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

LessImpecunious

MissRikkiC said:

I’ve planted a few seeds for courgette, butternut, rainbow chard and rocket last week. The courgettes and rocket are through so I don’t think I’m too late with those, just waiting to see about the BS. I’m going to try and grow them vertically due to space constraints although the 1 courgette I started off a few weeks back now is already in flower and I’m not sure how I’ll get it to grow up!

Most courgettes are bush rather than vine varieties, so unless you've got a vining one it won't climb...

Suffolk_lass

Butternut squash and tromboncino will both climb, as will cucumbers. We saw arches over a walkway at Hintlesham Hall and they were growing squashes (including melons) when we were there a few years ago. Having an arch is good as you can put a net (like a bean net) over it and they will attach to that.

I wish you were near me, I have two butternut squashes and a pumpkin ready to plant out and almost no space. I do need to clear a bed with self seeded lettuce and I think two can go it there, and I will restrict salad to the big sink.

Fosterdog

Sorry I've been absent for a while. I've just had a quick read through to catch up, sounds like everything is well underway for everyone.

@MissRikkiC @Kantankrus_Mare raspberries do fine being moved, even if a few die back within a year or two you'll be overrun again in the new spot.

For me I have lots going wrong this year, I ran out of my own compost very early in the planting season so almost everything in containers has been a mix of Lidl and Asda compost, it looked good when I mixed them but it has been awful for water retention, never had this much of a problem with a planting mix before, I'm working hard on getting enough material to double or even triple my own compost for next year so the same doesn't happen again.

Looking at how things are growing this year I'm going to make a more conscious effort to concentrate on bigger crops of less varieties next year, I've done less succession crops this year because I've used the space for multiple varieties rather than prolonging the growing period. 

I harvested one container of Pentland Javelin first earlies at the beginning of the week and got 1.1kg from 4 seed potatoes which isn't great but considering the compost problem is not awful. I had planned on harvesting my second container of them next week and then my Kestrel second earlies a week or two later, however blight hit them so I pulled them up today before the tubers get infected or it spreads to my other varieties. Considering they were pulled early I did get 1.3kg of decent sized tubers, it's a shame they didn't get to continue growing, would have loved to see how much bigger the harvest would have been.

I have strawberries coming out of my ears, I'm giving handfuls away to neighbours every day because there are just so many, I'm away this weekend but I might use some for jam when I get back.

I'm dreading the state the garden will be in when I get home, I'm leaving OH to look after things but he has a habit of killing things with kindness. He's the reason I didn't have enough compost for this year because he took my "I need to get some nice fresh grass clippings to add to heat it up" as "I need 6 garden waste bags of grass clippings all added at once with no brown materials, oh and Fosterdog has said before that sometimes the compost bin needs water added, I'd better soak it daily" this resulted in a soggy anaerobic mess that was unusable this year and has had to be mixed with lots of browns to try and save it for next year. He means well but always goes too far thinking he's helping but often makes things worse.

Kantankrus_Mare

@Fosterdog I feel your pain regarding compost! I have 6 bins and only fill one at a time. I point out to my OH which one we are in the process of filling so what does he do? Put new compostable material into bins that are almost broken down. So frustrating. He also insists on using all my homemade compost to feed beds as they come free which I know they need but I also like to save some to use for strawberry runners or anything else I want to plant and dont want to go out and buy more bags of compost for.

MissRikkiC

Thanks @Suffolk_lass!! However my BNs have flourished and they’re through! I also followed the seed packet and sowed 2 at a time x 2 so I actually have 4 plus 1 which is a little more established! Might need to use the left over 2 beds to put them in as I’m not sure there will be space in their current homes. 

I have spent a small fortune at our garden centre this year, on just compost. Granted it’s not peat free but I don’t actually trust my own as when we started the composter I wasn’t very clued up on what could go in!! My lack of knowledge meant I put in food waste and not just peelings amongst other things! 

sammy_kaye18

Hi All 
Been absent for a little bit but I am still here lurking in the background so thought I would check in as well. 

My darling daughter has decided to share her lurgy that she has with me  - so Im not sure if I m suffering from a combination of hay fever and a summer cold or what but either way if I could stop my nose running, get rid of the headache and actually get a tidy nights sleep then I would be fine. I have lateral flow tested and they are both negative so I know its not that at least.

