The ups and downs and ins and outs of growing your own, 2018

sazzlebgood?

went to the plot yesterday and managed to get my freesia bulbs into the cut flower bed at last. Lovely and warm in the greenhouse sowed some rainbow swiss chard and stated to harden off my sweet pea plants, hope they survived the night. Pick some winter lettuce for tea.

Tiglath

Moved into our smallholding last week. We've:

- installed a 3-compartment wooden compost bin at the far end near the poytunnel
- started hacking back bamboo and evergreen stuff to get to the laundry area; we'll do the enormous pampas grass next
- started pulling ivy off the outbuilding roof - what a mess
- are waiting for seed potatoes to arrive to go in potato bags
- ordered veg plants to come in May as we're not organised enough to grow from seeds this year - tomatoes, cucumber, aubergine, climbing beans, sweetcorn, peas, peppers, spring onions, courgettes and spaghetti squash
- seed potatoes arriving next week; just doing 4 bags of International Kidney to start with
- planted 3 types of onions in the polytunnel
- waiting for oodles of veg and herb seeds to arrive
- decided how to redo the chicken enclosure
- marked out two veg plots which will be divided into separate beds and rotated - each is 8m x 11m. Part of one will become a permanent area for rhubarb etc
- marked out a huge fruit cage area
- figured out a woodland area for DH - 22m x 12m, but need to get rid of a massive aluminimum pig ark, maybe at the next local country auction
- done lots of inside housey stuff as well
- walked the acre of land every day feeling smug and bit humbled

Shame I have to go back to work next week!

unrecordings

I think I would have removed our small patch of bamboo long ago were it not for the fact that it's a really good source of medium sized garden canes (oh and the cat is obsessed by the leaves and tries to eat them like a panda). Leave them six months to dry then they're ready to use.

Couldn't you dismantle the pig ark and repurpose it for chickens ?
(Or forced rhubarb)

No news here other than I prepared 24 pots for seedlings. I now need to decide what to sow - celery and...

sazzlebgood?

Just come from the allotment and feel so much better:D.I always feel less stressed after a visit:cool:. Sowed some leeks and potted on some kalettes, painted the raised carrots beds, FIL has started the greenhouse foundations.

Suffolk_lass

Tiglath wrote: »

Moved into our smallholding last week. We've:

- installed a 3-compartment wooden compost bin at the far end near the poytunnel
- started hacking back bamboo and evergreen stuff to get to the laundry area; we'll do the enormous pampas grass next
- started pulling ivy off the outbuilding roof - what a mess
- are waiting for seed potatoes to arrive to go in potato bags
- ordered veg plants to come in May as we're not organised enough to grow from seeds this year - tomatoes, cucumber, aubergine, climbing beans, sweetcorn, peas, peppers, spring onions, courgettes and spaghetti squash
- seed potatoes arriving next week; just doing 4 bags of International Kidney to start with
- planted 3 types of onions in the polytunnel
- waiting for oodles of veg and herb seeds to arrive
- decided how to redo the chicken enclosure
- marked out two veg plots which will be divided into separate beds and rotated - each is 8m x 11m. Part of one will become a permanent area for rhubarb etc
- marked out a huge fruit cage area
- figured out a woodland area for DH - 22m x 12m, but need to get rid of a massive aluminimum pig ark, maybe at the next local country auction
- done lots of inside housey stuff as well
- walked the acre of land every day feeling smug and bit humbled

Shame I have to go back to work next week!

This sounds impressive. When you sort your veg beds, don't make them too wide. You will want more strip-beds that you can reach to the middle of, so you can sow, harvest and weed without compressing the earth too much. If you've got a polytunnel, you are not too late for many of the veg plants you are buying to grow from seed. Only a bit late for tomatoes really

Tiglath

unrecordings wrote: »

Couldn't you dismantle the pig ark and repurpose it for chickens ?
(Or forced rhubarb)

Good idea, but we've already got chicken sheds sorted.

sazzlebgood?

Sown sweetcorn and beefsteak toms gone in the heated prop

sazzlebgood?

Sowed autumn and winter squash, feels really strange to be sowing stuff for winter even though its only just spring:D. Also sowed cucumber, starting to run out of windowsills.

CAFCGirl

Had a very unfortunate email today to say that a fellow plot holder was found unconscious on her plot on Saturday by another plot holder, who did their best with recovery position, calling for help etc and emergency services attended and she was air lifted to specialist care in London but unfortunately passed away on Sunday.

Just goes to show the importance of checking in on each other. I don't really have words for it.

Gem-gem

Hello, do you mind if I join you all? Up to now I have been a container gardener. But over the past ten days I've had 3 long raised beds put in just over a metre wide. I have also had another section of grass removed which will eventually be my soft fruit area (I already have 9 black currant bushes which need to be repositioned to give them more space).
Gem-gem