Anyone thinking of planting veg just in case?

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

I’m worried about supply chains from overseas. We are having to self-isolate for another week so can’t go out and get compost or seeds, are most companies still sending by post?

I’m thinking easy stuff like tomatoes and lettuce

Yes. We bought everything from B&Q today. It’ll be a nice thing to do with the boys whilst they’re off school. We normally grow tomatoes but will be growing as much as we can.

It’s a good idea and very healthy anyway. I really recommend Huw Richards on you tube if anyone is newer to planting veg , I am starting with his excellent video on peas which he starts in a drainpipe

It’s a bit cold still to plant straight out I was told by an experienced friend , so I am starting seedlings inside

We are going to grow a lot of fruit and vegetables. I’ve alwAys wanted to do it, but never had the time. We are stuck in isolation with 3 kids for 12 weeks. We are vulnerable adults. I don’t know how else to keep the kids occupied. They will learn a lot, but not their times tables.

A few tubs and tomato plants are not going to replace your usual supermarket shop anytime soon. And many veg started now won't yield until summer at the earliest. Definitely have a go for the fun of it but be realistic in your expectations

I talked about getting chickens but I think we've left it a bit late.

I'm doing it anyway but there won't be anything to eat for quite a while apart from salad leaves.

Yes I realise that nothing will be ready for months, but it does make you reassess things and realise how reliant we hAve become on supermarkets to supply everything!

Dunno some people who post on here seem to live in enormous houses with ensuite bathrooms and the like- assuming those come with big gardens?

If you put your back in, you can produce quite a lot to live on even from a medium sized garden if you grow beans, peas, carrots, spuds. Though if you don't have access to manure/ fertiliser /good compost that won't go on forever

It's crossed my mind a couple of times over the last few days, we already grow some stuff (potatoes in particular) but this thread has sealed it for me. Salad in particular as then we won't have to go out so regularly (if at all).

Yes! I was thinking about it but I know fuck all about gardening!

I normally grow tomatoes and a couple of other veg but am going to cram in much as I can this year. My garden is small, so there's no room to put in raised beds without destroying sitting space which may feel increasingly vital. So I'll be using large containers and moving them around when I need to.

We are, but this is as much to keep the toddler busy, but extra veg will be a handy bonus. We luckily had some seeds in from last year, and are raiding the kitchen for plantables (potatoes, garlic, tomato). Not sure how well they'll grow, but better to avoid the shopping trip.

Herbs and salads would give a reasonably quick payback. Radishes and the salad-y things where you pick the young leaves are ready in weeks, and if you by herb plants on line, you'll continue to have a supply even though the supermarkets are concentrating their shelf space on essentials.

Also consider buying strawberry plants on line - with no pickers, strawberries may be in short supply this summer, and we'll be desperate for treats by then.

We grow veg every year - maybe 6 or so tomatoes, 6 potatoes, 3 cucumbers, some sweetcorn/ artichokes / strawberries /blueberries.

Cucumbers are good value, and we get 1 or 2 a week during the height of summer. Tomatoes we get a few everyday - lovely for munching as you go past, but very rarely enough for a side salad for the whole family at the same time. Berries ditto. The rest we usually get one or two good meals out of each year - so one harvest of sweetcorn, one of artichokes etc.

We do it because it’s great fun and tastes lovely, but it definitely doesn’t make a dent in our supermarket orders.

CoffeeHere, I wanted to get more hens as I have had them for many years and they are all sold out!

Even ex-battery ones have all gone in lots of areas.

I hope those who have purchased hens know how to look after them

We do it because it’s great fun and tastes lovely, but it definitely doesn’t make a dent in our supermarket orders. Ours does, but that's mainly the fruit. I don't buy tomatoes between about August and November, I don't buy cucumbers ever, just go without when I haven't got my own. But the fruit I grow (alpine strawberries, garden strawberries, tayberries, raspberries, mulberries, figs, quince, medlars and apples) definitely reduces the amount of fruit I buy - I don't buy so many apples, peaches etc.

I'm lucky in having a reasonable sized garden for the fruit, but I little sunny space for the veg, so I grow them all in greenhouse or in tubs on the terrace where we park the cars. I don't record the size of crops, but I do keep a record of non-trivial contributions to our meals - when everybody gets a serving - and for the last few years it's been running between 1000 and 1100 contributions a year, ie an average of 3 a day (in summer this may be fresh fruit on our breakfast cereal, tomato and cucumber for lunch, followed by more fruit, beans, peas and courgette for tea and more fruit; in winter it's down to fruit from the deepfreeze on our cereal and apples out of store)