Gardening What are you sowing now?

[Van Lady]

I managed to get some seeds at a stall in Dumfries yesterday for a cash donation. The seed packets were opened but in date and had been donated. A good idea as there are usually so many seeds in a pack that I can never use them all.

My growing area is small but I will be sowing broad beans, peas and kale in the next few days and soon I will start off some runner beans and French beans in the greenhouse then in May sow some in the ground. I'll also make sure I have kale for over the winter.

Just some seed potatoes to get now which I will plant soon.

I used to do a lot of veg in containers but can't be ars*d watering them now in dry weather.

Still it's worthwhile doing the little I grow as freshly picked veg is particularly delicious.

[MrPin]

I want to come up there and eat your dinner.

[spunko]

Well this is more up my street You are braver than me growing brassicas, it's one thing I don't grow much of, too many pests that can decimate them in a day. I'll probably grow some cavolo nero later, or maybe just regular kale, because the imported stuff you buy in the shops is pretty revolting nowadays. I bought some sweet pea plugs and am growing them on now and getting ready to harden them up, with a view to planting them into the ground in about 3 weeks. Lucky that I'm in the SE so the ground warms up earlier.

I bought some strawberry plants off the internet earlier - Canterbury Best I think they were, and some other heirloom/older cultivars as I'm sick to death of eating Sonata and El Santa... Especially the latter.

...Incidentally I never normally buy foreign or extended-season modern hybrid strawberries in the supermarket, as they're insipid,  but this past week I bought some Spanish ones, can't remember the cultvar now but they were actually not bad at all. Ever since then they've only had Moroccan ones in stock, and I'm boycotting Islamic country's produce given the whole hand/wipe situation (I think there needs to be a vomiting emoticon)

[MrPin]

Spunko mate, we have a different view of gardening. Mine is all concrete, and "agent orange"

[One percent]

For the first time in a good few years I have decided not to grow from seed this year. This is for two reasons.  The first is that I lost everything last year. They came up but did not thrive.  Second is that I have found a fabulous nursery near me.  Apparently the area was full of traditional nurseries and they have slowly died off. Anyhow, this place does veg and annual flowering plants and they are cheaper than doing it myself.

i don't go much on veg as I have a smallish London garden.  I plant flowers to fill in the gaps around the perennials.  I'll see what there is and decide what to get.  I love fuchsias. And have found a specialist fuchsia grower in Kent.  Picked some up,yesterday and they are out int the greenhouse. Varieties I've not heard of so we shall see.  I took a clipping off one today to try and grow into a standard.

going back to veg.  I grow tomatoes and chilli.  A mate with an allotment has promised me these.  

Potatoes beginning to sprout already.    

[Fully Detached]

5 minutes ago, One percent said:

For the first time in a good few years I have decided not to grow from seed this year. This is for two reasons.  The first is that I lost everything last year. They came up but did not thrive.  Second is that I have found a fabulous nursery near me.  Apparently the area was full of traditional nurseries and they have slowly died off. Anyhow, this place does veg and annual flowering plants and they are cheaper than doing it myself.

i don't go much on veg as I have a smallish London garden.  I plant flowers to fill in the gaps around the perennials.  I'll see what there is and decide what to get.  I love fuchsias. And have found a specialist fuchsia grower in Kent.  Picked some up,yesterday and they are out int the greenhouse. Varieties I've not heard of so we shall see.  I took a clipping off one today to try and grow into a standard.

going back to veg.  I grow tomatoes and chilli.  A mate with an allotment has promised me these.  

Potatoes beginning to sprout already.    

What tomatoes are you growing? I haven't bothered or a few years, mainly because I grew one variety (Alicante) that was easy to grow and high yielding but completely tasteless, and Ailsa Craigs which tasted lovely but were a bugger to grow. Something in the middle of that spectrum might pique my interest again.

I used to grow a lot of chillis from seed, tend the bloody things all summer and then decide they weren't ever going to fruit, only to return to the greenhouse in November and find a fantastic crop of colourful chillis clinging to dead plants. I don't think I have the patience for them any more.

[spunko]

14 minutes ago, MrPin said:

Spunko mate, we have a different view of gardening. Mine is all concrete, and "agent orange"

Well you'll be pleased to hear I got the Roundup out today and went crazy on the nettles, even doing the neighbours ones through the fence. Luckily we get on otherwise I'd have drenched his grass in it as well

[One percent]

1 minute ago, Fully Detached said:

What tomatoes are you growing? I haven't bothered or a few years, mainly because I grew one variety (Alicante) that was easy to grow and high yielding but completely tasteless, and Ailsa Craigs which tasted lovely but were a bugger to grow. Something in the middle of that spectrum might pique my interest again.

