Grow your own dinner 2014

moneyistooshorttomention

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

If you can do pots, probably less space than you think!

I've had dwarf beans, potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes do well in pots, although the potatoes were proper slug fodder :mad: you can do carrots, garlic and onions in pots too.

How much space do you have, and what do you want to grow?

- Space = at this moment around 192 square feet of usable space (though there will have to be a couple of "paths" of some description in some of that to access it)

LATER ON:
- about 175 square feet of space that is currently unusable due to a drainage problem (hoping to resolve this soon - when I have a bit of money to spend on doing that)

plus

- about 56 square feet of space that is currently unusable because a squatter is on it at the moment (ie neighbour currently "in residence" on part of my garden). Hopefully that situation will be resolved soon too.

So that means:

- 192 square feet currently usable

plus

231 square feet of further growing space that will also be usable when I have resolved the drainage problem and removed the squatter

TOTAL = 423 square feet of growing space, of which I can currently use 192 square feet.

Answer to what I want to grow = absolutely all my fruit/vegetables/dried beans/herbs...therefore as much of that as I can manage.

zafiro1984

:)Just reporting in to see what everyone is doing?

Lost a lot of interest at the moment - find it hard to be motivated - probably weather and dark evenings. All I seem to do is pick carrots and leeks and sweetcorn.

I now have a solar tunnel but as yet it's not yet erected, just seem to be paddling around in the mud.

Does anyone else find it hard to be motivated at the moment - no doubt I'll brighten up again in the Spring.
I'll just report in about every month just to keep in touch and to catch up with fellow veg/fruit growers.

Off to put chickens and turkeys to bed - even they are miserable at the moment lol

Happygreen

After the clock change I find it hard to adjust, like I'm getting nothing done....
I harvested some more potatoes yesterday and checked on the lettuces in the tunnel. I have to remember to put some garlic out and plant some broad beans in modules indoors. I don't want to plant them outdoors as they always get eaten by mice, lol. I'm quite pleased by the state of things this autumn, ready to rumble again in spring!

zafiro1984

Thanks for replying Happygreen

Even if I do nothing I'm just going to report in every couple of weeks

Happygreen

zafiro1984 wrote: »

Thanks for replying Happygreen

Even if I do nothing I'm just going to report in every couple of weeks

Got to keep each other's spirit up, while the storms are raging around us and the weather's beating down (here anyway...)

Dizzy_Ditzy

I'm really struggling with motivation at the moment I go to work amd it's dark, I come home from work and it's dark I don't get chance to go to the allotments now until the weekends, and that's weather dependent. We've put the chicken project on hold for now, but that's only because the perfect chicken house was impossible to take apart so I need to find a suitable alternative

Happygreen

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

I'm really struggling with motivation at the moment I go to work amd it's dark, I come home from work and it's dark I don't get chance to go to the allotments now until the weekends, and that's weather dependent. We've put the chicken project on hold for now, but that's only because the perfect chicken house was impossible to take apart so I need to find a suitable alternative

in the winter it's only feeding and no eggs anyway...
our neighbour has converted a shed for hens, works a treat!
I'm now counting the weeks until it gets lighter again, lol...

Dizzy_Ditzy

Happygreen wrote: »

in the winter it's only feeding and no eggs anyway...
our neighbour has converted a shed for hens, works a treat!
I'm now counting the weeks until it gets lighter again, lol...

I'm looking at around March time to get them now

The house we wanted was absolutely perfect, in every way. A little bit too perfect given we couldn't get it apart! Nothing that perfect will ever come up again which is something I really, really need to get out of my head because if I don't, the standards are too high

savemoney

I just got a load of manure last week, I think it was cow manure it doesn't smell but still feel dirty being near it. I spread it as a top dressing on allotment, hoping worms will do some of the work on breaking it down before Spring when I will dig it in with rotavator

Hoping to get a large 10x6 greenhouse next year. I will have to protect it from kids with golf balls

zafiro1984

Queen of Cheap:- what sort of house were you interested in? Do you live anywhere near the South Coast as I may be able to help.

Savemoney:- You made me laugh saying you felt dirty around manure. Well rotted manure is wonderful, your crops will love it as will the worms. We are currently spreading 2yr old compost (weather permitting) on the land, its like black gold. We have an entire acre devoted to storing all the manure we can produce, and still we never seem to have enough

Want a laugh:- some good and some bad. A fox must have got into one of the hen enclosures last night as there were pigeon feathers in abundance this morning. I then have to walk the perimeters to find out where the pesky beast got in, so that it could be mended. Part of the enclosure runs alongside my veggie plot and I forgot my DH had dug over a new potato patch and that the land was very soft not to mention wet. I started to trundle over this patch only to sink in the soil up to my knees. My shoes were sucked off my feet and I ended up on my hands and knees crawling of the said patch - not a pretty sight and not the best start to the day.

Yes, I found where the fox had got in. He had climbed a 6'6" twilweld fence and broken the soft mesh above it. DH mended it this PM, I'll wait to see what tomorrow brings.