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?

It's still quite mild here but I know what you mean Cloud! I'm just arranging all my new pots etc round the garden ready for when I can put things outside - probably over the Easter hols for me, especially as Easter is quite late (and I'll have two lively DC to cover themselves in compost entertain!). The only bits I really want to get cracking on are the ant repellers so they're ready to go outside before everything else; my marigolds are at last coming up and I'll plant the garlic later. I'll probably have to get the pest control chap in again too as we were overwhelmed by the pesky things last year!

Still to great a likelihood of frost here. I've previously had window sills rammed with leggy seedlings and nowhere to put them out. Then the ones I have planted directly when it was warm enough grew just as well , much more robust too. I can wait. Just about. Have some green manure on the go in my raised bed for now.

Bellini - re your green manure, if you use comfrey can you just chop it up and dig it into a raised bed, or do you have to go the stinking bucket route? What do you use?

I'm regretting my half term enthusiasm for planting! I've got loads of loads of seedlings that are going to be ready too early. I always do this though.

@GeistohneGrenzen , I just chop and drop.

Thanks Bellini

DrWhy
Re crop rotation : some things I'm strict about (eg legumes always follow brassicas and spuds never in the same place two years running) others I'm much lazier on (tomatoes and aubergines and peppers are always in the polytunnel)
You just need to keep an eye on the health of the plants

badkitten
wiggle the plants several times a day so they stay shorter and sturdier
then you can 'hold' them indoors for another couple of weeks.

We had a hard frost here this morning too but it’s lovely and sunny and DD fell asleep in the pram on the way home from her vaccinations so I cracked!
I know I’m going to regret this but I have planted just a few seeds, broccoli and violas which will stay in the greenhouse and take their chances. Then a few aubergines and tomatoes that are in the house, I’m planning to add cherry tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers to these in the next couple of weeks, all of which will then go into the greenhouse when I transplant them. I was given a greenhouse heater so I figure that the greenhouse crops will have a longer season if I start them early and I’ll put the heater in there and it will kick in if it gets too cold. We’ll see how it goes... should probably keep an eye on the electricity bill! two years ago I planted at the start of April, everything stayed in the house (in front of south facing patio doors) and we still had tomatoes in November. Last year when we had the greenhouse I didn’t manage to plant anything until the end of April, tomatoes and cucumbers did OK but peppers and aubergines were a bit of a disappointment. A lot of the things that went in the garden didn’t really do much before the season was over.
This year I am planning to try a bit earlier, late April was too late but I was pregnant, working full time and with an 18 month old in the spring, I’m amazed I managed anything at all. I think things to go outside will have to be planted by late March / early April in the greenhouse then transplanted out in mid April/early May or they don’t have enough time but they’ll need to be protected. I have a note that the garden seedlings I transplanted outside on 16th April 2017 were then all killed by snow!
Bellini it sounds like you are north like me - when do you start your sowing? I’m still experimenting.

@DrWhy , I'm in the Manchester area. I am planning to sow outside late March /early April. I have a cold frame so I might use that first. Depends.

I've got some tomato seedlings already but I'm planning to put them in pots indoors until I put them in the plastic greenhouse and eventually into hanging baskets outside. (Small variety tomatoes are great in hanging baskets)

Thanks TiP it’s the legumes that are the problem as they grow so tall if I put them anywhere but one end of one bed they are going to be very hard to pick - I was hoping you’d say they didn’t matter 😂 I’ll have a walk along the bed and work out where the cut off is for being able to reach the top of one of the canes. It’s mainly sugar snap peas and french beans this year, which shouldn’t get too tall. I do have 5 runner beans started (way way too early!) by DS on the window sill. I’m tempted to grow them up our south facing fence at the back of a flower bed instead of in the raised beds to avoid the whole palaver of massive beanpoles for the sake of 5 plants, could that work? I guess I’d have to improve the soil as it’s not great and I think beans need a fair bit of feeding. Also, do you net peas and beans? I’ve found if I don’t then the seedlings get eaten by something mysterious but then the plants start growing through the netting, I can’t get it off and it makes them really hard to harvest.

@bellinisurge thanks, I’m in NE Scotland so perhaps early April is most sensible for me for outdoor sowings. It is a garden on a south facing slope, which helps although the beds are somewhat shaded by the confer hedge at the end of the garden so not as sunny as they could be. Conifers are due to be cut in the next couple of weeks so will see how much they can take off without going back to the brown.
Is there anything that really needs the sun? Planning broccoli, sugar snap peas, French beans, carrots, parsnips, courgettes, onions, garlic, maybe leeks outside.

I'm in! I have the world's worst record of keeping plants alive so am depending on MN to turn my luck around.

DrWhy
For all crops I put chicken wire over them after seeding
so that my cats do not dig them up
then as soon as anything is three inches tall
I use the chicken wire vertically for peas,
bamboo, string and old DVDs for broad beans
single unstrung poles for all climbers

welcome female
Start simple and build up from there

Ooo, cheapest place for chicken wire please ^TIP* ?am literally sitting here do8mg that now!

postnot
I admit I bought a roll from a farming supplier - 50m
DH thought I was mad
but its come in so useful

Thank you, that's given me an idea of somewhere else to try, I have a chicken run to cover so need a large roll.

I'm down south in Hampshire. We get spring a little earlier than you northern folks, but I'm still probably being too keen. Still, I'll keep them inside if needed and they're going in a very sheltered spot so should be alright I think. I'll save getting more seeds going for a little bit so I have a second back up tranch just in case.

One of my courgettes it just poking a little shoot up already and I only planted it last thursday. I think it is also a bit keen :)

If anyone on the south coast wants some old beer barrels that can be recycled into cloches I have some you’d be very welcome to. They end up like the picture, my French tarragon is hopefully overwintering under one.

That's very kind of you Post :)

Well all my plants got a very good watering today!! Every time the DC & I set foot outside it poured down even the primroses are looking a bit sad and sorry for themselves.

My marigolds, thyme and pea shoots are finally starting to come up indoors; I repotted some of the basil and rosemary earlier too although not sure the rosemary will survive DS2's poking at it 'to see how it works'...

We are considering fostering dogs/ puppies for a local charity so the garden may require some dog-proofing!! We have a high fence but the charity coordinator would need to come round and take a look at that, the gate, anything else (including plants) which we might need to change/ move. I know a puppy would be hard work but it would only be for short amounts of time and the DC would love it

Newbies! Check this book out. Published today. Mine arrived this morning.

I am sowing peppers and chilli's indoors this week.Also some leeks in a big pot that I will put in the garden,these will germinate and when they get to a decent size I will replant them to grow bigger,by the time they are ready I will be able to see where I have space,maybe where the garlic is now

I've been growing seeds from actual vegetables. The tomato seedlings are doing well and have been thinned out and the butternut squash are growing a mile a minute. The peppers are just breaking through.

i sowed sweetcorn, celeriac, pumpkin and squash today. i already have tomatoes, aubergines, cucumber and an early variety of dwarf bean in.

im saving my other crops for april. my garden is very warm and all raised beds. The seedlings will stay on the kitchen window sill for a little while yet before moving to the greenhouse.