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

crv1963

Well I have come home and Mrs CRV has managed to keep my plants alive. She has asked me to make her a lighter watering can so I'm going to drill some small holes in a lid from a 4 pint milk carton so she doesn't have to lift the metal watering cans.

The chilli plants are growing well and I'll have to pot up my tomato plants that have taken off. The Green House is getting full so I'll have to get some plants into the Cold Frames. All my Garlic plants are through now and the Onion Sets I planted in November are ready to move from the Cold Frame into the garden. Once that's done the pots they're in will be filled with the Onions and Shallots I've grown from seed. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the time off work- for those that are- and getting their plots/ gardens in order. For those that feel stuck at home- You're not stuck at home, you're safe at home! 

Suffolk_lass

I am still holding back from planting anything at the moment - mostly because the epic greenhouse build remains incomplete and all my available surfaces indoors are covered with chitting potatoes!

Pablosmummy

Moved my sweet peas into their final trough but only put mini supports in for now as they are still in my mini greenhouse. I also potted on some alyssum seedlings I forgot about so now I have a tray of 24 plants. 
Also my beetroot and Swiss chard have sprouted so moved them out of the propagator. 
Glad to say it's been raining on/off today so everything's getting watered at least! 

zafiro1984

crv1963 said:

You're not stuck at home, you're safe at home! 

Well said CRV.
Life here has changed very little we both rarely used to go out as there is so much to do around the place - we still work a 12hr day. The only difference is that we have banned people from coming here (except animal feed deliveries) It's lovely and quiet and no interruptions 

crv1963

zafiro1984 said:

crv1963 said:

You're not stuck at home, you're safe at home! 

Well said CRV.
Life here has changed very little we both rarely used to go out as there is so much to do around the place - we still work a 12hr day. The only difference is that we have banned people from coming here (except animal feed deliveries) It's lovely and quiet and no interruptions 

Mrs CRV rarely goes out unless really necessary apart from work. The new rules means no one comes here either unless to like you to deliver animal food. The only flaw in her plan is we're both essential workers so have to go out for that!

DiggerUK

It always seems that we are just about to run out of space on tables near windows, and then  on the windowsills , when we realise there is more than one room to work with.
Then once the seeds have shot,  when we are just about to run out of space in the greenhouse, we suddenly find space in the cold frame, then just as we are about to run out of space in the cold frame, the last frost comes and goes.........last frost,......are we there yet, I'm still waiting for it
Same as it ever was..._

silverwhistle

Today my asparagus crowns arrived so I rushed out to plant them in a new raised bed at the allotment. . Unfortunately I got my spacings slightly wrong, decided to space  a bit more generously than planned so have 5 left which I'll put in tomorrow when I decide exactly where. Obviously I can't crop this year, but anybody any idea how long before I see any signs of shoots this first year? They look really healthy crowns, 1 year old.

zafiro1984

Silverwhistle:- like you my asparagus arrived yesterday. My raised bed is not quite ready so I put them in old potting compost just to keep them going  - like you good healthy crowns. Hopefully I can get them out next week. The shoots should start to appear in about a months time.

Today's jobs - hopefully
Move on the leeks, start off some more onions and garlic. do half an hour catch up in the greenhouse and maybe turn over one raised bed. I'm finding I only have a couple of hours now during the day to do things I want to do as we've no help at the moment and someone has to do the job they did.

Suffolk_lass

When we planted our asparagus four years ago, we had lots of activity in year 1 but picked nothing, then sadly DS dug them out and wrecked several (did completely the opposite of what we asked him to do!) and they have never really recovered. I believe the idea is one picking in year two, two in three and then go for it after that. We had our first decent crop last year but as DS also mixed them up and we very much like one type over the other, I have not bought replacements as not sure which is which. I could sort that out while stuck at home really, couldn't I!

ancientmum

I've been going up to the allotment every other day, trying to dig a bit more each time.  I've put in some potatoes and the broad beans I planted in the winter have got lots of flowers even if they are a bit battered from the wind. I bought a small apple tree that has a few leaf buds, as have the blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes.  I've started off brassicas on the window sill but they are too small yet to start hardening off.
Our council have brought in new rules about not driving to the site and observing social distancing but thankfully we are still open.  I think allotments are such an important resource for physical and mental health, especially if like me you don t have a garden.