The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

DigForVictory

I've got a bundle from Thompson & Morgan!

Er, now what should I do?

GreyQueen

DigForVictory wrote: »

I've got a bundle from Thompson & Morgan!

Er, now what should I do?

:j Jump for joy?!


Dig out any leek seeds and look at planting them soonish. The rest of the stuff can be left for 6 weeks +. Unless it's exotics like tomatoes or peppers or squash, in which case you wanna look at starting them sooner undercover. HTH.


Spent 1.5 hrs on the lottie until it was fully dark. Yesterday's bonfire has added to the lovely deep ash bed I shall be distributing around the tater-patch-to-be. Said taters are being nursemaided in two banana boxes at the 'rents and will come up in about 3 weeks and be consigned underground.


Which reminds me, must finish arsoning about and fork thru the rest of the tater patch. I'm on a promise for a trailerload of manure but it's arrival time is anyone's guess. But a freebie load of manure is not a gift horse to be look'd in the mouth (it came out of the opposite end of the nag).:rotfl:

DigForVictory

Carefully unpacks the seeds. Lettuce Little Gem, Brussels spouts Brodie F1, Spring Onion White Lisbon, Cucumber Bella F1 Hybrid, Tomato gardeners delight, & herb Rocket.

So.
I could start the tomatoes (a cherry variant) but apart from not having much of a clue & no growbags, I'm mildly stumped. Seed compost & vermiculite are suggested - but then what seed packet wouldn't advocate the expensive stuff?! If I batter a few lumps of garden into smaller pieces will the seeds cope anyway, in trays on the windowsill? Never did fathom what temperature that gets up or down to.

The rest of the stuff can wait 6 weeks (oh good) but I presume it needs watering? Can it be abandoned in a coalshed & doused intermittently or do I need to watch over these blueberries, raspberry, gooseberry, & strawberry and water them more carefully? As in every other day or something? (The strawberry is just a bundle and seems to need an earthen surface to settle onto. Bemused of Lancashire here!)

I love the happy anticipation of a load of manure coming your way, GQ - at work we get rather more of that than we can usefully process, in email format. I shall eye the riding school pony strings more thoughtfully & have a shovel & bucket on standby if you reckon it worthwhile though.

GreyQueen

I didn't twig (sorry, couldn't resist ) that you'd got fruit bushes. Get those babies into the soil asap. They'll be coming out of dormancy and needing to start to grow. Do not expect very much from them the first year, just talk to them nicely when passing.


Re seeds, certain non-natives like squash, peppers, tommies etc need a longer growing season than these latitudes provide. Which means you need to get the jump on them by starting them under cover.


Under cover can mean any number of things; heated propagator if you're posh, an unheated greenhouse, seed tray/ mushroom punnet on the windowsill.


Seeds are little bombs of genetic material, just itching to get growing. All we gardeners need to do is remove the worstest obstacles to their plans and watch those babies grow.


They need a growing medium (potting compost is better than garden soil as it'll be full of weed seeds), some moisture, warmth and light. Windowsills are trad habitats, but the fluctuating temperatures are a bit hard on frail seedlings like tommies.


Some seeds are proper bruisers (peas & beans, pumpkins, courgettes etc). I once sowed all 8 courgette seeds in the pkt in flowerpots indoors. One of the seven grew upside down. Literally - roots in air and leaves underground. Never saw the like before or since. Just turned it right way up and it grew properly and there was nothing to distinguish it from its more sensible brethren.

mardatha

DforV, I grow tomatoes on windowsills. Don't use soil, buy a growbag and empty it into individual plant pots - or use houseplant compost. I line up all the plant pots and stick them in a long trough thing on the southfacing windows and I grew great tomatoes for years. Going to do it this year for Brexit

DigForVictory

The livestock are surfacing, griping & muttering so I shall leave them to their "early morning" processes & go dig some holes.

I gather they will be rained in, thoroughly, over the next few days, so shall go commit atrocities with shovel now.

cod3

DigForVictory wrote: »

I've got a bundle from Thompson & Morgan!

Er, now what should I do?

I got mine too this week :j

My back is not good just now so not sure about planting the raspberries and gooseberries this weekend as I will have to clear them some space. Might wait for my lad to come home from uni in a week or so. But that might harm the fruits How do I keep them safe?

Lighter duties - The bare rooted strawberries can can go in little pots for now. The blueberries came in small pots so I'll put them in slightly larger pots. Got the blueberries some ericaceous soil. These fruits can live in the unheated greenhouse for now. Not convinced by the weather.

In the seed lucky dip I got Sweet Baby cherry tomatoes, Red Alert bush tomatoes, beetroot, lettuce, red cabbage and carrots. Nice!

thriftwizard

Mine arrived too! I'll be sneaking the raspberry canes & gooseberries into my mother's garden on Monday - my brother's not convinced we should be putting any fruit in, as she's 93 now - but she does love raspberries & "goosegogs" so & it's something for her to look forward to! (I can always retrieve them & pop them in at the allotment if the worst should happen.)

My seeds were a utilitarian bunch but none the worse for that - all good reliable staples. I've had to deter DD2 from planting the lot straight off but our conservatory is now full of seed trays and potting compost. I'm dying to get back to the 'lottie & see how things have gone over the winter whilst I've been out of action; OH has been up there most weekends but I have no idea what, if anything, he's actually been doing; moving things around is his favourite occupation, but my plants don't always appreciate that!

DigForVictory

For those who would prep, know where your shovel is.

I am having to await the return of Social Animal to bodysurf the pile of Stuff blocking access to garden tools dumped there some months ago.

This does not bring me joy but some is packaging stuff I use for ebay.

Also the local Tesco (large) is not yet holding out growbags for sale. Pots of expensive pellets of plant food, yes (tho here's one I got for a poundshop last year still 80% full) Growbags, no. Grrr.

Happily none of this will stop me from having a cup of tea & Planning.

DigForVictory

Yeay! Blueberries, raspberry, & gooseberry all planted (last 2 by son under supervision - years of watching me garden in the rain are paying off!), jostaberry cutting thriving but pot put beside mother-plant to remind me to figure where they should be growing & three rhubarb plants out of pot & into soil At Last.

And all thoroughly rained in.

Tomorrow, growbags & tomato seeds...