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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

The Vegetable Patch

982 replies

MereDintofPandiculation · 16/12/2021 09:14

Now bookbook has sadly left us, and stirred into action by @DobbleDobble, I think it’s time to start a general thread for those of us who try to grow edible produce, fruit, veg, herbs, to share successes, failures, questions and answers

OP posts:
Thread gallery
78
afaloren · 28/12/2021 09:57

I’m going to try growing veg for the first time this year. I have a herb garden which does ok although the sage and rosemary are thugs. I planted some garlic as I read it does well in frost so I’ve got that in some troughs by the front window.

PenCreed · 28/12/2021 13:28

@MereDintofPandiculation

dotty main tip is not to sow too much of anything. Two things can happen when you sow seeds, either none of them germinate or they all do. Not sowing them all means you have spares if needed, and you don’t find yourself trying to find room for 57 tomato plants because you couldn’t bear to throw some of them away. Most seeds will last till the following year.
Can second this. I assumed only a third of my tomatoes would germinate earlier this year. I ended up with 30 tomato plants, plus gave seedlings to my neighbours!
Dottydoodoo · 28/12/2021 18:45

Thank you @MereDintofPandiculation and @PenCreed I would never even have thought of that! That would absolutely be me though, so excited that I have managed to grow something that I end up with hundreds of them 😂

I am so excited to get going with it already but is it a bit too wintery to start sowing seeds? I’ve got a couple of books in my Amazon basket to order later and I’m looking forward to having a good read about all things growing veg!

PenCreed · 28/12/2021 19:20

I know you can sow some stuff relatively early, but someone who actually knows what they're talking about will let you know which ones!

I spent a good bit of time today digging out the weedy bit of my veg patch, as I am determined that 2022's will be more organised and not just use the middle bit. I'm not done yet (grass is a bugger to dig out) but I'm off work til the New Year and it's mild so it's a good time!

MaryLennoxsScowl · 28/12/2021 19:23

@Dottydoodoo which books have you gone for? I’ve got a tiny concrete-slabbed south-west facing garden and I want to unearth the ground, build some beds and turn it into a real garden with at least some veg/fruit (am in Scotland so rasps are probably my first call) but I could do with help figuring out what to do first!

TonTonMacoute · 28/12/2021 19:45

Well hello!

We have cleared a new veg patch in our garden after having a lots of leylandii cut down, and I want to start setting up raised beds. One for veg, but will also be growing flowers for cutting too.

Our soil is good and very fertile but the veg patch has huge amount of stones, some quite large which can get in the way.

We also have a big slug problem, although we have had success with nematodes.

Shedmistress · 28/12/2021 20:30

Well, you can start onions now, the problem is going to be dampness during Jan and Feb, they are likely to get damping off if you do.

You could try spinach and cut and come again salads but the same applies.

If you have space with light and heat, you can start chilli's off now, but you won't be able to put them outside really until May or June, so you will have to have space for them indoors until then.

The issue in the UK is damping off and lack of sunlight as much as anything.

I usually start chillis off in Jan, in a heated propagator, then transplant and keep them in an outdoor greenhouse on a heat mat. It's just this year with moving, no greenhouse yet so I'll have to get something sorted in the new house for them for next month.

Then in Feb I'll do a few bush tomatoes with the same heating arrangements. And later Feb I'll start sowing the more hardier stuff, like spring onions, main onions, spinach, lettuces, beetroots, chard, fennel, celtuce, peas, mangetout, kohl rabi.

In march the rest of the tomatoes (I grew 50 varieties, 2 plants of each last year), and another sowing of much of the Feb list. Plus loads of carrots, parsnips and leeks.

In April starts the more tender stuff, so a few early courgettes with the main tender stuff, courgettes, squashes and beans at the start of May. Also a round of annual herbs, basil and corianders and annual flowers such as tagetes and nasturtiums.

Then the main planting out into the polytunnel gets underway, and when that is done, another round of the Feb lot, plus sweetcorn and some of my other weird stuff like achocha, yard long beans etc, another round of peas, fill in gaps with spare beans.

June and July, not alot sowing, but August my winter sowing starts, with kales, spring onions, kohl rabis, fennel, coriander, Pak Choi, and any of the Asian leaves, a winter lettuce or 3.

