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

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  • Suffolk_lass
    Suffolk_lass Posts: 9,546 Forumite
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    Hi all! 

    I joined the 2021 thread last year and made 5 raised (knee height) beds which were all filled with things which the garden centre were selling at the time. These were mostly ‘spring’ varieties of veg which made me realise at the grand age of 30, that the time they’re harvested is where these veggies get their name from 😂 please don’t laugh at my stupidness! 

    That said, I planted them all (white sprouting broccoli, cauliflowers and spring cabbages, spring onions and I think 1 more that I can’t think of the name of) around maybe September time (they were quite tall little seedlings at this stage 🌱) and other then meticulously remove cabbage white eggs all throughout September and October, I’ve hardly done anything else with them at all. Are they likely all dead now? These should all over-winter OK but the Spring onions might be woody (so OK for stock)

    I really haven’t inspected them much and I actually have a bit of anxiety about doing so incase they’re all ruined but maybe I have to so I can take a picture and show you lovely bunch here who know their stuff to see if they’ve all had it! 

    I also had a few cut and come again lettuces as well as perpetual spinach, these were all cut back and used last year but again I’ve not done much with them since. Can I assume they’re all done with now? I would expect the lettuces to be dead - the spinach will depend on the variety.

    Thanks in advance all. I’ll pop a picture on tomorrow if it’s needed to see the damage! 😬
    I normally clear the decks in February (so lazy in Autumn but I get chronic "hayfever" (rhinitis) from rotting leaves, moulds and fungus) - we should get the compost on the raised beds then (so the worms can do their thing) but it is always early Spiring by the time we do.

    My reminder from the RHS jobs email says now is the time to prune apple trees, for anyone considering when. I also need to do stuff to the plum tree but that is a tiny bit later.
    Save £12k in 2024 - #2 target is £5000 £5809.67 so far, just over 116%
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    I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
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  • MissRikkiC
    MissRikkiC Posts: 1,239 Forumite
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    Thanks @Suffolk_lass I’ve been out this morning and can confirm the spring onions have done okay! Some are very gangly and long but no real signs of white spots so will try and use the nice white parts and a little green for stir fry’s and the rest maybe bake it or soup! Can you make onion soup from spring onion? I looked at the label this morning and they’re Japanese bulb type variety and considering the fact they’re okay, I’m pretty proud of myself (despite having done nothing 😂) 

    I’ll get in there this weekend and take out al the rotten leaves for the broccoli and cabbage etc and add some more compost to the top and maybe some fertiliser as I’m sure they’re in need and hope for the best. I have pictures but I’ll retake once I tidy up at the weekend. 

    I have onions though! Whooooo 🥳🥳🥳
    Here i am again.... Older but not any wiser!

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  • haybel19
    haybel19 Posts: 1,332 Forumite
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    Please may I join you all? I love to grow veg in our garden and have raised beds and pots. What are you all sowing at the moment? 
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  • I look forward to growing strawberries again. I have some Brussels sprout seeds at home. Might plant them later. 
    There’s only one way of life, and that’s your own!
  • MissRikkiC
    MissRikkiC Posts: 1,239 Forumite
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    I am googling as we speak @haybel19  as haven’t started yet but would like to in the next few weeks. That said, I still have white sprouting broccoli, spring cabbages and cauliflower occupying my beds right now so can’t begin to clear those yet. 

    I popped to our garden centre today to ask for some advice on a Phoenix palm I have and also re the veg above. They think that there is a still a frost to come and this will perk up the WSB and Caulis although I’m not so convinced they will make it. They said if by the start of March there is nothing on then then pull them but the mild winter hasn’t helped at all. I felt better and that maybe me having neglected them a little wasn’t entirely the reason they’ve not done so well. 

    Does everyone else pop down fresh compost each year or just a bit of new on top of the old? 

    I think @haybel19 I might get some potatoes chitting this weekend :)


    Here i am again.... Older but not any wiser!

    My Debt Free Diary - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6275380/pay-for-the-future-and-not-the-past#latest
  • Suffolk_lass
    Suffolk_lass Posts: 9,546 Forumite
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    edited 11 February 2022 at 8:15AM

    Does everyone else pop down fresh compost each year or just a bit of new on top of the old? 

