Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

Aria`s_Tail

Re marigolds. Greenfly apparently don't like the smell so my Dad always told me to grow a few around tomato plants. I always do but still managed to have a hoard of greenfly last year.

Be careful with nasturtiums as they seed everywhere and the trailing ones go for miles! Once planted they will keep cropping up EVERYWHERE for years. (They will even grow in cracks in concrete as I found out in my old yard last year). :eek:

I was panicking about my garlic being in to late so was quite pleased to see the covering of snow over their temp newspaper pots at the weekend.

I must aquire a camera for some 'before attempting to start' garden photos.

annie123

Nice to see you again Little Vics.

Re garlic, I've always planted it in October and some winters here in London the ground has never frozen and I've had a good crop. Won't hurt to pop it in the fridge though.

And the only thing marigolds attract in my garden are snails..........all eaten my morning.
I have super snails I'm sure they eat the slugs! birds, frogs etc all leave them alone. I collect literately hundreds every year and rehome them in the local woods 1 mile away.

carettacaretta

I keep finding myself reading posts on gardening forums on this site, so I thought I might sign up and join in, if that's ok.

I've got an allotment in the north-east. Last year was my first year on it - I did manage to grow a few things, but I'm hoping to make a much more organised attempt this time.

Mostly, I've been doing things that should have already been done, like the winter digging and planting onion sets and garlic. I bought the onions and garlic back in November and by the time I'd got round to it they'd started sprouting in the shed, but I've stuck them in the ground and crossed my fingers.

I couldn't quite wait to start planting tomatoes and chilis so I sowed some out of date seeds, figuring if they didn't come because it's too early, there's no real harm done and have good three or four peeking through.

My careful planning reveals that I should have planted a load of raspberries in early winter, so I'm looking for somewhere selling those at a bargain rate.

Lotus-eater

Aria`s_Tail wrote: »

Re marigolds. Greenfly apparently don't like the smell so my Dad always told me to grow a few around tomato plants. I always do but still managed to have a hoard of greenfly last year.

I don't know about greenfly being repelled by marigolds, they do attract the beneficial insects that eat greenfly.
And the smell of them does repel greenhouse whitefly.

hazzie123

The French marigolds are better for bees than the African ones.Such a shame I don't like the French ones,will plant something yummy for the bees instead.

KazLA

Just what I've been looking for! A continuous thread that I can subscribe to and keep up to date with what I should be doing!

I hope you don't mind me joining you.

I have a very small (half) allotment, which I was on the verge of giving up before Christmas - I reached the top of the waiting list when I had just fallen pregnant with my second child, so spent the first year trying to weed, plant, water etc with a 3 year old and large bump! Last year I had a little boy who turned one in June and wasn't walking until the end of the summer, so it was all a bit too much like hard work.

My plan is to try again this year, but try to keep things really simple - lots of butternut squash, some pumpkins, courgettes and beans. Plus the rhubarb, strawberries and raspberries that are there. The problem is the weeds just grow too quickly! If I don't get up there every week, I'm just over-run.

I hope to concentrate on the garden more too - last year the allotment became a chore and the garden got abandoned. I have some celery seeds I bought a couple of years ago that haven't planted and will grow a few tomatoes - we've had loads of plants over recent years, as they have self-seeded, but all got blight, so just going to have about 4 plants in the conservatory and pull up any that sprout outside I think. Also have asparagus that is on year 4, so hopefully a good crop this year, more rhubarb, a cooking apple tree and 2 patio pear trees that I bought last year, but one go diseased leaves and the other got covered in black fly or something.
We're not doing anything that is underground this year, as (this is going to sound really bad) I just couldn't be bothered with all the mess and cleaning, I have just got far too used to buying clean potatoes and carrots from the supermarket. I also realise there's no point putting effort into something I'm not going to use - there are still potatoes and carrots in the ground from last year. I might do a few little carrots in a pot. Plus lettuce, cress and more (I think I had a list of about 20 things when I went through my seed packets the other day!).

Just reading a few pages of this thread over the last few days, I have been reminded to put my bucket (I know, it should be something bigger, but it's all I have and it seemed to do a pretty good job last year) over my rhubarb and to realise that I could try planting the bulb of garlic that is sprouting in the kitchen - although the garlic I planted before (proper planting stuff rather than sm) didn't get very big and went moldy before I got to use it. Also discovered that I can try to keep pepper plants alive over winter - might plant some, just for the challenge!

If someone would like to give me some info on how to post photos, I will put some on

mrbadexample

KazLA wrote: »

I hope you don't mind me joining you.

I don't mind at all - I'll talk to anyone, me.

Whilst somewhat mystified by your reluctance to rinse root veg, I am jealous of your asparagus. I've been thinking about it for a while, but don't really have enough space to devote to it.

I still haven't put my bin on my rhubarb.

mrbadexample

I'm going to plant some of the garlic cloves after a short spell in the fridge. I've nothing to lose as I wouldn't normally bother growing it.

My competition carrot seeds arrived yesterday. They are "Flyaway", so not a variety known for reaching enormous sizes. Still, we're all in the same boat (5 of us this year). Heaviest carrot by Halloween wins. I've sown a few tonight, as the longest growing season possible is obviously of paramount importance. I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve, which I will not divulge at this time in case the competition is reading.

If anyone has any bright ideas for growing a very heavy carrot, please PM me for the same reason.

It should be quite fun as none of us will know what we've got until digging-up time.

KazLA

mrbadexample wrote: »

Whilst somewhat mystified by your reluctance to rinse root veg, I am jealous of your asparagus. I've been thinking about it for a while, but don't really have enough space to devote to it.

I know, its very very wrong and probably shouldn't have put it in writing! (Feeling rather :embarasse now!) But it's all part of the big picture and the need to keep things super-super simple and re-discover my passion!

The asparagus came about after deciding to plant things that cost the most to buy, along with my blueberry plant and rapsberries.

mrbadexample

KazLA wrote: »

I know, its very very wrong and probably shouldn't have put it in writing! (Feeling rather :embarasse now!) But it's all part of the big picture and the need to keep things super-super simple and re-discover my passion!

No point in growing things you don't want / eat! We obviously have quite different tastes - I love my root veg, but the thought of all that squash you want to grow... _pale_

"Now, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum,
What might be right for you, may not be right for some."

~Diff'rent Strokes