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

MovingForwards

@Oldstylethriftylady get a herb garden going somewhere, even if it's in pots, as nearly every meal you will be picking them.

Runner beans are easy to grow, as are raddish, beetroot and lettuce. There's a few gardening mags which do free seeds each month, it's how I built up my collection last year ready for this one; the mags are good to read too.

Spuds I grew from shop spuds which spouted. I've currently got some sprouting and will get my leftovers sprouting in a few months. 

Bags, boxes and tubs are a good way of increasing growing spaces, as are hanging baskets and wall mounted tubs.

We are only restricted by our imagination.

Suffolk_lass

@Oldstylethriftylady my advice is to think about flavour (carrots are really cheap in the shops but taste great from the garden) and premium crops. We grow quite a lot of soft fruit and if you can fit in a Victoria Plum tree, you won't regret it

JasperAlex

Hi everyone! Grew tomatoes, courgettes, beans etc. quite a few years ago now. Since it doesn't look like we're going anywhere nice this summer or anytime soon thought it would be quite nice to restart this. Can anyone recommend any sweet, tasty and easy to grow tomato varieties that can be planted in pots (preferably small cherry varieties)? I've grown the common varieties e.g. Roma, moneymaker and am looking for something a bit more adventurous, preferably available to order online. I'm guessing it would be way too early to sow seeds especially with forecast snow in the south tomorrow! 

Suffolk_lass

@JasperAlex I always grow Sungold F1 hybrid - Thomson and Morgan have them (so do several others) - they are orange coloured cherry tomatoes. You can also get Black Russian as a cherry tomato (a dark cola-coloured tomato that is very prolific. Here is East Anglia our Springs are always cold. I start my tomatoes in March and we grow from seed indoors (on the top of the bug-zapper which is a tiny bit of bottom heat, just to germinate them then they go off to the unheated greenhouse, where they stay unless I put some on the patio - all in pots!

MovingForwards

I grew black cherry tomatoes last year, kept some seeds from the fruit to plant up this year now I know what I'm doing with tomato plants. There was a regular supply and they tasted delicious @JasperAlex

JasperAlex

Thank you @Suffolk_lass  and @MovingForwards. I will order these seeds soon and can't wait to get started. Looking forward to reading everyone else's plans for this growing season.

Oldstylethriftylady

@MovingForwards thank you, I’ll look into a herb garden, sadly not much of a runner bean girl but love peas so will swap with them. I got a couple of the mags in December to cheer me up and the free seeds were great, just have no idea what to do with the ones I’ll never plant!

@Suffolk_lass I’ll see if I have space for carrots it’s the only veg the other half will really eat. I’m hopefully going to be growing a lot of soft fruit as it’s the most expensive thing I eat. I’ll hunt out a Victoria plum, yum!

@JasperAlex I grew both of those last year and they were great! I’m on the lookout for a decent beef Tom, all mine last year got bottom rot! Just the big ones not the small ones.

I’m pondering getting some chili seeds and trying my hand for the first time, does anyone have experience with chili plants?

Suffolk_lass

I grow Black Russian Beefsteak tomatoes - as good as the cherries - prolific and excellent for cooking with - if you get bottom end rot it means one of two things - it is caused by insufficient calcium in the soil - this can result from the soil drying out too much between watering - better to water 2-3 times little and often than one good soak a day, especially in hot weather. The other thing is to use a bit of liquid tomato feed in your watering can every week at least but preferably every 4-5 days. My Dad used to say also spread your plants out a bit more and top up the compost. If you are using grow bags and the soil dries out it is notoriously difficult to get moist again - best thing is to submerge the pot in a bucket (I always decant from grow-bag into 8"/20cm pots)

Dizzy_Ditzy

Thought it was probably about time I popped my head around the door to say hello! Welcome to the newbies, hope to see you all sticking around  

Its very frustrating as I am home more or less all the time at the moment but at the weekends the weather isnt my friend and in the week I can only get round so sort the chickens out in my lunch break. New lot of raspberries have arrived but I need to clear the fruit cage before I can get them planted out. We ordered some seed potatoes to collect but then lockdown happened and I am not sure whats happening with them at the moment. 

I would be very happy if it just stopped raining for a couple of days to allow the soil to dry out so I can work with it!! 

MovingForwards

@Oldstylethriftylady swap the seeds with people, drop them to a local allotment / community garden / school / advertise free to collector on local selling sites.

@Suffolk_lass I'm hoping to grow the black russian's this year too. A lot of people in my gardening group had problems with B.E rot and blight last year. Was heartbreaking seeing their photos.

@Dizzy_Ditzy the weather will pick up, when it does quickly get outside. I'm trying to potter when the sun comes out, even if it's moving a few bits to tidy up.