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

Wildflowergarden

Can I join please? I had a terrible growing year 2022 due to the hot weather and being very heavily pregnant. Hoping to get out in the garden again, but will be focusing on veggies that don’t need much care as the aforementioned bump is now a little distracting cherub!

i love growing carrots, leeks and potatoes- for fun factor of pulling/digging for spuds. Would love to grow swede and celeriac this year as I use these a lot in the winter. Keen to have a go at squash grown vertically as my husband got me a fancy new squash cage for Christmas! As ever will keep going with tomatoes but I don’t have a greenhouse and they often succumb to blight. 

Silvertabby

I tend to stick to toms and chillies in the greenhouse, strawberries in a trough and blueberries in pots.  

My garden isn't big enough for veggies, although I did try growing beetroot in a trough some time ago.  They were doing grand, until next doors pet bunnies did the great escape under the fence and scoffed every beetroot leaf down to soil level.  Couldn't shout at them, as they are so cute and cuddly!

alicef

Slowly getting through the list I set for this week...

I've stuck a bin over the rhubarb; pruned the grapevines; started on the veg list/planting plan; started on clearing out the polytunnel and have cleaned the propagators. 
I came across some herb fennel that had gone to seed, ditto flat leaf parsley, in the polytunnel.  I'll collect the seed; the fennel I'll scatter on my wildflower area and the latter I'll resow.

MissRikkiC

Looking forward to getting invoked again this year. 

I lost 80% of my tomatoes to blight last year so can’t plant in the same compost again this year which is annoying as they were in all but 1 of mr raised beds last year. 

I have a small lean to (which is leaning too much and in need of repair at the moment) so I’ll try in there instead! 

Can anyone confirm what still should technically be growing outside at this time of year? It’s just that I have some herbs and kale which are looking a bit drab and I thought they’d be mostly fine! 

LessImpecunious

MissRikkiC said:

Looking forward to getting invoked again this year. 

I lost 80% of my tomatoes to blight last year so can’t plant in the same compost again this year which is annoying as they were in all but 1 of mr raised beds last year. 

I have a small lean to (which is leaning too much and in need of repair at the moment) so I’ll try in there instead! 

Can anyone confirm what still should technically be growing outside at this time of year? It’s just that I have some herbs and kale which are looking a bit drab and I thought they’d be mostly fine! 

Blight is airborne, not soilborne, so planting tomatoes in the same bed not an issue Problem is, the blight will probably be airborne again next year, as it usually is Planting them in a leanto,  greenhouse or polytunnel will help with that though! Re kale - some of mine has been killed by frost, others are hanging on - in theory kale is hardy, but hard frosts (especially when followed by mild wet weather, IME) may kill them. Worth hanging on to them if they're not clearly dead, as they will often regrow and produce leaves and young flowering shoots in spring...

ancientmum

I would like to join in again please, although I mostly just read, I will try to  contribute more this year.  I have not been to the allotment for ages, due to other commitments and rain, rain, rain.  I'm going at the weekend so hoping that the broccoli have sprouted, and the garlic I planted before Christmas is still ok.  I put in a washing up bowl pond last autumn, looking forward to seeing if anything moves in in spring.  
Going to sow some chilli seeds at the weekend too, and sort out others that will need to go in soon.  Well armed with toilet rolls and grape punnets, aiming to re-use and recycle!

MissRikkiC

Thanks @LessImpecunious that’s really helpful. I worried all year because most of the fancier tomatoes (they’ve been mentioned above but I can’t think how to spell them: big beefsteak fleshy things) had blossom drop then they really took off and I had an abundance and was waiting for them to turn red. Then blight struck and took out the lot! Gutted. 

Chillis and peppers are about now arent they. I might have to pick up some compost this weekend 😇

Lastly before I forget, I planted my blueberries bushes once they’d finished last year, it was so dry that the water in the butt wasn’t enough and I got worried. So I planted them and dug in a huge load of the acidic compost. I’m going to strip my Christmas tree before it goes to recycling Monday for the pine needles for mulch. 

Does anyone have any experience in doing this and have any recommendations on how to do it quickly? It’s not that dead that they’re dropping that much is all so was going to score my gardening knife down the lengths to gather them all. 

thriftwizard

@MissRikkiC - is your tree nice & dry now? If so, you could try what weavers do with bramble stems before using them in hedgerow baskets; using a really sturdy, preferably leather, glove on the hand that's doing the stripping, grasp the branch firmly & slide your hand down the branch against the direction of growth. Hopefully the needles will just slip off, as the thorns do from the bramble stems. Can't say I've tried it as we mostly get Scots pines that have had to be culled from our local bird reserve, and I'm really not brave enough to tangle with bramble stems either; might need metal gauntlets for those! But worth a try, as if it works it'll be quick and save your knife.

MissRikkiC

I’ll try that @thriftwizard as I definitely have a couple of odd leather gloves from the last few years I’ve kept hold of incase the other turns up! It’s all happening tomorrow providing its dry and so I’ll keep you posted 

alicef

starting the succession ball rolling with a small number of broad bean seeds - half destined for polytunnel, the other half for planting outside.

Off to pick up some bare root trees next week - will also see about getting some BR raspberry canes to fill gap.