2023 - the good, the not so good but hopefully not ugly of growing your own!

sammy_kaye18

Well only a little bit done in the garden today. 

Went out and levelled off the larger bed I had made and husband helped me to reinforce it a bit and had a general tidy up of all the dog mess. 
Moved a load of wood into a pile which I will sit and burn at some point and picked up some rubbish. 

I do have a bit more to tidy up. Some wood to put into a pile and some bricks and rocks to move, as well as line my second bed. 

Do need to actually get planting some seeds....and have saved some milk bottles to turn into make shift propagators so may get that done whilst my baking is cooling tomorrow. 

Suffolk_lass

carinjo said:

Suffolk_lass said:

We are way behind already thanks to the distraction of a potential move. Clearing up is the priority for the timebeing!

Oh wow. That can't be easy, especially with all the effort you have put in over the years. And didn't you just get a fruit cage? 
@ancientmum, i've had success with clear punnets, using them as mini cloches on allotment, pegged down

Wow, well remembered. We did, but thanks to DH detaching a retina (twice) it has not been erected (maybe it will move with us)

TornErse

I am very envious of everyone who is busy growing seedlings at this time of year.  I have kept a journal the past few years and I have only planted seeds later on in March.  Its not that I can't grow the seeds in my house or potting shed its just too cool to keep them and they are week and spindley.  They start too leggy them just crash and burn weeks later.  I do better leaving it until mid March then have stronger, healthier seedlings in April that can go in the ground by the end of the month.

I spent a lovely few hours over the weekend clearing up my borders and managed to plant up some spring pots.  There is still a lot to do but I'm reluctant to do too much as I know from experience we can still have snow, heavy rains and frosty nights so just being careful.  This year I am trying a new technique, as I cut back a few shrubs I'm going to chop up the smaller branches and use them as mulch and dig them in around the plants rather than put them in my brown bin.

Really excited to get into the garden again after winter and I want to be much more careful about succession planting in my veg boxes this year.

MissRikkiC

Well garden project was completed yesterday. I’ve left 1 double bed as I don’t think I can squeeze 2 in anyway so felt very accomplished. There are 4 beds which are still on top of the stone however 2 have got strawberries in, 1 has a single cabbage which survived the winter and the other is the one I haven’t moved. I can’t be bothered to get that one back to the soil so that one plus the others will wait until next winter now. It means we now have 11 80x60cm beds to grow in though which is exciting. 

There will also be the brick built bed at the side of the house next to the lean-to and the ‘coffin’ at the top of the garden. It was called ‘the coffin’ because after my husband built a raised bed from decking about 4 years ago, at about 10 ft long nothing went into it for another 2 years. I joked for those 2 years that If he didn’t get his back side into gear and plant in it, I’d bury him in there instead hence the name of the ‘coffin’. He took too long in the end and whilst he did eventually plant in it, I stole a 3rd for veg growing so I have that too. I hope for a bountiful crop of everything this year! 

carinjo

@MissRikkiC, that is a lot of beds! And well done for deciding there another year to do more. 
@TornErse, i've read up a bit more on when to plant my seeds and you have given me an idea. I have a few raised boxes i am planning to fill with layers of straw, bark and compost for flowers and then use it at end of season to empty out on areas of the plot a bit low. I can just as easily use some as seed beds! I have a constant battle with invasive marestail and never considered a seedbed. I will still do my plan for seeds in pots and trays at home, but for a second sowing or successional planting, the raised boxes will work very well to start the seeds off once the weather better!
One of allotment neighbours started on his tomato planting at home already, i think will wait another month! 

Today on allotment: dug over the dwarf bean bed from last year, i let it die down to help with nitrogen., Raked over the old brassica bed, hardly any weeds survived from last year! 
Placed the raised boxes and drilled drainage holes.

At home this afternoon will do the first sowing of leeks (read that an early sowing is for end of summer harvest, later sowing for overwintering) Got Gigante D'Inverno. Got a basil plant from supermarket, will take cuttings and grow on on kitchen window sill. A few of the free T&M seeds (MSE special offer from a few weeks ago) can be started indoors already.

I got a couple of questions: i discovered some wild strawberry runners. Can i take cuttings already and grow new plants or shall i wait a bit?
2nd question: i am planning on growing a giant climbing squash. Could i attempt to grow it up an almost vertical pallet, or does it need something thin like a bamboo to wrap its twiners around? I also have leftover pear branches about 5cm diameter i can use. 

MissRikkiC

I found @carinjo that there wasn’t so many twiners on the squash but the lengths of stem they put out were enough to gentle wind around the trellis anyway. Maybe some mesh stapled to the pallet could work? 

carinjo

Thanks @MissRikkiC, i like the idea of mesh and pallet. I have enough space to try that and bamboo canes. 

Suffolk_lass

We grew tromboncino in 2021 and it climbs on anything. Last year we managed Crown Prince pumpkins over a bird net too

sammy_kaye18

Morning all

Well second bed lined and partially filled. 

Picked up wood and put it into a pile to burn in the incinerator bin once we get a few dry days. 

Rubbish picked up form the garden and pots all stored in tubs ready to go. 

Big bag of soil now practically empty and moved to the back garden to use in other areas. 

Going to sit later and see what seeds to get starting indoors. 

Also saving milk bottles to turn into mini greenhouses etc and toilet roll tubes! 

carinjo

@Suffolk_lass they didn't have the tromboncino at garden centre, so got the Sicilian snake. Aparently the squash can grow up to 2m!