the potato bag and fished out 3 potatoes, no scab on them Yay!..i alo pulled a nice big parnip and a few cherry toms and roasted them all together with some home grown sage, parsley and chives. Yummy!

There are a few cobnut squash growing still, and my leeks seem okay at moment, there are still lots of parsnips growing and i'm waiting for the first frost to sweeten them before i pull them...the cherry toms are finishing, they were very disappointing, nowhere near the amount of toms i was hoping for, very few in fact.

Have now had two seed catalogues through letterbox in the past week and even though i bought all my seeds in various sales..online and at Wilkos ....i will enjoy spending time looking at them as the dark nights draw in.

HoneyBee83

Morning all,

Im not a newbie,i've been growing veggies for a few years now...but only through the warm months. This year im looking to grow through the winter too!
Now for the questions.;..
Am i too late to start? They'll all be in pots.
I dont have a greenhouse and i dont have room in the house but i do have a shed. It has a plastic roof so can be used as a kinda greenhouse during summer months but the door is broken,i can pull it to but it doesnt shut tight. And theres a panel missing off the one side,only small but still...Will this let in too much cold air for seeds/plants to grow and survive? Anyone know??
Im not looking to grow alot. Onions,potatoes and some salad bits perhaps broccoli/cabbage/cauliflowers

Any help would be most welcome,
Thanks in advance

wssla00

Hiya all.

Glad the clean up is going well!

Honeybee, It's prob too late for most things, but you could sow some lettuce and corn salad if you keep them under cloches (Coke bottles with the bottom cut off) for some protection.

You could also sow some broad beans to overwinter and some garlic and onions. Which would be harvested next summer.

Kaholicos- My cherry toms were brill but I used a variety called cherriettes of fire. I might use the remaining toms to save seed for next year.

Anyway I have another raised bed to put up for next year and some more pots to fill. I am growing inside loads of coleus and mimosa which will be decorations for christmas. I must also get out and sow my swet peas so they get a head start for the growing season. I have SO many seeds but the thing that saved me the most money this year was cut flowers so I am going to sow them all!

I also have some french lilac seeds so will try and raise them and a weird seed called anchora fat baby which is an exotic fruit which I must find a bit more about before I plant it.

Have a good gardening day all

stardrops42

Hi all

Well I really loved my first year of growing my own and would say I was reasonably successful:D I really miss the taste of home grown veg now though and I am not happy having to buy tasteless stuff from the supermarket again:mad: I have decided to add another raised bed for next year and will probably fill it with potatoes as I didn't really get that many this year growing them in pots. My courgettes, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, turnips and sweet peas were brilliant as well as lots of salad stuff. Did have a bit of a problem with slugs and snails this year so will need to look at some sort of detterrents next year. My failures were sweetcorn and french beans, not sure what happened there:o

I never realised how much nicer home grown stuff tasted did you? I made a veg stew last week using only Tesco veg and my husband asked me what I had done to it as it was tasteless! Says it all really;) Roll on next year:D

scotsaver

Oh great, a shiny new thread. I'm still busy digging up spuds from the Allotment, tomatoes still hanging on in there, chillies, mini peppers and cherry toms coming to an end. Leeks, cabbages, sprouts etc still to harvest. Plenty of apples left, used some this morning to make crumble for tonights pud.

Must get out in the Garden this week to tidy up and need to clean out the Greenhouse - will be counting down until Spring when I can get busy sowing seeds again.

Good luck everyone.

izzwizz_2

Funny sort of day here. Tried clearing some tomato plants out of the greenhouse & cleaning the glass, but it was too hot in there with the Sun shining. Outside, it's windy and cold & I needed a coat! Still, after an hours work I had harvested a ramekin full of coriander seed from a patch left to bolt in the herb garden. Have them laid out on a tray in the kitchen to dry off now. They have so much more flavour than the bought spices! My hands smell lovely (to me anyway ).

loucroft

TizerCat wrote: »

Thank you Loucroft for the idea! am now registered with Freecycle and I have now put an advert in for gardening tools........and a shed !!! Well if you don't ask .......

Have got some I can borrow in the meantime....and can put them on my xmas list...

thats great, I've seen offers of sheds if you can pull them down yourself etc and allsorts of things on there so hope you find something, might have to be patient though!


Glad it helped

lemonpopcorn

ooooooooo i've ordered lots of seed catalogues and I think i'm gonna do some clearing of the garden when I get home.........toodlepips everyone off for my hour drive home

loucroft

Well looneylamb I hope your journey home was okay and you found it dry, not sure what its like up there now ( I'm from north east but in Kent now ) but dripping wet here, even the grass is soggy, so didn't embark on anything garden wise today, hope your evening was a tad easier!