The all new good, bad and ugly of growing your own in 2020

Suffolk_lass · 14 January 2020 at 9:28AM

lynneee wrote: »

Evening all! I have been lurking since the beginning of this thread but thought it would be more polite to join in!
Going to get out in the greenhouse tomorrow and get some onions, leeks, chilli's and peppers started. Should I keep them in the house or can I keep them in the greenhouse? I'm in the North West so don't want the cold to get them!

Welcome lynneee!
- Your onions and leeks should be fine to get started in the greenhouse as you are only stopping frost getting at them.
- Chillies and Peppers are both tender so I would always start them indoors. They like it warm and light as crv and unrecordings have both said - I put a tray on top of my electric bug-zapper which means a bit of heat from underneath and that worked well last year (after years of miserable results, probably because I overwater or use old seeds). I do normally wait for Feb before starting them but weather is all over the place. Once they are ready to pot on, I usually keep them in my greenhouse (and don't put them outside unless I get red spider mite in the greenhouse)

zafiro1984 · 14 January 2020 at 10:02AM

silverwhistle wrote: »

I don't think all their stock is in: either that or they've already sold out of asparagus and rhubarb crowns and dormant strawberries..

We don't have a Wilko near here, but thanks for the reminder re rhubarb as I could do with some new crowns as rabbits ate mine last year.

zafiro1984 · 15 January 2020 at 1:42PM

Went to garden center yesterday. I had a severe chat with myself before buying anything as this year I only intend to buy what I will use and to stay within budget.

Bought pk of Rocket potatoes, they were cheaper than in the catalogues. They'll go in the polyt as earlies.
seeds - 2 x leek seeds, one maturing early - one late
2 x tomatoes - one cherry, one normal, both blight resistant
1 x mild chilli, trial price of 99p
"The growing season has started" :j:j

crv1963 · 15 January 2020 at 2:17PM

Down to the greenhouse, looked in the propagator and now have shallots through too!

Night time temp in the greenhouse 3.4 degrees C so I think I'll give them all until after the weekend and then move them to an unheated propagator to grow on. Then on Monday I'll sow my Chilli seeds.

My Chilligrow planters, self watering pots and holiday proof planters have arrived this morning so hopefully when they are planted out they will not end up dying from a lack of water while I'm away working each week.

euronorris · 15 January 2020 at 3:05PM

Hello all!

It's been a while, and I see the 2020 thread is in full swing, so thought I would join in again as plan to grow again this year.

What do you like to grow?

Tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, beetroot, carrots, peppers (if I could get it right), herbs, runner beans, garlic, lettuce, spring onion, courgette

Are you going to try anything different this year?

Yes, I would really like to grow some potatoes this year, and hopefully the raspberry will do better too (fingers crossed). Would also like to try different varieties of the tomatoes.

Did you try anything different last year? Did you like it? Would you grow it again?
Had a lot of success with Indigo Rose (black tomato), but not totally enamoured with the flavour. I will grow it again, but will limit the number of plants this year to one/two, so that I could concentrate on some other varieties.

Whilst I have grown most things before, last year was the first year that we had any real success in our current home and garden. So it was a bit of a learning curve for us as to what worked and what didn't, and how much we can fit in.

Do you have any tips for growing?

Grow what you will eat. No point growing something you know you won't enjoy.

You need quite a few pea plants to get a decent size crop. So if peas are important to you, make sure you have the space to plant enough. I had two plants on the go last year, and only really had enough for 1-2 meals (2 adults and 1 child here).

If you like strawberries, and want to eat them fresh this year, don't grow from seed expecting that. You will get 3 or 4 strawberries max in the first year, and really, you should pinch them off so the plant can save its energy for next year. If you want some this year, get some plants from a garden centre that are in year 2 already. And if you want strawberries all summer, get an everbearing variety, not a june bearing one.

Successional planting! - I am yet to get the hang of this.

Pay attention to which plants shouldn't be grown close together. I didn't, and as a result my Brussel sprouts never really developed. In the same trug as the tomatoes which stole all of the energy!

Do you make anything with what you grow?

Soups, crushed tomatoes for other recipes, and tomato puree. Everything else was just used in meals. I tried pickled beetroot, but didn't get the pickle recipe right and ruined them! lol

If I have excess fruit this year, I plan to make some lovely jams

How much does growing your own save you?

Not sure it did last year. We had quite a bit of initial outlay with the trug, and compost, pots, feed etc etc. This year should be better. Especially with lessons learned.

Moving forward, garlic not harvested yet as only planted in autumn. I think spring is harvest time. Or is it early summer. Either way, fingers crossed!!

Really keen to do potatoes this year, and have better results with just about everything. Really need to get out into the garden, but it seems to have poured down most weekends for months now.

euronorris · 15 January 2020 at 3:54PM

Oh, I forgot to add that I joined the heritage seed library last year, and received the 2020 seed list shortly before Christmas. Still need to make my choices though! lol

unrecordings · 15 January 2020 at 5:28PM

euronorris wrote: »

Oh, I forgot to add that I joined the heritage seed library last year, and received the 2020 seed list shortly before Christmas. Still need to make my choices though! lol

I'd best not google that:)

euronorris · 15 January 2020 at 5:33PM

unrecordings wrote: »

I'd best not google that:)

Whoops! https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl

All in the interest of preserving bio diversity of course!

Suffolk_lass · 16 January 2020 at 8:56AM

euronorris - my Dad taught me that potatoes are a great way of "cleaning" the soil. - My experience is that when you harvest them it leaves the soil lovely and crumbly and easy to work so they improve the structure of the soil. The big but (especially in wet weather) is blight and they are the same family as tomatoes so do not spread your spent (used) tomato compost from your trug on ground where you intend growing either tomatoes or potatoes. They are a great crop to plant after beans as the legumes "fix" nitrogen in the soil and will benefit the potato tubers.

Pablosmummy · 16 January 2020 at 6:39PM

My first pepper seeds are alive!! Can just about see a bit of green poking up, I can't remember what it is now, it's definitely some.kind of sweet pepper, no sign of the cayenne yet but still time.
My dahlias came aswell, bit early to start them yet but hopefully will be ok waiting a month or so, I'm trying to make the garden prettier while still growing and being productive. My spring bulbs are all starting to come up so that will bring a bit of colour at least.
Also I keep changing my mind on what to grow this year, tomatoes...no tomatoes...courgettes, squash, cucumber, the list goes on and I cannot decide!
(Still haven't moved the other blueberry yet, will get round to it eventually I'm sure)
Basically I'm being very indecisive and lazy so far for 2020

The all new good, bad and ugly of growing your own in 2020

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