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

silverwhistle

Today some of my Lemon Aji seeds from Real Seeds showed themselves in my heated propogator; only 9 days from sowing and they are meant to be very slow to germinate so, so far, so good. First Corno di Toro peperoncini also visible. The broad beans in the root trainer are also mostly up as well and I hope the mice aren't too bad on my virgin allotment plot when I put them out next month.

The sun has finally come out today here on the south coast and I even managed to shove 0.86kWh of solar into my immersion. It's going to be windy tomorrow but at least dry in the morning so looks like an allotment visit is called for.

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unrecordings

jammy_dodger said:

unrecordings   winter  savoury  sounds  interesting ( and  hardy ) never  heard of that so  I'm  off to give  it a  google 
timber  I ordered  for  delivery from local  sawmill  came  today  ready  to build  new  compost  bins  closer  to the   repaired  raised  beds   so I  dont  have  to  trek  to the  end  of the  garden  with  kitchen  waste  etc.. the last  ones  did me   20 years  and i can  recycle  some  of the  slats  too  ( making  them  Geoff  Hamilton  style.). he  was my  gardening  hero 
looking  forward  to  days off  and  a  drop in the  wind  so I can get  going  with  them 
ive  sown a  few  carrots  in  raised  bed   I  put in greenhouse, may be  abit  early  but I couldn't  resist  a  sow ...though the  seeds  may be  a  bit  past  it...nowt to loose  x 

Found the savoury (or savory - might need to check that) in our local garden centre a few years ago. It took a couple of years to figure out it was winter savory (perennial) vs summer savory (annual I think). It's used to flavour sausages, looks a little like thyme and has a slightly thyme like hyssop flavour

zafiro1984

Seeds arrived today from Marshalls. Really keen to get going now if only I had more time. It's taken me well over 50 yrs to realise that if I do a job that my DH usually does it then becomes my job, no wonder I have precious little time. Also, I spent yesterday afternoon making space in the utility room for the heated mat etc so I can start, only to find that various drills and tools appeared as if by magic today and occupied that space. Note to myself - stop moaning and tomorrow put the offending stuff outside and start sowing my seeds

DiggerUK

Re winter and summer savory ......summer savory seed need planting out indoors now. But move to cold frame or greenhouse as soon as anything shows, they get leggy in a flash. It's much more flavoursome than winter savory .

I moved winter savory twice, it only lasted a year then didn't come back again. I have it in a pot now..._

Edit, I've got some peas on kitchen shelf sprouting for use in salads. Hurst Green Shaft..._

unrecordings

DiggerUK said:

Re winter and summer savory ......summer savory seed need planting out indoors now. But move to cold frame or greenhouse as soon as anything shows, they get leggy in a flash. It's much more flavoursome than winter savory .

I moved winter savory twice, it only lasted a year then didn't come back again. I have it in a pot now..._

Edit, I've got some peas on kitchen shelf sprouting for use in salads. Hurst Green Shaft..._

I killed a few winter savorys before I found a nice little spot where the overgrown one now lives. Must try summer savory now to compare

Fosterdog

We had a year off growing last year except for fruit trees, strawberries and raspberries.

This year will be another limited growing year due to us doing a major garden overhaul, not decided what we will grow yet, although as last year the fruit will do its own thing and give us a crop even with little to no effort. 

We've had such a bad winter here that I haven't even had a chance to do a winter tree wash yet, the only few dry days we've had I've been working long hours and when I finally get some time it's raining, our apple trees have scab and that will need treating, if we can't beat it this year then the trees will have to be sacrificed and we'll start fresh next year, we've been fighting a losing battle with it for 4-5 years and it's got to the point that we are getting little to no fruit.

DiggerUK

Fosterdog, when faced with a similar problem we were advised to lime around the fruit trees, all the way to the extent of the  root area. Something to do with the lime acting as a catalyst to ensure good nutrient uptake.
Could be hocus pocus, but it hasn't harmed our cropping..._

Suffolk_lass

Fosterdog said:

We had a year off growing last year except for fruit trees, strawberries and raspberries.

This year will be another limited growing year due to us doing a major garden overhaul, not decided what we will grow yet, although as last year the fruit will do its own thing and give us a crop even with little to no effort. 

We've had such a bad winter here that I haven't even had a chance to do a winter tree wash yet, the only few dry days we've had I've been working long hours and when I finally get some time it's raining, our apple trees have scab and that will need treating, if we can't beat it this year then the trees will have to be sacrificed and we'll start fresh next year, we've been fighting a losing battle with it for 4-5 years and it's got to the point that we are getting little to no fruit.

I have an old russet tree that looks as though there is a bit of scab. How are you treating it please? It isn't something I have tried to do before

carinjo

as a start, sown some herbs and leeks to see if i am actually able to work with a propagator. the thyme, oregano and leeks are coming up. very excited. also done charlotte and nicola potatoes in egg boxes. managed to get half of it the wrong way around. will rub off the white growths and start again. in the mean time am enjoying reading different books from the library: the big allotment challenge, the half hour plot, grow your own, etc. wednesday and sunday looks like two mornings i might get to do some tidying up. want to do a raised bed around the fruit bushes and some stakes around the broad beans. and if the weather holds, start digging over the area for the potatoes.

unrecordings

Belting it down again today. If I'm really lucky I might make it to the workshop this afternoon. Now I'm properly getting my mobility back, i'm itching to get out there - roll on Magic March