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

Suffolk_lass

I have to find some more neighbours to share my squash seedlings really. I have given three away with two more to go, and we will grow 6 courgettes (2 of three different varieties) and four butternut squashes (2 of each), two other squashes and a couple of melons. I also have two varieties of outdoor cucumbers but I will try one of those in the greenhouse too.

Lots of flying insects around, some of which are nippy. No sign of the birds that eat them yet.

MysteryMe

I'm sure the bats will be trying their best to get the numbers of insects down

carinjo

Rain, glorious rain!
So, as i am new to growing from seed, or growing from anything really, i was very scimp on the seed sowing. And now i have most seeds germinated, but not all of what i wanted to plant. And today i saw ms marple, our lovely cat, managed to get to the sweetcorn too! Lesson learned.  Have enough to carry on with and for this year my aim is to grow from seed to harvest. If that means only getting a few bits instead of a glut, i'll be happy. In the meantime keeping my eye out for neighbours giving away seedlings *fingers crossed*

Charly27

MysteryMe said:

I have had a good germination rate on my seeds, all from packets and several I had bought a year ago. I have transplanted the salad, cherry and beef toms, marrow and courgette in individual pots and they are now outside in the plastic grow house I bought from Aldi. I open it up during the day so they get light and then zip the cover up each evening. I have a couple of romano red peppers and a jalapeno pepper also germinated but they are still very small so they are still in the lean too in a mini unheated propagator.   I will have three times the number of toms I need so will have to distribute amongst neighbours and work colleagues when the time comes.
Last year I planted everything in containers using ordinary multi purpose compost and fed and had good results so I wont bother with grow bags in future.
The strawberry runners I transplanted last Autumn have grown well and I have flowers on some. I am also hoping I get a better crop from the original strawberries.

We'll see in the coming months whether it all worked out to plan! 

I also hope we hear from unrecordings soon

Shame we’re not neighbours. I could do with some tomato plants!
It has proper rained today in Norfolk. That should really bring things on. Cainjo I feel your pain. I felt like superwoman after tackling my raspberries, couch grass and nettles. The older nettle roots were the thickness of my little finger the younger roots were like nylon twine. 

[Deleted User]

I'm coming out of lurkdom as I have found someone to do some work on my garden and build my veggie beds!!! 🙌 I'm incredibly excited - we've considered doing it ourselves, getting ds to do the work etc but it just hasn't happened  (dh has back problems, ds has a full time job and I have no interest in digging!! 😂) I am not sure how long it will take - he's starting at the end of next week clearing the site so hopefully by the end of May it will be ready to start the planting 😁 
I already have my seeds (bought them at the beginning of the year) but I'm not sure if it will be too late for a lot of the stuff 🤔 I'm thinking of starting my seeds off this week indoors (is it too late to start tomato plants?) in the hope that they won't become too leggy before the beds are done - I need to have a proper look at what I have and check out the best planting times - if I do have to miss out on some this year so be it - at least I know that once I do start, I can keep going! 😉

crv1963

-taff said:

crv1963 said:

With 48 Toms(from 100 sown)

Was that from bought seed? I sowed a few different types yhat I bought and the germination rate was abysmal. Less than fifty percent and in one case, less than 5%. 

Hi taff- I bought some through the post, also free ones from Gardening Magazines- I find these a good source of seeds at a reasonable price as I am not too fussy over which variety (unless it is Chilli plants) that I grow.

-taff

squirrelgirl said:

(is it too late to start tomato plants?) in the hope that they won't become too leggy before the beds are done

They shouldn't get leggy now. They usually get leggy because of the lack of light if sowing earlier than normal. I expect yours will catch up if we have a sunny summer no problem.

[Deleted User]

-taff said:They shouldn't get leggy now. They usually get leggy because of the lack of light if sowing earlier than normal. I expect yours will catch up if we have a sunny summer no problem.

Brilliant- thanks taff! 😁

Charly27

Welcome squirrel girl. Did anyone get a response after PM to unrecordings?

Suffolk_lass

Charly27 said:

Welcome squirrel girl. Did anyone get a response after PM to unrecordings?

No. No activity on the forums since 3rd April. Maybe send a PM so he (or Mrs un) sees we were thinking of him if they take a look?