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

Jazee

I will be getting out to the greenhouse once I've finished this cuppa.. will be my first planting this year.  Very behind.

jammy_dodger

zafiro1984 said:

n one occasion)

I've got my tomatoes growing in the utility room plus chillies, sweet peppers, and onions. They're on a heat mat and under grow lights. Three  varieties of tomatoes, that was until I saw the T&M seed offer of £! a packet, I've now another 4 varieties coming. Why I grow so many tomatoes is a mystery, the greenhouse is absolutely full of them in the summer, but sadly my DH is allergic to them. Next to be sown indoors are leeks. I'm also going to sow carrots, early peas, kohl rabi and beetroot in the tunnels once netted.

thanks  for heads  up on TM seeds I  purchased  some  and  also  used  "quidco"  for a  further  15%  off
can  I ask  about  your  grow lights  what  type  you  have  and  if you  think  they  make  a difference?i  have  just  bought a  small  cheapy  heated  propagator  and was  wondering  if  lights  would  help  the  emerging  seeds. I live  ne  Scotland  so  light  is  still  poor  and  weather   too  cold to even start  planting  out  yet 
thanks 

Jazee

I spent two hours in the garden yesterday, lots of tidying, weeding and repositioning some planters.  In the greenhouse I planted alpine strawberry, two types of tomato and onion seeds.  More to do today.

Pablosmummy

Sowed some more salad leaves, radish, mini carrots and some kind of Chinese leaf I can't remember which now yesterday ( Panic sowing?!?) And potted on my chilli and peppers which are looking great. My tomatoes are nearly ready to be potted in, probably another week for them, I've also put my mini greenhouse up outside and tied it to my fence..and the floor...and everything I could.think of, it's covered in rope lol but it seems pretty secure, weighed it down with two potato grow bags full of compost. I can pull on it with all my weight and it's not moving so fingers crossed it will stay in the garden! Now I'm sitting outside enjoying the sunshine, actual warmth! 

unrecordings

in between isolation preps, gotanother few hours out there. a lot of wild garlic leaves ready and perennials lik bergamot, french tarragon, lemon verbena sorrel & mint coming back. a little too early though for nettles, fennel or lovage

orangecrush

My seed potatoes and rhubarb crowns arrived yesterday!  Just in time for me to start 12 weeks working from home as my workplace asks us to follow social distancing guidance.  The plus side is that I will be able to use lunchtimes to pop down to the allotment.  Still feeling quite overwhemled about the amount of work!

Martin_the_Unjust

I'm going to try growing  Cucumelons this year https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kings-Seeds-Cucumber-Cucamelon-20/dp/B01BGYIRYE

Anyone tried them? 

Suffolk_lass

Martin_the_Unjust said:

I'm going to try growing  Cucumelons this year https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kings-Seeds-Cucumber-Cucamelon-20/dp/B01BGYIRYE

Anyone tried them? 

No but I thought I was going to. I ended up with lemon cucumbers

MikeDB

Hello everybody! I rent a room in west London, top floor, with a small terrace out of one of the windows. I can't really go out, it's just the shape of the bow window underneath.

I would love to grow something, some essentials, but it will need to be in vases (I think the rectangular ones?).

It would be my first experience growing something, so I'm here to ask advice on what is easy to grow with this climate (and useful in the kitchen), ideas and suggestions. Thanks!

Suffolk_lass

MikeDB Your best bet is probably some salad seeds and bean sprouts that you can cut and come again - the trouble with square vases is there are no holes but they would be good to put plastic pots (yogurt, bottom half of a milk carton) with holes in the bottom so they can draw up water from the vase reservoir. You could also put carrot tops on a saucer of water on a windowsill and snip the sprouts that will grow from the tops. If you get any sprouty garlic you could pop these individual cloves in a pot too and you might get free bulbs (I did).

If that works well for you, you could go for some dwarf beans like "speedy" in an old ice-cream tub (also with holes in the bottom). They will take about 6 weeks but are not frost hardy, so wait another 2-3 weeks assuming we don't get another really cold episode, or now but in either case pop them inside overnight).