The highs and lows of growing your own dinner 2015

Happygreen

kitty6 wrote: »

yes i'm watching it, like you say must be tough being on your own.

One thing I've picked up this year was to grow cucumbers outside, I've always grown my in the greenhouse. They all seemed to have good results from growing them outside.

Are any of you successful cucumber outdoors growers living in Scotland? Say Yes and I'll give it a go

Jazee

Happygreen wrote: »

Are any of you successful cucumber outdoors growers living in Scotland? Say Yes and I'll give it a go

North Yorkshire, probably not far enough north for you!

royg_2

Tried a few times but only with spares as here in Scotland I find even the outdoor ones work well in greenhouse.
Never had an outdoor crop succeed but that may be due to slugs, positioning or neglect as never put too much focus on these ones. Unfortunately never tried the last 2 years and so missed the best 2 summers for trying these. In previous years the plants struggled and then disappeared!

WantAnOrange

Hello. I've been a bit of a lurker on here for a while but I'd love to join in this year. I have an average sized garden with two small veggie patches. One is very shady but the lettuces seem to like it. I am a complete novice, making it up as a go along! I have an 8 year old son and 2 year old daughter so the main aim has been to teach them where food comes from and hopefully have them develop an appreciation of how much time and work goes into producing real food.

We've had great success with courgettes. Last year we did ok with beetroot but I don't sow often enough so end up with one glut then nothing for ages! This year I grew turnips for the tops. My daughter is a bit of a pro at growing radishes at the grand age of 2! We had a few tomato plants last year and got loads of fruit but it just would not go red! Mange Tout were a total fail last year but did brilliant the year before. The kids tell me that the strawberries did great but I didn't get to see them as they would be out the door at 6am to snaffle them first!

Baby #3 is due Feb 20th so while I'll be on maternity leave I may just have my hands full, so not sure how much time I will have for growing this year. Hoping it will be a nice way of keeping the children entertained and busy in the garden.

Right now, we have garlic and broad beans and they doing surprisingly well. It gets very windy here and they take a battering.

suzybloo

I am in central Scotland and we have grown cucumbers relatively well in a greenhouse that gets sunshine until about 1pm - last ones were burp less, will be doing them again this year, our experiment this year is butternut squash - not sure how they will fare here.

Happygreen

suzybloo wrote: »

I am in central Scotland and we have grown cucumbers relatively well in a greenhouse that gets sunshine until about 1pm - last ones were burp less, will be doing them again this year, our experiment this year is butternut squash - not sure how they will fare here.

I've grown Gherkins (more by accident than on purpose as they were the ones that came up, lol) in the polytunnel. I wouldn't really know how to create a solid climbing frame outdoors .
Squashes I also only tried in the tunnel, I've grown Hokaido as you can eat them with the skin, no need to peel. It really depends on the weather and fertiliser if they do well. I'll try again.

Bee70

we managed to get loads of pumpkins last year - grew them outsidem, and they were from a supermarket pumpkin! The squashes grew well, but got eaten by slugs before they were ripe.. . we tried every slug repellent/trap to no avail

grassgirl

subscribed and will hope to dip in and out

zafiro1984

I'm growing veg because:-
1) I enjoy it and it's something to get up for in the morning
2) I know that no pesticides herbicides are used.
3) To stay away from the supermarkets so that I hopefully will not overspend. However, this gardening lark can become quite expensive so I've devised a plan which hopefully will keep it in check.

PLAN
I sell eggs at the gate, so I aim to use any profit (after feed and bedding) to fund my hobby. So far this year I've got £30.70 in the pot. I now need to focus on the order of things I need. Fortunately I have plenty of netting, fleece, heat mats, root trainers etc to see me through this year. Does anyone else have a 'plan'

tootallulah

Oh rushes in feeling aggrieved I have missed the new thread!

I am growing Floridity toms, Gardeners Delight and some yellow ones whose name I cant remember Sungold maybe?, peas, runner beans, and broad beans. I also grow red and white currants, gooseberries, strawberries, rhubarb and raspberries.

Most of my garden is a flower cottage garden. I only grow what I eat and try and do the things that are expensive. I am really looking forward to getting some seeds going but will probably wait until the end of February. This is my first year with a greenhouse I am not sure exactly what I am doing with that.