The ups, the downs and the insides out of growing your own in 2026!

Farway

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81927797#Comment_81927797

It depends on the seeds, not all seeds are equal. Some require more warmth than others to germinate.

Tomatoes for instance require at least 60F, melons even more, peas, carrots will do fine at as long as frost free. Some blighters need a cooler temperatures and will not germinate if too warm.

May sound complicated, but it's nothing a quick on line search cannot answer

Silvertabby

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81925395#Comment_81925395

Be aware that pigeons LOVE pea shoots!

Farway

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81927986#Comment_81927986

As do mice. I start mine inside & plant out when larger, OK for a few but maybe not an allotment full

EssexHebridean

Almost all our sunflowers have now appeared so looks like we'll need to find time at the weekend to get the mini greenhouse up and running!

We purchased one of the potting benches from Lil's by the way - £19.99 if you use the Plus App, and first impressions are good. It was a bit faffy to build as a few of the holes weren't quite aligned as they should have been, but nothing that wasn't relatively straightforward to sort out. it does collect a little water on the top surface but this isn't too much of an issue as that is metal anyway. We'd been looking at one anyway, so decided we may as well get a super-cheap one first off to see if it will work well for us!

Suffolk_lass

@cardtexpert we don't plant anything like lettuce or any squash seeds until April as here in the East, cold spring is the norm, with unpredictable overnight temperatures meaning I only grow micro-greens in the greenhouse if any salad leaves feature at this time of year (spinach, rocket, or Mizuma are fast growing and go well.

@Makingabobor2 exactly. Don't reuse the compost in your potato bags for potatoes and definitely don't move compost between potatoes and tomatoes - it encourages blight. What I do is spread the old pot compost from my tomatoes around the flower beds as a top dressing and the worms move it down. The pot shape is also great for stuffing in a burrow if the dreaded rabbits are here (fill the hole with bricks, stuff a spent compost pot shape plug in the top). My potatoes are in a four year bed rotation - roots go well after potatoes as the earth is lovely and crumbly so you get straight carrots, parsnips and beets. Then brassicas (kale, chard, those crosses between broccoli and sprouts), then legumes, so beans or peas as they fix nitrogen that the potatoes need the year after. It is the traditional rotation and ensure the soil condition and nutrients are there from the previous year's crop for the next year - so you need less feed to be added. You could grow carrots in your potato bag this year. I say a ring of chicken wire used as a potato pot, with layers of potato tubers and compost setting it up, then when it is time to harvest, untie the ring and de-layer to simply harvest the potatoes - I would be tempted if I didn't have such a space as I do for veg.

I am still intending setting up seed snails (as I am told the coils of compost bags, cardboard, compost and seeds are known) try searching "seed snail growing method"

EssexHebridean

We're going to try sweet peas using seed snails I think SL - they seem like such a good idea and must be ideal for a plant that wants to put roots down a decent way before being planted out.

I think our main plan for this weekend is to get the mini greenhouse situation sorted out - we've got sunflowers which are REALLY enjoying the heat on the windowsill - maybe a bit too much!

droopsnoot

I've moved some lettuce into another tray now that they're a bit too tall for my B&M window sill greenhouse / plastic tray with a lid on it. No sign of the onions. Potted a couple more tomatoes on, too. I'm in the process of making a frame to put wire netting over an area of the vegetable patch where the lettuce will end up, to keep the cats off them. Last year I just folded the wire netting into shape for one batch, and used an old wire shopping basket for another, but I had some spare bits of wood knocking about.

Silvertabby

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81928036#Comment_81928036

I tried growing beetroot in a trough some time ago. The plants were doing well - until I came home to find them all completely eaten, right down to the soil level. I couldn't think of any bird that would eat ALL of the leaves, scraps and all, then I found a hole in one of my borders. Which matched exactly with a similar sized hole in next door's garden - where a couple of free range pet bunnies frolicked happily, with their bellies full of beetroot greens.

carinjo

So after a week in portugal, where the weather were either rainy or t-shirt weather, spend this week trying to get the plot into order:

Started hacking the gooseberries into submisssion.

And the blackberry...

Strimmed the edges of shared paths

Covered a large square with cardboard for future sweetcorn. I know folks have opinions on cardboard, but i have marestail, it souldestroyingly annoying.

Harvested: rest of leeks (fun fact: leeks apparently needs earthing up to increase the white bit)

Large handful of Rhubarb Chard (have a look at your local L1dl, they selling it again and it a proper sup

erfood!)

Double handfuls of perpetual spinach.

Forced Rhubarb

Pruned pear tree

Our tulips and daffodils have been the talk of the allotment, have had complete strangers come up to tell me how it is cheering them up

Have done no seed sowing yet, ms C started working at a garden nursery, so expecting staff discounts of veg seedlings if needed

i do have a few questions:

Can i plant outdoor cucumber and carrots in the same tub? Was thinking 2 cucumber plants in back half and a few nantes2 in the front.

And what would be an ideal depth for carrots? The tub is quite deep and can't fill it with compost all the way.

Also, for strawberries, i have a large raised bed, but again, it quite costly to fill. So want to fill the base with woodchip etc. what depth does strawberries need and any recommendation for (Not F1!) London area? I want to start with a bed i can expand over next few years.

Kantankrus_Mare

Well after my gallstone diagnosis in January, (seeing the consultant on Monday) I thought I had encountered my bad luck for the year but oh no!!

Our allotment plot has had problems with the water supply for a couple of years and they reckon it would cost 4 million to replace it! What a load of tosh!

So what do the council do? Wait while everyone has paid their yearly plot fee (which includes a fee for water) then announce that the water will not be switched back on in April . They are provivding each plot with 1 waterbutt and there is one area where there will be standpipes for us to get and transport water during dry season. Im gutted!! I had bought a brand new hosepipe last year and dread to think how time consuming watering everything with a watering can is going to be.

My allotment is my happy place and I can see a lot of the older generation giving it up. I will persevere but I think the council are wanting us all to give up so they can sell off the land (its a huge area)

Just another kick in the teeth.

Whats next? These things usually come in threes.