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

SSW83

Picking up some great advice from this thread!

The Aquadulce broad beans I sowed direct on 1st December are coming through strongly. As an experiment I also sowed some in module trays about 4 weeks ago, which I let germinate indoors before moving to the greenhouse, and they have massively over-taken the plants which were sown direct. It'll be interesting to do a comparison of yield and date of harvest for the two different methods.

Bell peppers and chillis are germinating well in the windowsill propogator. The cats have knocked over the rhubarb pots, however :mad:

With regards to potatoes. I have bought some first earlies (Rocket), which have started sprouting, so I have put them in the greenhouse to chit. I plan on planting out mid-late March. I also have some maincrop (King Edward). I currently have them in the shed, as it seems a bit early to start chitting them. Is that the best place for them, for now?

Suffolk_lass

SSW83 wrote: »

With regards to potatoes. I have bought some first earlies (Rocket), which have started sprouting, so I have put them in the greenhouse to chit. I plan on planting out mid-late March. I also have some maincrop (King Edward). I currently have them in the shed, as it seems a bit early to start chitting them. Is that the best place for them, for now?

They should be fine as long as you don't have mice or other vermin. They are likely to start chitting of their own accord - egg boxes are good for preventing them from growing curly spindly shoots around each other. Maybe cover them with heavy paper of hessian to reduce the light if you want to slow them down. That trick would work well in a cold cupboard indoors too, if you think there might be residents in the shed.

euronorris

Weekend was very busy, so only achieved buying some new bamboo canes (from local homebase that us closing down), and placing them in garden. I'm going to use them, and some string to create more support for the peas and beans to grow up this year. Was hoping to get the peas sowed at least (apparently this version is cold hardy), but DD has another cold and was asking to lie down by the time we got home, so we missed our opportunity.

Nevermind, this friday she is off to MILs for the night (and most of saturday), so we will get stuff done then. Including building support frame etc for veg trug

crv1963

Well great news for me, my Polystyrene sheets arrived so off down to the Greenhouse to lay them across one of the shelves and then roll out the heat mat. I've checked the heated propagator and the remaining onions and shallots are showing through.

Got some 50L Pots arriving this afternoon- plan to grow veg in them as well as in the ground. Having our loft conversion done at the moment so the builder is going to keep me the joists, rafters and purloins that have to be removed- instead of ending up in a skip they'll be used to make some raised beds in my new veg patch- still not been able to get out and clear it yet!

Plan for today- set the heat mat up at 13 degrees, put all my sown onions, leeks and shallots onto it. Sew chilies turn up the heat in the propagator to 29 degrees and when they are starting to come through reduce the heat to 25 degrees and sew the tomatoes. Plant some more of the snowdrops in the green- I started to do so yesterday afternoon and it started snowing!

herlig

Leeks were sown today. They're a few weeks earlier than should be according to my last frost date but they only have a cold frame in which to whether the rest of the winter and as the sun is still low, where they're positioned struggles to get warmth to the cold frame.

I'm hoping it's been the correct decision based on logical thinking and if not, there is still time, and seed, to try again.

carinjo

First day at the allotment this year. after the loss of summer last year when I done my back in, i covered almost everything with either cardboard or plastic. the cardboard done a good job, the plastic, not so much.


The lovely runner bean frame we got donated collapsed, think it was either not dug in enough or one of the supports came loose and it toppled sideways. will take a second pair of hands to put up again.


one the plus side the dwarf broadbeans and the onions both survived. the broadbeans just need some slug protection asap. will bark chippings help or do need i something rougher?



Trimmed the grass around the fig tree and berry bushes right down, going to suppress with newspaper and mulch (and put a protection around the bases of fig tree and 2 of the bushes)
went to homebargains and they got bags of bark chippings and multi-purpose compost. which would be best to put over newspaper around tree and bushes?


And thanks to Sutton Lass's advice last year, pruned the William Pear tree too! had the advice on my phone and read: look for cross branches...check. :T only trim 1/3...check.:T



got 6packs of seeds from Lidl yesterday for £3, can't wait to start now!

Suffolk_lass

carinjo wrote: »

And thanks to Sutton Lass's advice last year, pruned the William Pear tree too! had the advice on my phone and read: look for cross branches...check. :T only trim 1/3...check.:T

I think that was me. I do hope it benefits from the attention and fruits well for you.

Pablosmummy

What a lovely day! The first few crocus are open and I've got my washing drying outside! Finally cut my mint back but that's pretty much all the gardening to do at the moment. I have noticed in this sunshine that my big wooden planter needs a bit of work, repainting and maybe a screw putting in the side but my psb is in there at the moment so that will have to wait.
Also saw my first bee of the year today! Thought it was a bit early but it seemed happy enough flying around. Spring is nearly here finally

herlig

I've taken delivery of an autumn fruiting raspberry for my kitchen garden. I was under the impression that autumn fruiting raspberries should be cut to ground level before now.

These 5 canes within one pot are a foot high and look to be springing into bud at the end.

I've also two new shoots within the pot.

A few questions:

Will these new shoots fruit come the autumn?
Will the foot high canes fruit in the summer?

Can you help me understand what to do and what to expect?

unrecordings

After yet another tangle with the NHS, I Think I'm back. Yesterday went to a local garden centre for a mooch around, which signalled the start of the new season for me even though it's too early in the year to be practical. Got some nice pots for outside the workshop and a bit of exercise. Today managed an hour or two out there prepping tubs of cuttings for the green bin (first collection in around three weeks). Mrs Un Got a new leaf rake yesterday which for her was a paradigm shift enabling her to make short work of the eucalyptus covered lawn. Tomorrow we're hoping to get a lot more done before the bad weather hits as mobility is still a real issue for me. Assuming I can replace the strimmer line without putting a window through in frustration, then I can forge a path down to where I can forage for stuff for ramen. Finally an apology. Some of you may remember me harping on about Society Garlic  at he very start of the year. Well about two weeks ago I banished mine to the greenhouse, because it stinks of weed, and doesn't even taste that good. Might be good for keeping rats out of the compost though when it's mild enough to plant out...