The Gardening Thread

[Guest]

My allotment is looking ok at the moment. I've been harvesting early potatoes for three or four weeks now and the peas and french beans are nearly ready. The mixture of green and purple pods looks really attractive. Garlic has been a bit of a failure. All had quite small cloves but will hopefully taste ok. Parsnips, carrots and beetroot are all doing well as are the brassicas. Sweet potatoes are ok but I think I may have planted them too late. Will be harvesting onions this weekend for storage. 

I'm growing all my salad crops at home. Heritage tomatoes and cucumbers are looking good. Not so sure about the aubergines but time will tell.

[whisty]

Still got some of last years potatoes left. Gave 2/3rds of my plots up & having to cover over whats left this year, new job for a year halting any spare time I have  Good luck to the gardeners & allotment folk this year. Still interested to read whats going on

Edited April 8, 2018 by whisty

[Guest]

Not much going on at the moment. Allotments are still too wet and cold to do anything serious. Have set up my bean and pea frames ready for planting in the next couple of weeks or so and done general weeding etc. Have a load of stuff in the greenhouse which really needs planting out but it's just too risky at the moment.

 

Edited April 8, 2018 by Ommadawn

[grumpyhack]

Everything is so wet.  Off for 10 days holiday to France this week.  At present all I've got on my veg patch is two rows of potatoes and  a great crop of Forget-me-Nots to be shifted. Hopefully will be better weather to make a start when I return. 

[Guest]

57 minutes ago, grumpyhack said:

Everything is so wet.  Off for 10 days holiday to France this week.  At present all I've got on my veg patch is two rows of potatoes and  a great crop of Forget-me-Nots to be shifted. Hopefully will be better weather to make a start when I return. 

Weather forecast for next week looks good. I'm planning on planting my potatoes  then.

[Guest]

Spent the day on the allotment. Planted all my potatoes  and did some weeding and digging. Raspberries are beginning to sprout. Tomorrow's job is to sort out the strawberry patch and yet more weeding.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Ommadawn

[feral chile]

Is it easy to grow your own fruit and veg?

[whisty]

54 minutes ago, feral chile said:

Is it easy to grow your own fruit and veg?

Easy enough if you can follow instructions. 

[Guest]

... and very rewarding.

[feral chile]

Been meaning to do it for years.

[whisty]

An allotment is great if you can access one. There will be lots of folk more than happy to pass on advice and from my experience offers a great community feeling. 

[feral chile]

3 minutes ago, whisty said:

An allotment is great if you can access one. There will be lots of folk more than happy to pass on advice and from my experience offers a great community feeling. 

There's a few around here but don't know what the waiting lists are like.

Best start making enquiries.

 

[whisty]

7 minutes ago, feral chile said:

There's a few around here but don't know what the waiting lists are like.

Best start making enquiries.

 

Go for it, a little bit of hard work, helps with fitness with bonus of access to the freshest food you'll ever get. I turned 10 years of allotment experience into doing gardens for people, am just waiting to retire so I can put more energy into it & get back to growing some edibles

Edited June 10, 2019 by whisty

[feral chile]

17 minutes ago, whisty said:

Go for it, a little bit of hard work, helps with fitness with bonus of access to the freshest food you'll ever get. I turned 10 years of allotment experience into doing gardens for people, am just waiting to retire so I can put more energy into it & get back to growing some edibles

Yes, mmy family had an allotment when I was growing up, and I've reached that age where I'm sick of tasteless supermarket offerings.

I was spoiled. I can still taste those tomatoes...

[whisty]

7 hours ago, feral chile said:

Yes, mmy family had an allotment when I was growing up, and I've reached that age where I'm sick of tasteless supermarket offerings.

I was spoiled. I can still taste those tomatoes...

I remember the taste of the potatoes me dad grew ?   I’m repeating but there’s something to be said for the freshness of picking, cooking and eating the same day, the texture and taste is like nothing you can purchase in supermarkets and such places. That and the knowledge that you grew it organically all adds to the enjoyment. And then there’s the almost endless learning curve. Get going, tell the story as it unfolds and inspire more folks to do something similar. 

[feral chile]

5 hours ago, whisty said:

I remember the taste of the potatoes me dad grew ?   I’m repeating but there’s something to be said for the freshness of picking, cooking and eating the same day, the texture and taste is like nothing you can purchase in supermarkets and such places. That and the knowledge that you grew it organically all adds to the enjoyment. And then there’s the almost endless learning curve. Get going, tell the story as it unfolds and inspire more folks to do something similar. 

Thanks whisty. The only thing putting me off is feeling stupid and embarrassed at not knowing where to start. I picture all the old hands grinning knowingly at all my mistakes. I'm going to do my research, and if and when I get a plot, ask for help.

[Guest]

No-one will laugh at you and all you need to do is ask and you will find that people are happy to help. Goes for on here as well

[whisty]

Unless you’re after the secret of how to grow the biggest marrow in the world almost any gardener would be happy to share knowledge I’m sure. We all started somewhere not knowing and needing help. So as Ommadawn says, just ask here or there?

[feral chile]

54 minutes ago, Ommadawn said:

No-one will laugh at you and all you need to do is ask and you will find that people are happy to help. Goes for on here as well

 

19 minutes ago, whisty said:

Unless you’re after the secret of how to grow the biggest marrow in the world almost any gardener would be happy to share knowledge I’m sure. We all started somewhere not knowing and needing help. So as Ommadawn says, just ask here or there?

Thanks guys.

Just getting stuff to grow will be a big deal for me. I've emailed the local council, so at least getting the ball rolling.

[whisty]

5 hours ago, feral chile said:

 

Thanks guys.

Just getting stuff to grow will be a big deal for me. I've emailed the local council, so at least getting the ball rolling.

Stopping stuff growing is the thing, weeds arghhh . You never see a bare patch of untended earth, things grow, you just have to get the right conditions and time of year to start them off, set the spacing as it tells you on the packet and keep relatively weed free. Good luck. 

Edited June 11, 2019 by whisty

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[Guest]

Why not get an allotment. It might make you sane

[grumpyhack]

Time to really start moving in this area.  If getting fresh food becomes a problem then the more we manage to grow ourselves the better.  I'm working on clearing my veg patch ready for planting.  One problem has been that my local garden centre is closed so I've had to order all my plants and seeds etc on line.  Hopefully deliveries will start arriving in the next week.

[whisty]

Spent the previous 4 seasons working full time and trying to build up a book of gardens to work on so I could retire from office work, get out into the air & do something I wanted to after 40+ years of being told what to do. Finally after a lot of hard work it came to fruition for this season. I had the best March in 5 years and now what's happened, it's gone pop! Oh well, guess I'm real lucky to have my own few sq meters of earth and an unknown number of pots to play with, roll on the growth

[feral chile]

Help.

If I want to finally make a start on growing stuff, starting with pots as I don't have a south facing garden (sun rises in front left and crosses diagonally over the house left to right, what does that result in? 🤯) and I have no idea what soil it is (best guess, mud (clay?) with decades of ash and soot from coal fires dumped on top).....

When and how to begin? 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Edited March 30, 2020 by feral chile