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

Suffolk_lass

bluesooz said:

seeds seem to germinate whenever they like just the right conditions! 
Planted some old pepper seeds mid Feb and only 1 germinated, so planted a few more 1st March and again only 1 germinated.  I assumed this was due to them being old so bought a new pack and sowed mid March - these germinated end of March at the  same time as most of the old ones I had sown 1st March!  - Have rather a lot of pepper seedlings now.  I had 3 plants in a trough last year which kept us supplied for salads.  

I had this with tomatoes last year and ended up imitating an Italian Nonna - making my own tomato sauce and preserving it in screw-top kilner jars as well as freezing loads. I can vouch for the joy of getting your home-grown stuff out of the freezer or store-cupboard to use in the depths of winter... and peppers freeze particularly well if you chop and de-seed them. Anybody you could swap a few with?

My own seeds have been very late to be planted. I think I could see beans starting to break through the shell of the beans when I did my late afternoon peer at them yesterday. Meanwhile we are still prepping the veg beds and distributing the compost we made, mixed with that we bought. The farmyard manure was definitely very smelly and I have been watering the empty beds to try and wash the 'slurry' bits in to the top and reduce the smell. What must our neighbours down-wind think!?

-taff

I haven't sown my beans yet. I was planning to do that next week, along with the sweetcorn if it's delivered in time.

How do you all do your lettuce? In situ or sprinkle on compost and !!!!!! out when big enough?

Edit - Ok, so obviously p-rick is on the swear word list.....

carinjo

On allotment first thing this morning. Sun and I don't like each other much. 
Measured out the trench for the runner beans and started digging. Will take a few days to get that sorted. Made a bed and planted 2 of the sunflower seedlings, fingers crossed. The rest going into pots in garden and the neighbour's little girl.
Planted a row each of few lettuce types and rainbow radishes. 
Went with the strimmer around edges of plot, gave a bit of a tidy.
At home now and need to move some topsoil to level out dips in lawn (all 3mx3m of it!) and a bed being turned back to grass. 
Bbq after. And wine. Definately wine.

bluesooz

I'll probably give some of the pepper plants to a few friends but will shoehorn the others into the greenhouse somehow

Definitely agree with the tomatoes - I tell myself not to grow them outdoors as they tend to get blighted just when i'm looking forward to them ripening.  however even though I try to only sow a few seeds of 3 sorts for the greenhouse, I invariably end up growing on the spares and then can't bear to throw any away - so they end up in pots by the house or in any spare spot in the veg patch

re lettuce seeds - I have very dry chalky soil so sowing direct of any small seed isn't very successful for me - poor seedlings get washed away when i water!  I sow a few at a time, every 2-3 weeks, in a small tray of compost (the little plastic trays supermarket fruit come in are ideal) then p.rick out into seed tray inserts and then plant into the soil when they're more established.  Guess it depends on your soil, space, willingness to water and how many lettuces you can eat!

Suffolk_lass

-taff said:

I haven't sown my beans yet. I was planning to do that next week, along with the sweetcorn if it's delivered in time.

How do you all do your lettuce? In situ or sprinkle on compost and !!!!!! out when big enough?

Edit - Ok, so obviously p-rick is on the swear word list.....

I sow direct in a raised bed, with a top up of homemade and shop bought compost, mixing seed for lettuce with rocket, spinach, endive and peas and just keep snipping as they are always too close together. Rather than go for a full lettuce that then sits in the fridge, I come out with a collander and scissors and cut what we need for that meal. I grow french radishes in the same bed too. I just have to keep my eyes open for oxalis corniculata and bindweed as they are not to my taste (I know some people like the oxalis but this is the small purple-leaved thing that spreads and takes over

Suffolk_lass

I am noticing the absence of unrecordings at the moment - I hope he is OK - he falls into the vulnerable shielding group

silverwhistle

Some of my new asparagus crowns, planted on the 2/3 of April are showing through.  Leaving them to do their thing this year of course, but good to see they've taken.

The second, working, compost bay is giving off good heat. I get grass cuttings and sawdust from various neighbours and scrounge cardboard too, so should have a good mix. I wonder how quickly it'll be ready as the first bay had to cope with winter.

carinjo

At home today, planted all sorts of tomato varieties (a bit late, i know) in seed tray. Courgette, bush marrow (?). More rosemary, since only one plant survived after my unfortunate tripping incident. And sweetcorn.
Split aldis basil into 4 and repotted nasturtium. Repotted the sunflower seedlings into big pots. No soil so had to make space in excisting pots, fingers crossed they like lavender and ivy. 
The promised rain haven't showed up yet, so allotment first thing tomorrow to go water poor potatoes.

Charly27

Scrimps said:

Thank you for the warm welcome   Im glad I could help unlurk you Charly. 

I have managed to follow some of my own advice and do a few sessions of 30 minutes of weeding the last few evenings., its so lovely and quiet in the garden during lockdown its more of a pleasure.  The peas and mangetout have germinated in the greenhouse,  DH sowed them but sowed the whole lot in one go.  I was planning on staggering at least the mangetout but I think Dh and our eldest were enjoying the sowing so I didnt whinge about it too much.  I dont think any of the peppers I sowed are going to germinate.  They were old packets of seeds and I did it on the off chance they would work as there was nothing to lose, I know they take a while but im pretty sure its been too long (I didnt make a note of when I did it) and Im quite happy to not give them the greenhouse space to be honest - I never get enough off them really to warrent the effort and space.

I did similar with all the old packets of tomato seeds I had - they all seem to have germinated!!  I will be pricking them out and potting them on this weekend.  I have quite a few pea seeds which I sowed late but ill be putting them in the ground also.  We're both off over easter weekend so hopefully one can do child duty whilst the other can get lots sorted. 

Hi Scrimps, I’m a little the same with my pepper and tomato seeds a.t.m. I’m just about to give up, they were the first seeds I sowed but despite my experience I foolishly didn’t record the date of sowing. They went onto my south facing kitchen windowsill in a plastic bag. All my seeds have had to be sown in multi-purpose compost as I’ve no seed compost. I sieved it first and mixed a little vermiculite (no perlite available) and I thought I could blame the compost. However, all my flower seeds, in date, same compost, windowsill propagation have germinated. Perhaps like you I’ll have a glut of plants? Ever the optimistic gardener!

Charly27

Bluesooz and MysteryMe I hope I’ll be pleasantly surprised and all the seeds will germinate at once! At the allotment today. I dug out another bed, moved and cut back the nettles between my plot and the neighbouring plot. My neighbour said he’d be happy to find some glyphosate and try and get them down. Even with gloves my hands are still tingling. I cut back a bit of ivy but didn’t sow anything or plant anything out. Ive got seed potatoes to go in but that requires some heavy digging. I looked like a beetroot when I finished today I’m hoping it’s cooler tomorrow.