What are you planting this year???

What changes can we make to our lives to deal with the economic and energy crises ahead? Have you already started making preparations? Got tips to share?

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hardworkinghippy
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Post by hardworkinghippy »

It's raining so much here that most of my potatoes have rotted in the ground. :?

None of the seeds I've planted have come up except the peas and most of the flowers...

A bit of sun and we'll have loads of Raspberries - oh and we've got loads of Chanterelles, some Ceps and wood strawberries. :)
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SunnyJim
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Post by SunnyJim »

Thoughts are with you at this difficult time. I hate loosing veg. Especially potatoes.
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"Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs" (Lao Tzu V.i).
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Cabrone
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Post by Cabrone »

I'm having a go at:

Potatoes (early and late crops)
Carrots
Broccoli
Radishes
Lettuce
Broad Beans
Rhubarb (won't be ready for at least 12 months yet)
Onions
Rocket (salad and wild)
A variety of herbs (mint, parsley etc..)
2 dwarf Pear trees

Although I only have a postage stamp sized garden they seem to love my compost!
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Bedrock Barney
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Post by Bedrock Barney »

Took some pictures round the garden at the weekend.

Gerkins looking good:-

Image

Pickling procedures commencing soon.
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Andy Hunt
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Post by Andy Hunt »

Just a few mangetout peas coming now, nothing else yet really.

Had a few radishes and some lettuce though.
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landyowner
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Post by landyowner »

We had our first lettuce and baby carrots a couple of days ago. Feels nice to finally get something, we only have one bed this year but we're completely new to gardening. We're learning to walk before we run. We plan to start jogging next year though. :lol:
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Andy Hunt
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Post by Andy Hunt »

Oh yes I forgot, had a couple of strawberries too, they were very 'tart' though!!

A colleague at work reckons he has got tons of strawberries already.
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Bedrock Barney
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Post by Bedrock Barney »

Loads of strawberries here. Raspberries also going mad (and very tasty). Blackcurrents turning colour as well as cherries.

Dug up some spuds the other day - very nice.

Also starting to harvest broad beans.

Peas very close as well as shallots.

Broad beans pictured below with asparagus bed behind

Image
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Erik
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Post by Erik »

Time to drag this thread out of storage again? How fast a year flies by...

Just spent a good part of the weekend planning, then clearing the roof terrace, emptying out old containers, and mixing up a cocktail of old soil with new, churning in a few helpings of a sort of semi-composted mush I seem to have created from old food scraps and cuttings. Next weekend - time to get planting!
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biffvernon
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Post by biffvernon »

It's interesting to see what has made it through the winter. Chard, sorrel, parsley, chives, and some celery that hadn't grown well and got left unharvested are all showing signs of new healthy growth. The broad beans, which looked good a month ago, suffered badly in the snow but I guess they will recover. Garlics are coming up strongly.
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DominicJ
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Post by DominicJ »

I've got some red currants to plant that have been sat in a cupboard since December, been doing internal work so havent even thought about the garden, should probably sort something, even if its just some garlic.
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Post by 2 As and a B »

Friday and Saturday spent (wasted!) indoors on indoor stuff. Well, Friday not really wasted as OH had another seizure so sat with her most of the afternoon.

Sunday, lightly dug over the old vegetable patch to break up the overwintered clumps and prepare for shallot planting next weekend (a kind Xmas gift from the in-laws). Transplanted a couple of self-seeded alpine strawberry plants found growing amongst nearby weeds. Removed dead parts of weeds down the far end of the garden around raspberry canes and blackcurrant bush ready for blitzing with glyphosate and hoeing. Dug up some more parsnips for Sunday lunch and weeded soil and removed stripped Brussels sprouts plants in that (shrubbery) bed.

Short planks for raised beds have dried out in the garage, long planks still wet and heavy outside on the patio. March planting deadlines looming. Hoping for a couple of dry, mild, long weekends!
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RenewableCandy
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Post by RenewableCandy »

I've been busy shovelling compost round the garden and it was actualy rather enjoyable. The garden now looks like, well, a garden.

I'm improvising "cold frames" out of old window-boxes and bubblewrap/seethrough plastic strawb boxes.

Into these strange contraptions so far go:
dill
corriander
sunflowers

Meanwhile perennial things are beginning to show some life:
parsley (is it actually perennial?)
sorrel
chives
foxgloves (in case anyone's heart starts playing up!)

Large things that are showing signs of spring include:
2 apple trees
2 pear trees
3 blueberry bushes (one of them a leaving present from work...thanks guys!)
plum tree (ditto. Called "Tsar" :D )
3 pots of strawbs
3 currents
gooseberry
2 almond trees
2 hazel bushes
elderberry bush
raspberry canes

The almond trees are in big square pots that were full of weeds I don't think shovelling alone will get rid of. So I've cut out big cardboard squares, and (after watering) put them on as mulch. They're then covered in compost for aesthetic reasons. I wonder if this will work?

The other fruit trees have black sticky stuff painted round the trunks so the ants will get their feet stuck when they're trying to carry 'phids to the new leaves hahaha :evil:

Stuff that went in in early winter and hasn't been seen since:
oaks(!)
broad beans

Stuff that went in ages ago and is subject to the "sporting-chance" school of gardening:
Obscure Ukranian cherries
more hazels
various random fruit pips

stuff that has bombed in our garden:
cucumbers (all snuffed it in unison having got quite big)
celariac (about the size of marbles)
cabbage (eaten by catterpillocks)

Working hypothesis: soil unsuitable for things beginning with "C" (except corriander).

Last weekend and next couple of days are apparently good times to plant if you're into Biodynamics. But it strikes me as a bit early for things like runner beanz and (more) sunflowers and broads, I think I'll hang fire 'til March with those.

Note the high ratio of perennials to annuals. This is because I'm a lazy git.
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biffvernon
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Post by biffvernon »

>parsley (is it actually perennial?)

Seems to tend towards biennielism. The overwintered parsley will want to get on with flowering this spring, so it's probably best to sow some new now to be ready for when the old plants run to seed.
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Erik
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Post by Erik »

biffvernon wrote:>parsley (is it actually perennial?)

Seems to tend towards biennielism. The overwintered parsley will want to get on with flowering this spring, so it's probably best to sow some new now to be ready for when the old plants run to seed.
Mine's perennial all year round it seems!!
"If we don't change our direction, we are likely to wind up where we are headed" (Chinese Proverb)
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