29th March "Grow your own" newcomers welcome here

[TalkinPeece]

In light of lots of posts on lots of other threads I thought I'd start one for those who are looking at their gardens in a whole new light this spring.

Rule One of starting to grow your own
do not be over ambitious
A couple of growbags and pots at the start will give better results than trying to dig up the whole garden

Rule Two of starting to grow your own
grow stuff that will actually cope with your conditions
Look at where the sun shines on your garden at different times of day and what access to water you have

Rule three of starting to grow your own
grow what you will enjoy eating fresh from the garden
as the crops will be smaller but tastier

Rule Four of starting to grow your own
prepare to develop an obsession with the weather forecast

HOWEVER
Tomatoes against a wall of the house are easy in most of the UK
Herbs in small pots on windowsills are easy in most places
Lettuce / salad greens can work in pots, tubs or even hanging baskets
Spinach can be seeded soon and every few weeks from then on to keep you in greens for months
Baby carrots are quick fun and easy to grow in a tub
Beetroot ditto
Dwarf french beans later in the year are well worth growing even in a tiny garden

If we assume that the biggest newcomer plot is 2m by 1m (or 8 feet by 4 feet in old money)

How much yummy veg can Mumsnetters produce?

Thanks guys. I'll have to practice my origami skills as we're not getting through bogroll quick enough.

Typical of Aldi to have propagators on sale just after I've bought one!

Bigly you may discover that one isn’t enough...

Useful tip about strawberries - I've just been weeding out some of my older plants.

I've also cautiously sown some broad beans and coriander, though my experience is that there is a high risk in March of weeks of cold grey damp days, which causes fresh new seedlings to bow their heads and wither away.

Anyone else for good tips for recycled containers for starting seeds in

I use anything I can find. Meat trays are good.

Yesterday I found some youtube clips on something called Winter Sowing, where you turn large plastic milk containers into mini greenhouses and leave them outside during the cold months.

Could use this method now perhaps and cut the roof bit off once the seedlings are through?

This guy is a bit slow but explains it thoroughly. There are other versions on youtube as well

I can't find a video for my method but this one will do...

I don't know if anyone has mentioned cutting off the bases of different sized tetrapaks? I haven't tried that but imagine they'd be fit for purpose?

TBH the best way to get lots of cheap pots is to go to a big garden centre like a Haskins and go through their pot recycling box
all RHS centres have them to

people take pots they do not need
others collect pots they want
no money changes hands

I get dozens that way every year

grenzen
Not sure about the metal and plastic layers in tetrapaks - I' rather just send them for recycling

Those newspaper ones are darn adorable. Think I'll give that a go just for fun when the next free paper arrives. I've also now given DH strict instructions to save plastic trays. :)

I can't drive so garden centres are a bit of a pain in the backside for me to get to. The decent ones tend not to be very accessible by public transport, at least not round our way. Plus it makes it tricky to get stuff home if it's heavy or bulky.

Bigly
It might be worth putting a call out on your local FB marketplace or freecycle or gumtree for pots
I give away as many as I collect as I know what sizes I like to use for propogating
but new plants do not come in that size !!!

All the garden centres near us are out in the sticks too Bigly! (I do drive but still find it a a pain!!) We do have a small B&Q near us with a limited range of garden stuff, but since Homebase shut down there's nothing else in a 'budget' range

Wilkos will do home delivery from £4, worth thinking about if you want to do a big compost/ pots/ seeds order without having to lug it home?

Definitely have a look on Facebook, I've been really lucky and got loads of stuff from a guy who was emptying his whole garden before he moved, including two of these: www.qvcuk.com/Flower-Tower-Set-of-2-Free-Standing-Watering-Systems.product.515322.html?sc=Froogle&ref=fgl&source=froogle&cm_mmc=PPCSHOPPING--Google--Shopping-_-GardenLeisure&utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=base&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj66klJnn4AIVls13Ch3cqAFDEAkYFCABEgIDdPD_BwE& which may or may not stop DS2 being able to uproot all the strawberry plants.....

Thank you for the videos everyone I also save trays, yoghurt pots etc for planting in - the DC are happy just to be given those, some compost and their plastic trowels and then 'plant' away!

I was chuffed yesterday to find 'grow your own garlic' pots in Poundland, we have an ants problem in our garden and it's one of the plants which is supposed to deter them. Opened it today and the bulb is all mouldy and horrible. I think I'll have to plant it with an old bulb I have in the cupboard and see if that works

This has dropped off my TIO so clearly I should post more

In the end I successfully germinated 9 chilli seedlings and have transplanted them into their own pots now. They’re looking good and developing the next set of leaves so fingers crossed!

