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

Jjah

Home bargains end of aisle.

99p per 8 seed potatoes all helpfully labelled as first, second or main crop.  Good selection of onion sets too

Suffolk_lass

I can recommend Stuttgarter Giant onions - they are the ones they have with onion soup in, in Germany. I've also grown several of those potato varieties. Charlotte are excellent with salad and King Edwards are tolerant and easy, if a little more prone to some problems than some of the newer varieties. Desiree are good too, use them for anything.

Silvertabby

Suffolk_lass said:

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

Old potatoes can't change into deadly nightshade, although it's true that potatoes, deadly nightshade and tomatoes are all in the same family.  However, the seeds pods produced by potato plants - which look identical to little green tomatoes - are indeed toxic.

carinjo

Jjah said:

Home bargains end of aisle.

99p per 8 seed potatoes all helpfully labelled as first, second or main crop.  Good selection of onion sets too

Oh, nice! Might have to go to my local H.B. tomorrow. I've kept some potatoes from last year, but first time i've tried that, a backup bag to chit sounds good.

silverwhistle

What do you like to grow?

Most things, but as it was a new allotment to me there are still things I haven't tried. Hate Brussels, but even grew one plant for aged parent's Christmas dinner!

Are you going to try anything different this year?

I'm going to try a heritage variety of climbing pea, maybe to use as a screen around my pallet compost bins, plus a Latvian soup pea for storage. Oh yes, and shallots and celery from seed.

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

Tromboncino d'Albenga was a hit! A climbing squash that looks like a courgette when young and gets big and curved enough to use as a harness collar for a pony! It also made a dash along the ground into the undergrowth.. Shallots also successful. My Burgess squash and potatoes were hit by a very, very late frost (it might have been the lockdown clear atmosphere.). The germination rate for my seeds from Real Seeds was very good so I'll grow the same toms and chilli as I didn't need to use all the seeds last year. I also grew Borlotti beans but the .75 of a kilo of beans I stored went mouldy. My Christmas present of a dehydrator should sort out that issue next year.

Do you have any tips for growing?

Don't sow too early except for chillies!  My allotment neighbours got caught abroad by lockdown but their very late start showed what could be achieved with some plants. I built a cold frame from scrounged timber and old double glazing and that will be useful for bringing on the tenderer plants.

Do you make anything with what you grow?

A four variety chilli sauce..   Damson chutney and gin.

How much does growing your own save you?

Save, save?! I hate to think what I've spent, even if I'm a good scrounger. I'm considering reporting myself for not paying myself the minimum wage..

Jjah

Hey folks, anyone tried growing strawberries from planting the outside of store bought strawberries?

I watched a playlist today of someone who very successfully did it.

Also, does anyone have a clue when the supermarkets start stocking organic strawberries again?

The YouTuber I watched planted the outer flesh in April, started thinning the hundreds of seedlings in June but the plants didn't have time to grow ripe strawberries the first year although did really well in the following year.

I'd love to give it a bash.

Strawberry seeds are about £2 for 20 seeds in Wilkos so I figure that the flesh of just one strawberry has more potential and is considerably cheaper.

I also get the bonus of a punnet leftover.

Also, on the topic of strawberries, has anyone tried to make a strawberry tower with stacking crates?

I am loathe to purchase plastic crates for such a project but will certainly do so if I get my hands on any crates that would otherwise be scrapped.

droopsnoot

Suffolk_lass said:

@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).

Thanks, I hadn't considered that. I just saw all the seeds in there, googled "growing peppers from the seeds inside them" and went from there. Fortunately I've not had to buy anything, so I'll just leave them on the windowsill for a few weeks and see if anything appears, if it doesn't I'll know that's probably the reason.

I love the idea of growing my own stuff, however I suspect that in most cases - especially for stuff that is really easy to grow - there's very little "money-saving" about it. 

On a separate note, among the piles of old plant pots and stuff in the greenhouse are many, many packets of seeds, most of which have expiry dates going back five years or more. Is there any point in sowing any of these? The specific types vary - mainly flowering plants, but there are some edible things. I've already thrown away quite a few where the paper packets had got damp and turned to much. I just don't want to waste them if they can do something - I guess I could just spread the flower seeds on various borders and stand back.

Jjah

@droopsnoot, if you have inherited lots of old seeds, I would personally use them in old buckets just out of curiosity.  Don't rely on them for crops but if you get germination, you can save the new seed from them.

I always think of the poppy emblem.  After the trench warfare in the Fields of Flanders, poppy seeds which had been dormant for many decades (if not more), germinated when the soil was disturbed.

Could be an exciting experiment


I just emptied out 2 old potato containers and found a few tiny spuds in there


The used compost was put into my old wheelbarrow to which I've added wet cardboard, wet rotting leaves, dry dead plant material and kitchen scraps.  It's now covered in an old plastic table cloth that I save to line my boot when going the skip

It's completely experimental and it would be good if I can get to rejuvenate the used compost.

It was quite exciting to do something outside of the greenhouse now the snow is thawing

Silvertabby

Have already ordered this year's seeds and young plants.  If/when we go back into deep lockdown, the mail order companies and the garden centres will be wiped out, just like last year. 

MovingForwards

I'm being given strawberry runners, they've been ported up for a while and will be cut from the parent plant when I next go over.
- I'm going to be growing them in hanging baskets off my decommissioned washing line pole. I can throw net over it like a tent to prevent / discourage birds eating them.

They can be grown from the fruit seeds, I've seen it done in gardening groups. The main plants have a few years (think it's up to 6) viable fruit lifespan, so don't always give away too many of the runners as you could come unstuck one year.