The all new good, bad and ugly of growing your own in 2020

unrecordings

Finished the last of the dried bay leaves a friend in Greece sent me three years ago. So planning maybe another bay bush/tree. We've got two but they're very small, nearly a decade old, and thinking about it not in the most ideal positions for bay, but I've the perfect spot for the new one

Suffolk_lass

Gosh, we have recently moved a large Bay that started off as a cone in a pot fifteen years ago (maybe 30x15cm) and had grown to a 1.5m high by 75cm shrub - moved it having chopped it down to maybe 40-45cm square (kill or cure) to sit in our front hedge (was Rosemary but beetle and a van driving over the roots decimated a long stretch). There are maybe a dozen cuttings in a sink still looking green - we are going to try it as a low hedge here (in EA), interspersed with some Rosemary and Lavender.

euronorris

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

euronorris - my Dad taught me that potatoes are a great way of "cleaning" the soil. - My experience is that when you harvest them it leaves the soil lovely and crumbly and easy to work so they improve the structure of the soil. The big but (especially in wet weather) is blight and they are the same family as tomatoes so do not spread your spent (used) tomato compost from your trug on ground where you intend growing either tomatoes or potatoes. They are a great crop to plant after beans as the legumes "fix" nitrogen in the soil and will benefit the potato tubers.

Thank you! I knew about not planting the potatoes in the same soil, but (for some unknown reason) hadn't considered that for tomatoes themselves and was planning on putting tomatoes in the trug again. I shall have to rethink.


Any tips on how best to 'refresh' the soil ahead of the growing season. Or can I take some out and into pots and use it to grow other stuff. Google says the following:


Beetroot
Carrot
Coriander
Dill
Onion
Parsnips
Peas
Spring Onion


Would you all agree? If so, I could move some to the planter at the end of the garden where we grew peas and beans, and move that soil into a separate tub to try growing some potatoes this year.


I'd love to grow them in the ground, but as ever, we are in a rented property, and are limited with the amount of ground soil we can access. Not allowed to move existing shrubs/plants. I managed to fit some garlic in, and the rhubarb, and a raspberry cane, but that's about it. Everything else needs to be in pots/trug.


I would like to try growing onion from seed this year actually, so I'll have to get started sooner rather than later on that one.

Old_Meanie

Fantastic enthusiasm and advice from everyone thank you. I got some tomatoes, salads and cabbage last year but hope to do better this year.

I have rheumatoid arthritis (the auto immune disease not wear and tear although I also have that!) and have to tread a fine line between using and exercising damaged joints and doing too much and ending up in bed fuming because it hurts to much to get in the garden.

Unfortunately we do not have our car anymore so it makes life more difficult however I have ordered seed tapes to make sowing easier, am getting cloches delivered to get things going earlier as we have wet cold clay, an trying to make a plan of easily grown veg so I can work in the garden a little every day. This will include: tomatoes in pots, salads, spinach, kale and cabbage. Courgettes were a disaster last year they all rotted off and we didn't have a single courgette!

Can anyone help with what is best soil for raised beds please? Also how to grow courgettes in pots for success? I find this all a bit overwhelming but I am determined to try as I think there is no aspect of my life which will not be improved by trying to "grow our own". Also advice re carrots please how to avoid black bits and those wretched caterpillars that eat cabbages I struggle to see what purpose they serve in nature I suppose there must be one apart from tormenting me.

Old_Meanie

Also a quick question can raspberries be grown in raised beds and what soil should be used? Unfortunately as we have no car now will have to order online and drag bags into garden. Thanks

unrecordings

euronorris wrote: »

Thank you! I knew about not planting the potatoes in the same soil, but (for some unknown reason) hadn't considered that for tomatoes themselves and was planning on putting tomatoes in the trug again. I shall have to rethink.

I could move some to the planter at the end of the garden where we grew peas and beans, and move that soil into a separate tub to try growing some potatoes this year.

I'd love to grow them in the ground, but as ever, we are in a rented property, and are limited with the amount of ground soil we can access. Not allowed to move existing shrubs/plants. I managed to fit some garlic in, and the rhubarb, and a raspberry cane, but that's about it. Everything else needs to be in pots/trug.

I always re-use my compost & growbags, but follow that rotation system if I can and 'clean' the growbag compo by using it in beds that are likely to remain fallow for a year but there's no real plan or method...

unrecordings

Old_Meanie wrote: »

I have rheumatoid arthritis (the auto immune disease not wear and tear although I also have that!) and have to tread a fine line between using and exercising damaged joints and doing too much and ending up in bed fuming because it hurts to much to get in the garden.

Can anyone help with what is best soil for raised beds please? Also how to grow courgettes in pots for success? I find this all a bit overwhelming but I am determined to try as I think there is no aspect of my life which will not be improved by trying to "grow our own". Also advice re carrots please how to avoid black bits and those wretched caterpillars that eat cabbages I struggle to see what purpose they serve in nature I suppose there must be one apart from tormenting me.

I know what you mean about treading that fine line, I can't be so gung ho anymore and managed to do both knees in last year, I'm only just getting confident ascending the stairs again. Fortunately I've a comfy chair looking out across the garden, so if I'm grounded I can watch the birds & squirrels.

For raised beds, I guess top soil, but do your research, some cheaper brands will come with perennial weeds or grasses. Consider too how your raised beds might work. I'm looking more into smaller beds, large pots/tubs and the 'potager' principle as my mobility gets worse

Old_Meanie

What is a potager please?

unrecordings

Old_Meanie wrote: »

What is a potager please?

Apparently an old French term meaning a kitchen garden, and I think the origin of the word potage (a thick soup or stew). I've seen it used to describe something like a small raised bed filled with different varieties of veg, both leaf & root (and herbs) - come to think of it, that might have been Monty Don last year. The term seems to have mutated a little though - if you google it you find this interesting site which adds a level of design on top of the simple 'something for the pot' meaning

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

Suffolk_lass

Old Meanie - I would just add that you could do worse with heavy clay than first digging, to open the structure and let the frost break up some of the clumps, and then add some sort of loose-structure stuff to your soil - it could be grit (as opposed to gravel), leaf-mould, horticultural (not sharp) sand, well rotted farmyard or horse manure, shredded clippings, homemade or shop-bought compost - almost anything that the worms will pull into the clay to make it easier to work.

If you are starting out, I would also get a soil testing kit so you can see what sort of PH your soil has - and how it changes with the introduction of different stuff as this will provide a bit of a steer as to what will grow well and what might need adding to make it grow better.

The good news is that clay is often high in nutrients, but bad news is that it needs work to loosen the structure so raised beds are ideal because you can concentrate on improving a set area and see the immediate results.