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

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82000863#Comment_82000863

i have emailed her that update - fairly certain she will be delighted … NOT

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82000909#Comment_82000909

Love that idea😍

Suffolk_lass

@Sallyp2 maybe send her this link and express the opinion that you are encouraging diversity in the ecology of the allotments, while providing a valuable habitat and saving your other crops from the caterpillars of these species

QueenJess

I was delighted to see a free pack of dill seeds at my local zero waste shop. I’ve only ever seen tomatoes and veg before. Obviously I grabbed myself a pack and have sown some outside on the hot patio.

I’ve spent time brushing the patio and moving pots around to make room for the tomato plants that are still inside. The cucumbers will have to go outside soon as they are going to outgrow the window sill soon!

I’ve planted peas/sweet pea seedlings outside in pots and am considering sowing some basil seeds inside (can never have too much of that in my opinion) along with some free giant sunflower seeds also free from the zero waste shop. I never seem to be able to successfully grow sunflowers, but maybe this year?!

My next job is to try and control the huge potato plants as they are bullying the chard seedlings that don’t have a chance. I only have one courgette seedling that’s appeared sadly, but I will fill the rest of the space with a variety of lettuce, salad leaves, spinach, wild rocket, radishes and herbs as I have so many packs of these lying around. Bar compost, I am determined to garden for free this year!

Lots left to do and I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve managed to squeeze in on just a patio. If it was up to me, I would dig up the lawn and the patio and just have a stone area for a small table. Then I could fill the garden with plants! Not acceptable for DH or the kids though! In the garden I have two rhubarb plants (clinging on as they don’t like the heavy clay soil, 3 blackcurrant bushes, 1 pear tree, 1 apple tree, 1 redcurrant bush (currently 6ft by 6ft!), wild strawberries, raspberries, a gooseberry bush and a bay tree. Not bad for a small garden that is mostly shade. All I can grow at the long side of the garden is shrubs as it’s deep shade. I am limited to one short side of the garden and the patio for sun. The front is worse as it’s North facing and most is again deep shade. Plus it’s minuscule. However, my motto is that you can always squeeze a tiny bit more in!

My patio is largish and has a plum tree, chives, potatoes, strawberries, blueberry bush, rosemary bush, multiple herbs (dill, coriander, basil, mint), peas, sweet peas, red clover (edible), salad (various), courgette, tomatoes and cucumbers to go out soon. I also have marigolds, a rose, cornflowers and black eyed Susan.

FreeBear

I made the mistake of going outside with the chainsaw to clear a couple of shrubs. Ended up pruning an apple tree at ground level and a plum tree about two feet off the ground. Now have a huge (and I do mean huge) pile of twigs & branches to clear up.

Looks like I might be having a monster bonfire around November 5th. Anyone got marshmallows ?

droopsnoot

I tidied a bit more greenhouse, which takes a while because of all the stuff that's in there. Fortunately the rain held off. From the outside, I could see that there was stuff growing up behind the shelving, which I was able to access and cut down.

There's more on the other side, some grass and wild sweet peas, but that will have to wait for another time. I cleared a bit of room by discarding some heat-damaged plastic things. One day I'd like to find all the plant pots, and sort them into size order, but I think that'll have to wait until I have nothing growing.

I did manage to move all the tomatoes into the greenhouse, which I hope might prevent them from growing so long and spindly. One or two of them do see to have the start of flowers on them. I'm told the long thin growth is because they're searching for light, even in the lean-to greenhouse. This one gets a bit more sun as the roof is glass rather than opaque plastic roofing sheet.

EssexHebridean

Our main job this weekend has been to complete the making of the new garden table. It does indeed look like a pallet on legs - but this isn't surprising as it is in fact a pallet on legs. That said, it cost us the grand total of £7 for 4 sturdy right-angle brackets as we had everything else we required.

Next project is likely to be seeing if we can build a frame that we can then attach the panels from the rubbish Lil's coldframe from last year too. Again, I think we have the timber and the screws, so fingers crossed we can get it all together without any extra cost. We also ideally want to have a go at knocking up a stand for the troughs of strawberries - although we do need to establish exactly where that would go now.

Our tomatoes are reasonably sturdy this year, but our chillis and peppers are all doing the tall and spindly thing in spite of having all the light they could dream of. They have also stalled completely on growth at the moment - I suspect the wildly fluctuating temperatures are to blame.

MrEH noticed that we're starting to see some of the newly sown seeds poke through which is good news - although the outdoor ones are doing very little- again though I suspect the low temperatures are to blame.

More rhubarb harvested - forgot to weigh it but must have been another 500g at least - and delivered to a pal with 5 tomato plant spares that she said she can use. My Mum will also take one of the spare cherry tom plants from us as well - I'll pot that on for her and check what it needs in the way of tying in - if anything.

One new table - I'm loving the fact that this whole set-up is at pretty much no cost. The wine box planters were found outside my office - I lined them with bits of compost bag and planted them up, and the tiles they are sitting on we found dumped when we were out on a walk. Proper wombles, us!

FreeBear

Our main job this weekend has been to complete the making of the new garden table. It does indeed look like a pallet on legs - but this isn't surprising as it is in fact a pallet on legs.

Sweet.

I was going to stack a few pallets on top of each other to save me bending down when I plant up my tubs. But it looks like I.m going to be using those pallets to stack logs on..

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82002774#Comment_82002774

finding all pots and sorting them by size is my potting shed dream … arranged on wood shelves … with bunting and fairy lights 🌱

Sallyp2

love the table well done 👋

will pinch this design idea for my allotment