The ups and downs of growing your own dinner 2016...

savingpennies

Lifes Grand Plan, yes I sowed everything in the greenhouse but moved them inside on windowsills. My greenhouse is unheated so I use windowsills or the conservatory to get seeds going.
This week I hoed around the fruit bushes and apple/pear cordons and added some compost and chicken manure to the soil. Everything is looking nice and tidy at the mo. I've just my little strawberry bed and herb bed to tidy up next, then everything is ready for what I hope is going to be a productive year.

Fruittea

Yes the price is silly for Mega bite - I saved seed from last year but as it's an F1 so I'll have to wait and see if the 'come true'. But I was so impressed with them that I paid the price for the new seed and also planted my own.


I think the price is high as none of the big firms seem to be producing them in this country - plenty in America. Works out at 40p per plant but as you get really good sized toms I thought they were worth it. A pack of 6 toms is about £1 - so I save £9.60 by growing.


I recon if the last years seed work - I could make a fortune selling it on! I tried to post a picture but it didn't work. But here's the description from last years seeds just in case you're tempted:


Megabite – perfect for growing on the patio. A tomato plant compact enough to grow in a container on the patio, yet strong enough to grow big beefsteak fruits, and productive enough to set up to 60 on every plant. This heavy-yielding plant sets 4 - to 6-ounce fruit of bright red, globular and beautiful, no need to stake while you're waiting for it to ripen. The fruit measures 3 to 4 inches in diameter, a great size for slicing into sandwiches.

smallholding_antics

Sounds great - I might get some anyway lol. I think they would sell well too as you say. Thanks for the info.

smallholding_antics

One thing I meant to ask is when you are all germinating your seeds indoors, do you use cling film or such over them to keep the temperature up?

Fruittea

I haven't covered the tomatoes but I suppose if your window sills are really drafty it might be helpful. I just left them to fend for themselves.


I've started about five varieties mostly from saved seed - they all seem to be doing quite well.


Good luck.

spendinglikemad

Hi there everyone - just found this thread!! Have had half an allotment for a year last year was a bit of an experiment and put in raspberries and asparagus damson and plum so quite an investment also grew onions, spuds, spinach, kale, beetroot, leek courgettes mange tout strawberries and broccoli (pigeons ate most of this) oh and butter nut squash. Apart from regretting being away for 3 weeks in August (never again!!) I have loved growing my own and really want to do better this year at being more self sufficient veg wise. So plans for this year in terms of veg:
sweet potato
garlic and shallots - planted
beetroot/leek - still harvesting!!
Chard
Brussels sprouts
Courgette
Asparagus - heres hoping!
various salad leaves
pumpkin
sweetcorn
Peas

Fruit wise
Rasps
Strawberries have spread like mad
Gooseberries and red currants
damson and plum

Allotment is all weeded, dug over and ready for planting to begin!!!!

SLM

smallholding_antics

Fruittea wrote: »

I haven't covered the tomatoes but I suppose if your window sills are really drafty it might be helpful. I just left them to fend for themselves.


I've started about five varieties mostly from saved seed - they all seem to be doing quite well.


Good luck.

Thank you - I am giving some a go without covering them and will report back!

Fruittea

Hi Spending like made


Yes this is a very helpful thread.


Your plans seem really interesting. Last year I priced all my veg up as I used it - only the personal stuff not the stuff I gave away or any apples. It worked out that the produce I used would have cost me £230 if I had bought it in Tesco's. So I was very pleased to have saved the money.


I have free apples from a neighbouring allotment which are wonderful and I made apple butter (delicious) and juiced and froze which gave me apple juice up until mid Feb. So don't forget the apples.


Herbs are very good to have Basil and coriander are really easy. If you have a greenhouse how about some sweet potatoes? They need to be warm and have quite a long growing time but I grew some under the bench in the greenhouse - you could use a cold frame or something like it and fill it up with plenty of good soil and perlite. I used a long deep bag and just forgot about them through the summer. Here's a link to growing your own slip - you'll need to be quick to start them off though.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C07CNkV1IhM


Maybe others would like to take on the challenge.


Good luck

mrsscattercushion

A bit of a gap since my last post but haven't done a huge amount after being away with family for a short while and also having the allotment (and garden) under snow. After Wednesday's rain, supposedly a drier patch now, so hoping to actually be able to get on the allotment to start digging over the beds.

Potatoes are chitting in the attic and have purchased onion and shallot sets. Planted some to over-winter, with mixed success given all the rain, so got some more to go in ~ let's face it, you cannot have too many of either :-)

Weather here still cold and season does tend to start late (about 300m above sea level and clay soil) so tend to start my sowing late, with little direct soil sowing until later in April. Just sowed broad beans and peas in modules to get started, so can get into the allotment next month.

Picked up some more raspberries and a blackberry bush reduced in T£scos, so have them along with other raspberries, black and red currants and a red gooseberry to plant out. Also getting some strawberry plants from the neighbouring allotment plot, so looking forward to my first foray into fruit growing...

looking forward to getting back to the plot to harvest more winter/spring veg and plan out this year's "campaign".

Dizzy_Ditzy

I've been quite slack in the growing/allotment stakes lately - it's been so wet, it's impossible to dig therefore impossible to plant out or sow direct

Potatoes are chitting away ready to go out in two or three weeks, the tomatoes and chillies I planted at the beginning of February are ready to be repotted and I need to get a crack on with sowing other seeds at some point this weekend