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

sammy_kaye18

Well I made a start yesterday and actually planted something! Woohoo! 

So now I have some main crop potatoes into potato bags and threw a few earlies in another one in the hopes of a few small ones to go with salads etc. 
Between the bags I have planted some butterfly and bee seeds to help encourage some pollinators to the garden. 

In the greenhouse I now have a load of .....
- courgette
- cucumber
- sweet peppers 
- runner beans
- lettuce

Then in an outside planter I have started peas and put a row of radish down the middle of them 

- nepeta (aka catnip) as the neighbour on one side keeps leaving all her rubbish to pile up and she doesnt use her garden at all. (its quite messy and cluttered) and I'm sure I've seen rats in her garden so I'm hoping by inviting cats into mine, giving it a good tidy and the fact I have 3 dogs - that I can deter them easily. 

Also going to dig a bit of a flower bed between our adjoining fence and plant up with lavender etc as I read it is a natural deterrent too - as well as mint but I am not letting that loose in the garden! 

Finished off the front garden too by putting down some compost between my other neighbours fence and my own and adding the rest of the butterfly/bee mix. 

I still have lots to plant - carrots, beetroot, cayenne peppers,  hoping to find some chilli's if I can get them on the windowsill. I have some herbs to pot up as well still. 

Tomatoes are next to be planted. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will stay dry as its currently raining here. 

MissRikkiC

I had half an hour spare so fixed my greenhouse pane and quickly threw some compost into modules (I think 5 sets of 6) and grabbed some seeds on the way out of the shed. I had my nearly 3 year old wanting to help, so as a result, I have no idea which I did in what module sets 🤣 I know overall what they are so will just hope I can recognise the seedlings when they germinate. 

KajiKita

@sammy_kaye18, i love the fact that you are planting nepeta to attract cats! 😂 That’s really made me smile. I appreciate the logic though ….

KK

Suffolk_lass

Here we have rabbits and magpies causing chaos, although our miserable neighbour spoke to me yesterday for the first time in a year or more. He cheerfully said hello, so I replied and asked how he was... I clearly turned on the switch for him to moan. I'm used to it after over 18 years living next door. He has only ever spoken to me to complain about things. 

We quietly get on with the never-ending weeding. DH at the front, me at the back. I split a pot of basil into two, that should see us through the summer, and repotted a mint I originally received in a TGTG bag. Both went well and I have one of each outside the back door, freeing up my window sill for beans. I am going to plant in pots as well as in the ground, to ensure we have enough. It looked like storming here by 3.30 so we went off to the garden centre and bought some things to go in pots. I noticed I have frost damage to two terracotta pots. I might try my grandfather's repair method of some cement and a wire under the rim, but I might just add them to the crocks as time is at a premium.

sammy_kaye18

KajiKita said:

@sammy_kaye18, i love the fact that you are planting nepeta to attract cats! 😂 That’s really made me smile. I appreciate the logic though ….

KK

Id rather have cats than rats! 
My neighbour has two cats that I have watched before and known since kittens so i dont mind the two of them roaming round the garden and I have grown the catnip in pots so I can sprinkle it and not just leave the plant in the garden as I dont want every cat from the area in the garden! 

Well today is nice and sunny here in South Wales. 17 degrees and mostly cloudy although all I can see if clear blue sky. 
I have been out this morning and mown what grass I have left so hoping some of it will self seed and cover up the area that my two shitehounds have been using as their zoomie track! 

Going to go out now and do a general clear up and make some final plans for areas. Im thinking I have some slabs so I may put them down under my whirligig washing line as smallest dog (chihuahua x jack russell) keeps deciding that that is the most small dog friendly place to take a dump so the other two dont run over her head. 

Also need to pull some weeds and block off the fence to the messy neighbours yard and move the bird feeder somewhere else. 

sammy_kaye18

MissRikkiC said:

I had half an hour spare so fixed my greenhouse pane and quickly threw some compost into modules (I think 5 sets of 6) and grabbed some seeds on the way out of the shed. I had my nearly 3 year old wanting to help, so as a result, I have no idea which I did in what module sets 🤣 I know overall what they are so will just hope I can recognise the seedlings when they germinate. 

Good luck playing guess the veg. I have a feeling I too may be in this camp after I accidentally knocked over a few pots in my greenhouse and just scooped up compost and seeds into whatever tub had space! Doh! 

sammy_kaye18

Also does anyone know if theres any uses for in the garden. 

We lit a fire in the garden the other day to get rid of old hedge clippings. Nothing else in the incinerator but the clippings, can I use the charcoal for anything in the garden before I just get rid of it? 

carinjo

@sammy_kaye18, you can use ash in garden to help lower ph balance, similar to lime. Some fruit like raspberries won't like it, so if you use your compost heap for everything, maybe mix it separately as needed. Can also sprinkle over soil and rake/dig in. 

Suffolk_lass

We use wood ash around roses, when we twice-a-year empty the wood burning stove. 

I finally planted some beans, all in pots in the greenhouse under stretched or split (re-use) ziplock bags because something is in there trying to snack on my cucumber and courgette seedlings. Nothing done outside as it was just awful here yesterday. I should be able to pop a couple more plants out to neighbours today - peppers and cucumbers to one, a tomato to another.

Mostly I need to concentrate on pollination today, by inspecting our bees. It was supposed to be warm enough from 10.00 but now the forecast has postponed that to 13.00. Poxy Spring weather here!

sammy_kaye18

Well have spent the day outside, again tackling the garden and get it useable for the nicer weather. 

I moved our bird feeder to a less used point in the garden, refilled it with bird seed and dried mealworms and then finished cutting the grass. 
Have cleared up some rubbish that seemed to be flitting around the garden (carrier bags etc) which I expect is from messy neighbour. 
Put up some string solar lights that daughter wanted to put up so kept her happy. 
Cleared the area by the back door and moved our glass topped table there so I have a nice place to sit in the morning with my coffee and gave it a good wipe over. 
Put all the wood in the garden into one area and made a rubbish pile too to look at getting removed. 
Also laid an old pallet down and used an old piece of flexible piping to make a hoop and Im planning on using an old umbrella cover and attaching it from the hoop to the fence to make a sunshade so the dogs (mainly our greyhound cross saluki pup) who likes to sit in the garden and watch the birds - to have a shaded area where he can sit and enjoy the garden too. Come nicer weather I will be out there with a big umbrella anyway so he will have options but our other two black dogs prefer to be inside in front of the fan. 
Also planted up some moneymaker tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes in old milk cartons
I do have some micro toms to put in pots 

Also have some Tom Thumb Peas as well so I think that will be tomorrows project - then I just have to find somewhere for the carrots! 

Tomorrows task will be moving soil I have left in a big tonne bag into the raised bed I have so I can start prepping that for growing on in. 
Also need to turn a new spare bin I have into a water butt.