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?

By the way, well done with the asparagus, prettybird, it looks fantastic. And your tulips are beautiful as well!

TalkinPaece 100???? Whatever are you going to do with them all?

I usually plant a few extra of everything just in case, but generally only 1 or 2. For some reason I only planted 3 pepper seeds, which is the exact number of plants that I want, so i’m lucky that they all came up!

Queen
The best 16 go into the polytunnel (2 of each variety)
five each to three next door neighbours
twenty or so to friends at the gym
weakest get composted

it means I get REALLY good plants

I only have a 6ft greenhouse

I'll be giving away a lot of tomato plants ...a few to my gardening buddy along the road (who gave me the All Blacks and Roma seeds) who will also be giving me some of his seedlings.

They're also all still only at the 2 leaf stage.

I also sowed some (old) aubergine seeds today. If they come up, they come up.

I thought I'd bought some chili seeds last week when I had a bit of a spending spree at Dobbies, but I can't find the packet (so either lost it or never bought it) but I know my gardening buddy has a spare plant for me. No peppers though as they're the work of the devil (Actually, might grow some to make dh happy )

I need to go back to Dobbies anyway though as the Sarah Raven White Cosmos (Purity) seed packet actually had prickly poppy (can't remember its Latin name, which was on the inner packet) seeds in it. Only realised when I opened the Red Dazzler Cosmos seed and saw the "true" shape of Cosmos seed (I'd never grown Cosmos before). I can always use the trip to buy chili and/or pepper seeds

Gosh. I only have 6 tomatoes. They are all doing lovely though so that's a relief.

Which variety are you growing, Badgers? My gardener’s delight and tigerella are doing well, but my moneymakers are a bit sickly looking. Those were cheap seeds from Wilko - does anyone know whether that makes a difference?

My greenhouse is 6x8 - I am putting 5 growbags in it, so 15 plants altogether. Tomatoes (x3 types), cucumbers (x2 types) and peppers. We should be OK for salad this summer!

Are some of my tomatoes going to be too late? I have Sweet Million, Bumblebee Mix and Tumbling Toms all grown from seed and the they are still tiny with one or two sets of true leaves. I'm going to plant them in containers outside though, no space for a greenhouse in my tiny London garden.

I also have some Honeycomb toms I got as plug plants from Suttons and they're much bigger already, doing great. Waiting for another set of 3 super plugs of Hundreds and Thousands to arrive. (It's all about the cherry toms here!)

A warm London garden should be fine.

I'm in Scotland, so my tiny tomato seedlings (and "still to appear" seedlings ) will need my 6'x6' greenhouse!

Late crops - especially solanums - can catch up really well.
Especially in the heat island of London

It appears to be just called Red Cherry QueenofThorns. I got them cheap at Robert Dyers and know nothing about them. Just planted and hoping for the best. So far they seem to be doing pretty well.

Growing my own has always been something I wanted to do and have a decent garden but I have nothing planted in. I don't have any knowledge or green fingers...

Thinking of starting with strawberries / tomatoes? We eat those a lot! And maybe a couple of herbs or chillis on the windowsill?

Any advice to make a start would be great :)

We had some of our spinach fresh from the garden with dinner today. It was lovely. Even dd ate it.

Well done badgers. I have to re sow - total crop failures outdoors.

Jelly
Welcome to the gang. Have a read through the whole thread as there are lots of novices who have shared ideas.

My golden grape tomato seeds have germinated - at leat 8 seedlings os far.

However, because I started so late, none of my seedlings (except for the purple podded peas which I sowed earlier) are yet beyond the 2 leaf seedling stage (can't remember what it's called) . Although I do have some more advanced broad beans that are already around the edge of my potato bed, with the idea that they should have produced by the time the potatoes shade them out.

My gardening buddy (I should shorten that to "gb" ) is going to give me an Ailsa Craig tomato that has already started flowering and needs potted on - so I'll need to find some space in amongst all the seedlings and dahlias.

Ooh thanks! I have bought some planters and compost today. With the aim of plum tomatoes, rocket, courgettes and chives.

Now looking at getting a wee veg patch at the back of the garden :) will read through properly for tips

Polytunnel emptied of its winter visitors
Tomorrow or Wednesday the first Tomatoes and peppers and aubergines and basil will get planted in.

First sowing of dwarf french beans
re sowing of spinach
spuds got first earthing up
mowed lawn and mulched the raspberries with the clippings

this week second sowing peas will get planted out (first sowing are flowering)
as will climbing beans into beds I prepared a few weeks ago
and the mixed salad leaves will get divided up and planted out in a slug free / hedgehog free bed

flower seeds will get planted out soon
it will start looking like a garden by next weekend

Hi jelly - you can buy loads of gardening stuff from Poundland if you want to get some bits without spending £££! They do secateurs, polytunnels, some bushes etc. Wilkos have a sale on seeds at the moment too.

If you don't have any luck with getting seeds started, it can be easier to buy plants and tend them instead. I never get far with strawberry seeds for some reason although tomatoes have done great

I have loads to plant out and more seeds to start..... but DS1 is having regular meltdowns and I just can't get the time to do any of it

jelly I’d buy strawberries as ‘runners’ (seedlings effectively) and you might get a crop from them this year (I can’t remember when I put mine in) they’ll crop well for 3 years or so then OK for another 1 or 2 before they need replacing.

My cucumbers have gone huge and have little flower buds!

This is all awfully exciting.

My cucumber hasn't even germinated yet

Number of tomato seedling now up to 65 - all still at the 2 leaf stage.

Have looked up my "All Blacks" tomatoes: apparently it's a mix of black(ish) tomatoes. So far only 4 out of the 8 modules have germinated.

Have planted some shallot sets that my gb had got going, along with two flowering broad beans. I've also got shallot seeds (Figaro - a banana shallot) that have now appeared. I actually prefer the banana shallots to the clumped shallot sets - much easier to peel.

Actually, I tell a lie: the cucumber seedlings (all 3 of them) appeared over night

Could anybody tell me if this can be used as mulch? It's a grass/weed combo that I've pulled from the garden.

Lazyface
Not till its been composted down
at the moment its weed seed central

Thank you. Can I put this in the compost as it is? How long was it meant to dry for?

A day or two of drying and then the hotter your heap the more thoroughly it will break down