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?

We don't use our lawn at the back. The sun is at the front in the afternoon, each house has a little front garden and there's a communal grassy area, the neighbours all sit out there and chat in the summer - it's lovely. Every time I trim the back garden lawn edges I steal a little bit for the borders but I'd do away with it and have raised beds instead like my next door neighbour if I had my way.

What can I do with a zillion ornamental poppy seeds that I found in my shed? I forgot I'd collected it last autumn. Also I potted on about a zillion chilli seedlings. I'll be able to start my own chilli farm.

The shelves on its side idea is a really splendid one. Genius!

badbad
poppies have VERY short life
scatter 10% and put the other 90% on a loaf of home made bread

Oh, somewhere I have about a cup of poppy seeds from last year. The buggers just self seed. I may be the only allotment holder who considers poppies and jack-in-the-hedge to be crops.

Today I have harvested: the last two leeks and lots of leftover chard, which together with the last three potatoes became some sort of strange bubble and squeak rosti. Have also pricked out the tomatoes and borage. Planted out turnip and beetroot seedlings as well as admiring the broad beans that are already in flower.

I have a small circular lawn on the allotment, just to sit and admire stuff. I also have a storm kettle for tea.

gosh your broad beans are early! Some of my accidentally overwintered peas are beginning to flower though.

Are you sure I won't end up giving myself opiate poisoning if I eat the poppy seeds?

Hi everyone!
I've recently taken on an allotment plot so this will be my first year growing anything in the ground. Last year I had my patio covered in containers. I'm trying not to get too ambitious, currently have lots of seedlings on windowsills: tomatoes, aubergine, chillies, peppers and cucumbers. I still have a fair bit of digging to do on the plot but I'm hoping to have it ready in time for planting out next month

Badbad
THey sell poppy seed bread in sainsburys
its not field poppies

Welcome to the gang pyxie

Yes,but I wasn't sure if my poppy seeds are an edible variant. I like poppyseed cake an awful lot, so if I can use themits amazing news.
Having googled a lot, I think I can use them. If only I'd kept the original seed packet. I'm going to wait until this years come up and double check.

So the tomato and cucumber seedlings are largely off to a good start - lost one of each after pricking out - not sure why. Courgettes, peppers, aubergines, more tomatoes and melons are appearing in the seed tray indoors.
In the greenhouse the broccoli I planted ages back are finally sprouting but the tray of peas and leeks I did about 2 weeks ago have done nothing. I had a poke about in one of the cells and the pea seeds have rotted. Not sure if they are just old (or killed by being in the greenhouse over winter) or if I did something wrong with them. Until now I have always put my seeds in multi purpose compost in seed trays on capillary matting that’s kept damp. The failed tray is my first attempt at using proper seed compost (John Innes no 1) as I thought that would be better for starting seeds and I’m doing enough to be worth getting a bag now. However it doesn’t seem to hold water well, it’s either dry or sodden, never just damp and has grown algae on top. Should it be mixed with something like vermiculite or just used to cover the seeds, not beneath them? What have I done wrong?
I think leeks are a write off for this year, they were late anyway but I’ve bought some more pea seeds and I’ll get some of those going inside this week.
I’d really like to get the first things in the ground outside tomorrow as I have some free time but tomorrow night is going to be our coldest for a while and the we have a while of cool and dry. I suspect I’m better to wait until Thursday and try to do it then. I’ll content myself with doing the pea seeds in the greenhouse and maybe even starting some beans inside.
In other news the toddlers far too early runner beans are now in potato bags in the greenhouse and about 4ft high. If I can keep them alive in there until May I figure I can drag them out once the frost risk is past - so far we have 4 of the original 5 still alive but one of those is looking iffy.
I’m also contributing my irate rantings to the cat poo in veg beds thread on AIBU after DS helpfully pointed out the cat poo in the fruit bed where he was digging - I removed a smallish plant pot full of the stuff and that was just what I could see on the surface. I’ll get the fruit bed netted ASAP but I suspect the culprit will turn it’s attention to the veg beds once the black plastic comes off and I dig them over and plant stuff in them. Does anyone have any solutions for keeping the cats off? I don’t normally net the veg beds expect for peas and beans while they are small, one of the people on the cat poonthred keeps suggesting bamboo skewers pointy end down but that’s not a very toddler friendly solution, neither are the aucoustic deterrents as he’ll probably be able to hear them. I’m a bit stuck and don’t want my lovely fresh fruit and veg (or my toddler) contaminated by cat poo!!

Would planting through weed control membrane be a solution for you? Or you can get plastic spiky stuff for the top of fences to reduce the number of cats in your garden.

Its definitely not too late to start leeks directly into the ground
I did mine at the weekend

cat poo - citrus peel is your friend - they hate it for about a week, then you add more

compost - I only use peat free, but then I just sieve normal to make seeding ....

