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

atrixa

I moved the first lot of my chillies (Bolivian Rainbow) out of their propagator into separate pots last night. I thought I'd killed the lot with transplant shock but they've mostly perked up again now. I'm hoping to give some away as gifts as they're meant to be very pretty. Not as good for eating, unfortunately. I've also got Ghost Pepper, Cherry Bomb, Horn Chilli and Ring of Fire in propagators that are looking pretty good so far.

Indoor herb garden is coming along with chives, coriander and parsley so far.

I'm waiting for payday so I can buy some bits in preparation for outdoor planting when the weather gets warmer

leftatthetrafficlights

Chillis and peppers sown in the propagators yesterday - potato chitting coming on nicely too! Looking forward to spring arriving and the season starting in earnest! 

Suffolk_lass

I've learned from several years of lost seedlings, that I need to be a bit patient. Here in the East we are notorious for cold wet springs. I can only clear the weeds and spread some compost in anticipation of the year to come, and keep my seedlings safe from mice (if I can) in my greenhouse this year

Fosterdog

Another productive week last week. I finished tidying the strawberry bed, more general tidying around the garden, did my seed and pot inventory, ordered what I needed and have organised all the seeds by sowing date in my storage box so I don't have to go digging through to find what I need next. I've bought my onion sets, more garlic to companion plant with my strawberries, they are there more as a pest deterrent than to grow so I don't mind if they don't come to much, my potatoes are chatting, and for the first time I'm attempting to cold store some maincrop seed potatoes in my fridge to plant later in the year, if next winter is as mild as this year I should be able to harvest them well into December.

This week I'm going to start my peppers indoors, they were so slow last year I ran out of time to get a decent crop so going for a head start this year of around 3 weeks earlier. This is my first year planting some onions from seed so may start some this week and some in a few weeks because I'm reading a lot of conflicting information on the best time to get them going. I'm still working on putting my garden calendar together, it's going to be something that gets edited as the years go on to suit my growing space and local climate, definitely a long term project. I'll be building the soil and amending a few of my beds, pea and bean area has been freshly dug over and weeded but needs a lot more organic material to improve the clay soil. Finally I'll be weeding and cutting back at least one more area to increase my growing space, I need somewhere to plant my giant sunflowers this year so they can go in the freshly cleared spot. I've got lots of cardboard boxes so once I've cut back the area I'll try it as a no dig bed.

Now it's just waiting for all the offers and bargains on compost and manure to get do more prep.

How long do the rest of you keep liquid fertilisers before replacing them? I've got tomato feed that I use as my main feed through the growing season for all of my fruit and veg and I bought huge bottles last year and the year before and they both have some left but I'm not sure if they really have a use by or if they are good for several years.

Suffolk_lass

Fosterdog said:

Now it's just waiting for all the offers and bargains on compost and manure to get do more prep.

How long do the rest of you keep liquid fertilisers before replacing them? I've got tomato feed that I use as my main feed through the growing season for all of my fruit and veg and I bought huge bottles last year and the year before and they both have some left but I'm not sure if they really have a use by or if they are good for several years.

That all sounds really organised!

Re compost bargains I was thinking of putting out a FB post in my village to see if anyone wants to get grow-bags or compost as a joint purchase. We use at least 15 bags and so thinking of a pallet. I bought a ton a few years ago but it was contaminated with creeping wood sorrel (which is a real issue for me now) so bags would be my choice.

I don't really chuck liquid fertiliser unless the plastic bottle degrades to a point where it is breaking down. The Tomorite I have still did its thing last year which as at least its' third summer

Dizzy_Ditzy

Hello! I seriously meant to post on this before today! 

My allotment is a mess. Weeds everywhere. We never got round to clearing the weeds at the back end of last year and although one of us is there every day to sort the chickens out, its too wet and cold to do anything so its going to be a clear as we go job this year i think. 

We had a very big tree come down from neighbouring land back in November during one of the storms. Completely destroyed the fence, our water butt and probably our apple tree. Mess everywhere. Took 3 of us to clear the worst of it, which went back over the fence but we are still left with one long and heavy huge branch which is lying on the path as we cant get it back over the fence. Council are arguing with the landowners about who is responsible for replacing it and in the meantime, we still have a metal fence overhanging the path. 

I promise that I will post more often on this thread this year

Suffolk_lass

@Dizzy_Ditzy Nightmare! Have you got a local FB group to offer the wood to someone with a petrol or battery chainsaw for their wood-burning stove next year (after it is seasoned)?

MovingForwards

We listed our tree wood on g-tree and it was soon snapped up.

Dizzy_Ditzy

Suffolk_lass said:

@Dizzy_Ditzy Nightmare! Have you got a local FB group to offer the wood to someone with a petrol or battery chainsaw for their wood-burning stove next year (after it is seasoned)?

Good thinking  

carinjo

A friendly chat with a neighbour and scored a dozen or so paving slabs for the back garden. The slabs in the back garden can go to the allotment!