The all new 2019 growing your own thread!

zafiro1984

I've been a bit quiet for the last few days as 'life got in the way', we're off to a big show on Sat taking a mare and her 4wk old foal. So I've been bathing, polishing, and trimming instead of watering, hoeing and weeding.
Anyway today I had a couple of 'free' hours so gathering in the produce was top of the list, and blackberrying

One job I did manage to do was the tomatoes - they had reached the top of the side of the greenhouse and were starting to bend over so I tied string to the roof as there was a small cross member up there and took the string to the sides where there was another strut. Now the tomatoes are suitably tied in. I'm waiting for them to look like a 'tomato grape vine'

My food bill has dropped as I'm not buying any veg at the moment and I'm freezing any surplus. I'm determined to use what we have and not look at the veg in the supermarket - no point in growing it if you don't use it

Suzie_Hall

I'm trying to convert my garden into something that looks like an attractive garden but acts like an allotment producing food. I've grown herbs and lavender from seed and acquired a young apple tree, gooseberry bush and blackcurrant bush. I'd love to know what other produce I can grow from seed that is relatively easy and will look at home in the garden.

Primrose

Suzie. If you don,t want to have a specific vegetable patch or your garden layout won,t really accommodate one, try growing small amounts of vegetables , grown from seeds in trays, in mixed borders amongst your other plants. Things like Swiss Chard with their attractive leaves and stalks, , carrots with feathery leaves, curly kale and other vegetables will work well.
Just be sure to keep your soil well fertilised and watered.
Mixed coloured lettuce leaves will also dot in well in any bare patches, especially red leaved ones and curly endive.

unrecordings

Sounds like you're looking to create a 'potager' - here's the first decent google return I found

https://www.growveg.co.uk/guides/how-to-design-a-potager-garden/

FoxFace

Hey everyone, great news! We finally got to access our new plot today!

It is a huge mess. I'm tracking the progress on Inst@ at "thecallowgarden" for anyone interested in seeing just how much work we have to do :eek:

We did find two apple trees (not sure what type but they look very much like golden delicious) and two victoria plum trees, all thriving in spite of the plot not being tended in a long time, oh and tons of blackberries, so at least we have something growing

There's also a really good potting shed, very dry and secure with plenty of storage

There is already space set aside that looks like it would be/can be a spot for a compost heap.

All in all it looks like it used to be a really good plot, we are really looking forward to clearing it out and getting it back in shape

unrecordings

Good luck with the new plot. In terms of the apple trees, I found FruitID to be most useful

https://www.fruitid.com/#main

unrecordings

In other news I realise I've barely left the house in three weeks, not been in the garden for over a week, become addicted to watching Diners Drive Ins & Dives on the Food Network, and headed some way to looking like Mr Stay Puft The Marshmallow Man. The recent rain though has ensured I've had a proper rest, but it's sunny today so assuming I can get some footwear on... ...deadheading, pruning, checking greenhouses,checking chard/carrots/beetroot etc, strimming (maybe not), repotting - the list goes on...

Ganga

FoxFace wrote: »

Hey everyone, great news! We finally got to access our new plot today!

It is a huge mess. I'm tracking the progress on Inst@ at "thecallowgarden" for anyone interested in seeing just how much work we have to do :eek:

We did find two apple trees (not sure what type but they look very much like golden delicious) and two victoria plum trees, all thriving in spite of the plot not being tended in a long time, oh and tons of blackberries, so at least we have something growing

There's also a really good potting shed, very dry and secure with plenty of storage

There is already space set aside that looks like it would be/can be a spot for a compost heap.

All in all it looks like it used to be a really good plot, we are really looking forward to clearing it out and getting it back in shape

Do not forget to meet your new garden neighbors,most people with allotments have spare veg,plants etc as well as lots of good advice for free.

unrecordings

unrecordings wrote: »

it's sunny today so assuming I can get some footwear on...

I was sort of joking, but it took nearly half an hour with the aid of Mrs Un. Anyway, once out there we got a fair bit of deadheading done and retrieved some carrots (James Scarlet) and a couple of snooker ball sized beetroot (maybe Boltardy). Half were eaten raw almost immediately after washing. Carrot tops went in with my cabbage and a very nice pork chop, beetroot leaves were too nackered, but the stalks went into a tub for ramen next week. Also fried up a courgette, slit down the middle & lightly smeared with English mustard (Colmans of course) which worked really well - I think because it was still under developed and didn't have that open seedy marrowy texture that some courgettes have. Still got a lot of tomatoes & blackberries to pick though

FoxFace

unrecordings wrote: »

Good luck with the new plot. In terms of the apple trees, I found FruitID to be most useful

https://www.fruitid.com/#main

Thank you, it turns out they are a type of dessert apple (the previous owners had left the label stapled to the trunk ) I'll see if that link gives me any more info

Ganga wrote: »

Do not forget to meet your new garden neighbors,most people with allotments have spare veg,plants etc as well as lots of good advice for free.

It has been pretty quiet so far and we aren't far from the main entrance so only pass one other plot to get to ours... I'm going to wander today and see who I meet

Yesterday was super productive! It was the first day we actually worked and in about three hours we found the start of the path at the gate, stripped back one of the two huge buddleja bushes, found three pre-laid sleeper edged beds and the previous compost heap (which we have had plenty to add to). I desperately need an incinerator now to start getting rid of a lot of the twiggy waste!

I was so impressed with how hard the children worked (my boys are 12 and 15) and the eldest is already bugging me to get back there today