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

bluesooz

@Kathy535 i think 2020 was a poor year for courgettes generally - I usually have more than I can cope with from just 4 plants, but last year it was hunt the courgette time!  

MysteryMe

Yeah, another no show courgette 2020. I will have another go this summer.
I've ordered some pea, mixed leaves and perpetual spinach seeds from Suttons and will give them a whirl, mainly with the parrot in mind.

Suffolk_lass

droopsnoot said:

I'm very new to this, but having cut up a red pepper for some sandwiches last week I have now (perhaps optimistically) put some of the seeds into a seed tray on the back bedroom windowsill, after first drying them out for a couple of days.

There are some potato plants in the garden, which are in various states, some of which have been left on the surface to go bad, or whatever they do when you don't dig them up. I intend to dig over that section, remove any plant material (and cat, er, leavings) and perhaps stick some of the less bad-looking pots back in to see if they do anything.

@droopsnoot Just be aware that some of the peppers you buy in supermarkets are grown from F1 hybrid seed which is not designed to be fertile the following year, so be prepared to grow from a seed packet (not all, just most).

I know my Grandad used to say you should always clear potatoes from the bed where you grew them as any remnants will encourage disease problems and also grow with the small poisonous apple-like fruits or turn into deadly nightshade (with the deadly poisonous black seed-berries) - be very careful with your bags of old potatoes

Suffolk_lass

We also had a relatively poor courgette harvest. I usually grow yellow and green but last year the yellow ones were very disappointing and one of the seed suppliers (Mr F) had a problem with toxic plants with bitter fruits after some of their seed crop was contaminated - it didn't impact mine but my two yellow plants were very very slow

MovingForwards

A few suppliers had issues with courgette seeds last year.

One of the reasons I won't grow them myself is they were hit and miss from the shops, if professional growers struggle, then it doesn't bode well for mere mortals.

I've kept some seeds from little tomatoes I grew last year, very tasty, good amount and hopefully my small tomato house will serve me well. I used a plastic greenhouse last year, but doubt it will survive another year here.

For those worrying about pollination, a soft art brush over various flowers of your fruit and veg will act like insects do.

clive0510

thanks for this thread. I used to grow some veg, tried various stuff with differing success. but tbh, I ended up with so much stuff, for one person, it was just easier and cheaper to buy it from the shop.

leftatthetrafficlights

I'm definitely in this year! 🙌 last year was a late start and I had lots of other stuff going on so not as productive as I would have hoped - however I intend to rectify that this year 😉
I grow lots of herbs which are always successful- rosemary, thyme, sage, basils, coriander and mints - I'm expanding that this year to include French tarragon! 
I grew tomatoes, beans, salad leaves, courgettes, winter squash, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, carrots, beetroot, chard, sweetcorn, swede, leeks and onions last year with varying success - I still have leeks, kale, chard, sprouts and broccoli to harvest, spring cabbages that I put in at the end of the summer and I put some garlic in last November which looks like it's doing well.  
Brassicas have been my biggest hit and miss stuff - I'm just not sure that they are worth the time and space that they need (apart from the kale and chard -they are constant givers 😉) so I may give many of them a miss this year. My courgettes did pretty well - I'll put up the variety when I go through my seeds tomorrow.
I'm also adding fennel to my list for this year - I love the stuff! I'm planning to do chillis this year too and sweet peppers. 
Tomorrow I am going through my seeds, making my plans and starting off my chillis- it's very exciting!! 😊

carinjo

Hi All,

My motto for the new year is going to be: Try again, try harder!

What do you like to grow?

Potatoes, tomatoes, courgette, broadbeans, runnerbeans, lettuce, beetroot, chard, leaf spinach, cabbage.

Are you going to try anything different this year?

Hoping to have a go at artichoke (was promised some cuttings), cut flowers, squashes, pumpkin, parsnip.

I am also doing the 4 bed rotation, haven't had a look yet of what is going where, but have planned out the sizes of the beds already since i am redrawing the layout from last year (which was my first full year). Potatoes and tomatoes will have their own beds, is that 5 beds then?

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

Was gifted chard and cabbage seedlings, harvested the last a few days ago! will do both again. Tried growing from seed for the first time last year, not very successfully, especially tomatoes, everything i grew was gifted to me by fellow allotmenteers, courgette gifted by my sister. No luck on outdoor cucumber or turnips, will try cucumber again.

Do you have any tips for growing?

Yeah, try again, try harder. See what works for your neighbours. And don't try to do too much in the beginning. Oh, and if you want to plant 20 tomatoes, plant a lot more seeds!  

Do you make anything with what you grow?

Thanks to @Suffolk_lass advice my William Pear tree gave a bumper crop (previous year got 4 pears!). Pear brandy liqueur, pear vodka liqueur, bottled pears, pear tarts. This got me into a bit of foraging too and made Rosehip Gin liqueur and also apple (foraged) and grape chutneys. Tomato Chutneys, soups, sauces and best of all: sweet tomato jam! seriously, lovely jam.

How much does growing your own save you?

Still have potatoes under a blanket. in the freezer got chard, runnerbeans, soups, sauces. Gave most of the chutneys and jams away as gifts, so a couple of shelves of bottled pears and some jams and chutney for own use.

I am leaning more towards veg that can last for a while this year i think. we have taken on a second plot and it can help if some areas can stay covered up this year and grow pumpkins etc over it. We went last week after Storm Breda to rescue the shed, Ms C painstakingly had to unscrew and redo each slab on one wall of panneling. I got on with pruning the pear tree, digging up a blackcurrent and starting to do serious pruning on the gooseberry bushes. hardly had any fruit last year, so opening up the centre and the underside. still have 5 to do. We planning to do a pallet deck under the plum tree. it next to the neighbour's sheds, so hoping for a bit of shade.

Have fun everyone!

MovingForwards

I ordered my second compost bin today, cost £0 as I've used my survey points.

I'm going to be transferring my seeds to bigger storage and putting sections in for each calendar month. They are already organised by start to sow month.

Just keen for the weather to warm up a little so I can get outside and make a start 😁

Jjah

It's exciting to read everyone's plans
Sweet tomato jam sounds intriguing, #carinjo 

I'm hoping for an end to the cold spell soon too, #MovingForwards.
There's not much to be done other than repairs and purchasing supplies at the moment. 

I'm hoping to go Wilkos tomorrow to have a mooch around to see what they have. 
I'm hoping to get some ginger root too as I want to see if I can get it to germinate.  I hope the roads are not going to be too treacherous.