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

smeeinnit

Hi all, welcome Debtfreeforlife

Quiet pottering today, have a fuzzy head so felt a bit meh but managed to pot up my 50p rhubarb into its hopefully permanent pot, put some straw under the strawberries, really surprised how much fruit they have considering they are first year plants.

Pulled out a lot of weeds which have gone BOOM since the rains this week :mad::mad::mad:

Other than that just some deadheading, repotting my dwarf buddleija and a bit of pond maintenance. Really pleased to find we have a newt in it :j

Next weeks weather is looking gorgeous so hopefully I will have a bit more get up and go tomorrow, still plenty to do!

Have a good week all

LoveKnittingSocks

Good Evening

We've had a really productive day today despite having a leek catastrophe! I knocked over my tray of leek seedlings while I was cleaning the windows and they ended up all over the floor

I rescued as many as I could and planted them in the bag I was going to use when they'd grown a little bit more. They're outside now so fingers crossed they survive - if they don't I'll just have to try again.

I mowed the lawn and started the weeding (plenty left to do!). We cancelled the gym membership months ago but tonight I have muscles aching where I didn't know I had any

My second attempt at growing basil have started to germinate, the second batch of sunflowers have appeared and surprise surprise - my runners beans have also made an appearance :j

I have a huge tub full of carrot seedlings. Should I thin them out?

All in all a good day but back to work tomorrow

I hope everyone else had a good day!

CAFCGirl

Welcome to all the newbies joining in - be lovely to hear your hopes/dreams/goals for growing this year

Yesterday was a home gardening day for me so more seedlings potted on. Of course my labels on the squashes, pumpkins, courgettes and cucumbers have all weathered so I don't know which is which anymore.... although the cucumbers I think have rounder leaves.... so that'll be fun.

I've been offered a free shed for the allotment so grabbed that offer. Although the metal one is up an fixed, its only 3ft by 4ft so its more of a store and you cant really hang out in it for bad weather/get changed/do much in it even as one person so will use the new shed as more of a 'base camp' type set up I think.

Weather this week looks glorious! Hopefully DS and I will make a few trips up there this week even if just for an hour or so.

Clutterfree

Had a lovely afternoon on the veggie plot yesterday.

Weeded the strawberry bed then put weed membrane down.
Had my first strawberry of the year - delicious! :T

Decided to plant out my cucumbers. Was trying to hold on for another week but they weren't looking happy so decided to risk it. I tucked them up in fleece last night but I don't really think they needed it and the forecast this week is warm and sunny so fingers crossed they'll be fine.

Removed a large tree peony that was in the middle of one of the new raised veggie beds and planted it elsewhere in the garden. Gave it a thorough watering afterwards so hopefully it will survive being moved. Checked on it this morning and it hasn't wilted (yet!) so hoping it will like its new home.

Planted 4 raspberry bushes that I bought a few weeks ago. Oddly enough Autumn Bliss has more flowers than the earlier varieties?

Also, sowed some lettuce - Little Gem and Iceberg. Don't usually grow Iceberg but had a free packet of seeds so thought I might as well.

Doesn't sound much, but it kept me busy!

Today I think I'm going to just do some general garden weeding and, if I'm strong enough, move some slabs to make way for veggie bed 4.

Have a great day all.

zafiro1984

Clutterfree wrote: »

Had a lovely afternoon on the veggie plot yesterday.

Me too, the sun makes a big difference.

A friend popped by and gave me 3 Jalopeno, and 3 snack peppers, plus 3 stripey cherry tomatoes. They were very welcome and are all now safely planted.

The strawberries are doing well as we had some after dinner last night.
I planted out my sweetcorn.
I didn't label melons, cucumbers and the squash seedlings when I pricked them out and now I'm not sure which are which, worse still is that I mixed the pots up so they are all together in a muddle. I just hope I get it right when I come to putting them in their final place :eek:

Just about to go back on the plot and plant out some peas I've got in the greenhouse, Alderman so I'll have to make a frame first for them. That should take care of the rest of this afternoon.

unrecordings

I'm having a hard time keeping up here...

My year old Purple Sprouting Broccoli is still sprouting and taking up the space where potatoes should have been planted a while ago

Eccles the cat (named after the Goons character) caught her first rat today, hopefully that was the one effing around in my compost bin

Tomatoes doing well, courgettes still in pots, onions looking good - I'm tempted to grab a couple while there's still wild garlic around

Sorrel making an concerted effort to bolt

Slug invasion not hit me yet (I said this last year and then got hit by hordes of the blighters)

Peas under netting relatively untouched, I'm going to stake them this week and that's probably when the trouble starts...

Fruittea

Morning Everyone
It's nice and cool here in Gloucestershire today. Reading back everyone is doing really well with plenty of things growing. I'm pretty packed up at the allotment and have just a tiny space for the pumpkins to go in. And then one of my neighbours insists I take a tray of brassicas and some more tomatoes! Lovely as it is I now have to find room for the brassicas which he thinks is broccoli and caulis. Also 9 more chilli! Well I couldn't say no could I? So I'll take them down this afternoon and see where they can go.
I only bought peppers, an aubergine and some tomatoes this week at the supermarket - so things are going very well.
I've also been sprouting micro veg and that seems to be working well for the salads and as posh dressings.
Lovesknittingsocks you might want to thin out your carrots when they are about an inch high. You can grow them close but just think about high thick they need to be and give them that about of room. Is the container quite high - if not you might want to lift it up a bit to avoid carrot fly about two foot should do it.


I know what you mean about the labels Zafiro - every year I do the same. This year I've been really careful and have only lost one which is either a courgette or a pumpkin! I used to use Sharpies but they don't seem to be too weather proof these days. So I've switched to a Staedtler permanent laundry pen - they are about £2.50 from the supermarket but I can recommend them as they're nice and fine and stay on.


I've re-sown the oriental bed which has been doing really well.

determined_new_ms

Morning everyone I haven't been around since the beginning of the month as have been so busy. I had a couple of weeks where I was barely able to get to the lottie and for a while there the weeds were winning. But have managed to get down there for a few good sessions over the last week

I'm really trying each time I go there to spend some time tidying to get it not looking such a mess - today and yesterday I hoed 1/2 of the pathway - spend a bit of time weeding over a bit and also spend some time sowing or planting up. Seems to work for me like this in staying motivated and on top of things. It's a never ending job but I do seem to be winning the war on weeds :T

Have been there this morning and feeling the pride again :j

Currently I have planted up and growing well:

calabrese
sprouts
mangetout
dwarf french beans
mini sweetcorn
potatoes
2 BNS', 3 different squashes - very happy with my plans to grow them vertically - 3 around the perimeter fencing and 2 I am making a arch using builders piping and plastic fencing/mesh
2 courgettes
broad beans
parsnips
radishes
beetroot
lettuce & salad leaves
raspberries
strawberries
gooseberries
blackcurrants
and 4 cuttings of redcurrants but these won't fruit this year - maybe next?

I have cauliflower, leeks, chard, rainbow chard and cucumbers to plant out. Still need to sow purple sprouting broccoli as last lot didn't germinate

strawberries are plumping out and a couple starting to blush so need to net them up

Hope everything is going well for you all

Fruittea

That's a very impressive list Determined -well done and good to hear how much you've achieved. Just imagine how much money you will save the family.

MissPop

Wow, looks like you'll be feasting on that lot!

Got my tomato plants in the raised bed yesterday, and the first of some French beans - even though I planted them as close as I dared, there's not a lot of room left in the bed :eek: No idea where I might be able to squeeze my squashes (:rotfl: ), I gather they need a lot of space!