The great, good and not so good bits about growing your own dinner 2017

determined_new_ms

I have found blackberries aren't that hard to dig out tibawo. Cut the stems down and where the biggest clump of them are shooting out, dig around it, probably about a spade or slightly more deep and you will find the root ball to pull out. Nettles are easy to get out as well, and surprisingly satisfying as they will all come out together quite easy. Marestail on the other hand....

Fruittea

Sounds as though everyone's cracking on. I finished the new raised bed and need to get on with potting on next but that's in the kitchen with the radio on and doesn't feel like work at all.
Really feel for you Tibawa and that 30-45 times by how many of you will work out to quite a bit of time - so great but I'm wondering what's going into the bags and why not it just rot down in the bags instead of moving it away - there's not much that doesn't rot.
The clumps of grass could be up-rooted, turned over and stacked in clumps somewhere out of the way and the grass will just die back.


Nettles rot down really well in water - so if you have a tank or butt of some kind you can just lob them in make sure they are covered in water and it will rot. Even weeds in flower or with seeds will rot. You might want to use the juice as a fertilizer later on. 7
Glad the raspberries and things arrived safely Zafiro - are you going to check the PH of the soil for the asparagus? On with the potting up then.

Kantankrus_Mare

My pak choi seedlings have germinated :j Never grown these before so will be trial and error.

The cauli seedlings have been potted on and look healthy but they are staying on my table till bigger!!

Been briefly to the allotment to water strawbberrys (which are full of flowers in the greenhouse!)

Cuttings still alive that I took of clematis. Will be so happy if I get them to work!

Tibawo.....looks like you are making a good start on new allotment.
Good idea to do little and often.

Everyone else is doing well and sounds like loads of progress is being made.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Everything's germinating! - if it carries on like this we'll never have to buy a veggie again - the thin line of lettuce seeds are now fat little red and green seedlings and the peas are already four inches high and a whole patch of bare earth yesterday afternoon is now covered!

I might have to indulge in that hitherto unknown concept of thinning out.


However, as I was buzzed by a White Admiral yesterday, the berries might be under attack quite soon. Ah well.

zafiro1984

Fruittea Quote Zafiro - are you going to check the PH of the soil for the asparagus?

Did that a while ago, pH is 4.5 - 5 on sand called 'greensand' so it's been limed at back end of last year. The asparagus is going in raised beds so it will be easier to keep an eye on it.
When we lived in Kent I could grow huge cauliflowers and cabbages as the pH was 8 on clay so the land was very productive.
I'd love to live in the fens, apart from it being so flat but at least here we have woods, we've about 10 hectors under various kinds of wood, no need to buy fuel you just have to be a dab hand with a chain saw. Some good, some bad no matter where you live I guess.

unrecordings

Quiet up here (I'm trying to take it easy this year). There's a honking great big Purple Sprouting Broccoli in the way of my potatoes. I keep cutting bits off it to eat and it keeps coming back. Salad leaves are germinating (2015 was great for salad, 2016 was terrible), going to try to keep on top of it this year. Sowed courgettes today, repotted Pepper seedlings a couple of days ago. Decided against the nasty sulphur greenhouse candle and just scrubbed down both greenhouses with soft soap.

smeeinnit

Hi all

Had a quiet couple of days but a little progress today

I went to the garden centre on Monday as planned and bought 6 strawberry plants, 2 each of 3 varieties, one early one mid and one late season so hoping for a long season of strawbs mmmmmm :j

I bought some herbs too for a veg trug I purchased a few weeks ago, so I got bottom into gear today and assembled the trug and planted with the herbs.

Today however was mostly dominated by building decking in the garden, finally, we've got round to it! We may have it finished Saturday, t'other half will be doing most of the screwing bits together so I can carry on with garden stuff :rotfl:

I have some companion flower plants to sow, potatoes to plant, onions to transplant, flowerbed to finish....oh the list never ends but it keeps me out of mischief :A

Have a good easter break all:beer:

Fosterdog

Things are going slow here, I'm a bit worried seeing that some of you have already started your sweetcorn and purple sprouting broccoli I wasn't planning on starting them for at least another week or two, maybe I'll change my plan slightly and do it over the weekend.

