Grow your own dinner 2014

suzeesu2000

Fortunately, I was planning to grow everything in containers anyway so, fingers crossed, we get somewhere with an outdoor space i can still grow in. Its just so much work and at a time when we SOOO do not need this. But - as you rightly say - every cloud has a silver lining and this may turn out to be for the best, I am hoping so anyway.

Thank you

Joanthebone

Hi all, how lovely to have found you!


It may seem silly, as I don't have a garden right now, but I am property hunting for my retirement and am really looking forward to getting back into gardening.


I will be lurking quite a lot, I have found the advice on here so helpful already. I have skimmed through a lot of the previous posts and seen a reference to growing parsnips and 'cones'? Can anyone tell me about that? I love parsnips but never grown them. I used to garden on heavy Essex clay so tended to avoid root veg.


Looking forward to growing along with you all in the near-ish future!

djohn2002uk

Joanthebone wrote: »

I have skimmed through a lot of the previous posts and seen a reference to growing parsnips and 'cones'? Can anyone tell me about that? I love parsnips but never grown them. I used to garden on heavy Essex clay so tended to avoid root veg.

This is my reply to Annie123 in Jan 2013.

Annie, Do what I do. Get a bar and push it into the ground about 6-9" and wind the top round to make a cone shaped hole. Then push or knock it down another 6- 9" and wind it round again so that you have a conical hole about 12-18" deep. Sift some soil or compost or both mixed and fill the holes slowly to avoid trapping air. Place 3 seeds in the center and cover. When they germinate discard the 2 weakest and you should have nice straight clean fat parsnips. When you need to use them, just pour a load of water slowly on the roots and let it soak to the bottom and with a bit of a wiggle and a gentle pull on the foliage, the parsnip will come out clean. If you have left them untill the foliage is almost gone just dig a couple of inches and pull on the parsnip.;)
Strangely enough this method was described in Kitchen Garden magazine this month.

Joanthebone

Hi, thank you djohn! I remember now that my ex-husband used to use a similar method to grow leeks, a long time ago.


I have just bought a book on 'no dig' gardening, using raised beds, which should make matters easier too!

Dizzy_Ditzy

I love this time of year, when things are starting to wake up in the garden

I'm planting potatoes in my other garden tomorrow, looking forward to seeing how that goes

Badrick

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

I love this time of year, when things are starting to wake up in the garden

In the last week I've caught 4 bright green caterpillars lunching on my raspberry canes new shoots, there's also loads of tiny black slugs about.

TallGirl

It is a lovely time of year sorry I have not posted much but my garden is almost ready.

Got annual flowers in seed trays, veg in seed tray as well peas, broad beans, cucumber pepper and courgette most have come up but not all yet, fab to have greenhouse saves having to have it all in the house.

First bag of potatoes in doing a second one today only want three as there is only the two of us.

This year I shall be concentrating on getting more peas and beans as I really like them, less flowers amongst the veg too so more pots but as long as I water I should be fine. My blueberry a are just about to flower and I have a fab display of spring flowers in my front garden. Cut the lower branches of my curly hazel and all the bulbs and primroses loved it.

Here are some photos:

Blueberry
Spring display
Seedlings
Overwintering Fuchsia will go in big containers
Geranium cuttings taken last year hopefully will look nice this year. Also two surviving begonia tubers.
My total veg growing area you can just about see the herb garden to the left. Warming the soil up for the peas don't think I shall put them out until next week.


I use to start too early but I am on the South Coast and it does make a difference to have a green house.

Finally I do have these too to keep out of my veg any ideas apart from water

Dizzy_Ditzy

Some lovely pics there TallGirl

I'm hanging. I've been and dug the 3 beds in my parents garden and got the potatoes in. I decided to leave the onions for another week or so.

I've not touched the beds since I did them in October. I'd dug in loads of manure, and left it to do its thing. It was very, very clay-ey.

Digging them today, I was amazed at the difference- it was wet but hardly any clay and all 3 beds were teeming with worms

Then I came home and got the rest of my potatoes out, but I've done mine in bags instead of in the ground. I've also sown seeds for tomatoes,cucumbers, melons and more tomatoes.

This is my first proper year with the greenhouse and I've got plants and seeds everywhere! I loves it I do :rotfl:

suzeesu2000

Tallgirl, what is the variety of the furry plants in the last photo?

Re-potted my Victoria plum patio tree yesterday and today she has been sitting in her new home with the sunshining on her and I can almost hear her purring!:)

Indoors the climbing beans are going berserk! I swear the courgettes have grown since this morning, the dwarf French beans are getting big and the leaves are really filling in now. :TAs per my last post though, we are in a state of flux....I will have to plant them all out soon (in tubs) but then the tubs will take two people to life as they are massive. And to think, I could have a totally boiring non-stressful life.....:rotfl:

moments_of_sanity

I am an unhappy bean today! I planted some parsnip seeds about 3 weeks ago and nothing has come up! These were bought this year and I would have expected at least one of the 20 I planted to have germinated!

My potatoes have started to grow better so will be building up the soil at the end of this week. I want to plant a few tomatoes, courgettes, peas etc so will be hoping to get that done this week although reading through the posts it seems as though I am already too late!?