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

NanookOfTheNorth

Hello All,

A keen flower gardener here in my small West Midlands garden which gets so waterlogged in the winter its a mud bath, but summers are always something to look forward to.    I'll have to start looking through the seed web sites soon and decide whats happening this year.

What do you like to grow?

Flowers, flowers and more flowers!   It's a small garden (about 5 fence panels long and 3 panels wide) so there's not a lot of space for edibles. If I had a bigger garden then I'd have a go at something different not usually found in the supermarket.


Are you going to try anything different this year?

Some new summer plants to grow from seed, not sure which ones yet.


Did you try anything different last year? Did you like it? Would you grow it again?

Echium Pink Fountain with the flower spike reaching just over 4 metres tall which the bees loved.  Grown from seed in 2022 which needed two winters before growth really started then when it did you could literally look away for an hour or two and see it has grown. I'm not sure I could cope with the stress of getting it through British winters again with all the protection - from 10 plants only 2 survived the two winters (positive from that was if all 10 had surived I probably wouldnt have had the space anyway)


Do you have any tips for growing?

Just enjoy what you grow.  I've had disasters but grow a selection of different things so there will hopefully never be an empty bit of soil.  


Do you make anything with what you grow?

Not myself, I just enjoy the colourful garden in the summer with the daily dead heading etc.  My neighbour has taken a few hydrangea flowers later in the year for drying and making a floral display

The only thing I 'make' is for the last year I've had two compost bins so nothing goes in the green council bin. Although only home made compost doesnt go very far even in a small garden.


How much does growing your own save you?

It feels like I spend more growing from seed with buying the seed, compost etc but just buying plant ready pods to put in the ground wouldnt be as enjoyable


Here's some photos from the last three years .... looking back sometimes I think I should have grown less or smaller plants, and any grown in the house in the kitchen work tops where just overnight protection.

2024...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QPRW9UvEA7f2p9pq9

2023 ...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/g9oaCR18MzDG2MBx6

2022 ...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bjesNeJDaerZwLvY6

Working_Mum

What a stunning garden Nanook  you can see all of the hard work and care you have dedicated to it. Blooming marvelous 

NanookOfTheNorth

Working_Mum said:

What a stunning garden Nanook  you can see all of the hard work and care you have dedicated to it. Blooming marvelous 

Thanks Working_Mum - it's definatley something I enjoy.

rtandon27

@NanookOfTheNorth - just spectacular - thanks for sharing such lovely photos!

alicef

Oh my word @NanookOfTheNorth your flowers look fabulous!  Thank you for the photos.  (Your seedling set up looks so organised).

I'm going to try to grow more flowers this year but I'll stick to easy things like calendula; cornflowers, cosmos and foxgloves, (I might push the boat out and sow zinnias!).  At the moment I just about manage sweetpeas and sunflowers. 

Have been pruning the grapevines but I can't feel my fingers anymore so I've come in for a cup of tea.

NanookOfTheNorth

Thanks @rtandon27 and @alicef

Last year was the first time I grew some zinnias, I always thought they were quite difficult to grow but they did well.  If you're brave, you can also double your plants by pinching out the tip and then putting that tip in some compost. I think it may have left it a bit late for pinching out (big enough to be a cutting, not just the very tip) as a flower head was just starting to form, but about 90% of the 'tip' cuttings grew on in to strong plants.

KajiKita

NanookOfTheNorth said:

Thanks @rtandon27 and @alicef

Last year was the first time I grew some zinnias, I always thought they were quite difficult to grow but they did well.  If you're brave, you can also double your plants by pinching out the tip and then putting that tip in some compost. I think it may have left it a bit late for pinching out (big enough to be a cutting, not just the very tip) as a flower head was just starting to form, but about 90% of the 'tip' cuttings grew on in to strong plants.

Oooh … this is a thing I did not know … 🤔 I will be trying this! 😊

KK

zafiro1984

I'd love to join in again. I haven't grown much for the last 4 years, mainly because of health problems and lack of time. However, I do have a greenhouse and two reasonably sized overgrown polytunnels hosting a large variety of weeds. We also have a huge problem with deer, and also badgers to some extent. Despite them looking pretty they devour everything. If I don't shut the greenhouse and polytunnels at night-time they even go in there to help themselves, it's soul destroying. I used to have sixteen 4'x 12' raised beds outside but because of them I took the decision last year to flatten the area, and grass it.

DH started an orchard 3/4yrs ago but fencing it to 2meters high (to keep deer out) was not cheap, although we did it ourselves. However, he's planted four apple trees - doing well, two pear trees - looking sick, two plum trees and a greengage tree - looking reasonable, and he's just ordered 3 cherry trees from a local green project. 

So I think, in order to stay sane, I'll concentrate on growing in the polytunnels if that's ok, to see how I manage and how enthusiastic I become as I really used to enjoy growing veg and soft fruit, also it kept me away from the supermarkets.

First job - find the gauntlet gloves and tackle the brambles in one of the tunnels and get DH to mend one of the doors. 

Suffolk_lass

I'm interested in knowing a bit more about the pear trees in your orchard @zafiro1984 - what variety are they? is it a sunny, frost protected area? do they suffer with codling moth or any other diseases?I want to pant one to replace a failed apple here so also interested in pollination insights if you have any to share please?

ArbitraryRandom

My pears have also not been doing particularly well (a conference and Williams/Bartlett) - nor have my two cherry (stella and sylvia).

First year could be because they were new, but the second year (last year) also resulted in no fruit (forming, never mind ripening). 

The 'local' view is that the weather's not been great in April for the last couple of years, but the trees are also still young. 

This year they got a good mulching of manure in early December and I'll get another delivery in late March. If they don't do well then I'll look to move things around a bit for next year (while they're still small enough to move relatively easily).