Plans for planting

[JamezF]

You afraid it will escape?

It eats pets and small children unless you keep it under control.

James

 

[Moobee]

You afraid it will escape?

LOL! Problems with cats and foxes that seem to think our garden is an ideal place to play and poo

 

[Moobee]

It eats pets and small children unless you keep it under control.

James

That would be perfectly ok!

 

[JamezF]

I have plants! The onions are already sprouting:

One or two of the peas (these ones grown for pea shoots in salads) are showing signs of life too.

And beetroot are just about there as well.

I love it when stuff starts growing. Another year is beginning

James

 

[Nannysbees]

That's exciting, do you grow beetroot in trays or straight into the ground?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have Peppers, some aubergines and some cucumbers and melons through.The cut and come again salad is doing well on the kitchen window sill and there is more planned to put in the greenhouse for spring. I love this time of year when things start sprouting. We are still eating leeks and broccoli and the garlic is well through. Spuds are in the fridge for now

 

[Skinfaxi]

Eat it, mostly

Much as I enjoy being carnivorous we took a decision as a family a few years back to try to reduce the amount of meat we eat in favour of more vegetables and we now usually eat vegetarian for four days each week, with as much of that as possible coming from the garden. My in-laws live with us in a "granny annexe" and now in their late 80s are struggling to do much in the garden, so I try to grow enough for them too, even if my mother-in-law does appear to have a bit of an aversion to "dirty vegetables" coming into the house

And we do seem to get through a lot of some things. As I posted earlier, we quite probably will get through 400 onions in a year if they'll keep long enough. And whilst we've given some to friends and family we kept at least forty garlic bulbs for ourselves and I'm not sure they'll last until the next harvest. Tomatoes we use by the bucket-load because who doesn't eat fresh tomatoes if they have them? And any excess gets turned into sauces for pasta or pizza and preserved. Lots of different vegetables get made into soups. The butternut squashes didn't do that well last year, but in 2020 this was the harvest:

Those lasted us until some time in April as far as I recall.

We're probably about two thirds of the way through last year's carrots. I thought they would last much longer. Chiles we often have more of than we need, so the excess we often give to friends and family, as with a few other vegetables that can be preserved easily. We still do get through an enormous number of jalapenos though. Visitors also rarely leave without a few vegetables during the summer.

I can't deny that it's possible to get a bit hooked on it all. A tomato, basil and mozzarella salad made from shop-bought ingredients just doesn't come remotely close to taste of one made with tomatoes and basil that have only just been picked from the garden. I had quite a successful year with sweet corn last year and it is the best I have ever tasted by miles. After that, only home-grown will do

It is fair to say that I do tend to grow a bit more than we need of some things, certainly. Come the spring there will still be a few leeks, parsnips, sprouts, cabbages, swedes and kale standing in the plot. I can live with that if it's the cost of knowing that if we want a cabbage or whatever then it's there, though before things start to run to seed I will try to get some of it into the freezer in pasties and suchlike.

The way the world is at the moment it seems a very positive thing to be doing for financial reasons too. Food is becoming noticeably more expensive and what I spend on seeds quite possibly wouldn't even keep us in lettuce for the year if we had to buy it.

James

WHO FEELS IT KNOWS IT.

 

[Skinfaxi]

That's exciting, do you grow beetroot in trays or straight into the ground?

start them in modules 3 to 4 seeds per station. then plant out in a bunch. add tricoderma fungus spores to your potting soil mix to help your roots. also just make sure your seedlings do not over grow the cell trays. so plant out before they run out of nutrients in the cells or feed.

 

[Nannysbees]

start them in modules 3 to 4 seeds per station. then plant out in a bunch. add tricoderma fungus spores to your potting soil mix to help your roots. also just make sure your seedlings do not over grow the cell trays. so plant out before they run out of nutrients in the cells or feed.

Never succeeded with beetroot

 

[JamezF]

That's exciting, do you grow beetroot in trays or straight into the ground?

I sow them four seeds to a cell in module trays and transplant once they're big enough.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I sow them four seeds to a cell in module trays and transplant once they're big enough.

James

I've found that one seed will throw out multiple seedlings anyway, I've always planted them straight into the ground, seeds an inch or so apart then do successive thinnings.
Swmbo has been on a gardening fad at the moment and has virtually taken over the garden (don't mind as time and a bad back makes it a chore for me nowadays) but she insists on following these facebook 'experts' and their ilk and it often ends in tears. I try telling her that the conditions encountered by these urban countrymen tucked up in their tiny little gardens in some microclimate bubble is totally different to the reality here in South West Wales. I remember by grandfather telling me when he saw that someone had given me Percy Thrower's book 'In your garden' which was (is still) a handy book which deals with things to do in the garden week by week throughout the season. "Right" he said "go through the book and with a pencil just cross off the month featured and replace with the following month so that January reads February etc.......... and still do nothing for the first three months of the year!! as much as I respect Mr Thrower and agree with most he says, he doesn't live where we live" I've followed that dictum (and still use the book, together with his 'everyday gardening') and it's always kept me in good stead, although my grandfather did say "mine is just a rough guide, you can sometimes start a week or so earlier".

