The even bigger and better and hopefully not lower bits of growing your own in 2022!

carinjo

Haven't gotten around to sorting out my seed packets yet, but worked on a low maintenance front bed at home with a mix of heather and bulbs. 
I got given a bag of different veg seeds for my birthday last year, a quick look and there are 5 types of tomatoes alone! 
We adopted 2 guinea pigs recently, so their old bedding will be used for compost and mulch, starting with the front bed at home. 
Used the last of the sweet tomato jam from 2020 harvest this week and opened the last bottled pears from same harvest. 

MovingForwards

OH donated some more shop potatoes to me and they've gone in the bag with the others to slowly chit until I plant them.

I know we're barely into 2022 but I'm itching to get things on the grow!

Suffolk_lass

leftatthetrafficlights said:

Went and bought the seed potatoes for chitting today - first and second earlies plus main crop - haven't done potatoes for years but bought growing bags last year so that we're not using space in the raised beds 😉 

Still getting parsnips, leeks, sprouts and cabbages from last year's plantings - will do a bit of planning next weekend as I haven't had the time recently 🙈

An old saying is that potatoes are a good crop to clean the soil so if you have some room, they are a good crop to start with (by which I mean you might have to write them off as an eating crop but they will improve the structure of the soil)

Fosterdog

I'm back again, every year I start out well in the growing thread but life gets in the way and I drop out towards the end of the year. It so good to see some old names here but also great that there are still new people discovering the joys of growing.

Last year was one of my toughest growing years yet, the weather was so unpredictable I had bad luck with almost everything I planted.

What grew well: strawberries, raspberries, carrots, parsnips, salad leaves, marrow, peas, runner beans.

What grew but not that great: sweetcorn, spinach, potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, pears, cherries, French beans.

What failed miserably: broccoli (Calabrese and purple sprouting), butternut squash, melon, cucumber, ginger, sweet potatoes, figs, blueberries, apples, plums.

Last year was the first year I properly kept notes on what I was doing and when so I can adjust it for this year based on what did and didn't do so well. I'm planning on getting my seed potatoes and onion sets in the next week or two and my bell peppers will be planted earlier this year because time was my biggest problem with them last year.

Most of my garden has been cleared for the winter but I still need to tidy the strawberry bed after they went wild, I've never had so many runners and it will be a big job to clear the strawberry jungle, I will leave a small area "wild" to see how well they produce when left alone compared to my managed area. Only things I still have in the ground are the last of the carrots and parsnips, and the garlic I planted in November.

One thing I really do need is a greenhouse, I really cannot afford to buy new so I'm keeping an eye on freebie and selling sites but nothing so far, I really think it will be life changing when it comes to growing. I also need to sort pest control, the neighbours chickens are still attracting rats that are causing so much damage, they've chewed through into our shed, chewed through cables (including the power for our chest freezer and CCTV cameras), got into my compost bins, eaten through seeds and bulbs in the shed, dug up most of my bulbs planted in October ready for spring, I'll be lucky if I have a single iris, daffodil, or tulip that's survived the carnage, it's just getting disheartening now when anything not affected by weather conditions is being destroyed by rats.

I haven't fully planned what I'll be growing this year yet but have a basic idea and will be spending the next few days fully planning it all.

zafiro1984

I'm back again with all good intentions for this year. Last year was a disaster. It started with the hens occupying the polytunnels during 'hen lockdown' and never really got going from then onwards.

I've learnt a lot about myself over the course of last year, so hopefully I can put some of it into practise this year.
1) Try not to be everything to everybody - leave some space for myself
2) Come into the house half an hour before DH at lunchtime and an hour before teatime. Before I used to come in at the same time as DH, He'd sit down at his comp or watch Tv whilst I ran around making lunch/tea and even try to do housework at the same time - not any more.
3) Have more organisation to my day, - animals am. PM is house, garden and related things  all before dusk when it's animals bedtime.  
4) When asked to do something which is not on my radar; smile, and apologise saying I'll do xyz when I've finished current job. I find that job has been done by the time I get around to it.
 
It's not that DH is awkward, it's just he has never understood that meals/housework do not appear by magic. I blame his mum, she even used to put 3 teaspoons of sugar in his tea/coffee. - now he has it black and no sugar so I've made a small amount of progress over the last 54yrs.

Back to the gardening:-
I'm going to restrict my ambitions this year to just growing what we both eat on a regular basis.
What is a good return for the effort
What I can freeze/store
What does well in our soil. We are on acid sand so brassicas are a no no.
I'm scouring the seed catalogues at the moment. I've thrown out all the old seeds as they lurched between getting wet when the sprinklers were on or getting baked when it was hot in the greenhouse.

So far:-
I've made myself a budget so I won't overspend!!!
My potatoes have arrived and I've put them out in the utility room to sprout. I've even cut down on the quantity I ordered. When the first polytunnel has been tidied with I'll plant the first earlies in there. I got the 'swift' variety.

Lovely to see this new 2022 thread and a lot of 'faces' posting from previous years.

Sorry about the screed, I'll be more conservative from now on. 
 

Suffolk_lass

Don't be more brief @zafiro1984 - I love reading about your endeavours. I am amazed that after joint replacement you are fit and well enough for all this!  I really must sit and go through seeds - I realise I left many in the (well-ventilated) greenhouse for much of the summer too, which probably explains the poor germination record with year 2 seeds here. 

I usually wait until the last week of Jan to determine my growing plans and like you, I grow what we like to eat, what grows well (completely different last year) and what stores well

atrixa

Hello, new to gardening over here. I'm trying to grow a few varieties of chilli (I got a GYO set for Christmas), chives and coriander indoors.

I'm also going to have a go at planting a few things in pots in the backyard, too. I've decided on garlic do far since I use it loads, but not sure about what else I can have a crack at that I'm unlikely to kill.

MovingForwards

@atrixa thyme and rosemary are woody stemmed and do well. There's lots of veg that can be grown in pots and dwarf fruit trees.

zafiro1984

MovingForwards said:

@atrixa thyme and rosemary are woody stemmed and do well. There's lots of veg that can be grown in pots and dwarf fruit trees.

Atrixa:- Garlic should do well, Don't plant a supermarket bulb as they can have virus diseases. There are two types of garlic, softnecked and hardnecked. One stores well the other doesn't. I can't remember which is which but Suffolk Lass will know.

We are plagued by deer, they eat most things except strongly smelly ones.
I wanted to do a rosemary hedge which I know is deer proof. I had trouble germinating the seeds, in fact it was a washout. The garden centre had plants but I considered them overpriced. However, Sainsburys came up trumps, their potted herbs were £1 for quite a substantial well rooted plant. On offer they were 60p a plant. I now have a (deer surviving) rosemary hedge about 50ft long for £30. I've also planted their thyme in a pot and it lasted the summer. Sometimes it pays to think laterally.

carinjo

@atrixa i would recommend a gardening magazine that comes with free seeds. Tomatoes in pots or a mediterranean mx of herbs are a good place to start. 
Went to a garden centre that came recommended this afternoon, Swift and Scorpio Mira potatoes, Mehnir shallots. 
Ms C and I spend a few minutes at allotment this afternoon, planning the beds. We worked out we have 12 beds we can use for the 4 bed rotation and the 'plant anywhere'. 
The seeds i got for my birthday last year means i do not have to buy anything except sweet peas, seed potatoes and shallots.