Come mid September and garlics can start to be put into some of the spaces being vacated by harvests, and start chopping all the dying leaves for the compost heap. A good mulch for the winter and sow spinach in every spare space/bed, at least 3 different varieties, and start transplanting out all the August sown crops. Also don't forget claytonia, miners lettuce, one of the best crops for winter as it is indestructible and self seeds everywhere. Excellent little crops that. Sow September if you can get seeds.

October the last of the toms and chillis usually around now, so lots of seed saving and drying going on, carry on planting August grown crops and making compost. You can also at this point put overwintering onions in, which should crop April/May (small) or June (larger).

November just keep on top of any additional dying stuff, turning the compost, and mulching. Pak choi is cropped and eaten, same as most of the fennel. And some kohl rabi. Carrots and parsnips are all out now, parsnips after the first frost.

December, plenty of kales, salads, corianders and spinaches should be being produced. I have been able to pick enough for greens in every meal before we left the UK, pick a huge batch once a week and wash, and keep in the bottom of the fridge for chucking into anything.
Then the next Jan and Feb your winter crops still keep coming, and at the start of march and into April, your spring onions will start to be thick enough to pick. Kohl rabis and those leeks also thicken up. Pick and eat often at this point or they will start to flower.

Then your beds should start to be emptied from those winter crops in time for the next ones that you sowed in Feb and March to be transplanted into, or sowed direct.

That's pretty much my cycle. I have just moved countries so am starting from scratch, but in the last 6 weeks have sown chard, spinach and kale, and have garlic in, and I'm about to start the January sowing regime once I have the heat mat set up. I also have to put my polytunnel back up, but we have to wait until the trees start to leaf up again as we are trying to be discreet and we are in the line of sight of the Mairie. So we won't be doing that until at least April.

MereDintofPandiculation · 30/12/2021 08:42

[quote MaryLennoxsScowl]@Dottydoodoo which books have you gone for? I’ve got a tiny concrete-slabbed south-west facing garden and I want to unearth the ground, build some beds and turn it into a real garden with at least some veg/fruit (am in Scotland so rasps are probably my first call) but I could do with help figuring out what to do first![/quote]
First thing is an exploratory removal of slabs to see what they’re laid on. If they’re laid on a slab of concrete, then it might be easier to build large raised beds about 2ft high

OP posts:
MaryLennoxsScowl · 31/12/2021 10:59

Oh, thank you! @MereDintofPandiculation I have dug down under some slabs and there’s sand and then compacted soil and stones. Lots of the advice I’ve read starts with testing your soil to see what grows well here, but I’m not sure if testing soil that’s been compacted for years will work, and I’ll have to buy top soil so won’t that affect the result?

@Dottydoodoo thank you! I now have two books on their way to me - the veg one you linked to and a month by month planner! I can always be encouraged to buy books. Grin

MereDintofPandiculation · 01/01/2022 10:52

@MaryLennoxsScowl

Oh, thank you! *@MereDintofPandiculation* I have dug down under some slabs and there’s sand and then compacted soil and stones. Lots of the advice I’ve read starts with testing your soil to see what grows well here, but I’m not sure if testing soil that’s been compacted for years will work, and I’ll have to buy top soil so won’t that affect the result?

@Dottydoodoo thank you! I now have two books on their way to me - the veg one you linked to and a month by month planner! I can always be encouraged to buy books. Grin

Looks like sand and hard core. Good. You’ll probably want to dig out the hard core and dispose of it. You’ll probably find your Council wants you to pay to take it to the tip.

Testing would still work because it’s looking at the chemical composition of the soil. Easier is to check what’s around. Assume neutral unless you’re in the White Peak or Yorks Dales or anywhere else on chalk or limestone with alkaline soil; or your neighbours are growing rhododendrons and blue hydrangeas, in which case you’re acid.

Take a piece of wet soil and roll it in a ball. If it falls apart you’re sandy, if it stays together, perhaps even when you roll it into a worm, then it’s clay.

OP posts:
elephantoverthehill · 03/01/2022 16:10

Thank you for starting this thread. I'm pleased to report that my over wintering broad beans are poking through so I sowed another row yesterday. Not much else happening on the plot though just tidying and a bit of weeding and feeding the soil.