I used to grow a lot of chillis from seed, tend the bloody things all summer and then decide they weren't ever going to fruit, only to return to the greenhouse in November and find a fantastic crop of colourful chillis clinging to dead plants. I don't think I have the patience for them any more.

Alisa Craigs I love but stopped growing them as I got bottom rot. 

last year was a disaster. But the couple of years before, I grew heritage seeds.  I can't remember what now but did about three different ones. One was a stripey one and one I think was Black Russian?  Heritage are the way to go for flavour. Last year I got about five plants from the nursery I mentioned. They were all types I've not heard of, again memory fails, but they were good.  

Chillies, I try but the slugs get there before I do and as you say, they seem to come on very late 

if anyone has a way to conquer slugs without chemicals please share 

[Fully Detached]

I think we got just about every sort of rot on the Ailsa Craigs...  Grew some Black Russians too, Mrs FD loved them but not quite for me. I'll give the Heritage a whirl though, thanks.

For slugs, get yourself a hedgehog - they're brilliant

[MrPin]

6 minutes ago, spunko2010 said:

Well you'll be pleased to hear I got the Roundup out today and went crazy on the nettles, even doing the neighbours ones through the fence. Luckily we get on otherwise I'd have drenched his grass in it as well

I've bought a flamethrower. This will work!

[Frank Hovis]

9 minutes ago, spunko2010 said:

Well you'll be pleased to hear I got the Roundup out today and went crazy on the nettles, even doing the neighbours ones through the fence. Luckily we get on otherwise I'd have drenched his grass in it as well

Noooo!   Nettles are my big forage this week whilst I am on my hols.

I intend to be eating fired eggs with nettle puree for breakfast every day starting Tuesday (as it's a bit late to get them tonight).

 

As to sowing I will probably go for beetroot again as that was great roasted, and try to be a bit more disciplined over some salad leaves - keep cropping and resowing rather than letting them all go over like last year.

[One percent]

4 minutes ago, Fully Detached said:

I think we got just about every sort of rot on the Ailsa Craigs...  Grew some Black Russians too, Mrs FD loved them but not quite for me. I'll give the Heritage a whirl though, thanks.

For slugs, get yourself a hedgehog - they're brilliant

They had them up the road under the shed  but that was a long time ago.  We also have a lot of foxes.  We call them boxes to to the dog and she now goes mad whenever anyone says box. Don't know where I'm going with this other than do urban foxes and hedgehogs get on well in an urban environment!

[Van Lady]

28 minutes ago, spunko2010 said:

Well this is more up my street You are braver than me growing brassicas, it's one thing I don't grow much of, too many pests that can decimate them in a day. I'll probably grow some cavolo nero later, or maybe just regular kale, because the imported stuff you buy in the shops is pretty revolting nowadays. I bought some sweet pea plugs and am growing them on now and getting ready to harden them up, with a view to planting them into the ground in about 3 weeks. Lucky that I'm in the SE so the ground warms up earlier.

I bought some strawberry plants off the internet earlier - Canterbury Best I think they were, and some other heirloom/older cultivars as I'm sick to death of eating Sonata and El Santa... Especially the latter.

...Incidentally I never normally buy foreign or extended-season modern hybrid strawberries in the supermarket, as they're insipid,  but this past week I bought some Spanish ones, can't remember the cultvar now but they were actually not bad at all. Ever since then they've only had Moroccan ones in stock, and I'm boycotting Islamic country's produce given the whole hand/wipe situation (I think there needs to be a vomiting emoticon)

I only buy local grown strawberries in season because I find the supermarket ones pretty much tasteless. I did have strawberry plants in the garden but gave up with them because my dog usually got to them before me. I have planted black currant and gooseberry bushes which are my favourite fruit.

Ive pretty much given up on all brassicas except kale due to club root and caterpillars. I find kale doesn't seem to suffer from these problems and it's great to have some fresh picked veg in the winter months. I always like to try and eat something freshly picked and home grown even if it's only a few herbs.

Due to lack of space I don't bother with flowers now but do love scented ones like sweet peas.

[onlyme]

Just been in the greenhouse this afternoon - bloody great big rat scuttled down the back of the seed trays - got to get that sod as he has had a go at the french beans / runner beans - always grow those as dead reliable and always crop well. Sowed up some rocket, parsley, salad leaves in trays. Nothing ambitious but nice to pick some veg fresh. Might even get some fruit this year - a couple of small cherry and plum trees, odd raspberry and  red currant planst Strawberries have been a dead loss though, third year trying or they all get slung.

