What are you planting this year???

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 23 Feb 2009, 18:31

All year round for sure, but will it go two years round?

Erik · Post by **Erik** » 23 Feb 2009, 22:53

biffvernon wrote:All year round for sure, but will it go two years round?

Hmmm, yes, I see!... I've only been pottering about with this growing-stuff-to-eat lark for just over a year, so I'll have to get back to you on that one (notwithstanding TEOTWAWKI). In the meantime I'd better plant some more, if only to be able to say that my parsley reserve growth rules.

I planted some coriander yesterday. Lovely stuff - ends up going into every dish while it lasts! Managed to plant some realseeds Iranian chile pepper and some green bell peppers this afternoon.

Next weekend I'm going to have to revive the automatic watering system and break my back shovelling earth around, and then it'll be time to get planting:

- Things which went OK last summer: lettuces (lots of varieties, staggered until late on in the year), tomatoes, beetroot, radish, turnips, squash, cucumbers, carrots...

- New experiments: eggplant, and aforementioned peppers already planted

- Shall try potatoes in buckets again. Not too successful last year, but I'm keen to give it another go.

- In May I'll be planting several "judiones de la granja", gorgeous creamy white beans that are typical in the Segovia region. I'll need perhaps 8 or 10 bushes to get about a kilo, but it's worth it.

I had only limited success growing melons out of containers last year and will give that a miss this time round (How did your Manchester melon project go Andy H?). Same goes for cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts etc which were mediocre to disastrous, so they're off the list too for now. I can't be bothered with spinach and chard either - reasonably easy to grow but, well, a bit boring!

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 24 Feb 2009, 08:52

Grow much more coriander than you think you need and let it flower and seed. The seeds are big and round and easy to collect and great ground up in curry.

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 24 Feb 2009, 10:06

So far on the seed front I have;

Parsey, sage, thyme.
Tomatos, two varieties, one vine, one bush.
Celeriac.
Broccoli
Red baron onions.
Bedford Champion onions.

Still lots to do thought....

Got some Quinoa and some Amaranths (sp?) to do this year. And some spring sown hulless oats. Some for us, and some for the chickens.

Got a great big sack of Rocket (earlies) spuds that need setting out to chit in the conservatory.

Need to move things around too.... apple tree needs moving out of pot (1 year old now), and need to tie the fig tree onto the wall....

Got 2000 ash keys that need to go into sand ready for planing next spring.

Oh, I love this time of year!!

Garlics coming up. French beans have all been eaten by pidgeons. Got to cut raspberry canes.... so much to do!!!!

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 24 Feb 2009, 12:42

Erik wrote:(How did your Manchester melon project go Andy H?)

I didn't get any melons, my mum got 2 which were delicious, and my partner's dad got one which was a bit small.

I've got a different strain of melon this year, a smaller one which I'm going to have a go with. If it doesn't do anything I'm giving up on melons.

This year I think I will be concentrating on basic stuff, carrots, dwarf peas and beans, bunching onions, leeks, chard, cabbages, stuff like that. Boring but I need to maximise the output of my small garden, and I haven't had much luck with some of the 'fancier' stuff recently, could be more to do with the weather over the past 2 summers though admittedly.

So going for hardier, more 'staple' type foods this year. Will see how it goes.

happychicken · Post by **happychicken** » 24 Feb 2009, 13:44

We've got fruit trees, fruit bushes and rhubarb in that we planted a couple of years ago - all hopefully nicely established this year. We had loads of Bountiful apples last year, but no Bramleys - hoping that will be better this year. Also the Greengage didn't fruit well at all last year after 12lbs of plums the year before.

The new chard appears to have survived the winter - had a fantastic crop from this last year.

We're trying some asparagus this year for the first time. We'll be planting spinach, courgettes, carrots, parsnips, cauli, broccoli, beetroot, lettuce, rocket (another previous success) and we're trying mangetout for the first time - we all love mangetout but I won't buy it in supermarkets any more since it comes from the other side of the world!