My only plan for thus weekend was going to be planting some carrot seeds and starting off melon seeds indoors also potting on my broccoli (calabrese).

My potatoes will probably need earthing up by the end of the week, my peas have started to come through, my first time so was worried I'd sown them at the wrong time it done something wrong but I was overthinking it and they just needed time. My new strawberry plants all seem to like their new homes and are starting to get some nice foliage already.

My bell peppers have been a complete flop, not a single seed out of 12 sown have germinated, I've grown them plenty of times before and never has a problem but this year not a sausage so something isn't right, they were sown two weeks ago, I've always had signs of life at between 5-10 days before but am well past that now. Kicking myself too because I usually buy cheap seeds, online or supermarket own brands and have good success with them. Decided this year to try better "branded" seeds and bought all Thompson and Morgan only for this one very easy to grow crop to fail. I might try again with a few more seeds in the propagator but it's a bit too late to start them now.

I've been making friends with slow worms while I've been clearing the garden, four found so far and all safely relocated to the wild area of the garden

zafiro1984

Fosterdog wrote: »

I've been making friends with slow worms while I've been clearing the garden, four found so far and all safely relocated to the wild area of the garden

Wow, I wish we had those, we've got the usual rabbits, deer and squirrels, loads of toads but I haven't seen any frogs of late nor hedgehogs. We have a family of smooth snakes which we only see occasionally, glow worms in the late summer and lizards on the sandy bank plus a family of shrews near the house. Our more unwelcome visitors are badgers, foxes (I have hens) and rats and occasionally the two legged variety of creatures who seem intent on taking things that don't belong to them. A whole range of birds, the usual garden ones plus owls, partridge and pheasants including some very dark almost black ones. My most favourite bird is one robin who lives near the chickens, as soon as I arrive with the food he hops onto the buggy and then onto my hand for food - he's quite fat now - sorry about all the above as it's nothing to do with growing veggies.

Fosterdog

zafiro1984 wrote: »

Wow, I wish we had those, we've got the usual rabbits, deer and squirrels, loads of toads but I haven't seen any frogs of late nor hedgehogs. We have a family of smooth snakes which we only see occasionally, glow worms in the late summer and lizards on the sandy bank plus a family of shrews near the house. Our more unwelcome visitors are badgers, foxes (I have hens) and rats and occasionally the two legged variety of creatures who seem intent on taking things that don't belong to them. A whole range of birds, the usual garden ones plus owls, partridge and pheasants including some very dark almost black ones. My most favourite bird is one robin who lives near the chickens, as soon as I arrive with the food he hops onto the buggy and then onto my hand for food - he's quite fat now - sorry about all the above as it's nothing to do with growing veggies.

You've got way more wildlife than me considering I'm in quite a rural area with nothing but Welsh valley hills and commons behind my garden for a few miles, although there are a few farms dotted around. We don't have a deer population, there are rabbits but not close to the houses, plenty on the hills though. Same with foxes, never see them near the houses. We do have the occasional hedgehog and toad, slow worms and lizards are very common as are squirrels, sometimes a grass snake and plenty of mole hills. We do get rats and other rodents, I love watching them from a distance but they have caused damage in the past when they get too close to buildings.

Bird wise we hear owls most nights and sometimes see them in the trees, all of the common garden birds and later in the year we will get woodpeckers and jays visiting the oak trees. Oh and lots of bats, they've already started their evening shows, this is the earliest in the year I've ever seen them. We do get sheep, ponies and cows wandering down from the common and from farms when fences have been cut too, that's a sight to wake up to in your garden with the dogs going nuts but the manure left behind gets added straight to the compost heap