God I love growing our own

[Goran]

We planted potatoes for early harvest and peas.. Using garden hoe after some time was nice..

 

[Moobee]

Yes. I mow the grass short and just lay the cardboard (or a couple of layers if it's thin) down and put about 10cm of compost on top. It kills off most stuff. Occasionally there's a persistent dandelion or dock that needs attention later, but generally it works pretty well and the grass dies off without access to light. The real problem is that I have to keep ordering stuff from Thorne so they'll send me lots of cardboard

My weed problems are mostly stuff that blows in from the surrounding pasture land, but pulling them when they're small before the roots really establish makes control fairly easy. Except hairy bittercress. The seeds ping off any plant in the area and as far as I can tell it self-pollinates very easily. I weeded all of it out of the beds last Autumn and I have some that's grown over the Winter and has green seeds now, and there's more that's in flower

James

Could try it as a new crop - hairy bittercress leaves are edible - they taste a bit like watercress.

 

[JamezF]

Could try it as a new crop - hairy bittercress leaves are edible - they taste a bit like watercress.

So I gather. It would at least make it useful. Perhaps I'll have to try it in a salad. Or an egg/mayo sandwich.

I've spent most of today out in the greenhouse, sowing seeds for peppers and chiles, onions and a few other herbs and veg as well as a range of flowers including sweet peas. I ended up with thirty module trays of seeds I think. Next weekend looks like there will need to be a fairly busy sowing day too. I need to get a move on with the new strawberry beds so I can get the plants out of the greenhouse and into the ground to make room. Unfortunately the ground is sodden again. It doesn't feel as though we've had a lot of rain over the last week, nor that it has rained particularly hard, but the mud was trying to suck the boots off my feet when I shut the chickens in last night. The alternative is to assume the pepper plants that I attempted to over-winter in the greenhouse are in fact dead (they certainly look it) and dump them on the compost heap.

James

 

[pargyle]

Could try it as a new crop - hairy bittercress leaves are edible - they taste a bit like watercress.

Use it as a garnish and leave it on the side of the plate ! Grow something more edible and compost it ...

 

[Goran]

Use it as a garnish and leave it on the side of the plate ! Grow something more edible and compost it ...

I remember once long time ago was praised on TV - garlic mustard ( Alliaria petiolata) as surogate for garlic.. Actually it is pretty present at my place and considered edible.. When I have in garden real garlic, why would I even bother with surogate..
Also here some go on meadows and pick young dandelion leaves for salad as same as lettuce. Actually I tried it and it doesn't worth to bother since we grow tasty lettuce by our own, even never spray it with some pesticide. We grow a bit more and even when some get disease plenty left to eat ( from greenhouse is better in our experience).

 

[philat98]

I am growing 100 tomato plants under grow lamps in the house. I transfer them to a cold greenhouse after the last frost. I am growing chicco(early small variety), red pear, marzanino and roma.

 

[JamezF]

I am growing 100 tomato plants under grow lamps in the house. I transfer them to a cold greenhouse after the last frost. I am growing chicco(early small variety), red pear, marzanino and roma.View attachment 38926

One hundred is a lot, even by my standards. Are they all for "personal use"?

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

around here they do that in attics or unoccupied buildings

 

[JamezF]

around here they do that in attics or unoccupied buildings

Did you see the one that was in the news recently where the "gardeners" had received government grants to insulate the houses so they'd be harder to find with IR cameras?

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

around here they do that in attics or unoccupied buildings

Once right next to a Cheshire nick too

 

[Erichalfbee]

I am growing 100 tomato plants under grow lamps in the house. I transfer them to a cold greenhouse after the last frost. I am growing chicco(early small variety), red pear, marzanino and roma.View attachment 38926

Pink light?

 

[philat98]

One hundred is a lot, even by my standards. Are they all for "personal use"?

James

I pulp surplus tomatoes and put them in 1kg jars for winter use. I also make a lot of sweet tomato chutney. The Roma variety are productive and dont need supports. I am not sure how useful the Roma variety are in the UK.

 

[philat98]

around here they do that in attics or unoccupied buildings

I wonder if I might get a visit from the police. There is a station not far from my flat.

 

[JamezF]

I pulp surplus tomatoes and put them in 1kg jars for winter use. I also make a lot of sweet tomato chutney. The Roma variety are productive and dont need supports. I am not sure how useful the Roma variety are in the UK.

I'm sure I've seen Roma seeds for sale in the UK. Of course that doesn't mean they grow well

Do you have a reference for the sweet tomato chutney? That sounds quite interesting.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I wonder if I might get a visit from the police. There is a station not far from my flat.

you're probably safe then

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'm sure I've seen Roma seeds for sale in the UK.

Yes I’ve grown them. For me they were nothing special.

 

[JamezF]

Spent a couple of hours in the veggie plot this afternoon weeding. I probably got the worst-affected quarter of the plot done. I mentioned before that the hairy bittercress was in flower and we've had dandelions in flower almost all winter, but once down at ground level I found speedwell and groundsel also flowering. And sycamore seedlings were fully out of the ground. It's not even the middle of February! There was also quite a bit of what I know as goosegrass but my wife calls stickybud that was perhaps brought in by deer. I didn't have the heart to get rid of these though:

On the positive side, the PSB is finally producing heads. That's another oddity. Normally there's some to eat from early January, though last Winter it started in November. I'm just pleased to see it at long last.

James

 

[philat98]

I'm sure I've seen Roma seeds for sale in the UK. Of course that doesn't mean they grow well

Do you have a reference for the sweet tomato chutney? That sounds quite interesting.

James

From David Mabey 1978.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Spent a couple of hours in the veggie plot this afternoon weeding. I probably got the worst-affected quarter of the plot done. I mentioned before that the hairy bittercress was in flower and we've had dandelions in flower almost all winter, but once down at ground level I found speedwell and groundsel also flowering. And sycamore seedlings were fully out of the ground. It's not even the middle of February! There was also quite a bit of what I know as goosegrass but my wife calls stickybud that was perhaps brought in by deer. I didn't have the heart to get rid of these though:

On the positive side, the PSB is finally producing heads. That's another oddity. Normally there's some to eat from early January, though last Winter it started in November. I'm just pleased to see it at long last.

James

Our PSB has come and gone.

Does anybody have success with cauliflowers?

 

[JamezF]

Does anybody have success with cauliflowers?

I've never had success with traditional cauliflowers. I wish I had. This year I might try sowing some in July or August and leaving them in the garden over winter to see if they produce anything useful the following Spring. Had the idea occurred to me at the time I'd have started them off last year, but actually my winter brassicas have all been a bit below par this year so perhaps even then the results may not have been good. I suspect the dull and wet latter half of the year contributed to their lack of performance.

I did have some very nice Romanesco cauliflowers last year though. Possibly the best I've ever grown. They quite appeal to me given my background of maths, science and programming computers, too

James