Grow your own dinner 2014

[Deleted User]

I had to lay wire mesh below soil level to try and deter pooping scrabbling cats and then I used mothballs because I got completely pee`ed off by cats on my patch. The cats are still around so never fear but not on my soil any more. Citrus peel, pepper dust none of that worked and I don`t have to use the balls any more but I do always keep some just in case. Not my cats, I don`t have any and I don`t want them pooing and messing in my garden. I used them once in my flower borders and tbh they were brilliant as a deterrent

Now puts tin hat on and escapes to the allotment

browneyedbazzi

sparrer wrote: »

Stupidly picked up a cucumber instead of a courgette at the garden centre yesterday so will give it to a neighbour as he has a greenhouse.

What variety of cucumber is it? You don't necessarily need a greenhouse to grow cucumbers if you've got the right variety. The common marketmore does perfectly well outside, and home grown cucumbers are so much nicer than supermarket ones. I even managed to get a few nice cucumbers off a plant left in small-ish pot on a flat balcony that I forgot to water for ages....I'm looking forward to a decent crop on my plot this year because conditions should be a fair bit better!

Dizzy_Ditzy

My new garden project is solar lights

I picked up some cheap ones last week which I've put around the pots of my green cordyline and date palms, then up around the trunk amd leaves respectively. It looks fab :j

So yesterday I picked up more. But these are better because they have a flash option. So I've just spent the last hour putting them around my fences, around where most of my pots are. Shame I'm out tonight so won't get to see them in full flow, but it's another job off my list

I have loads of bluebells in my front garden. This morning I noticed a white one! Looks very odd amongst all the green and purple, but equally striking at the same time

Fruittea

Hi Everyone


You all seem like a friendly lot - so Ii hope you wont mind me asking a question


I've planted out all the broad beans I need and was thinking of putting the rest outside for passers by to buy (selling plants at the gate is quite a common thing to do around here). Could anyone tell me what a fair price might be? I only have 24 extra plants.


Many thanks in advance.

Jazee

Hello all. I have almost done everything on my list from yesterday. I just have a few more seedlings to plant out over the next couple of day, then decide what else I want to grow and plant those seeds on the windowsills.

Happygreen

Fruittea wrote: »

Hi Everyone


You all seem like a friendly lot - so Ii hope you wont mind me asking a question


I've planted out all the broad beans I need and was thinking of putting the rest outside for passers by to buy (selling plants at the gate is quite a common thing to do around here). Could anyone tell me what a fair price might be? I only have 24 extra plants.


Many thanks in advance.

Hi - I would check the price on the T&M website and then suggest half of what they cost there. Give a discount for someone bying 6 or 12 or the whole lot . You could put it in your local advertiser or paper then they even get picked up. Good luck!

skint_chick

Happygreen wrote: »

Hi skint_chick - I've been thinking of sweet patatoes but they are expensive to grow -probably cheaper to buy ready to cook - and they need a hot climate like polytunnel or greenhouse. You could try Jerusalem Artichokes (some people call them fartichokes for a particular reason , they are sunflowers with edible rhizomes, ready in autumn. For fruit, maybe strawberries or rasps?
I don't know if you'll fit all those lovely veg into the 3 beds but you've got a lovely collection there. It might be a bit too late for caulis this year but brokkoli should be ok. The only things I can't see in your list are beans, peas (I love just for the pure joy of them) and lettuce ! which will give you quite a lot of savings in your budget with pick-and-come-agains.
Enjoy!

Thanks Happygreen, it's annoying that sweet potatoes are cheaper to buy in T*sco than to grow - I love the massive ones from our local farm shop but they are over twice the price of the supermarket and I don't eat potatoes/pasta/rice so I do get through a whole bag a week. It just seems wrong that they are imported and I'm trying to be as organic as possible on a teeny budget.

Cauliflower can probably wait til next year - OH hates it, our rabbit loves the leaves and I use it to make cauliflower rice and pizza bases as well as eating normally too but would only buy one every few weeks as it goes far. It's only my 2nd year of growing veg so I'm a bit nervous about beans and canes because I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I don't really like peas, I can deal with them in a stew but I wouldn't eat them as veg with a main. I really need to get some lettuce - darker leaf types so that's on my list. Maybe I'll try strawberries and raspberries next year as I have more space in the garden that needs to be dug still.

Fruittea

Happygreen wrote: »

Hi - I would check the price on the T&M website and then suggest half of what they cost there. Give a discount for someone bying 6 or 12 or the whole lot . You could put it in your local advertiser or paper then they even get picked up. Good luck!

Many thanks for the advice - it may sound really silly but I never realised that they would sell the plants online (seems really odd to me - when they are so easy to grow) I know they sell at the garden centre but that's a car journey for me.


And they are selling for £7.95 for 12! I'm really shocked at the price on line. I'll put them out for £1.50 for 6. I'd be more than happy to get that. Will let you know if they sell. I've been getting a £1 a bag for Rhubarb at the moment and I'm getting quite a taste for selling my excess veg.


I must say I enjoy reading your thread - thanks for letting me tag along.


All the very best.

Happygreen

skint_chick wrote: »

Thanks Happygreen, it's annoying that sweet potatoes are cheaper to buy in T*sco than to grow

just remembered that someone mentioned they picked up sweet potatoes for growing at their local Homebase in the seasonal sales. To look there would not have occurred to me...I'll have lots of courgettes to fill up the space in the tunnel and we love them (and freeze them in slices or small cubes) so no space to try sweet potatoes, maybe next year.

Happygreen

skint_chick wrote: »

I really need to get some lettuce - darker leaf types so that's on my list.

at the beginning of the season I always cheat and buy a tray of living salads, pick them apart and plant out 2 or 3 as one plant. Works a treat when I don't want to wait for my own seeds to come up/. Some of them are darker varieties but I find the green ones are more tolerant to my treatment