The all new 2019 growing your own thread!

MysteryMe

My free raspberry canes from the local council are in flower so have started feeding them. The strawberry runners I planted look healthy and again going to start flowering soon. Three weedy twig looking bueberry plants are at least now in leaf and although I am not sure I will get any fruit this season from them I am hoping they will continue to grow stronger. My tomato seedlings that I transplanted are growing well. Another week or so and might be big enough to go into their final position.

With the soft fruit in mind I spent 20 mins or so this afternoon wrestling with a pop up netted cage I ordered from Ideal World for a tenner and £1 post. At first it was like trying to nail a blancmange to the wall but eventually conquered it and have to say it's a decent size, a 4ft square footprint and covers all the fruit containers, Hard luck birds!

Primrose

zafiro1984 wrote: »

MrZ has enjoyed himself this afternoon. he's been out with the chain saw and dropped over a dozen huge conifers which border what I call the garden (this used to be a conifer nursery before we moved here) One fell on the house but only cracked a gutter so we were lucky with that. He's started to log them. I reckon it will take him a week to tidy up the mess. The best bonus is I can't believe the amount of light that now floods into the living kitchen - I can see the cobwebs:D

Last year we & another neighbour contributed to the cost of another nearby neighbour having a massive conifer felled which was hugely blocking out all our sunlight. This was especially noticeable in winter when the sun was so low in the sky that we never actually got any benefit from it, to the point that frost on the lawn in its shadow lasted all day.


The difference to our garden daylight, and to our psychological well being in being able to see some clear sky in winter months has been amazing.


These trees can be an absolute menace, especially to neighbours who often have to put up with them and are powerless to do anything about something which really impacts negatively on their lives. Really time for a change in the law perhaps, which forces home owners to be more responsive to the needs and wellbeing of their neighbours? I think one of the problems in this respect is that they grow so quickly that they get to the point where home owners no longer the capacity or tools to prune them back themselves and then the cost of calling in professional tree surgeons is too great.


However, with houses being more closely crammed together and gardens being smaller, the negative impact of these conifers seems to be increasing, quite apart from the fact that they leach so much moisture and goodness from the surrounding soil that nothing will grow near them.

unrecordings

Mainly an insy doorsy day for me, but with the help of Mrs Un we did go out and cut back a load of nettles - pretty much a 35 litre tub which is probably far more than I need right now. Is there any interest for my surplus ?

I'm thinking maybe there'll be a couple of salad bag sized portions for those that want to make up a jar of the stuff without easy access to nettles (does such a place exist ?)

First come first served - just PM me

This is for making plant food BTW the leaves are too mature for soup (and they'll be badly wilted by the time they reach you)

Kantankrus_Mare

Missed a day of watering in the greenhouses at the allotment. Had to be one of the sunniest days didnt it?

When I went last night, my lettuce leaves were wilting and the courgette plants that had been looking so healthy, looked very sad.

Have had a long day at work today but went to the plot straight from work and put my courgette plants in the ground where they did well last year. Good sprinkle of slug pellets, a plastic cloche on each and a really good soaking of water. Fingers crossed they survive. Courgette is one of my favourite and most versatile things to grow.

On the plus side.....I have had a couple of ripe strawberries from my green house trough. Beautiful:T

So sorry to hear about the theft of your things Living Proof. So disheartening.

dancing_star

Such a shame about the thefts. Horrible.


I'm going to hold off planting out my courgettes and climbing French beans for another week. They've been hardening off for a week and next week's weather is looking a bit rubbish so I'll go through another week of carting them in and out of the greenhouse.


My second sowing of broad beans have finally sprouted - overnight! Does anyone else find seeds germinate overnight, is that a thing? Anecdotal evidence suggests it is so I'd be interested to read of others' experiences.

unrecordings

My personal response to the thefts would be to drill a lot of large holes in the replacement watering can and make sure I had a sturdy plastic bag handy to line it when in use - that's the practical deterrent. I've a few more that are probably unprintable (over 30 years in the music industry makes for a Machiavellian soul)

System

So sorry to hear about the thefts, that's awful. I like the idea of writing on the new watering can.

I had a lovely day in the garden yesterday. My courgettes seem to be getting shoots on them that look like tiny flowers beginning to form, but I could be wrong, I'm a total novice :rotfl: It's been so warm that I've been rigging up shoes boxes to give them, and the lettuce, some shade as they were wilting in the sun. That seems to be working. Still enjoying the ceanothus and all the busy bees. I also seem to have a pair of birds that regularly do the rounds of my little garden foraging for bugs, I'm so intrigued to watch them. My house is beginning to get messy as it hasn't rained for ages and every spare opportunity I'm sitting in the garden

My next project is raspberries as I have a sunny spot that I've just dug out. I'm a bit nervous about planting them as I've never tried to grow fruits before. I've watched YouTube videos and it suggests they pop up shoots all over the place so I'm hoping I don't kill them. Does anyone have any tips please before I plant them? Also I've read that some people use grass as a mulch on plants like raspberries ... does that help? Totally newbie questions

[Deleted User]

Bought a couple of strawberry plants for my hanging basket yesterday and then when i got home i realised chains to hang it have gone rusty so not sure what to do now. I bought them from a market stall but i didn’t think they were especially cheap. where do people find is the best place to get seedlings? I can’t grow everything from seed as not enough space.

Suffolk_lass

Flo61 wrote: »

Bought a couple of strawberry plants for my hanging basket yesterday and then when i got home i realised chains to hang it have gone rusty so not sure what to do now. I bought them from a market stall but i didn’t think they were especially cheap. where do people find is the best place to get seedlings? I can’t grow everything from seed as not enough space.

If you have a hardware shop or garden centre near you it is worth asking about replacement chains for your hanging basket. Having just bought some I know they sell them separately.

In terms of best places, I swap with neighbours and stop at road-side stalls to get mine that I don't grow myself

unrecordings

Flo61 wrote: »

Bought a couple of strawberry plants for my hanging basket yesterday and then when i got home i realised chains to hang it have gone rusty so not sure what to do now. I bought them from a market stall but i didn’t think they were especially cheap. where do people find is the best place to get seedlings? I can’t grow everything from seed as not enough space.

I don't think rusty chains will cause a problem, it's cheap steel, so will rust eventually - but only surface oxidation, and probably/almost definitely won't fall to bits for a good few years (or decades). The chains will likely outlast the basket itself.

For seedlings - local garden centre ? allotment sales ? diy centres ? - I prefer my local garden centre if I want seedlings