The even newer good, bad and ugly of growing your own in 2021!

DiggerUK

"I did explore a seed-swap site but found I did not trust it and am wary of getting seeds from sources I don't know."
SL, In the village here we have an old standing stone once used by a farmer to leave the milk churns on. It is now a well known place to leave gardening stuff for free. Perhaps something similar could be started were you are.

In a neighbouring village there is someone who raises funds for a charity with an honesty box, selling donated spare seedlings and cuttings on the verge outside their home. 

I'm sure you can encourage such projects in your area. Especially if you have a local FBP..._

Edit to add we have Gazania and Verbena Bonariensis  seedlings up in two days!! Germination is good so far this year. Unheated  propagators on window sill... _ 

Suffolk_lass

Thanks @DiggerUK we do some of that already but my money box (screwed to the plank) was taken along with the plank-table. Now I put stuff out at my neighbour's. It isn't as trustworthy as it used to be, even here in rural Suffolk. I'm going to call my neighbour and offer to share some seeds but I expect she has already started. Our cold Springs mean starting anything much this early is a risk really

carinjo

A break from work next 2 weeks and the weather forecast looks a bit dire. Managed to score a pallet collar and a wooden box on feet at work. Advice on best to seal both? I can do plastic on the inside and drill a few drainage holes, but the outside still exposed. If it could last 2 seasons, maybe 3, would be happy enough. I need fence paint for home, but is it a good idea to use near food growing?

Fosterdog

I'm late to the party again this year, seems to be a regular thing for me.

Last year was a bit of a wash out here, I'm a key worker so didn't really have a lockdown and every time I managed to actually get to a shop everything was already sold out, same as online so our garden renovation has been delayed by a year and as a knock on effect my growing potential is delayed.

What I did grow last year:
apples (best year yet and finally got the scab under control), pears (also most successful year), cherries (moderate success, trees need to mature to be more productive), strawberries (always my best crop), raspberries, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, runner beans, and peas. All except the fruit trees were container grown.

what failed:
broccoli (grew in pots, far too small, and wiped out by caterpillars), figs (small tree bought as a gift for me and was neglected), plums (didn't even blossom)

What I did manage to complete: 
Levelled off an area and built a large raised bed (currently empty)
Built a large strawberry bed and transferred my existing plants and runners over
Bought plenty of seed trays and pots, have them all organised ready to go
Kept an overgrown area of brambles, nettles, and bracken under control, hopefully I can plant there this year, next year at the latest. Set up a worm bin.

This years growing plans:
Apples, pears, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries (already ordered with large containers waiting for them), figs (if I can save the tree) potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, lettuce, radish, spinach, onions, peppers, runner beans, peas, asparagus, marrow, butternut squash, melon, cucumber, French beans, sweet corn, peppers, tomatoes, I may attempt broccoli again.
I'm also going to plant a small flowerbed (only grew marigolds and freesias last year) and a wildflower area, already have lots of wild daisies and foxgloves.

New things to try this year:
My new raised bed is a hugel bed 6" below ground of branches and wood chips, and 16" above of mixed topsoil and compost.
Im trying out three sisters planting this year, sweetcorn, climbing French beans to climb the corn, and squash for ground cover all grown together.

Big jobs for this year:
build a 2-3 bay compost system from pallets and get rid of the daleks, 
Clear areas for future planting and flowerbeds,
level off an area for a greenhouse.

MovingForwards

I popped to a pound shop yesterday while out and managed to grab some onion sets and strawberry plant roots / runners.
They were sold out of potatoes, but I've got my supermarket ones chitting and the ones leftover from last season ready to chit.

It's too cold up here to plant anything outside, but I know my growing season starts later than the rest of the UK.

Suffolk_lass

@Fosterdog that all sounds fab. We grow asparagus - it is quite greedy both for space and nutrients - our 8x6' raised bed has too many crowns in and last year was the first time we have had decent crops (4th year) - you do need to be patient but if you have the space it is wonderful stuff!

Dizzy_Ditzy

I feel really bad that you lot have already got seedlings! I’ve only got garlic in! But today I have been out and bought the seeds I want for this year. Potatoes will be put out for chitting in the next few days. We had to buy replacement onions and shallots and we are going to do half and half planted out directly and started off in modules to see which works best for us. Last year was a difficult year as I couldn’t really be bothered to do more than the bare minimum - losing my brother then pretty much going into lockdown was hard enough but we are both NHS staff so have had to deal with that stress as well. Hopefully the weather will be kind enough for the next few weekends that we will be able to spend some decent time on the plots and get things ready for the coming year. 

We’ve had a plague of rats to deal with this winter both inside the chicken run and outside and we have really struggled to keep on top of them. Bait traps haven’t been touched, constant filling of holes has been replaced by new holes adjacent to the filled in ones 🙄 the weather has not been good for the girls either and not being able to let them out has been difficult for us and them. 

I’ve got lot of flower seeds I’d quite like to get started in the next couple of weeks - I did really well with sweet peas last year so I’m doubling my efforts this year with those 😀 

greenbee

I've just got round to sowing seeds inside. The greenhouse needs a clearout and clean before I move them in there, but hopefully a few things will get a head start indoors. If they don't die of heat stroke/dehydration! The house is stupidly hot at the moment as I'm not well and as a result am having to heat it a lot higher than normal.

Fosterdog

My new blueberries and onion sets arrived yesterday and my seed potatoes came today so I've put them to chit, had a tonne of topsoil delivered on the weekend so have made a start on filling the raised bed, will mix it with roughly another tonne of our own soil (it's clay heavy so couldn't use just that) and some compost to be mixed in. I ordered some large pots and they were delivered very wastefully in individual boxes instead of all together in the one box, on the plus side to that I have an area I can cover with it for a no dig bed for my peas and runner beans and plenty of browns to add to my worm bin and compost heap.

It that time of year when I'm so eager to get started but know it's far too cold and I have to be patient.

Pennysmakepounds

Hi All,

Mind if i join the party:)

I finally got my first batch of Chilli/Tomato's planted indoors yesterday in my propagator with a heated mat.  I planted a mixed batch of seeds from a few different variety of Chilli Plants and Tomato plants. I am planning on doing a few more batches in the other two propagators over the next few days but I need to go and buy some more seeds from Wilko/B&Q this weekend.

 As for the Garden, well it’s a tip from last year.  I started a new job towards the end of the growing season and never had the time/energy to clean it after the last of Peas/coriander/sweetcorn (Failed crop) and tomato’s etc so its needs a good clean before I can start again this year.  Hoping to get that done over the next few weekends and evenings (after work) as the days get longer.

 I have to be honest, I failed miserably last year at growing any decent tomato’s last year and the rat problem in the garden didn’t help and don’t even ask about the Chillies 😊.

 Lets hope I have a better season this year.

 Its just a hobby with me, I’m not really in it to be self sufficient to be honest😊

PS - what do people mean by 'Chit'?