I’ve also sown some winter salad but not a lot going on there yet.

Otherwise I’m sitting on my hands to stop myself sowing too early. I don’t have a greenhouse or cold frame so I’m trying to be cautious! I suspect my patience will last until next weekend when some broad beans and potatoes may mysteriously find themselves in some dirt...

This bloke's channel is great. Give it a look. And no, I'm not his Mum.

Ruby
Any shop garlic will grow, but British varieties grow better
each bulb turns into a full head so its worth it ....

I cannot grow garlic any more, I miss it (white rot in my soil)

I have DTS2 asleep on me Bellini, doing to watch Huw for a bit now!

Thanks Talkin, I'll definitely give the garlic a try. I'm planting stuff that's supposed to deter ants although my marigolds have yet to show any signs of growing! They are under a skylight so get plenty of light but not actual sun, wonder if that's why?

Ooh, I think I may have found my place. I potter about the allotment thread but feel a bit of a fraud as I actually have 3 raised beds in the garden! This will be year three of growing my own. I’m in northern Scotland so sitting on my hands and trying to resist planting anything just yet! My first year my seedlings all died when they were snowed on in May!
I’m interested to see perpetual spinach being recommended, I tried it last year and in two rows I got two seedlings, neither of which really developed any leaves so I wrote it off as too difficult, could it have just been a duff batch of seed?

My tomato and cucumber seeds have not sprouted despite being on a sunny window sill for two weeks. Also...my carefully planted strawberries in a 'dog proof'raised bed are looking very sorry for themselves today. The dog is massive...the proofing was inadequate for an animal of his size

mystaken
Are the pots covered so that they have high enough humidity and temperature ?
If not do it now and you might get lucky.

Strawberries - I put hanging basket frames over mine .....

Hi there DrWhy
Some veg seed is very short lived or just pants
definitely worth trying again

DrWhy I hope your perpetual spinach was just a duff batch of seed because having a very small and already full wildlife friendly garden I've ordered a fairly narrow 4ft raised-bed frame which is coming next week precisely for that vegetable! I'm in East Anglia though so maybe the weather down here will make a difference. Good luck

Ahhhhhhhh...okay...thanks TP. I hadn't. I will! Thank you for the advice

Right TiP thanks, I’ll give it a go with another batch. I think they were the only seeds I used from a grow your own veg set I was given as a Christmas present. I generally prefer to choose my own variety but had no clue on spinach so thought I’d use them, they were definitely in date. That gives me an excuse to go to a garden centre again. I hope yours does well for you GG
Waiting on most of my seeds to arrive. If we have a decent day this week when I don’t have DS I’ll try to get the very earliest seeds planted. I might need to get the greenhouse heater set up just in case if I do though.
This year my resolution is to actually leave a decent gap between my successional showings....! Everything always seems to come in one go.
Does anyone know how important it is to rotate veg plants? Specifically peas and beans? We are on a fairly steep slope so my raised beds are very much more raised in some places than others. It’s much easier for me to put tall plants like the peas and beans at the end where it’s almost ground level to reach them to harvest but that will mean them being in the same place for the third year in a row.

Just reading back through RubySnips I have put some runner bean seeds in a glass sandwiched between the glass and a rolled up piece of capillary matting (back in the day we used blotting paper to do the same thing) with DS(2). He helps me add water to the glass when the water gets used up. They’ve started growing roots in less than a week and he’s very proud of them.
On reflection I should have waited a month - February planted runner beans is a tragedy waiting to happen...!
I have also tried to direct his efforts to ‘help’ me plant things but they have to be very robust things - bulbs are probably safe! And there ends up with as much compost on the floor as in the pot. He also loves watering so has his own watering can, far less risky than the hose!

Still holding off any planting. Good job too . We had hailstones today.

Thanks for the pot finding tips folks. I now have a small selection of plastic pots and trays that should keep me going for a bit.

I've been a bit unwell for a few days but might pop some more seedlings in today if I can summon the energy.

I know everyone is keen but I really would hold off a bit. We've been tricked by the false February spring. Its only the beginning of March. We've had a hard frost this morning.

Get things ready, buy seeds, plan planting layouts, gather and clean pots, buy feed, chit potatoes, dig over the ground by all means. But most other things need to wait a few weeks still. You'll find that the seedlings will come up but they'll get leggy before they're ready to go out.