The ups, the downs and the insides out of growing your own in 2025!

-taff

I've got Scatalone, Roma F1, Piglet Willies French Black, Amish Paste, Burmese Sour Tomato [ it isn't, it's just used in sour cooking] and one I forget...They were all up within a week in the heated propogator, the chillies are just starting to come through now.

My Asturian Tree Cabbage is up, as well as the savoy and the golden chard, just on the worktop, not in a propagator.

I've also managed, or they did really, to germinate some 13+ year old carlin peas, I was very chuffed about that, just growing to save some newer seed and to see if they would. Will have to buy some general purpose peas for eating soon.

ladybird1106

OH managed to prune the orchard. I dug out a bean trench and put in some v&f matter and then covered. More tidying up, lots of old metal took down to the allotments metal bin. Moved the large plastic box that I retrieved from dads, going to use it for storing netting. Would have liked longer up there but the heavens opened. 

Love 🐞

Suffolk_lass

What an interesting selection @-taff - I've reduced mine dramatically this year.

greenbee

I've cleaned and tidied the greenhouse. Well, I've almost finished it!

I've also put more tomatoes in the heated propagator to germinate, along with some Luffa Cylindrica, as I thought it might be fun to try them this year. 

Tomatoes (so far!) - Black Cherry, Indigo, Vivacious, Brandywine Yellow, Costoluto Fiorentino, Green Zebra, Marmande, Super Roma. 

Cucumber - Diva and Carmen (worked well last year). 

I've realised I need to get sowing outside, so will work out what can go in the beds that are ready, and what I need to prep for!

FreeBear

Day spent with the chainsaw chopping up the logs that were flytipped on Wednesday. Still got a couple of the big chunks to do. Some pretty wild grain and loads of pinks & purples in the pieces I've split. Might ask a woodturner fiend if he is interested in what is left..

In the meantime, I now have a big pile of woodchips to sweep up. Thinking of using it as a mulch on the potatoes when I plant some.

Suffolk_lass

FreeBear said:

Day spent with the chainsaw chopping up the logs that were flytipped on Wednesday. Still got a couple of the big chunks to do. Some pretty wild grain and loads of pinks & purples in the pieces I've split. Might ask a woodturner fiend if he is interested in what is left..

In the meantime, I now have a big pile of woodchips to sweep up. Thinking of using it as a mulch on the potatoes when I plant some.

If they are fresh woodchips, beware of nitrogen being tied up by the wood chips instead of being available to the potatoes. Better to compost them for a year before using them as both are greedy for nitrogen (it's why we rotate from legumes to potatoes, because the legume roots fix nitrogen in the soil)

droopsnoot

MissRikkiC said:

droopsnoot said:

Three of my tomato seeds have made an appearance today - I planted five each of Money Maker, Gardeners Delight and Costoluto Fiorentino, and it's the latter that have appeared first. Chillies continue to grow a little, though the ones I've potted on from the seed trays aren't really progressing visibly.

I’m fairly sure that’s the same 3 MD is growing on GW. I’m only just catching up on last weeks episode so apologies if I’m stating the obvious. 

I have had aubergines, tomatoes, peppers and chilis going for about a month now and the roots just are not getting them selves going! They’re in the heated propagator and I’ve never seemed to experience any issues before! Am I being a bit too inconsistent with watering? (They easily get forgetten about as I have to keep them in the spare room locked due to melding little hands!)

Oh, I caught a bit of GW last week but I don't generally watch it. Four of the five GD have popped up now, but there's still no activity on the MM. I started these a couple of weeks ago, just in a pot on the front window sill as it gets the sun directly on it in the morning. I hope it gets a bit warmer by the time they need separate pots as the sill is pretty full now. I gave up on some of the chillies yesterday as there was no sign of anything happening, so being able to lose the remaining seed trays did clear a bit of space.

ladybird1106

Tackled the shed of doom. Lots of netting etc moved to its new home. We’ve either had rats or mice in there as lots of droppings and chewed nets, blankets etc. Thankfully no live or dead rats to be seen. Lots of spiders but they don’t bother me. Completed my patchy row of broad beans with some I’d grown under cover. Laid tarpaulin down in the orchard as we have a lot of couch grass and bindweed in there and I don’t have time to dig it out. Glorious sunshine, lots of birds singing and a comma butterfly. 

Love 🐞

alicef

I've been absent due to other stuff but actually feeling sort of in control (LOL) of what I'm doing re GYO, in spite of tripping over crates of plants, (fund raiser plant sale), at the moment. 

@-taff ohhhh - what an unusual list of tomatoes.  Pictures and tasting notes in time if possible please!  I'm mollycoddling about 25 varieties for the plant sale, (the village donate their spare (ancient) seed), though nothing too unusual. 

I'm most pleased about the germination rate on my loofah seeds (@greenbee I did a tiny snip on my seeds and I found that certainly helped with germination).

@FreeBear I do love a good source of wood, (due to having log burners).  We were fortunate to get hold of a neighbour's industrial chipper this year to process our orchard prunings. 

greenbee

Thanks for the tip @alicef. If this lot don't germinate I'll try that. 

Went out in the sunshine earlier and decided to sow broad beans in two beds. So measured (kind of) and planted two double rows in each one (they're a bit too close together, but I'm sure it'll be fine). Two different varieties, neither of which I've sown before. I need to check whether there are any others lurking in the seed tin, in which case I'll sow some more in a couple of weeks. 

I've got a pile of seeds in the kitchen, so I'm hoping I can sow a couple of rows of something every day to get the veg plot moving. 

There are still raised bed frames to build, compost to add to a bed that has been enlarged, raspberry frames to build, mulching to do, the strawberry bed to weed, and much more.

Village open gardens are planned for June, so I'm trying to decide whether I'm brave enough to join in. There is an awful lot of empty space at the moment...