Grow your own dinner 2014

annie123

niftythrifty33 wrote: »

Can't I just plant everything I want to grow in pots in the potting shed and leave them there or in the greenhouse ready to plant out?

Of course you can but it's pot luck what grows and what doesn't

The back of your seed packets should give you a when to sow guide.

Alot of success depends on the spring weather with early sowings. Last year in March my garden was frozen and covered in snow, the previous year it was 22c.
Sometimes early sowings work and other times they don't. If it's cheap seed then you have nothing to lose by sowing a few as you can sow again later.

It also makes a difference where you are in the UK. Here in London it's usually warmer than Yorkshire for example, so I would sow a few weeks earlier than someone up there.

Trial and error is part of the fun of GYO, and learning what works for someone else may not work for you, but by the end of your second year growing, you'll be telling others how and when to sow

moments_of_sanity

I am hoping to be able to get in the greenhouse tomorrow and plant up my potatoes but I also have a heated propagator that has never been used. Is there anything I can put in there that would benefit from a little bit of heat to start them off?

I am going to be putting parsnips in bottles for growing again this year so will be doing that over the next few days, any ideas on what else I can plant now?

Wail

At the moment, I am chitting the potatoes and growing a number of plants in the house.

Bought a plastic greenhouse for £25 today (bargain). Also bought a 100 litre plastic hessian trough, which will be great for the peas in the backyard, for a fiver.

Bought a number of poundland plants. The Tayberry has just peeped out a bit of growth in the last day or so. We have a couple of blueberry plants, couple of raspberry and a buddleia. Really looking forward to enhancing the fruit harvest this year

Started a propogator with some lettuce in.

Really looking forward to delivering a real bumper crop this year.

annie123

moments_of_sanity wrote: »

I also have a heated propagator that has never been used. Is there anything I can put in there that would benefit from a little bit of heat to start them off?

Chillies if you're going to grow some as they can take weeks to come up, maybe a few early leeks.
Toms if they're going in a greenhouse can be done early I understand but not having a greenhouse I can't speak from personal experience.
My Toms for outside will be sown in 3 weeks time in a prop.
I sow more towards the end of the month so that plants don't get leggy due to shorter daylight hours, by the end of this month it will be 1.5 hours longer and by the end of March when they really start to grow 12 hours long :j And without having a greenhouse everything has to stay indoors till its mild enough to start the plant shuffle AKA hardening off.

suzeesu2000

Hello

Can I come in and ask for LOTS of gentle and patient help please?

I am in rented property and am housebound disabled but desperately need to grow some food!

I am planning on having a really good clean up of the small patio and then bringing in some grow bags, tubs etc to grow stuff in.

I would like to grow tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, cucumber, spring onions, proper onions, small amount of potatoes, green beans, courgettes, carrots, small amount of swede, beetroot, patio pot plums/pears/cherries, strawberries, mix of herbs. Should I have anything else on my list?

I do have a freezer and hope to grow enough to be able to freeze at least something.

I can't dig anything into the actual earth as it wouldn't be right to upset a garden which isn't ours, besides tubs etc can come with us when we eventually get our forever home.

Is there anything obvious I can do in preparation? I don't have any indoor space for setting out seeds though.

Thanks

moments_of_sanity

annie123 wrote: »

Chillies if you're going to grow some as they can take weeks to come up, maybe a few early leeks.
Toms if they're going in a greenhouse can be done early I understand but not having a greenhouse I can't speak from personal experience.
My Toms for outside will be sown in 3 weeks time in a prop.
I sow more towards the end of the month so that plants don't get leggy due to shorter daylight hours, by the end of this month it will be 1.5 hours longer and by the end of March when they really start to grow 12 hours long :j And without having a greenhouse everything has to stay indoors till its mild enough to start the plant shuffle AKA hardening off.

That was my concern about them getting leggy. I do have a spare room that I could put some seedlings in but it is North facing so don't think they will get much daylight which is a real shame. I also worry that the house it too warm for them and they will grow rapidly and it will look similar to 'day of the triphids' before long.

Hoping to get some help from DD or DH today with the potatoes and will spend the evening making paper pots to start the seeds off in.

browneyedbazzi

Hi folks, I hope it's not too late to join in this thread. This is the first year I've got a proper garden (previously grew a few bits and pieces on a flat balcony) and putting in a veg plot is on my 'to do' list for this year. It's a fairly good size garden (25' x 90') but I want to keep the veg plot fairly small to start with so it's manageable for me...if all goes well this year and it isn't too much work then it may expand next year.