    I think @haybel19 I might get some potatoes chitting this weekend :)


    It depends where it is and what I grew in it. For me, potatoes and tomatoes always get fresh compost because of blight. They are the same family so if you get any disease, it will pass to the others. Personally I grow tomatoes in pots of grow-bag compost or good multi-purpose compost and at the beginning of the next year that gets tipped out on the compost heap to mix in with the shredded prunings and grass cuttings that go on the garden 3 years later.

    My potato growing has reduced to just 10 chitting salad potatoes (charlotte, which are 2nd earlies) and they are in egg boxes on the kitchen window sill. They go into one of my four rotation crop beds and I keep a sheet of what I grew where year by year so I don't get it wrong. The destination beds are one sleeper long by about 6 foot wide (just too wide for me to kneel and weed). There is a lesson there, should anyone else want to learn where I failed.

    The classic rotation is Potatoes followed by roots, followed by brassicas, followed by legumes - so if you grew beans last year, put potatoes there with fresh compost and they will take up the nitrogen the bean roots have deposited and clean the soil.

    I was taught that potatoes are a great crop to clean and separate your soil, so if you have a very heavy clay soil, it is likely the potatoes will help to break it up with their roots, some worms and maybe some leaf-mould loam
    Save £12k in 2024 - #2 target is £5000 £5809.67 so far, just over 116%
    [url="https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6500427/february-2024-grocery-challenge/p1"]OS Grocery Challenge 2024 78.37% spent or £2351.13/£3,000 annual
    I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
    My old Debt Free Diary Get a grip Woman
  • carinjo
    carinjo Posts: 898 Forumite
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    I also read this week one should keep potatoes and tomatoes at least 3metres apart, so moved my planning on allotment a bit. 
    And I can confirm that potatoes help clear the soil. The 3 rows i done last year done an amazing job, but yes, it leaves you with a lot of smaller potatoes (which we are still eating and taste absolutely fine steamed whole and then lightly crushed with garlic butter!)
    My potatoes are chitted in big green supermarket veg trays, a lot of newspaper crunched into balls with the potatoes nestled upright inbetween. I am planning another 2 rows of clearing, hence the large amount of potatoes. (Got the idea from a link on last year's thread)
    The shallots in pots in greenhouse have started making shoots. 
    We have not managed to finish eating the pumpkins and butternut from last year yet, so will either plant less, or donate more, will see. 
    Today's allotment day got rained out, so relaxing instead. Will still be there next week.
    It's good for the soul to walk with your soles on the soil. 
  • Hello everyone. I note that Sutton's Seeds is free P&P this weekend and Marshall's seeds is free P&P on compost. May be useful for someone
  • KajiKita
    KajiKita Posts: 5,394 Forumite
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    Hello All :) Please may I join? 

    I'm trying to tame a reasonably sized veggie patch in my garden that slopes to the east and is absolutely infested with bindweed! Last season was hopeless as I was ill all through spring and into summer and by then the patch had ‘got away’. I hero-worship Charles Dowding ;) so have been covering the beds with cardboard and whatever compost I could get my hands on over the winter. About 2/3rds of the area is cleared and covered but I still have two big beds to do. I have cardboard and compost for one … ish … but I will struggle for the last one. 

    I note the comments about shallots … getting those started in pots is a nice little evening job I can do one evening this week as after work ‘therapy’! Thanks for the reminder @carinjo :) 

    KK
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  • Fosterdog
    Fosterdog Posts: 4,948 Forumite
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    Not much happening here the last few weeks, weather hasn't been great so limited time actually out in the garden. I did buy a heat mat and grow light to help me get started indoors and try to get a head start. So far I have bell peppers, red onions, and Nasturtiums in, they've been in for a week with no signs of life yet but it is early days, I'm using the heat mat for them and while I wait for them to germinate I'm using the grow light with some of my house plants that are not liking the shorter and darker days. I did buy some peat free compost from Asda that I used to sow my seeds and now my house is infested with fungus gnats so if anyone else is going to use it just be aware.

    I've also just ordered a mini greenhouse, I was waiting for the annual offer in Aldi but this year they are £69.99 compared to last years £54.99 and you have to pay £4 delivery and I begrudge such a steep price rise so I just found somewhere on EBay that has a slightly bigger version for £69.99 with free delivery. I'm happy enough with that since I still don't have the space cleared or cash for a proper greenhouse, I'll still keep an eye out on local bargains for one though.
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