The ups, the downs and the insides out of growing your own in 2024!

KajiKita

ArbitraryRandom said:

Hmm... my potatoes don't seem to be chitting. They've been on the windowsill for maybe 10 days now and there's nubby bits but I've got more sprouts/roots on my supermarket eating potatoes than these seed potatoes. 

Anything I can do to encourage them (I was thinking about putting them in a clear bag as a greenhouse effect) or leave them a bit longer, or just plant them? 

Mine are the same! Though the earlies are doing something, my mains (Pink Fir Apple) are just sitting there. Tbh I think I’d wait a bit longer before planting, but I have snow on the ground here atm! 😂

KK

Suffolk_lass

KajiKita said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Hmm... my potatoes don't seem to be chitting. They've been on the windowsill for maybe 10 days now and there's nubby bits but I've got more sprouts/roots on my supermarket eating potatoes than these seed potatoes. 

Anything I can do to encourage them (I was thinking about putting them in a clear bag as a greenhouse effect) or leave them a bit longer, or just plant them? 

Mine are the same! Though the earlies are doing something, my mains (Pink Fir Apple) are just sitting there. Tbh I think I’d wait a bit longer before planting, but I have snow on the ground here atm! 😂

KK

Yes, you could put them somewhere a bit warmer but if you then put them in ground that is significantly colder they will sulk and be vulnerable to nibbly-gribblies (official term!). I think that is why they say a cold windowsill for your egg boxes

Farway

ArbitraryRandom said:

Hmm... my potatoes don't seem to be chitting. They've been on the windowsill for maybe 10 days now and there's nubby bits but I've got more sprouts/roots on my supermarket eating potatoes than these seed potatoes. 

Anything I can do to encourage them (I was thinking about putting them in a clear bag as a greenhouse effect) or leave them a bit longer, or just plant them? 

Patience, and NO to plastic bag, they'll sweat & probably go manky [an old horticultural phrase ]

DD265

@KajiKita maybe I should bite the bullet - I can always remove it later! My tree fern arrived, which means the Jasmine needs to come out sooner rather than later.

@Suffolk_lass that's frustrating; I didn't realise about the pansies. Luckily I have quite a few snow drops and some other flowers out as well.

@ArbitraryRandom my potatoes didn't chit well last year, but I still had a great crop (of the earlies which I grew in bags - my main crop in the ground were decimated by slugs).

I've done nothing at the allotment this week other than feed the critters, and plant some bargain-corner heathers in my second blueberry bed. We've had so much rain that I want to stay off the ground as much as possible.

bluesooz

First dry day here for ages so have been busy weeding the veg patch as the weeds are growing rapidly!  Managed to dig up some small potatoes that were obviously missed last year and as they were sprouting I've just reburied them in a line!

Have been harvesting leeks, rhubarb is growing well so will be able to harvest soon and the broad beans sown last year are looking strong.

didn't get a very good Purple Sprouting Broccoli harvest this year - it's been very warm so they have gone to flower really quickly.  I've taken the netting off and left some of the flowers as the bees really like them.  Last year was a very cold February here so had a longer harvesting season

rtandon27

Finally got around to trimming back the dead raspberry canes & hoping that this year's crop turns out to be as fabulous as last year's!  Had a look at the supposedly dwarf apple tree which has grown another foot and will now need a ladder to reach the top!  Most of the apples from the tree are devoured every year by a flock of crows & what they leave behind, the pigeons scavenge on.  The one large apple I got last year made it into a crumble, but that tree will never feed us!

Also managed to trim another rosebush that had rosehips for the winter garden birds.  They had a good feast as there were very few left, so now another area of the garden is tidy.  Had to part trim a lovely flowering hedge so that the OH could get behind it and replace a fence slat that had mysteriously fallen off the otherwise intact fence panel.  I suspect it had something to do with the rummaging I heard earlier today in the neighbour's garden!  Her pre-teen grandchildren often try to help, with mixed results.  They usually end up confessing a few days later

TracyS66

I am new to this forum, really enjoying reading all the subjects, very sunny here yesterday (Sunday) so spent the afternoon in my garden I have 1 large raised veg patch, so planted up the onions and whilst turning over the soil found a potato from last years planting so I have popped it into a large bucket fingers crossed it grows, if not nothing wasted. My potatoes are chitty nicely so looking forward to planting them. A friend of mine supplies me with tomatoes and lettuce plants and I give her onions and potatoes in exchange. I am quite new to this so learning loads as I go along, I am what I call a wing it gardener 

alicef

@TracyS66 I am such a wing it gardener - in fact my propensity towards winging it get more pronounced as the year progresses.   I don't plant potatoes anymore but I get a great sense of joy if I unearth a forgotten patch.

Viking_mfw

Sowed 18 peas from last year's packet with a view to planting out later this month... after 1 week three have sprouted and are looking good. The other's are... not. Will start again with some more and see how they go. 

kiss_me_now9

kimwp said:

kiss_me_now9 said:

I sorted out the veg bed last night. Cardboard laid, then put some pine cones/needles that had rotted down in the corner of the garden over the top and then covered with a couple of inches of compost. It's not pretty and it's not got any sides but hopefully it'll be better for the plants I eventually put in it. 

OH has put my peas, onion + shallot sets and potatoes somewhere and I don't know where that is so I'm trying not to fuss about them for now. I need to get some more compost as I used all we had on refreshing the bed. 

I am slightly worried as I... ermm... found a couple of bags of old compost in the back of the shed to put on the veg bed (it was looking a bit sparse) and one of them was definitely quite mouldy. Will it be ok? Or should I not risk planting into it? OH said "well you'd plant into horse poo!" 

That sounds very industrious! When will that be ready for planting?

I wing everything so I've direct sown some peas and carrot seeds into it today who knows if it'll work!

My plans for this year are: 

Outdoors: 
Garlic 
Shallots/Onions (however these are still AWOL and I don't really want to buy any more)
Courgette
Carrots
Peas
Beans
Broccolli along the fence line
Leeks

Indoors: 
Aubergine
Chillis and sweet peppers
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Cape Gooseberry
Herbs

Outdoors but in pots: 
Strawberries
I have a blueberry bush but it's looking very dead (it's only a year old too ) 
Lettuce/salad leaves (I succession sow a pot of this from the end of March onwards and just bounce it between the greenhouse and outside as the weather allows).
Potatoes - again if I can find the buggers...

I've sown the carrots and peas outside today and started the aubergine, chillis/peppers, some herbs and strawberries. Not sure if I should have started anything else by now. 

Open to suggestions or comments on the above. I have room for more outside, probably not a lot of room for more inside though.

We also have a very sad little apple tree, that gives dwarf apples, and a cherry tree that I yet to have any fruit off of because the birds attack it before they ripen