The all new 2019 growing your own thread!

unrecordings

baggins11 wrote: »

Agreed Primrose. I rarely eat meat and especially processed meat and always go on at the kids to be more veggie but at that moment a salad just wouldn't cut it. Ironic as I am putting so much effort into growing the healthy stuff..

When I was on the really nasty chemo (with diet restrictions & all sorts) I found energy bars were the way to go - specifically Jordan's Frusli - normally £1.99 for six, but usually on offer somewhere at £1.00 - I still have them most days, they're a good alternative to chocolate

baggins11

Energy bars are great unrecordings. We always have them in here as both my children compete in sports that involve unsociable and long training hours - they are a godsend to keep them going. My kids often have the trek bars - they are very expensive but like a meal they are so filling. I like the eat natural cranberry bar - again these are expensive so only bought when they are on offer but they are absolutely lush.

Was too hangry for any of that yesterday though!

Good luck Rachel if you try outdoor tomatoes. Definitely worth trying as you can good crops if we get a decent summer.

CAFCGirl

Got some time in up the plot yesterday.
Beds weeded and threw in some choy sum, silverskin onions, beetroot and a pot luck sowing of salsify, and the last 3 courgette seeds.

Will go up again tomorrow and I'm risking planting out some squashes, and need to put the twine up the bean trellis and will lob some beans in. I've got some healthy looking broad beans ready to go in, and I might - encouraged by this thread, risk a couple of tomato plants in too. Will hold a couple back just in case.

Will hold the sweetcorn back a little bit longer and might need to pot them on to do so.

Then planning a trip out in search of herbs for the herb section.
Somehow managed to kill off the large outbound rosemary another plot holder didn't want. Put it in the ground but it's gone all brown and losing all the green growth it has - drats!

System

Primrose wrote: »

Rachel. I've grown tomatoes very successfully outdoors for over 40 years. I don,t know in which part of the country you live in but they ripen earlier in southern areas.

Give them the sunniest spot possible, provide them with a firm stake to grow up which you can tie them to as the upright varieties grow up to 6 feet tall and keep them well watered in dry weather. You can plant them out from around now as cold or frosty nights will kill young plants. Feed weekly with a liquid fertiliser like Tomorite once the fruits begin to form.

If you grow tumbling varieties in the ground or in patio pots don,t pinch out the side shoots as they will grow more flowers and tomatoes.

Give it a go! Am sure you will be pleased with the results.

I might give it a go, thanks for the tips :-)

Kantankrus_Mare

Welcome to the thread Rachel.........nice to see you:D Good luck with your experimenting and first foray into grow your own. Its very addictive! You were my inspiration for getting into neobux which Im still plodding along with and not sure if Im getting anywhere :rotfl:
Has just become a habit.

Are you growing in your garden?

I had a brief visit to the plot to give everything a good water. Planted out the last of my sweet peas and have flowers coming on one of my canes :T One of my courgettes has flowered but i refuse to plant them out till nearer the end of the month. Lost all my plants in 2017 due to putting them out too early and dont want a repeat!

Suffolk_lass

On Sunday a neighbour came round to ask if we could collect a swarm of bees from his garden. DH was reluctant as one of the winter jobs that did not get done was making up new frames for the hive and also cleaning the hive (no disease, but who doesn't like a clean home to move into) - I had to persuade him a bit. Anyway, we agreed a sheltered spot and put the hive in place and he collected them late afternoon/early evening.

They had been part of an established community in someone's roof cavity. We have now collected 3 swarms over the last five years (they kick out the old queen every 2-3 years with about a quarter to a third of the workers) from this community. The first two were quite small but this one was nearly as big as a rugby ball. They needed a bit of persuasion to enter the hive and in the end DH removed the "honey storage" layer and the queen excluder and tipped them inside, putting some fondant icing in with them so they had an immediate food source (they were knackered, after a day house-hunting and keeping the queen protected). It was all looking a bit touch and go yesterday morning, with semi-swarms on the ground in front of the hive and on top.

I decided to not do anything in the veg garden yesterday, to leave them to it and it looks as though they have decided to stay. It is a wonderful thing, the collective mind of the hive. I do hope they will be happy. We will need to get in there to get the excluder in place and install the supers (the honey storage area) if DH can get home in time tonight, otherwise they will have started to colonise the inside of the wooden box part of the hive (we had this once before). I really hope we can make them happy and they stay healthy.

We won't take any honey unless they get really productive and need another layer of supers (in which case we might share some of that and let them keep the first layer for winter) as we think it is better for them to eat their own product, rather than some refined sugar substitute from us, and the protection it offers them from disease is the best they can get. Here is hoping all goes well

CAFCGirl

How utterly joyous SuffolkLassI
I think I'd love to keep bees -it's on the list for my small holding pipe dream.

I hope all that hard work pays off and they're happy in their new home.

unrecordings

rachelja wrote: »

I might give it a go, thanks for the tips :-)

...and ignore my posts about 'never again' to growing tomatoes outdoors - I live on the very edge of ancient woodland, so blight has been a problem for me. I'm absolutely devoted to my tomatoes, once they're cropping it's just heaven. Especially now I've somehow developed into snacking on cherry tomatoes

unrecordings

CAFCGirl wrote: »

How utterly joyous SuffolkLassI
I think I'd love to keep bees -it's on the list for my small holding pipe dream.

I hope all that hard work pays off and they're happy in their new home.

We've a neighbour that keeps bees, I love it and would love to do it, but I've had to decline to get involved as it'd take four hours to get into/out of the spacesuit. We've had a couple of swarms in the garden when one of his hives have split to follow a new queen, that's been fascinating to watch (from a distance, because I can't turn & run if need be !). We also have a lot of bumble bees, mason bees, tree bees etc etc - and by necessity lots of means of rescuing the ones in trouble - a couple of little rafts (well actually miniature bee sized lifeboats) in the pond and plastic measuring jugs in the greenhouses (good to gently scoop them up & help guide them out of the door)

System

Kantankrus_Mare wrote: »

Welcome to the thread Rachel.........nice to see you:D Good luck with your experimenting and first foray into grow your own. Its very addictive! You were my inspiration for getting into neobux which Im still plodding along with and not sure if Im getting anywhere :rotfl:
Has just become a habit.

Are you growing in your garden?

/QUOTE]

Thank you :-) Yes I'm growing in my back garden. I'm quite lucky as although it's not very big, it's sheltered and can be a bit of a sun trap when it's nice :-) I still do tasks now and again on FigureEight, I think they call it now.

I'm loving all this talk of bees. I dug up a corner of my garden yesterday that is near a piece of fence that is a bit rotten and near where my neighbour has put their compost bin. I watched off and on all day and kept seeing big fat bees laden with honey flying under the bottom edge of the fence. When I took a closer look, they seemed to be going under the earth and disappearing. Could they have a nest there? If so, do I need to do anything about it or is this quite normal? I do love watching them and they don't bother me. They just fly past me and straight under the fence!