 

[JamezF]

I've found that one seed will throw out multiple seedlings anyway, I've always planted them straight into the ground, seeds an inch or so apart then do successive thinnings.

That's how I used to do it, but now everything is started off in module trays if it's practical to do so. I'll thin the beetroot to four seedlings per cell before the go into the ground, but leave them to grow in clumps of four from then on and either harvest the largest from a clump when I want them, or lift the entire clump.

I agree that flexibility over timings is absolutely required though, particularly these days when the weather seems so unpredictable.

James

 

[Nannysbees]

That's how I used to do it, but now everything is started off in module trays if it's practical to do so. I'll thin the beetroot to four seedlings per cell before the go into the ground, but leave them to grow in clumps of four from then on and either harvest the largest from a clump when I want them, or lift the entire clump.

I agree that flexibility over timings is absolutely required though, particularly these days when the weather seems so unpredictable.

James

I think that's a good plan to edge your bets. Pot luck with me going straight into the garden, modules sound good. Could be our soil in the garden but suited to beets maybe?

 

[JamezF]

I think that's a good plan to edge your bets. Pot luck with me going straight into the garden, modules sound good. Could be our soil in the garden but suited to beets maybe?

There seem to be lots of advantages to sowing vegetables in modules, the major disadvantage being the space required for them. I must have about thirty trays (the ones that are about 8"x6") on the go already, very few of which will be transplanted before mid March by which time I'll probably have at least half as many again. That needs a lot of room in the greenhouse.

Not sure why beetroot should be difficult to grow. I may have mentioned before that I heard/read that one of the common reasons people think vegetable seeds have failed is because slugs and snails get to them very early rather than the seed not germinating. In that case, sowing in modules may well help. Lots of creatures from the quite small to fairly large do seem to find beetroot leaves quite tasty.

James

 

[thorn]

1000 ft up in the South Pennines above Hebden bridge in West Yorkshire. It is glorious on a nice still day. Been blowing a hooley here for several days. We’ve planting hundreds of hedging plants and many trees to create windbreaks. Then fixed windbreak to protect the windbreak!

Every winter we go round the same debate “should we move”!?

Are you far from Colden and the shop written about in yesterday's i? That would be a good place to sell your honey.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I've found that one seed will throw out multiple seedlings anyway, I've always planted them straight into the ground, seeds an inch or so apart then do successive thinnings.
Swmbo has been on a gardening fad at the moment and has virtually taken over the garden (don't mind as time and a bad back makes it a chore for me nowadays) but she insists on following these facebook 'experts' and their ilk and it often ends in tears. I try telling her that the conditions encountered by these urban countrymen tucked up in their tiny little gardens in some microclimate bubble is totally different to the reality here in South West Wales. I remember by grandfather telling me when he saw that someone had given me Percy Thrower's book 'In your garden' which was (is still) a handy book which deals with things to do in the garden week by week throughout the season. "Right" he said "go through the book and with a pencil just cross off the month featured and replace with the following month so that January reads February etc.......... and still do nothing for the first three months of the year!! as much as I respect Mr Thrower and agree with most he says, he doesn't live where we live" I've followed that dictum (and still use the book, together with his 'everyday gardening') and it's always kept me in good stead, although my grandfather did say "mine is just a rough guide, you can sometimes start a week or so earlier".

Listening to gardeners question time on the steam radio was a regular event in our house. Fred Loades, Harry Wheatcroft, Bill Sowerbut are names that come to mind. One question was asked of Harry about the best way to prune roses. His response "get in amongst 'em with a scythe"☺

 

[elainemary]

Are you far from Colden and the shop written about in yesterday's i? That would be a good place to sell your honey.

May’s shop is the one you’re thinking of. No not too far away. I sell most of my honey to locals and through a shop in Hebden bridge.

 

[Moobee]

That's how I used to do it, but now everything is started off in module trays if it's practical to do so. I'll thin the beetroot to four seedlings per cell before the go into the ground, but leave them to grow in clumps of four from then on and either harvest the largest from a clump when I want them, or lift the entire clump.

I agree that flexibility over timings is absolutely required though, particularly these days when the weather seems so unpredictable.

James

 

[Moobee]

Modules is definitely the way to go for most things or you’re basically providing a slug and snail smorgasbord!

 

[E&MBees]

Thought I would try modules again as work had some unwanted trays. However, I find the compost dries out quickly. Perhaps it’s the peat free mix I use. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Emily