My plan for this year is to put in two raised beds (1m x 2m each) and try a square foot gardening type approach. My wish list of things to grow this year so far is onions (white, red and spring), carrots, green beans, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers, chillies and maybe tomatoes. Is that two much for my little plot? The peppers and chillies may end up living indoors as last time I grew them in pots on a window sill and they did brilliantly.

I'd also like to put in a rhubarb crown but I think they take up far too much room for my little veg beds so it'll have to go elsewhere. Oh, and I've planted a plum tree because I love baking and really like the idea of having my own fruit for cakes and crumbles. I'd also love to have some raspberry canes but I'm not sure where they would go.

I'll also have a separate bed/pots for growing herbs because I love having fresh rosemary, thyme, chives, coriander etc.

There's so much I want to do (we are also putting in a hedge and I would like to put in some shrubs and perennials around the garden because it's quite bare)....I'm a bit lost as to where to start! and more than a little impatient for it all to be done!

mothernerd

Spring's in sight and the potatoes are chitting (with apologies to Gerschwin)

Planted a tree (flowering cherry). It's in an old dolly tub (re-painted cream last summer). Polystyrene packaging from the new kitchen units in the bottom to make it a bit lighter to move around and for drainage.I also have a nut tree (red filbert) to go in, but the bin it's going in has last year's compost in and that may be too rich so need to dig/tip out and mix it up with leftovers from last year's growbags (and more packaging at the bottom).

My latest order started to arrive on my birthday (bought before I started this process) and it's as good as everything else I have had from this supplier. Couple of blue hydrangeas and some other shrubs (all having a good long drink). I have assembled a collection of buckets with cracks in them (won't hold water) and potato bags and aim to get everything potted up by the end of the week. Hoping by the time everything gets growing I will have enough plants to hide the less than beautiful planters.

One thing I did have a problem with - I ordered a pair of box (buxus) cubes (not my sort of thing at all, but it is the sort of thing they tell you to put outside the front door, when you are trying to sell). Only one arrived - a little the worse for wear. It had been repacked by the delivery people and had got very wet on its journey (everything else was very dry). The plant pot rim broke when I tried to move it, but he is a very handsome little fellow about 18inches high and filling the whole pot (from the local garden centre offerings I was expecting a six inch cube on a stick). I have waited a week but his partner hasn't arrived so on Friday night I sent off a mild e-mail of complaint. I got the standard acknowledgement and a number but when I got up on Saturday there was a reply offering profuse apologies and saying that a replacement pair would be dispatched immediately (because this one is waterlogged).

So in the week I toddled into town to see if the pound shops had got their gardening stuff in (wondering how I was going to get compost back). Pound shop had coir blocks which make up to 10l when you add water, so I brought back =50l in my little rucksack and then they gave me a 6 for the price of 5 voucher for gardening products so I went back the next day and they gave me another voucher. I am going to wait until later in the week (at the moment it's coming out of the food budget and I don't want to get to the nothing to eat this month cos I spent it on summertime food.

I have moved all my holly plants and lavender cuttings into the vestibule and the front room windowsill has 17family size mushroom boxes full of seeds in coir. I still have lots of the small boxes, will be doing more salad leaves and herbs during the week. I have also taken some seeds down to my mother's to set off in her greenhouse (she can't garden anymore and her partner is physically capable but has dementia - last time she got him to weed, she turned her back for a minute and he had moved off down the garden and was pulling up her lilies).

I am also using up cardboard packaging to cover up raised beds, to suppress any weeds until I have the time and energy to tackle them properly. Hope to do more next week. Happy sowing and growing everyone.

lemonjelly

I still haven't done anything - the weather doesn't merit it, & I keep expecting snow to come (though am starting to wonder!)

However last autumn, when I harvested everything I'd grown, I did plant a load of daffs bulbs. I think the idea was that I'd see them, & be encouraged to start planting!

Well, whilst sorting rubbish & recycling at the weekend, I did notice the bulbs are sprouting!

It is unusual, because I have a fair few others under the lawn, which I can't see yet.

In case you're wondering, it hasn't prompted me to start:p that'll still be 3 weeks away I reckon. At the earliest!:D

grandmasam

Well, the ground is too wet to do anything, but I'm spending time in the greenhouse. The onion setts and garlic are growing well and hopefully broad beans and sweet peas won't be much longer before they show some shoots.

I want to make a compost bin out of pallets as my 2 plastic cone ones are full. The straw and manure out of the chicken coop can then be left to mature nicely! Just the job for the rhubarb later on.

If anyone has any ideas how to make one?
Thanks
Caz