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Growing your own Food.

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Pruning the old Bramley trees. Had to cut a lot of dead wood out last year so now they look a bit like bottle brushes.
On the plus side there looks like a lot of fruiting buds to come if we don't get late frosts.
 
For xmas my sister has given me some packet seeds - tomatoes, carrots, radish and onion. A book on growing your own veggies. An oversized tea spoon in the shape of a spade :D

I need to read the packets ASAP and work out what goes in and when. I'll start them all in the greenhouse which should give me time to build the veggie beds. First though need shelving / racking in the greenhouse.

Compost heap has been contaminated with grass clippings that had cat, fox and dog poop in - I am thinking of moving it all to the other heap at the bottom of the plot and only using that for the flower beds / for levelling the one patch that slopes and is full of ankle snapping holes. Such a waste of what would be good compost but just don't fancy growing veggies it in.
 
jenks69 said:
For xmas my sister has given me some packet seeds - tomatoes, carrots, radish and onion. A book on growing your own veggies. An oversized tea spoon in the shape of a spade :D

I need to read the packets ASAP and work out what goes in and when. I'll start them all in the greenhouse which should give me time to build the veggie beds. First though need shelving / racking in the greenhouse.

Compost heap has been contaminated with grass clippings that had cat, fox and dog poop in - I am thinking of moving it all to the other heap at the bottom of the plot and only using that for the flower beds / for levelling the one patch that slopes and is full of ankle snapping holes. Such a waste of what would be good compost but just don't fancy growing veggies it in.
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Do you have a propagator ? a really handy bit of kit to get seeds started. Personally I don't start my seeds off until late February cos they really don't like the cold (even under cover) and the light is really poor at this time of year and all you end up with is weak plants. Good point about not using that compost if it has dog poo in it, you could use it on flower beds, but on anything you are going to eat the pathogens in the poo are very dangerous to human health.
Hope your new seeds germinate well and you get a good crop.......keep us posted :)
 
I got my seeds delivered over Christmas for the coming year. Not going to start things too early in case of frosts later. I don't think that starting peppers and tomatoes in jan/Feb under heat really helps all that much because march sown things always seem to catch up and you don't have to spend a fortune on paraffin.
With carrots I'd direct sow them thinly so you don't have to disturb them and attract root fly. My best radishes are always the first crop sown direct under cover in the greenhouse border or tunnel. They never seem to do as well outside later on.
 
Guitar Mick said:
Do you have a propagator ? a really handy bit of kit to get seeds started. Personally I don't start my seeds off until late February cos they really don't like the cold (even under cover) and the light is really poor at this time of year and all you end up with is weak plants. Good point about not using that compost if it has dog poo in it, you could use it on flower beds, but on anything you are going to eat the pathogens in the poo are very dangerous to human health.
Hope your new seeds germinate well and you get a good crop.......keep us posted :)
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Local knowledge is very handy šŸ˜šŸ‘
 
I used to try and grow everything until I realised we haven't got the space nor the conditions so we concentrate now on things that a) grow easily, b) we like and c) are relatively expensive to buy. French, runner and broad beans, courgettes, mange tout, bush toms, leaf and perpetual spinach, chard. Got raspberry bushes, a strawberry bed and a herb bed. That's enough for us. CBA with spuds, carrots, root veg or brassicas which always get munched by cabbage whites which are very abundant here.

Have an old 6'x4' polycarbonate greenhouse which is falling to bits and needs new panes all round. Will get rid of it as really it is only of use in the spring to get delicate seedlings going; during the summer it gets too hot, 40C at times. I'll make some cold frames instead.

I use a propagator to start some seeds but the lack of bright light in the house during the winter means their time indoors is limited. I've started planting later too as it seems to me that the seasons have shifted, winter, spring and summer are later than I remember?
 
I bought seed-tray sized propagators from B&Q as they are likely to get cracked if bought by post. I've made a base heater from motorbike handlebar heaters as it's 12v and safe to get wet. But I've had more success by stacking them vertically over LED lights as they put out enough heat not to need additional mats.
@cappers Try making your greenhouse it into a brassica cage instead of a greenhouse, and use the panels with pallet wood to make cold frames instead.
I'm Just sowing onions at the moment, and ordering seeds for later.
I don't have much luck with tomatoes but have recently seen that varieties Aurora and Latah are extra-early, and Sweet Million although small can do well in hanging baskets. I'm also trying out Red Robin grown indoors this year as I put them out last year and they ended up super compact at about 6" high in full sun, so will try starting them with less light to stretch them a bit and protect them from blight.
 
I had good success with Sweet Millions and also Gardeners Delight, Ildi, Moneymaker and Costoluto Fiorentino I gave up growing tomatoes outside a couple of years ago as it was a complete waste of time. I tried a hanging basket last year but it didn't do very well so I will be sticking to the tried and tested raised beds in the polytunnel :)
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Guitar Mick said:
I had good success with Sweet Millions and also Gardeners Delight, Ildi, Moneymaker and Costoluto Fiorentino I gave up growing tomatoes outside a couple of years ago as it was a complete waste of time. I tried a hanging basket last year but it didn't do very well so I will be sticking to the tried and tested raised beds in the polytunnel :) View attachment 446344
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I do like your poly tunnel are you getting ready for the new season?
 
1steven said:
I do like your poly tunnel are you getting ready for the new season?
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Thank you for that, I couldn't grow what I do without it. Growing outside is really hardwork by comparison with using a polytunnel. Right now it's a matter of getting the raised beds prepped for the new crops and the bench set up for the propagators. So lots of donkey/horse shit mixed into the beds and keeping them watered so the worms can get going and help condition the soil. I grow things that are easy to grow or difficult to get in the shops. So lots of different tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, lettuces, strawberries, kale, beetroot, carrots, garlic and basil. I've got to get the strawberry plants divided up and encourage the new growth to create new plants, but I will have to wait until we get out of the really cold spell. I've got a good bit of tidying up to do this year so that may well be the first job.
 
Sowed two trays of onion seed in the house on Sunday one lot showing today , onions are quite hardy and can tolerate the cold .
Will turn the heat off in the propagator once second set of seeds show.
Last year once they where up I put them on the window sill in the unheated porch gets plenty of light though.
 
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