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

Dizzy_Ditzy

Welcome to the new ups and downs of growing your own!

Everyone is welcome. Come and tell us about your growing shenanigans

What do you like to grow?

Are you going to try anything different this year?

Did you try anything different last year? Did you like it? Would you grow it again?

Do you have any tips for growing?

Do you make anything with what you grow?

How much does growing your own save you?


I'll use this post for links that folks might find useful. If you want something adding in, please just let me know

There's a fab Facebook group called "Allotment Club - Mind your peas and cues" I'm not affiliated to it in any way but it's a fab little group. It's a closed group but is worth looking up if you're on Facebook. Or there is a fab group called "The allotment shed"

Betharooni

Hi

Can I join in for 2021? We only tend to grow simple things like potatoes and tomatoes but this year we are intending to lift the grass and gravel areas, put in some raised beds and lay slabs around them so it’s easier for my mum to get about and help (as she isn’t really been able to do much but she loves to garden). We’re hoping to grow some fruit and veg in these raised beds and have some patio fruit trees to maximise the tiny garden we have. I’ll add a picture of our garden from above that I took a few weeks ago so you can see what I’m starting with. 

B x

Jjah

*Pokes nose around the door*

Ooh.  Seems an interesting thread.
Is it ok for another newbie to come in?

I have an insatiable hunger for all things horticultural at the moment so am gleaning from as many sources of knowledge as I come across.

2021 will hopefully be the year I reclaim the back garden after a 2 year losing battle with bindweed which stops me from literally reaping the fruits of my labours as it smothers everything in the height of summer.

Hoping to grow much more food this new year because of the instability of our times.

Looking forward to picking up tips on here...

*pulls up a chair*

Betharooni

@Jjah I know how you feel - bindweed smothers our garden too 😕😕

Jjah

Betharooni said:

@Jjah I know how you feel - bindweed smothers our garden too 😕😕

Oh no.  Not you too.  

I'm intending to weaken it now with cardboard every month as needed.  The whole back part of the garden.  

This was mine in July last year...  I gave up after trying to clear it to get to my furniture and the fruit bushes 

No matter how tall the canes and bushes grew, the bindweed conquered.

Jjah

Ps, (Same angle photo taken on 27th December before the snow.)

You can see there's a lot to do when the snow thaws. 

That pile of greengage, apple and conference pruned material needs breaking up and clearing for a start.  (The bigger logs were taken by a friend for her fuel.)

I have someone trying to source a lot of cardboard from work some time after the 4th January.  Hopefully the bindweed will be more controllable if I keep on top of it this year.

Your garden is a nice space, Betharooni.  You will produce a fair amount in a good sized veg bed.

FluffityBunny

I'm going to attempt tomatoes and peas again this year.  I'll buy my seeds from Wilkos early this year as I ended up having to buy them from Thompson & Morgan this year during Lockdown #1 and was immensely disappointed with the lack of crop from their seeds.  Tomatoes never ripened, peas didn't even grow.  
I'm trying to think of what i could grow in hanging baskets that my 5 year old would enjoy watching grow and eat.

MysteryMe

Sticking to the usual suspects with tomato varieties. I am going to use the seed I have from last season. In truth I had too many plants so if less germinate it will be no big deal. I'm hoping that the strawberries will crop better now they will enter their third season. I think I might try some runner beans as well. Haven't grown them for years.

Charly27

FluffityBunny my friend always grew cherry tomatoes and strawberries in her hanging baskets for her children with great success.
Welcome newbies. Love seeing the photos even if they feature the dreaded BW.

Suffolk_lass

Welcome to lots of newbies, I feel your bindweed pain! Mercifully the worst is not in the veg patch. We do have brambles, nettles, creeping wood-sorrel and a small patch of ground elder to complete the horrid weeds picture. Mercifully no Japanese Knotweed or Himalayan Balsam, but Giant hogweed is in the nearby woods.

My first job is to go through my seeds this month and dispense with old ones which increasingly germinate with pathetic inconsistency. We have a number of raised beds and soft fruit beds and rotate the standard four crop rotation (although most brassicas are butterfly nests and cabbage white caterpillar forage!)

Black_Cat2

Having a go at sweet peas this time around.  Work colleagues tell me it's easy to grow them so I'm putting my faith in their advice and looking for tips from you kind folks 🐈