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

Suffolk_lass

Talk about raring to go - there are four pots (each with nine tomato seeds in, of different varieties) in a tray on top of the bug zapper in the kitchen. Every pot has little green shoots after a week. The hollyhock seeds (with plastic zip-lock bag mini-propagators) are a day or two ahead! I'm going to have to slow them down at this rate! I love it

carinjo

Kantankrus_Mare said:

I could also learn to propagate the plants and sell on. Just me pondering. 

I had a go in autumn with sticking loads of lavender cuttings in some compost. The plan was to put it in a permanent herb bed next to the seating area. I left it outside. No watering, covering or feeding. Of the 20 or so cuttings only 4 didn't take root. So I say, go for it!

silverwhistle

Just a quick heads up that Aldi have seedlings/plug plants in, and they looked pretty healthy too. I noticed Tigerella, Roma plum and Sungold? tomatoes, Apache chilli and Globe Artichoke, and all more advanced than my windowsill efforts. I've got some of my own Roma growing along with 3 varieties of chilli so I bought the Aldi ones (Roma toms and Apache) to make a comparison. Hopefully they'll have aubergine as well at some stage as only need a few and they're a pain to bring on.

the_cross_rabbit

We have seedlings popping up all over the place.
CRx

Mee

silverwhistle said:

Just a quick heads up that Aldi have seedlings/plug plants in, and they looked pretty healthy too. I noticed Tigerella, Roma plum and Sungold? tomatoes, Apache chilli and Globe Artichoke, and all more advanced than my windowsill efforts. I've got some of my own Roma growing along with 3 varieties of chilli so I bought the Aldi ones (Roma toms and Apache) to make a comparison. Hopefully they'll have aubergine as well at some stage as only need a few and they're a pain to bring on.

Thanks for the heads-up.  I went along  to Aldi this evening.

Lavender seedling £3.99 (6)

https://www.aldi.co.uk/the-green-garden-lavender-6-pack/p/709515448639800

Bought Roma toms seedlings £1.69 (4)

Lots of seed potatoes.

I could only find the Lavender seedlings online, though lots of hardware and tools on offer.

Suffolk_lass

silverwhistle said:

Just a quick heads up that Aldi have seedlings/plug plants in, and they looked pretty healthy too. I noticed Tigerella, Roma plum and Sungold? tomatoes, Apache chilli and Globe Artichoke, and all more advanced than my windowsill efforts. I've got some of my own Roma growing along with 3 varieties of chilli so I bought the Aldi ones (Roma toms and Apache) to make a comparison. Hopefully they'll have aubergine as well at some stage as only need a few and they're a pain to bring on.

Sungold are my favourite cherry tomato - little orange sweet treats!

zafiro1984

Suffolk_lass said:

silverwhistle said:

Just a quick heads up that Aldi have seedlings/plug plants in, and they looked pretty healthy too. I noticed Tigerella, Roma plum and Sungold? tomatoes, Apache chilli and Globe Artichoke, and all more advanced than my windowsill efforts. I've got some of my own Roma growing along with 3 varieties of chilli so I bought the Aldi ones (Roma toms and Apache) to make a comparison. Hopefully they'll have aubergine as well at some stage as only need a few and they're a pain to bring on.

Sungold are my favourite cherry tomato - little orange sweet treats!

I agree, Sungold were my favourite, so sweet, then the dreaded blight arrived a couple of years ago. However, I've managed to find a blight resistant yellow tom this year so going to give that a go.

carinjo

Finished the garlic/onion bed this morning and the garlic went in. Saw Mr A this morning, first time this year! Glad to see him still going strong. His onions went in today, so am going to put mine in tomorrow morning. Had a quick sneak at his bed and made sure mine looks similarly tilled! 
Thanks for the info @silverwhistle! L1dl also doing a garden week from 11th. Saw strawberry plugs i've got my eye on.

Suffolk_lass

@zafiro1984 I realise that you grow on more of an industrial scale than us but we manage the blight by always growing tomatoes in pots, in fresh compost, and then tipping the spent compost on the potato bed from last year the following winter, after cutting the tomatoes down to stumps in autumn. Potatoes are a bit of a sacrificial crop for us - used to take the soil back to a fine tilth more than an eating crop, thanks to the blight that has recurred the last few years.

Ironically, all my tomato varieties have germinated except sungold now! I might be getting DS to pop into Aldi for me!

carinjo

On allotment first thing this morning. 2 rows of onion and some elaborate teepee netting using bits and pieces.
Mr R gave me an imprompto tutorial on growing tomatoes from seed so feel positive there won't be any leggy ones this year!