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

droopsnoot

I cleared another small section and planted a few more onions yesterday. I've got six showing from the last batch, so with a bit of luck these new ones will be ready a bit later.

sammy_kaye18

Hello all
Room for a novice
I did manage to have a fairly good growing year last year - especially cucumbers which Im not sure I want to see again for a while since one plant seemed to really take off. 
I keep going outside and looking at my garden and feeling a bit sad about it. 
Its still very wet here in south wales and my poor grass has taken a hammering after the introduction of a greyhound puppy who likes to tear round the garden at high speed. 
Last year I also caught his brother and sister (a lurcher x whippet and a chihuahua x jack russell) stealing some of my produce! One with a taste for peas and the others a taste for strawberries so some dog proofing is needed. 
I made two low beds as well which they were pretty good at staying off at but I want to improve them this year, raise them maybe or get rid of the all together since I found I had more luck growing in containers. 
So I have a bag full of seeds already and lots of various tubs and pots etc ready to go but I want to make a real start soon so Im sat planning a lay out and will hopefully get some sort of freak heatwave soon so I can get out in the garden and get it all rearranged. 
Id love to add a few small fruit trees to my crops this year as well so looking for trees that can go into large pots. 

I will conquer the garden this year! 

 

in_my_wellies

Hello, I'm hoping to have time to join in this year

Whilst waiting in the queue at the garden centre in noticed boxes of 'Grow your own H****** tomatoes kit', 'Grow you own C********* mustard kit' and another I can't remember. The contents of the tomato box was three 9cm pots, compost and approx 10 F1 tomato seeds all for the bargain price of £12.99. How do they sell this stuff!!!!!!!!

*Just Googled it and it seems £12.99 is a bargain, most online are £14!!!

RAS

For a cheaper option, hope for Lidl's 5 for £1 deal for basic packets, the peas and beans are 5 for £2. Limited choice and a few oddballs. Last year was nothing like as good as previous choices though.

Wilkos do a few brassicas @ 50p which makes them the cheap enough to grow your own and not worry to much. You may also find their Mixed Lettuce at the same price with half a dozen varieties.

in_my_wellies

RAS said:

For a cheaper option, hope for Lidl's 5 for £1 deal for basic packets, the peas and beans are 5 for £2. Limited choice and a few oddballs. Last year was nothing like as good as previous choices though.

Wilkos do a few brassicas @ 50p which makes them the cheap enough to grow your own and not worry to much. You may also find their Mixed Lettuce at the same price with half a dozen varieties.

Agreed, I've found Lidl seeds good value and reliable for many years but yes, smaller selection last year, I thought I was just too late. 

For several years I've bought a tray of about 16 'cut and come again' lettuce from the vegetable section in the supermarket and separated them and planted them out like plug plants. Works well for the amount of lettuce I need but I didn't find them at all last year. 

ps, I'm still planting broccoli from a packet with an expiry date of 1983. Grows big strong plants. I used to grow 12 a year but now I'm just planting 3 to make them last - I have about 60 seeds left........... 

sammy_kaye18

in_my_wellies said:

Whilst waiting in the queue at the garden centre in noticed boxes of 'Grow your own H****** tomatoes kit', 'Grow you own C********* mustard kit' and another I can't remember. The contents of the tomato box was three 9cm pots, compost and approx 10 F1 tomato seeds all for the bargain price of £12.99. How do they sell this stuff!!!!!!!!

*Just Googled it and it seems £12.99 is a bargain, most online are £14!!!

I said this to my sister who wants to learn to grow her own. 
Told her to get herself down to somewhere like Lidls/Aldi or Wilko and get a few of the cheap packets there or shop the sales ready. I use a website called Budgetseeds and havent had a problem yet with any of the seeds Ive tried. 

Have just taken the dog for a walk and noticed that someone had fly tipped 5 big pallets. So have now managed to wrangle 3 of them home and Im shattered and whilst humping them through the gate my neighbour appeared and has offered me the pallet bar her daughter tried to build during lockdown that she promptly lost interest in and didnt finish so I now have 3 big pallets and essentially two chopped up pallets ready to start making things with so Im just hoping for a dry day now to make a start on some planters. 

Although the bar looks nice and Im thinking a few long pieces of wood through one of the shelves and a cushion made from my stash of craft stuff and I could have a nice big bench seat to put on my pallet deck! 

RAS

I particularly like the Lucellus Swiss Chard. Very tender and extremely cold hardy.

The rather bizarre thing here was that once the rack was almost empty, they added a second one, some of which was still on sale in the late autumn.

in_my_wellies

sammy_kaye18 said:

Have just taken the dog for a walk and noticed that someone had fly tipped 5 big pallets. So have now managed to wrangle 3 of them home and Im shattered and whilst humping them through the gate my neighbour appeared and has offered me the pallet bar her daughter tried to build during lockdown that she promptly lost interest in and didnt finish so I now have 3 big pallets and essentially two chopped up pallets ready to start making things with so Im just hoping for a dry day now to make a start on some planters. 

That made me smile - just the sort of thing I get up to. I'm sure you'll make good use of them but here's some more ideas for you - https://www.palletsllc.com/70-incredible-things-made-from-pallets/

So far I've made a hen, log store, compost heaps and side of a lean too, all for free! 

sammy_kaye18

in_my_wellies said:

sammy_kaye18 said:

Have just taken the dog for a walk and noticed that someone had fly tipped 5 big pallets. So have now managed to wrangle 3 of them home and Im shattered and whilst humping them through the gate my neighbour appeared and has offered me the pallet bar her daughter tried to build during lockdown that she promptly lost interest in and didnt finish so I now have 3 big pallets and essentially two chopped up pallets ready to start making things with so Im just hoping for a dry day now to make a start on some planters. 

That made me smile - just the sort of thing I get up to. I'm sure you'll make good use of them but here's some more ideas for you - https://www.palletsllc.com/70-incredible-things-made-from-pallets/

So far I've made a hen, log store, compost heaps and side of a lean too, all for free! 

One mans trash and all that.....
Im very aware that those 3 were heavy enough but there is another two still there (although I havent actually checked today) but Im half tempted to go and wrangle them home as well although they are down the side of my house at the minute and I dont want to move them to the back garden yet until I have had a tidy up and have a clear space to work on them or store them. 
But I am trying to think about what to do with them. 
I sat last night and drew out a new plan for the garden which Im hoping will be more dog proof and easily accessible for me so its a matter of holding out for the weather now to get out there and do it. The dogs have turned it into a bit of a mud pit with their zoomies and Im hoping the grass will come back once the sunshine reappears! 

droopsnoot

I put a couple of different types of tomato - Money Maker and Gardener's Delight - into some seed trays yesterday. The former were 5p in Wilkos, the others leftovers from last year.