What to do in January for newbie gardners

pinksleepybear

Where were these plastic greenhouses from that everyone keeps talking about? I've just taken over a second allotment and could really use a little greenhouse to give my plants a good headstart before planting out. The plots next to mine are overgrown and full of slugs, so the plants need to be fairly strong before I expose them to these pests. In the summer evenings, I go around my plot with an old pair of kitchen tongs and an empty ice-cream tub, picking up slugs to feed to the chickens on a neighbour's plot. I like to make them useful for something!

I'm planning my plots for next year and am going all-out with the spreadsheets. I've also ordered far too many potatoes, but had blight last year, so I want to try a few different varieties this year.

FBThree

marybakers wrote: »

.i am thinking about getting proper greenhouse this year,second-hand one if possible.any ideas where i could look..:j

Try the local post office notice board, or the newsagents. We were offered a greenhouse for free via one of those! Equally try your local freecycle - sometimes people offer them up on there. You could put a wanted ad up, just in case someone is wondering whether to revamp their garden or not.

miss_phish

pinksleepybear wrote: »

In the summer evenings, I go around my plot with an old pair of kitchen tongs and an empty ice-cream tub, picking up slugs to feed to the chickens on a neighbour's plot. I like to make them useful for something!

That reminds me of when I worked on an organic farm in New Zealand. We had a nightly ritual where one of us had to get up at 2am and go around the garden with a torch collecting the slugs & snails and throwing them into the 3 fertiliser baths at the end of the garden which were filled with water & rotting stinging nettles.

Hows that for Commando Style Gardening...!

Tabby_Kitten_2

marybakers wrote: »

I am thinking about getting proper greenhouse this year,second-hand one if possible.any ideas where i could look.

You could try trade it magazine, they have a website too which is really good in my area, there are often sheds or greenhouse on there for free you just have to beable to collect them and some times take them down.
Or of course ebay if you can't find one for free.

marybakers

thanks everyone for your help

WestonDave

Just entering year 2 of the master plan - year one was move into the new house (with space in the garden for veggies), have DS2 arrive safely (born in March) and make some plans.

Will be starting 2008 with 3 raised beds approx 6ft x 3ft each as the veg patch. Have inherited rhubarb, rosemary and possible mint (found some the other day when clearing jungle) - oh and blackberries au naturelle (aka brambles!).

Having built the raised beds over the autumn I need to get on in the next week or so with making sure they are filled with lots of good stuff (manure, compost etc) ready to be used.

DS1 is foreman and has decided that the carrots are going in bed 1 - which is a bit of a pain cos I figured it would be good to put beans in there so the bean poles can lean on the adjacent pergola. However at nearly 3 he is the boss (and in any case its mainly for him and his little brother) so carrots it is (plus other stuff as not even he can eat 6ft x 3ft of carrots!). In any case on rotation the beans would only be there one year in 3.

Wondering about going for a sort of square foot gardening style rather than rows, but will probably not finally decide until I get the foremans final wish list - so far carrots, sprouts (yes he was the one demanding sprouts in the veg shop at the weekend much to everyone else's amusement!), sweetcorn and peas. The "village" (old village now absorbed into the city) where I live has an annual "flower" show with prizes for veg etc - might have a bit of a challenge with some of the other families we know also growing veg to see who can enter what especially as its not a very serious show and taking part is actively encouraged.

Hopefully this summer will be more suitable for growing things other than swamp grass! I'm sure there were alligators at the bottom of the garden last summer! Was given a sub to grow your own magazine for Christmas, and the T&M catalogue is on its way so I can see a few evenings deciding what to grow. If I can find the time I want to get some raspberries to go along the fence behind the raised beds and some currants to go on the other side of the garden. At the moment edible is very much priority over pretty!

Now all I need is 4 extra daylight hours while the kids are asleep every Saturday and Sunday to get some of this done!

miss_phish

WestonDave wrote: »

Now all I need is 4 extra daylight hours while the kids are asleep every Saturday and Sunday to get some of this done!

I so know what you mean & I don't even have kids...:rotfl: Good luck, the garden sounds fab!

Lemon_Tree

i can't always seems to get courgettes to grow, last year the fruit started then just died. but i think you've explained what happened to my tomatoes they just never ripened and were so late. My front lawn is full of yarrow (can't beleive some people actually buy it!) and just can't get rid of it, any ideas anyone?
Thanks will be great to see our gardens growing together

clairefun

Lovely thread, nice to hear everyone else's plans. I moved into a house with an adjacent allotment in March last year and were a bit too late for a lot of things, after having to dig out and plan everything - it has been untended for abut 10 years, so has been taking some clearing! This weekend coming we're passing the 3yr old over to his Grandma and donning gloves to tackle the 'jungle' at the top (It's the size and shape of a long garden, say 60ft or so?) - we've got an elder tree behind the apple tree that we've never mnanaged to reach and I do fancy the idea of making elderflower cordial! I've always planned to have a wooded area at the top with a shady place to sit and woodland planting so I'm really excited about that - we've already got beans, peas, garlic and onions in the beds along with last yrs sprouts that still haven't sprouted and a few winter salad leaf plants. I've planned this years crops and I'm basically growing most things, I think!

We've only got 8 beds finished out of 10 - we've been making them out of bottles, so as and when people pass us their empties - but the top two are for courgettes and squashes anyway so won't be needed for a little while.

The rest? Carrots, onions, red onions, spring onions, broccoli, more sprouts, cabbage (spring/summer and winter), cauliflower, celery, courgette, cucumber, garlic, french beans, broad beans, runner beans, peas, mangetout, spinach, beetroot, aubergine, tomatoes, peppers, salad,Kale, leeks, radishes, asparagus, globe artichokes, parsnips, potatoes, butternut squash, sweetcorn...is that it? Oh and fruit (apple, plum, lemon, blackcurrant, gooseberry, grape, kiwi fruit, and strawberries) as well!

I've sown some cauli and some cabbages indoor today - I think it's safe to say I need to get started early, after all, and over the weekend I'm going to prune back all the existing fruit bushes that need it, and tidy the edges in the garden. It's going to be very busy for the next few months!

Nutty_Tart

Wow clairefun! I feel very outdone now with my little 4x3ft patch (which took forever to dig & get ready for this year!!) lol I had thought about getting an allotment with a friend, but decided that I would spend too much time there and my house would go to rack & ruin in the meantime, so a little patch to start off with is the compromise (sp?)

Still waiting to check the pricing of the plastic greenhouses in wilkos (they are not in yet) - otherwise it will be £15 from argos or woolies! doh!