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

ArbitraryRandom

My grandad always used to put his on the beds for the beetroot/onions, carrots/leeks, and peas/beans, so I'm planning on doing the same (unless that's now a bad thing some 30 years later )

Silvertabby

-taff said:

If you up end the gro bag on it's side and give it a shake, you have a deeper root run for the tomato plant and a more stable bag area fo a stick or whatever you're growing them up, cut a slit into the bag about an inch or two above the floor and the same wide to provide drainage and still keep a reservoir of liquid.

I grow mine in supermarket flower pots, the round ones, and fill to within a few inches of the top and stand them on gravel in trays. By the end of the growing season, the roots are in the gravel to get to the water, and as above, the pots are a mass of roots. At the end of the season, I cut the stem level with the compost, leave them alone all winter and empty them onto the veg bed come spring. the roots have rotted down and it's all nice and crumbly again for mulch. If you do that, just leave the gro bag on it's bottom or side out of the way, then cut i and spread in the spring.

Silvertabby, it al depends really. I sowed my tomatoes in the propogator mid ish march, they went into pots thebeginning of April and have been in the greenhouse since then. I am in the South West though. Some are on the windowsill [ the ones I especially want to coddle] but the rest are in the unheated greenhouse coping as best they can. They're all still alive except the ones the snails are eating so it's feasible. I used to sow the beginnig of March in the greenhouse and leave them there, usually took two weeks to sprout, it's just much quicker in the propogator.

I'm north of Watford Gap, so a bit nippier up here!  Minus 2 one night just last week.

I buy tomato grow bags for my toms and chillies, but decant the contents into 10" pots.  Much easier to control watering and feeding.  

alicef

Handed the plants over to the plant sale organisers, thank goodness.  Next year I'm going to lift and split perennials - far less trouble. 

goldfinches

Sidling in as I'm starting again with my allotment after being ill since the beginning of December. I'm currently hand weeding my very overgrown plot and have taken out so many thistles, willowherb, dandelions and others too numerous to name that I'm beginning to feel sympathy for the Forth Bridge painters!
Here's a photo I took earlier today after a solid two hours spent grubbing in the very wet soil. So far I've spent a solid eight and a half hours weeding and think I've cleared about a third of my patch.
I'm leaving the forget-me-nots for now because the local insects love the flowers and I've so far uncovered some mystery alliums and lots of bits of marjoram/oregano all of which I plan to move once I've cleared the whole plot. 



I bought a copy of Lia Leendertz's The Half Hour Allotment from a local charity shop two Saturdays ago and can only say that half an hour of expert and skilled attention is clearly vastly superior to the efforts of a frail and feeble amateur but I'm soldiering on.
To complicate matters, the entire site is open to the public this coming Sunday afternoon as part of a local art and gardens open occasion so I'm frantically trying not to be this year's cautionary tale.
That cage on the left hand side has some rainbow chard beside it and nothing that I can yet spot inside it as well as a hole in the netting, plus I patched up the frame with a stray piece of bamboo I unearthed, so I may have to replace it later on, we'll see.

sammy_kaye18

Gardening websites have a lot to answer for!

Thompson and Morgan sent me discounts and offers. 
I thought I was done with my seed buying for the year but no......
apparently I needed........

Dwarf Lupins 
Chives
Parlour Palms
More lettuce
More spinach
Courgettes 
Pumpkins 
and Sweet Peas. 

Then another site I use sent me a free postage discount so it was rude not to buy...
white winter cabbage
2 types of sweetcorn
cucumber  seeds 
and catnip. 

I don't even own a cat. But family members do and I have dogs and I read that you can diffuse some like a tea and it makes a calming drink for them for things like fireworks etc. 

@goldfinches well done on your allotment clearing. I am still keeping my fingers crossed that I move up the allotment list quickly. 

ArbitraryRandom

goldfinches said:

Sidling in as I'm starting again with my allotment after being ill since the beginning of December. 

Glad you are feeling better and I think remember the early shots you posted - I think you should go back and look at them to see what an achievement that 8 and a half hours actually is! It's starting to look properly cared for (and I agree the forget me nots are lovely for at least this year. They always make me smile )

Farway

sammy_kaye18 said:

Gardening websites have a lot to answer for!

Thompson and Morgan sent me discounts and offers. 
I thought I was done with my seed buying for the year but no......
apparently I needed........

Dwarf Lupins 
Chives
Parlour Palms
More lettuce
More spinach
Courgettes 
Pumpkins 
and Sweet Peas. 

Then another site I use sent me a free postage discount so it was rude not to buy...
white winter cabbage
2 types of sweetcorn
cucumber  seeds 
and catnip. 

I don't even own a cat. But family members do and I have dogs and I read that you can diffuse some like a tea and it makes a calming drink for them for things like fireworks etc. 

@goldfinches well done on your allotment clearing. I am still keeping my fingers crossed that I move up the allotment list quickly. 

I can fit right in there, fruit trees are my weak point at the moment, I bet once those Patio tree reduction offers appear temptation will be back

sammy_kaye18

Farway said:

I can fit right in there, fruit trees are my weak point at the moment, I bet once those Patio tree reduction offers appear temptation will be back

Im glad its not just me then!

I have just been out to water the greenhouse mini's things are looking happy and starting to sprout - although I have noticed I have lost a name tag or two. 

I suspect one tray is cucumber judging by the two leaves popping through.

I think the other may be cosmos......it could also be parsnips......time will tell.

Have earthed up my potato bags some more though since they seem to have really taken off over the last few days. Im hoping to get the grass cut and put some cuttings in the bag too to help fill them too. 

But plenty of planting to do on the weekend in the nice weather.

Do need to get some more compost though soon.

FreeBear

sammy_kaye18 said: and catnip. 

I don't even own a cat. But family members do and I have dogs and I read that you can diffuse some like a tea and it makes a calming drink for them for things like fireworks etc.

There is research that suggests the essential oil extracted from catnip (Nepeta Cataria) is as effective as DEET in warding of mosquitos -  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-52715-y

Silvertabby

sammy_kaye18 said:

Gardening websites have a lot to answer for!

Thompson and Morgan sent me discounts and offers. 
I thought I was done with my seed buying for the year but no......
apparently I needed........

Dwarf Lupins 
Chives
Parlour Palms
More lettuce
More spinach
Courgettes 
Pumpkins 
and Sweet Peas. 

Then another site I use sent me a free postage discount so it was rude not to buy...
white winter cabbage
2 types of sweetcorn
cucumber  seeds 
and catnip. 

I don't even own a cat. But family members do and I have dogs and I read that you can diffuse some like a tea and it makes a calming drink for them for things like fireworks etc. 

@goldfinches well done on your allotment clearing. I am still keeping my fingers crossed that I move up the allotment list quickly. 

I you plant catnip in your garden/pots then you will soon be the proud slave of more than one cat!  My own pampurred puss is an indoor girl, but a couple of the local moggies have found my potted catnip plants.  One, in particular, rolls home stoned - good job he only lives a couple of doors away.