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

Glittering_M

@alicef that is me too!

@Soontobeoap we've actually been talking about how we think there are more dandelions this year than ever before. At home and elsewhere. Has anyone else noticed an increase?

Apparently they are good for bees but I hate their long root system as you say!

Soontobeoap

We were discussing dandelions at crib last night. (As you do 🤣) and someone has a tortoise. She mentioned how they seem to have less leaves this year. (the woman did, not the tortiose) made me realise mine had less leaves and an abundance of flowers. I have left them in our back lane but dont like them in my garden. 

droopsnoot

I'd love to be able to get rid of the dandelions that are all over the place, I even found a special tool to hook the roots out but it's nowhere near big enough for some of the more established ones. I'm just a bit wary of digging too far because I don't know what else is in the garden and I'd hate to kill off something else. Lots of the ones in the front are intertwined with bulbs, so I'm waiting until they've come up and died off this year before digging around.

At the moment I pluck the flowers off when they are yellow, and leave them lying around for a bit so the bees can still have what they want out of them. I can't stop it, though, because my neighbours have a lot, and next door is empty so there's nothing being done there to control them at the moment.

YBR

alicef said:

@MissRikkiC - my seed sowing life veers from
a) new seed packet sown - 2 days later  oh my goodness germination what I shall I do, I have no room! 
to...
b) seed packet nearly a decade old - 1 month later ...why haven't you germinated, damm you 

 
This!
I've both of these at once!
 

YBR

I have a large number of Lettuce seedlings, Celery, and enough tomatoes with a couple spare. Onions and garlic are doing well. 
Peas in the garden are gernimating OK, but peas and peans in the greenhouse - not-so-much. Courgette and Cucumber seeds may be dud - I've just sown the last ones so may have to buy plants from the garden centre if they don't work. 

I think someone (my daughter) is opening the greenhouse doors and leaving it open so letting all the heat escape, but the cucumbers and courgette were in the house on a window cill so that excuse doesn't apply!

MissRikkiC

Haha that made me chuckle @alicef . We have a few things which have germinated but I’ve let dry out a bit as life’s got in the way so I’ll make space for new. All about the chase me 🤣🤣🤣

Soontobeoap

All 4 mini munch cucumber seeds are up and have 2 really strong leaves each. When the rain eases I hope to get into garden and plant my first spuds. 

carinjo

Dried salad cress. Check. Leggy lettuce. Check. Haha.
Planted the rest of 2nd earlies into builder's tubs to grow as salad potatoes. Planted cabbage and kallettes into modules, ran out of seedling compost, so will continue on another day. 
The first of the pumpkins have germinated and the leeks have perked up after the feeding. 

Soontobeoap

2 bush tomatoes into pots in garden after being hardened off. Carrot seeds sown, some of the strawberries have moved location and have plant supports to keep them off the ground, some potatoes that had sprouted indoors being given a chance in a pot. I am afraid the apple tree went today. ☹️ All the roses and lupins near it were so covered in greenfly that will have my work cut out dealing with that. Feel so good for being outside in the fresh air all afternoon. I also think that I have a snail for every square inch of garden. Lots of worms too though. 

KajiKita

Soontobeoap said:

2 bush tomatoes into pots in garden after being hardened off. Carrot seeds sown, some of the strawberries have moved location and have plant supports to keep them off the ground, some potatoes that had sprouted indoors being given a chance in a pot. I am afraid the apple tree went today. ☹️ All the roses and lupins near it were so covered in greenfly that will have my work cut out dealing with that. Feel so good for being outside in the fresh air all afternoon. I also think that I have a snail for everu square inch of garden. Lots of worms too though. 

Ummm …. Hate to be the bearer of potential Doom, but there are frosts forecast next week, your tomatoes could be in trouble! Do you have some fleece you could protect them with? Or are you out of the frost zone?

The roses and lupine that are covered in greenfly - give them a really good hose down. Aphids have very delicate mouth parts so wiping them with a (gloved - for the ewww factor!) hand and washing them off will reduce their numbers massively. Also, keeping a plant well watered means their sap is more dilute so ants will be less likely to want to farm aphids on those plants. 

KK