Does anyone keep a gardening diary on MSE?

Rummer

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

Today I have been reading through my gardening book and I am really smitten with it. The advice is sound and the pictures are stunning I have also ordered Dig On for Victory Mr Middletons All-Year-Round Gardening Guide From 1945 as I have a few WWII guides to growing your own and this one was recommended to me.

This time of the year is so frustrating as I am itching to get out in the garden and to get seeds started in the greenhouse. I guess I will just have to content myself with reading, planning and scheming

Now I am off to the start of this thread to read my way through it from start to finish

LavenderBees

Rummer wrote: »

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

Today I have been reading through my gardening book and I am really smitten with it. The advice is sound and the pictures are stunning I have also ordered Dig On for Victory Mr Middletons All-Year-Round Gardening Guide From 1945 as I have a few WWII guides to growing your own and this one was recommended to me.

This time of the year is so frustrating as I am itching to get out in the garden and to get seeds started in the greenhouse. I guess I will just have to content myself with reading, planning and scheming

Now I am off to the start of this thread to read my way through it from start to finish

But you know, like in most things, success in gardening is more possible if you spend a bit of time planning beforehand. And now Christmas is over, it's nearly Spring....well, ok, not really...:o

The WW2 guides sound interesting. I'm guessing some advice won't have changed, but some obviously will be different now.

I hope you enjoyed reading my wee thread. I did that a week or so ago, and surprised myself at how much on the lottie has changed. I'm so glad I took photos before I started and as I'm going on. The bare bones of the lottie have remained but it now looks cared for.

I'm also champing at the bit to get going, and it's hard to have enforced time off work, but not be able to get on with anything. Having said that, it's raining again, so I couldn't do anything outside anyway.

So, instead I've made chicken stock and bread, and I've hidden the chocolates from myself (which doesn't really work :rotfl:)

When I was in the garden centre on Monday, I noticed they have seed potatoes in - not huge amount of choice though - and rack upon rack of vegetable seeds. I am resisting as I have plenty of seeds. This year will be a case of seeing what works and what doesn't...

I did treat myself to a g-org-eous lime green watering can for a fiver, though :T

Suffolk_lass

Quick pause for breath between family gatherings and a chance to read through my allotment books too. I have two copies of the RHS journal (the same, Christmas presents!) so I can use one to record and the other to keep best practice advice. I also have Practical Allotment Gardening (Caroline Foley) which I bought after first borrowing from the Library - I like the layout and rotation advice but I think the veg choices may be a bit limited. I now also have How to Prune (John Cushnie) and the RHS Fruit and Veg guide.

I am hoping to get over to my preferred growers on Saturday to talk beech hedging and currant bushes, as these are my outstanding Christmas presents according to the promisory notes! Although it is soaking here, we are typically the driest area in the country and very lucky so I mustn't moan but I know what you mean, very frustrating, being indoors through force of weather!

Quite nice being fat and lazy and warm at the moment though...

SL

Rummer

It was lovely reading the thread the whole way through and I am now more up to speed . It is very inspiring seeing what you have achieved in such a short space of time and the layout you have adapted is similar to what I want to achieve here.

Seed potatoe wise I used my Tesco points to get T&M vouchers so I got all my potatoes, garlic, shallots and other things for free :j

I really like the WWII books as the advice is frugal and practical and they focus on feeding your family as cheaply as possible throughout the year. There are a few reprinted books and they are worth a read.

One of my favourite books is the Alys Fowler The Edible Garden as I really enjoyed the series and I like the thoughts of fruits and vegetables being planted to be attractive and practical. Plus I really enjoy her writing style.

LavenderBees

Rummer wrote: »

It was lovely reading the thread the whole way through and I am now more up to speed . It is very inspiring seeing what you have achieved in such a short space of time and the layout you have adapted is similar to what I want to achieve here.

Seed potatoe wise I used my Tesco points to get T&M vouchers so I got all my potatoes, garlic, shallots and other things for free :j

I really like the WWII books as the advice is frugal and practical and they focus on feeding your family as cheaply as possible throughout the year. There are a few reprinted books and they are worth a read.