Shedmistress · 03/01/2022 16:35

I have sowed seeds this week:
Broad Beans, lots of differnet varieties
Mixed radish, lettuce, carrot [all my old packs that I bung into a jam jar]
radish and carrot [named vareties]

Into trays inside:
lettuce, beetroot, claytonia, celtuce, coriander, parsley, onions, pak choi, tatsoi, kohl rabi and flowers: agastache, cornflowers, gypsophilia, salvias, stocks, verbascum, borage, angelica and some old wild flowers.

Shedmistress · 03/01/2022 16:39

@elephantoverthehill

Thank you for starting this thread. I'm pleased to report that my over wintering broad beans are poking through so I sowed another row yesterday. Not much else happening on the plot though just tidying and a bit of weeding and feeding the soil.
My garlics that went in in November are also up this week.
LemonLimelight · 03/01/2022 17:28

Ooh can I join in too, I've spent the last few days trying to weed my allotment in the thick sticky mud. I know I should leave it until it's drier but the mild weather has meant the creeping buttercup has crept through all my beautifully mulched beds. I've just ordered some more raspberry canes and placed an order with Real Seeds. Glad to hear pp mentioning Japanese Wineberries, I love mine it's so beautiful and they taste lovely. I always follow my Nana's advice to soak soft fruit in a sink full of salt water, then rinse well. I think it actually improves the flavour of raspberries too. I'm most excited to try growing melons this year, just bought the seed! Has anyone got any ideas on how to stop a rather flimsy plastic 'polytunnel' from blowing away? I've had to take the cover off over the winter as it kept blowing off, the strings it came with snapped straight away. I'll need it for the melons...

tentative3 · 03/01/2022 18:08

How much space has everyone got for their wineberries and would I be deluded to try and grow one in a pot? I probably don't really have space for one until some more conifers are removed, and there's a lot of other stuff to do before that happens. I want a juneberry too but I'll just replace a conifer with one of those. Next year maybe.

Shedmistress · 03/01/2022 18:21

Wineberries are like, and need the space, of brambles. So if you want them in a pot they need some really excellent sturdy frames to grow them horizontally on.

Tal45 · 03/01/2022 18:34

I'm going to try some perennial veggies this year, jerusalem artichokes, turkish rocket, Daubenton kale, skirret, that sort of thing. Never tried any before but love the idea of things that don't have to be replanted every year. I've had no luck with any annual brassicas so hoping I might have a better time with perennials.....

Tal45 · 03/01/2022 18:35

Oh interested in Japanese wine berries now, going to look them up...

KrispyBrussells · 03/01/2022 18:37

Watching with interest, thank you op.

tentative3 · 03/01/2022 18:41

Thanks @Shedmistress I'll ponder. I'm not sure I really have the space this year but I so want one!

LemonLimelight · 03/01/2022 18:52

@tentative3 I've been growing a Japanese Wineberry in a 70litre trug container for the past 3 years and I get good crops off it. It's a pretty plant with it's red furry stems and looks good in a container year round. I grow mine up a teepee of 3 bamboo canes, I tie in the fresh years growth and cut down the previous years canes each Autumn so it doesn't get too big. I've also got one at the allotment that I tie against a fence in a fan and prune in the same way so it also doesn't take up much space.

lulalalala · 03/01/2022 19:05

Can I join as well pls? I had some relative success last year with tomatoes until I got tomato blight (blame a plant I bought from homebase)! I tried the 3 sisters method of growing beans, corn and squash together which failed Sad. The only thing that grew were the squashes. Got a decent harvest of new potatoes which I grew in pots.

This is year I am trying tomatoes, courgettes, different variety of squash, aubergine, same type of potatoes.

Looking for recommendations for beans if anyone has some Grin!

Shedmistress · 03/01/2022 20:17

I tried the 3 sisters method of growing beans, corn and squash together which failed

It will do. It is meant for dried beans, winter squashes and corn for cornmeal. Also it is too wet in the UK, it is a method meant for hot climates.

Don't worry, it fails regularly for even experts.

Shedmistress · 03/01/2022 20:20

@tentative3

Thanks *@Shedmistress* I'll ponder. I'm not sure I really have the space this year but I so want one!
Do get one, they are fantastic. I sowed seeds for about 100 today so if some germinate I'll get fruit next year. Mine died during the drought a couple of summers ago and then grew back last year so I got some fruits from it. They are beautiful little jewels. I wish I could have dug it up and brought it with me.