The all new 2019 growing your own thread!

LOL Suffolk Lass I had forgotten how funny Kenny was! That was so me on Friday

I had a busy garden day yesterday and I think things are coming together. I am trying to work out a plan based on spacing and would appreciate some feedback.

I have created 15 no dig veg beds (thanks Taff!) approx. 1.2m x 3m per bed.

3 beds for potatoes a few pentland javelin 1st early (already in), charlotte second early and pink fir apple maincrop.
1 bed for set red onion – already in
1 bed for set shallot and garlic – already in

With the other beds I aim to do the following (I am starting things off in the greenhouse where possible):

1 bed for multi-sown shallot
1 bed for ½ multi-sown leek and ½ parsnip. I love roots but the plot is quite close to a few oaks unfortunately so I am not sure roots will do so well.
1 bed for ¾ carrot and ¼ multi-sown beetroot (I am the only one in the family who likes beetroot but would like to dehydrate some crisps)
1 bed for lettuce (some cut and come and I will leave some for hearts) we eat lots of salad so will 1 bed be enough for a meal for 4 every day? I will successional sow in modules so the new ones have a headstart.
1 bed for 4 courgette plants (we only tend to eat courgette in the winter but I will have a go at dehydrating crops)
1 bed for legumes – ½ the bed dwarf bean & borlotti and ½ the bed peas of some sort. (we are not big bean eaters)
1 bed for 1/3 of the bed sweetcorn (12 plants) and the rest sprouting broccoli (we eat loads of sprouting broccoli but not sure how easy they will be to grow.)
1 bed for multi-sown spring onions, spinach and rocket.

So that just leaves me with 2 beds which I can use for annual flowers if I don’t need them for anything else.

I also have a 6 x 8ft glass greenhouse, a 8ft x 10ft large plastic greenhouse and a mini lean to wooden frame greenhouse.

I have got 50 (not a typo!) tomato plants. I usually do up to 30 plants each year (I would live off tomatoes if could) so any that survive over the 30 will probably be given away. I have a few chilli seedlings coming on.

How many cucumber plants should I grow for 4 of us?

If you have read this far thankyou! Any recommendations or glaring mistakes please shout.

Wow. I'm in awe, baggins. Kudos to you!

As long as you have a good thick mulch you shouldn't see too many [hopefully! blame charles dowding if you do!! ] and what you do see shoud be easily removed.
Plant the sweetcorn in a block [just in case you hadn't planned that already]. For your brassicas, think about what protection you're going to give them to avoid cabbage white butterfly and how you're going to do it with your beds.
You've taken on a huge amount of work, I know, I used to have about 8 8x4 beds and keeping them filled and rotated was a lot of work.

If you make a lot fo soup, consider a few celery plants, they don't need blanching because you're after the flavour so the greener the better, they can be chopped up and frozen.
Spinach has a tendency to bolt if it's too sunny, so if you have a shadier bed, put it in there, or use chard instead, it bolts less. [This I don't understand as I know in Italy where my mother was from they grow loads of the stuff and it doesn't seem to do it so much there, will have to ask my cousin if she can get me some seeds from there]
Also, did you want to plant any fruit? Raspberries and blackcurrants spring to mind, along with maybe a stepover apple?

Well done though, that's a massive amount of work....

Re cucumbers, I buy the outdoor mini-varieties and grow 2 plants for 2 of us and give masses away. I also grow butternut squash, usually in the same bed (mine are double the width of yours, with all the inherent weeding issues!) and it gets monstrously overgrown. I have experimented with growing squashes on a frame so they climb (this is what they do at Helmingham Hall). needs good support but saves space for the small cucumbers and courgettes if you are diligent in tying them up.

Have you considered mixing up your salad bed? I usually grow the fast-growing french breakfast radishes and some spinach in with my salad leaves and just keep snipping with scissors - one bed is plenty. I occasionally buy an iceberg in the summer to mix with my home-grown as I rather like the wateriness of it.

Left to me I would increase your sweetcorn (taff is right about a block) - 24 is not too many as some around the outside plants may not fruit too much, in my experience (might be how exposed they are where I grow them).

For your other 2 beds, you could consider asparagus and as taff suggests, some soft fruit (a premium crop as it is so expensive to buy). Blackcurrants and gooseberries share nicely. And rhubarb is worth considering (not under a tree). A Victoria Plum tree might also be good as it is self fertile (though crops more heavily if a pollination partner is nearby).

I stick to tomatoes and chillies in my greenhouse (too small and rickety) and grow some tomatoes against the house too. I freeze loads of fruit and veg - tomatoes I used to whizz to passata but they are just as good in the round and bunged in from frozen. Chillies are better prepared when frozen (no oil on your fingers) so I always freeze my whole crop. And Borlotti and broad beens - fantastic in the winter. You could plant the latter later after your potatoes (and top up your leeks then too).

I am also growing PJ and Charlotte this year, with International Kidney (Jersey Royals, grown in the wrong place). When we grew PFA, we found it incredibly difficult to clear them. It was a prolific crop of tiny potatoes and they continued to start new ones for five years after - resulting in blight - so not for me. Obviously regional and seasonal variations differ.

Still need to catch up! DD was sick on Friday morning, so we had to cancel our planned visit to Nana's on Sat, as well as swimming. Thankfully, she was only sick the once, but was definitely under the weather and not herself. Seems back to normal this morning though.


But, being house/garden bound, we decided to make best use of the time and sort the garden out. Finally got the remainder of the old fabric planter (on the decking) emptied and fabric thrown away (it was torn all over the place! Generally cleared space at that end of the decking and then gave it a good scrub with some water and a broom as it was very slippy in places. Still not perfect now, but much improved.


We then moved the set of planted fruit bushes, and their water management system and water butt, over to that end of the decking. We gave all the bits and bobs a good scrub and rinse too.


This freed up space for where our new raised planter was going. So I left DH to put that up, whilst DD and I went to the shops to get some compost to fill it up, and a couple of tiles for it to stand on (on one side), to stabilise it. So, it is up. It is filled with compost, and DH has made like a lattice of sticks against the back of it for climbing/tall plants to attach to. The 2nd part of that was done yesterday.


We also then emptied one of our old deep planters and placed against the back wall on the decking. Placed some old trellis we had lying around behind it, and secured that, before filling that with compost and transplanting the peas and beans.


We had an empty pot available in the self watering system, which we filled with compost and potted courgette and cucumber into. It was too soon for the cucumber. They are not happy and I don't think they will survive. I was too keen I think! Oh well, just have to sow some more.


Also potted on some spare seedlings and again passed to neighbour.


Still need to treat the lawn. It is mostly moss and dandelions, but that's more tricky to do as don't want DD around when we do that.


Hope everyone is well! x