Have managed to see my sister this week though and she was showing me videos on her phone of how well her chillis are growing on her kitchen windowsill so she is going to bring me a plant down when she next comes to visit and in return I sent her home with a few of my extra tomato plants and some pepper plants. 
I still have about 10-15 in my greenhouse so I will be doing ok with tomatoes I suspect and they are thickening up nicely. Same with my pepper plants I think I have about 10 of them so I can see me freezing quite a few bags of produce hopefully if they all decide to produce. 
My peas are growing well and I have lots of pods on them. Im thinking I am going to finish off some of the pea seeds I have as a bit of late succession planting and see how they do. 
My runner beans are happily growing up my arch as well at the minute and are flowering nicely. 
I also have 3 courgette plants growing - not sure where the third came from as it is in my box with my runner beans but either way it seems to be thriving so Im leaving it to its own devices and I noticed a nice courgette flower this morning after the rain last night. 
I have pulled up all of my first crop of radishes as I just threw them in and hoped for the best so some were too close together but I have those to finish as well so will plant them out a bit better spaced soon. 
My carrots I did the same with are now actually fattening up and becoming carrots too which Im happy about. 
My cabbage have started to sprout and theres more than I expected but I have kept two beds clear for exactly this reason. 
Nothing from my sprouts yet but I will wait and see. 
I sowed the last of my rocket and mixed leaf lettuce in an empty bed too so hoping I can pick some more of that as well. 
I also lost hope when I planted out 6/7 cucumber plants and they all seemed to get eaten bar one, but I covered it over with a bottle cloche and it seems to have thrived so im hoping it will vine and I might still have hope for some home grown cucumber yet! 
Also my strawberry plants that I saved from MIL house now have berries on which are starting to ripen - this is my first year doing them so Im not hoping for the earth but a few would be nice. Also thinking if I get some off shoots then I will move them over to the other side of the garden where they can just do their thing.

Still have some winter veg to plant but I think on the weekend or when I start to feel better I will plant some bits and pieces for succession planting and then to start thinking about winter veg. I already have sprouts, cabbage and leeks planted. I have another variety of carrots to try as well as parsnips and swede. 

I also managed to eventually get some tomatorite but I dont have fruit on my plants yet to use it but fingers crossed they will all take off now the warmer weather is here. 

Hope your all doing well. 

Sam
x

Suffolk_lass

@sammy_kaye18 I freeze all my chillis as I pick them. They keep brilliantly in a bag in the freezer, and chopping them while frozen reduces the oil so no disastrous scratching or eye rubbing here!

I am trying cucumbers up bean poles outdoors but they are very slow to get started. The indoor ones are doing much better and I have 2cm cucs on all four (on what planet I needed 9 plants escapes me just now but I think I was expecting several to be slugged and they haven't been this year). 

I am just about to finish the big bottle of Tomorite that I have (it had even started to fade, it has lasted so long!) I plan to use up some other bottles of feed too but if I find some on offer, I may buy more

sammy_kaye18

@Suffolk_lass thank you for the tip - I will have to try that. 

I have one cucumber plant that I have managed to keep alive despite the others being eaten so I am nursing it at the minute and trying to encourage it to vine. 

I did go out yesterday and plant some left over seeds that Im hoping will be succession planting - runner beans, peas and leftover cucumber seeds. I also planted more radish and noticed that my sprouts and cabbage have all started to sprout as well. I also have my first glimpses of carrots although Im sure I have planted them too close together so may need to thin them out a bit to let them grow better. 

Im so excited that this first year has gone well and I am already thinking ahead to next year and what I can improve on etc. 

I have tomatorite ready but I do not yet have any fruit on my plants although I do have 3 flowers on one of my courgette plants now so I am excited for them to start producing. 

MissRikkiC

I think I’ve got blossom drop on my tomatoes, although our garden is full of wildlife and everything else which would have needed the bees etc to pollinate has done so curious as to whatever else is the matter. I’m going to refeed the tomatoes tonight but I’ve never had this problem before when growing them from grow bags or in just compost. 

I can’t help but feel SO disheartened by it either, I do know it’s only a few tomatoes but 2 things; they’re taking up space that I’d have much preferred to use for other things if I’d have known they would grow better in bags, but mostly, I grew them from seed and can’t help but feel annoyed at the amount of time and attention they’ve all had to then do SFA. Is this just how it goes with gardening? Do I just swallow the bitter pill? 

In better news, my daughter and I fished through a bag of 1st earlies tonight and the excitement on her face when she found potatoes was just wonderful ❤️

MissRikkiC

Now I’ve vented my emotion at the tomato plants, they’ve been refed and will see how they go. Not sure what else to do. 

I’ve also sorted the trellis for the squash to hang on to; just hoping the tendrils shoot in the right direction! 

A few other bits also done, transplanted a tomato that was in a pot, moved a pepper (the only one in the ground) and transplanted the extra courgette and BNS i sowed last week. I now have 1 bed left for autumn/winter veg at the moment but assume that providing I get everything started now in pots in the lean to, I can plant them out once everything else is done later this year?