Apart from rubbish weather, the other problem we've had is rubbish soil. We put our own soil in to create our veg plot and to do so we ordered 19 tonnes of topsoil - only it turned out it wasn't "soil" at all but lifeless carrot dust. It's had plenty of chicken and bunny poo added over the past 12 months so hopefully it will be a bit more nutritious this year for the new crops

fifthcolumn · Post by **fifthcolumn** » 24 Feb 2009, 20:32

I'm planting nothing this year because I think that if TSHTF and there is an Alec Scarrow style collapse then at best the government will take my stuff and at worst I will have to kill several hungry teenagers to defend it and since I can only grow enough food to feed us for about three months I think we're fncked so it's pointless.

My potatoes from previous years tasted brilliant but the thought of having to survive from my back garden along with all the other Alec Scarrow shit is too depressing.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 24 Feb 2009, 20:45

fifthcolumn wrote:I'm planting nothing this year

In that case, can I park my van in your garden and use it to grow some food please? I doubt if I'll be planting anything for myself this year otherwise. The few salad plants I was growing last year fell off my van seat when I was travelling, and I gave up trying

We may all end up dying when TSHTF but that's no reason to give up yet.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 24 Feb 2009, 23:09

fifthcolumn wrote:I'm planting nothing this year because I think that if TSHTF and there is an Alec Scarrow style collapse then at best the government will take my stuff and at worst I will have to kill several hungry teenagers to defend it and since I can only grow enough food to feed us for about three months I think we're fncked so it's pointless.

If you have an air rifle and a chest freezer you can use your garden as a lure...

skeptik · Post by **skeptik** » 24 Feb 2009, 23:45

I have a small but perfectly formed South facing terrace at the back of my first floor flat. I already have thyme, rosemary, mint and lavender in pots. I'm thinking of adding a few pelargoniums for a splash of colour.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 24 Feb 2009, 23:51

fifthcolumn wrote:My potatoes from previous years tasted brilliant

That's reason enough in my book to carry on growing what I can. If you've only got a small area spuds aren't one of the best things to grow yourself. You can buy them in large quantities cheaply. Go for the more expensive stuff that doesn't take up so much room.

On one of the BBC gardening programs they had a 3 metre by 3 metre veggie bed and grew enough for a family of four over the summer. No spuds, though.

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 25 Feb 2009, 09:14

Fifth
But what if theres not a total collapse, which is more likely?
What if life just gets harder?
The government may still come and appropriate our stocks, but it probably wont.

If food is rationed, either by price or diktat, I have a fruit bush every fortnight to split between me and my partner, they wont produce much this season, but I should be getting proper crops next year.
Who do you thinks going to be healthier, me with an organic ish blackcurrant bush a month and hard tack, or john bull on hard tack?

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 25 Feb 2009, 11:37

fifthcolumn wrote:I'm planting nothing this year because I think that if TSHTF and there is an Alec Scarrow style collapse then at best the government will take my stuff and at worst I will have to kill several hungry teenagers to defend it and since I can only grow enough food to feed us for about three months I think we're fncked so it's pointless.

My potatoes from previous years tasted brilliant but the thought of having to survive from my back garden along with all the other Alec Scarrow shit is too depressing.

Errr . . . having just finished reading your posts on another thread about how collapse isn't going to happen and how it's all just the normal process of change which will benefit some people and not others, where has this come from?

Are you joking, or just inconsistent?

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 25 Feb 2009, 12:15

having just finished reading your posts on another thread about how collapse isn't going to happen and how it's all just the normal process of change which will benefit some people and not others, where has this come from?

Benefit some doesnt mean benefit him

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 25 Feb 2009, 12:20

DominicJ wrote:
having just finished reading your posts on another thread about how collapse isn't going to happen and how it's all just the normal process of change which will benefit some people and not others, where has this come from?
Benefit some doesnt mean benefit him

FC's posts are normally arguing that there will be no collapse, just some hard times. The above post directly contradicts a lot of his others, in which he appears to be quite comfortable with unfolding events.