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

Ellie78

I'm so pleased to have spotted this thread!  I love my garden and have crammed quite a lot of plants into a small space but this is the first year I've attempted to grow veg.  I started quite late with sowing seeds so I don't know how successful I'll be but it's nice to have a place to come for encouragement and with questions!   
We only have room for tubs/planters on our patio (as our dog loves rolling/playing on the lawn) but so far I've sown radishes/lettuce/rocket/spinach/mange tout/beetroot/swede and dwarf beans.   Radishes and lettuce were started a couple of weeks before everything else so they're growing nicely.  All the others were sown a couple of days ago and the swedes, rocket and spinach have started to appear already.   I even got a few bell pepper seeds to sprout from a pepper in the fridge although I read they need a long growing season so I doubt I'll get anything from them? 
All pots have been copper taped to try and keep the slugs away! The lettuce and rocket is in a hanging basket so I think they're safe
I'm looking forward to being able to swap veggies I've grown with the OH's parents who grow tom's/cucumbers and courgettes every year and give us loads.

carinjo

Welcome @Ellie78 , we a friendly bunch! Yesterday first day in a week since been on plot, been doing diy at home. What a lovely surprise it was. Harvested rosso and cos salads, pak choi, few radishes, leaf beet, onions and garlic (garlic was from a few cloves for aldis stuck in the ground) Onion and garlic only went into ground in november, so happy to have gotten anything! One of the patti pans from sis didn't make it, stuck a nasturtium had at home in it's place, everything still alive, just got a lot of aphids in runnerbeans, might have to give up on home remedy of dishwashing liquid and olive oil mix and get something from shop. The back plot been cut by council, looks lovely, gonna cover most of it up ready for next year. 
@Suffolk_lass got a lovely handful of red gooseberries between both plots, was munching as i was picking. Also couple handfuls of red bramble berries (is that the correct name?) so sweet. Grabbed a few black currents and couple william pears, too early i know, but the tree hanging very heavy with fruit, so if nothing else can learn about when they ready to ripen off the tree as i go. 
Today going to give the fruit trees and bushes a good soak and prepare the final bed for the leeks, few weeks late, but such is life. 
At home the salad box had it's first harvest of baby leaves and the herb box coming along nicely after i turned it around so the other side gets less sun, now the oregano and thyme coming up too. Two of the four sunflowers blooming, about 6f high! One tomato and patti pan got in potato bags at home doing well, but only few flowers on tomato plant, so fingers crossed. 
Hope to finish painting at home today and then can do couple days of work on new plot before back to work on sunday. 

zafiro1984

I did some watering yesterday, I've just sown some 'catch-up' seeds in the greenhouse and I need to keep an eye on them. Everything has had to be shaded and I water the floor about 4 times a day.
One of the chickens wasn't too well today so I've separated it, Although a good weight its upper beak was so long and curved over the lower one that I used some clippers to shorten it -fingers crossed that was the problem and not Mareks. 
Too hot to venture out at the moment, I was out last night until well after 10pm. Tomatoes have started to crop, as well as dwarf beans, baby turnips, beetroot, and kohl rabi, carrots are nearly ready and I've started to catch up with weeding. I think later today I'll have a good go at strimming a few of the paths and possibly see if the earlies are ready. 
 

-taff

I've got a lot of blackfly on my runners as well. I have been blasting them off with water but I went out this morning and found loads and loads! So they had the washing up liquid/water treatment. I'll do them again this evening.

bluesooz

blackfly on the runners here too - the problem is the ants that are 'farming' the blackfly.  I've been trying to get rid of the ants, but they're everywhere.  Any one had flying ants yet?  I've found lots as I've disturbed the nests but none flying yet.

I've eaten my first greenhouse cucumber, with the second nearly ready for harvest - but there are no new ones appearing.  

Suffolk_lass

bluesooz said:

blackfly on the runners here too - the problem is the ants that are 'farming' the blackfly.  I've been trying to get rid of the ants, but they're everywhere.  Any one had flying ants yet?  I've found lots as I've disturbed the nests but none flying yet.

I've eaten my first greenhouse cucumber, with the second nearly ready for harvest - but there are no new ones appearing.  

re your hot-house cucumber - look for male flowers (thin stalks and hand pollinate two or three female plant. Often greenhouse squashes suffer from lack of pollination so you may need a bit of artificial intervention.

Oh yes, country wisdom is that there are two ant flying days and they are the two hottest days of the year. The swirling storms around the UK are probably why it is not yet as it has been quite hot!

Suffolk_lass

@euronorris just make sure your mange tout are not F1 hybrids as they won't germinate from seed if they are. This is why lots of the chillies, tomatoes and squash seeds I have tried over the years failed and a lesson I only recently learned (doh!).

I am watching our potatoes keenly. Not sure if it is lack of water or first signs of blight but the middle of the bed has all sagged outwards. I gave them a good soak the night before last but nothing perked up. I might have to cut the foliage down if there is any sign of brown on the leaves this morning. Speaking of which - I must get out there between showers!

bluesooz

Suffolk_lass said:

re your hot-house cucumber - look for male flowers (thin stalks and hand pollinate two or three female plant. Often greenhouse squashes suffer from lack of pollination so you may need a bit of artificial intervention. 

Oh yes, country wisdom is that there are two ant flying days and they are the two hottest days of the year. The swirling storms around the UK are probably why it is not yet as it has been quite hot!

We've got telegraph improved cues in the greenhouse - so need to remove the male flowers as otherwise cues will be bitter.  Have been picking over the plants everyday and the female flowers just aren't there, which is a shame.  Still got cues growing outside - although they're only about 8 unches high so far - but can see a couple of female flowers , so may have to wait for them.  

We've had thunderstorms early this morning after 2 scorching hot days (over 40 degrees in the greenhouse) Too hot to be outdoors during the day, so having to garden in the evening! Today was supposed to be cooler but it's already over 25 and brilliant blue sky

euronorris

Suffolk_lass said:

@euronorris just make sure your mange tout are not F1 hybrids as they won't germinate from seed if they are. This is why lots of the chillies, tomatoes and squash seeds I have tried over the years failed and a lesson I only recently learned (doh!).

I am watching our potatoes keenly. Not sure if it is lack of water or first signs of blight but the middle of the bed has all sagged outwards. I gave them a good soak the night before last but nothing perked up. I might have to cut the foliage down if there is any sign of brown on the leaves this morning. Speaking of which - I must get out there between showers!

Thank you, but they are definitely not F1 hybrids. They are a variety called Born Mangetout, which I selected from the seed library sent out by the Heritage Seed Library earlier this year, so it is an heirloom variety I absolutely love them. I sowed 4 plants back in early spring. This morning I picked 20 mangetout from them. I am picking similar amounts each day. Earlier on I did a second sowing of them, which have just started to flower, and now I think I might be overrun with mangetout! hahaha Still, DD loves them and keeps eating them raw as a snack, so I'm not gathering much of a glut yet!

Our potatoes have done the same, and they were next to the 2nd earlies which definitely did have blight, so I am keeping a close eye on them.

Irenadler

Hello all
It's nice to see what people are achieving, thank you, so I will have a go. I did plant a piece of lemongrass and piece of ginger, which were drying up in fridge, both are growing... i did check to see how best to try it....