I posted earlier on the thread with a different name. I'm a complete novice at all this.
My strawberries and radishes are starting to sprout but my tomatoes have been a disaster. I bought some more tomato seeds today but forgot I'd used my little bag of compost for more squash so I'll need to nip out tomorrow.
DH keeps promising to turn the soil in the bed outside so I can plant onions, potatoes, carrots, etc. but hasn't done it yet. I've hurt my hip so don't think I can manage it on my own. I may make DS try it instead.

That's a great tip about citrus peel Talkin. We have cat poo in our garden - from our own ruddy lazy cat!! - so I'll try that; I remember now rubbing lemon essential oil into table legs to stop previous cats scratching them. She's incredibly lazy, poos on a bit of the lawn with no grass, and round my mini greenhouse if she can

Planted some flower seeds today with DTS1 and sweetcorn and pumpkin with DTS2. My mint and chilli seeds are looking decidedly disappointing, maybe I'll have better luck with these!

I might have to get on the citrus peel as well. Our cat has a bit of a thing for salad vegetables. He just loves eating cucumber and peppers and I'm afraid he'll eat them straight off the plant. I might need to put up cat defences to save them.

I potted up the cucumbers Monday and set them up on the windowsill with some wire so they're all set now. Currently I'm planning on liberating some wood that's been sitting near some sheds where I live for years and making a raised bed from it.

This thread is great for making me check my watering
I've planted up some dried marrow fat peas in a takeaway dish this morning to aim for some pea shoots. I meant to do it a week ago, but ah well.

Hellllo!

This year I will mostly be growing...

French beans
Runner beans
Broad beans
Carrots (although I can NEVER grow these- they are my gardening nemisis!)
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Courgettes
Strawberries
Raspberries
Chilli
Aubergine
Bell peppers

(The chilli/aubergine and bell peppers are inside in the propagator- they're about 2-3inches high, not sure when to move them on?!? Anyone know?)

Still to sow-
Kale
Sweet corn (don't know if I can be bothered but the kids might like it)
Sunflowers (for the chickens!)
Squash

Not sure about bothering with-
Peas
Purple sprouting broccoli (grew some last year- it just takes sooooo long to come to harvest!)

PHEW.

We are very lucky to have a long south facing garden, the bottom third is veg and chickens. I'm mixing rotted chicken manure into the compost I've bought. Oh and we have various herbs on the patio too!

winecigs
Love the Fast Show reference

carrots are easy so long as you have a wall around them ...
I grow them in lidless cold frames

peppers etc - keep them stocky so in the wide open air in daytimes ASAP

@TalkinPaece thanks!

I'm going to persevere with the carrots- I gave up planting in open soil and went for tubs last year, with compost not the stone filled soil we seem to have! Made no difference unfortunately. Do they prefer poorer soil?

There was a plant sale on at DHs work today so I now have a couple of pumpkin seedlings and 3 dwarf French amethyst beans too. All looking a bit leggy but I've potted them up and stuck them in the plastic greenhouse.
Also potted on my sweet peas today. Didn't make it up to the plot though as I'm just too tired thanks to the baby!

winecigs
Our soil is very gravelly so I sieve the inch that they will germinate in and then leave them to it.
Consistent watering when they are tiny is important.

SOS! I got some plug plants of tomatoes and cucumbers from Suttons today (their special grafted varieties) and they feel sort strangely "wobbly" - as if the roots are not properly rooted in the bit of soil they came in. I've potted them onto 8cm pots but not sure what else to do to help them? They don't look damaged otherwise, very healthy green leaves etc. Will they develop new roots and get stronger? The instructions specifically said to not plant them too deep or you lose the benefits of the grafting process.

winecigs I sympathise with your carrot nemesis. Tomatoes are mine. It's only when these ones were a disaster that I remembered all my attempts from school, to my parents' house, etc, always failed.

viccat
let them settle for a week or two in their pots - light watering each day
when roots first appear out of the bottom of the pot, they are ready to move on

winecigs that is an impressive list!

Lovely day here today and the DC were at their GPs for a while, I took advantage of the free time to re-pot my larger seedlings and put a few Poundland shrubs into pots. I'd done 90% of it and left a few pots on the patio whilst I re-organised the last bit and finished off. DTS1 came home, pottered around happily outside whilst I was cooking - I thought he was playing but turned out he was taking random seeds and putting them in with my seedlings and squashing the seedlings down so everything had plenty of room

We'll see what survives - I'm planting some more just in case!

Oh Ruby I do hope something survives.

Sowed the courgettes today, glared at the chilli seedlings that are in stasis and sorted through the seeds.

I have round runner beans and flat french beans, WTF Potted up the brussels and threw all DHs crud out the conservatory window. He sulked for an hour and then tidied up the garage and got it all sorted, so no damage done.