One of my favourite books is the Alys Fowler The Edible Garden as I really enjoyed the series and I like the thoughts of fruits and vegetables being planted to be attractive and practical. Plus I really enjoy her writing style.

Ah, that's very kind of you..let's see how well it progresses when the weeds are growing!

I like Alys Fowler - I saw the series, and enjoyed it. Seems quite a while ago now. I loved her relaxed style of planting. One of the allotments near mine has that same relaxed, romantic style of planting, and looks lovely.

Well done on getting your seed potatoes etc free. Very :money:!

I have a £5 H0mebase voucher burning a hole in my pocket...:rotfl:

I'm afraid

LavenderBees

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Quick pause for breath between family gatherings and a chance to read through my allotment books too. I have two copies of the RHS journal (the same, Christmas presents!) so I can use one to record and the other to keep best practice advice. I also have Practical Allotment Gardening (Caroline Foley) which I bought after first borrowing from the Library - I like the layout and rotation advice but I think the veg choices may be a bit limited. I now also have How to Prune (John Cushnie) and the RHS Fruit and Veg guide.

I am hoping to get over to my preferred growers on Saturday to talk beech hedging and currant bushes, as these are my outstanding Christmas presents according to the promisory notes! Although it is soaking here, we are typically the driest area in the country and very lucky so I mustn't moan but I know what you mean, very frustrating, being indoors through force of weather!

Quite nice being fat and lazy and warm at the moment though...

SL

"Quite nice being fat and lazy and warm at the moment though..." Eh? Are you in my living room with me? :rotfl:

I'm going to the library tomorrow morning so will see if I can get hold of a copy of Caroline Foley's book. Thanks for the recommendation. It'll be a good excuse to look at other lottie books, too

Hope you manage to sort your hedge and bushes. How exciting!

LavenderBees

Well, I couldn't see the Caroline Foley book at the library. I've googled it and it's cheap enough on Amaz0n, but some reviews say it is very basic and aimed at novice gardeners. Can't decide...I'm not a novice gardener though I haven't grown veges before...

But I did borrow the Alys Fowler book, which I'm looking forward to reading, and an interesting looking book "The Classic Allotment" - Gordon Thorburn. Seems to be about good old fashioned methods of allotmenteering (what a word! :rotfl:) with a "no nonsense" approach :eek:.

I'll let you know any tips I pick up on how to allotmenteer without spending money :rotfl:


Cover me, I'm going in....

LavenderBees

Had a little wander to the allotment this morning to check all was ok after the high winds of yesterday. The lid on one of the cold frames had blown open but the carrot seedlings seem fine inside.

The last of the broad bean seeds has sprouted, and is as tall and as strong as all the others :T

My wee spring onion seedlings have bitten the dust . They were in a container, so I'll use the compost on part of one of the beds to enrich it at the weekend.

Also at the weekend, if the weather is ok, I plan to sprinkle a few more slug pellets around my brassicas, just in case any overwintering slugs are...well....overwintering successfully as it's so mild and damp/wet....

I think I'll also snaffle a few more barrowfuls of ash tree chippings as there are still some left in a pile, and I could make use of them in my new chicken run, which currently only exists in my mind...but may become a reality over the next few months....

So, a couple of wee chores to do at the weekend which will get me in the swing of allotmenteering again.

I've also been doing a bit of reading of the allotment books..starting to understand a bit more about F1 seeds...I'd naively been of the opinion these were good things, as I assumed they brought together the best of different varieties, but now am not at all sure that is always the case...they seem to be much more geared towards commercial growers looking for perfection of looks at the expense of taste... hmmmm.....I still plan to plant what I have in my seed tin, which includes some F1 seeds. I'll reserve judgement until I see the results. As in other things, there'll be pros and cons.

Well, I must go and get ready for an evening out. Hope you all have a lovely and peaceful New Year's Eve.

All the very best for 2013. May the best of 2012, be the worst of 2013.

LB xx

Rummer

I hope that you have a lovely New Year and that 2013 brings us all bumper crops

LavenderBees

Rummer wrote: »

I hope that you have a lovely New Year and that 2013 brings us all bumper crops

Now wouldn't that be lovely! :j

Happy New Year!! :beer:

LB xx