[onlyme]

Dan, allotment diary has done a round up of his favourite varieties which is really handy if looking for a reliable cropper in most veg.

 

 

 

 

[Van Lady]

1 minute ago, One percent said:

They had them up the road under the shed  but that was a long time ago.  We also have a lot of foxes.  We call them boxes to to the dog and she now goes mad whenever anyone says box. Don't know where I'm going with this other than do urban foxes and hedgehogs get on well in an urban environment!

Ten years ago I lived in a village and the whole 15 years I lived there I had hedgehogs visiting every year. I fed them cat food. Had a huge plot there which was sandy soil and never had much problem with plant pests. Used to grow a lot more back then both veg and flowers. Alas, age creeps on slowly and couldn't dig a plot that size now!

[spunko]

2 minutes ago, onlyme said:

Just been in the greenhouse this afternoon - bloody great big rat scuttled down the back of the seed trays - got to get that sod as he has had a go at the french beans / runner beans - always grow those as dead reliable and always crop well. Sowed up some rocket, parsley, salad leaves in trays. Nothing ambitious but nice to pick some veg fresh. Might even get some fruit this year - a couple of small cherry and plum trees, odd raspberry and  red currant planst Strawberries have been a dead loss though, third year trying or they all get slung.

The rats might be the cause of the problems before with your berries.. Do you have a compost heap? Don't put anything at all edible on it, that's a lesson hard learned. I had to get some Rentokil rat killer, it does work - but then if you have dogs/cats you'll need to worry about them eating the corpses.

[One percent]

1 minute ago, Economic Exile said:

Ten years ago I lived in a village and the whole 15 years I lived there I had hedgehogs visiting every year. I fed them cat food. Had a huge plot there which was sandy soil and never had much problem with plant pests. Used to grow a lot more back then both veg and flowers. Alas, age creeps on slowly and couldn't dig a plot that size now!

I wonder how long hedgehogs live for?  

My mate in her early 70s has two allotment plots. I really don't know how she does it. She was very hobbly the other day as she had dug both plots. 

[MrPin]

You need a cat Spunky. They don't seem to be doing much, but they do!

[Van Lady]

2 minutes ago, One percent said:

I wonder how long hedgehogs live for?  

My mate in her early 70s has two allotment plots. I really don't know how she does it. She was very hobbly the other day as she had dug both plots. 

I don't know how long they live but the ones that came to my garden were obviously older and younger so as older ones died the younger ones knew where to go perhaps for the cat food?

Sadly I've seen no hedgehogs in my garden for 12 years since I moved!

[onlyme]

5 minutes ago, spunko2010 said:

The rats might be the cause of the problems before with your berries.. Do you have a compost heap? Don't put anything at all edible on it, that's a lesson hard learned. I had to get some Rentokil rat killer, it does work - but then if you have dogs/cats you'll need to worry about them eating the corpses.

Yes, to both but only put grass clippings and other foliage in compost heap but lots of hidden holes for them in the garden and water and stables nearby so will always have them I suspect. Also have a dog - friend baited under his decking and dog managed to get to it, sad story. Baited previous house once and rat decided to snuff it under dining room floorboards - 6 months for the smell to go. I'll set some traps up out of harms way.

[One percent]

8 minutes ago, onlyme said:

Yes, to both but only put grass clippings and other foliage in compost heap but lots of hidden holes for them in the garden and water and stables nearby so will always have them I suspect. Also have a dog - friend baited under his decking and dog managed to get to it, sad story. Baited previous house once and rat decided to snuff it under dining room floorboards - 6 months for the smell to go. I'll set some traps up out of harms way.

I may be completely wrong but I think you are ok with veg peelings on the compost. It's cooked food scraps, especially meat that attracts them.  

[...]

I had the fuckers in mine when I was chucking veg in there.  Had to put chicken wire on the bottom of the compost bin.

[spunko]

6 minutes ago, One percent said:

I may be completely wrong but I think you are ok with veg peelings on the compost. It's cooked food scraps, especially meat that attracts them.  

That's what the RHS / others say, but rats are omnivores and eat anything. All I put on mine are grass cuttings, leaves and garden waste. Every so often I add some manure but that's it. I'm veggie but they used to love my food waste

[OurDayWillCome]

46 minutes ago, spunko2010 said:

Well you'll be pleased to hear I got the Roundup out today and went crazy on the nettles, even doing the neighbours ones through the fence. Luckily we get on otherwise I'd have drenched his grass in it as well

I thought Europe banned Glyphosate. I stocked up on some of the industrial strength stuff last year - got enough to last until Brexit goes through, or if that fails, the collapse of Europe (about a four-year stockpile).