PowerSwitch

I've been working hard on crop plans for this year. What goes where etc etc.

I'd be really interested to hear who's growing what this year.

I seem to be drawn to beans this year. French beans, and I've ordered lots of the kinds that can be dried and stored. I may have gone a bit overboard on the potatoes too. 5 x 3 Kg nets of seed spuds, from early to late maincrops.

Dunno about "crop plans" as such, but I'm growing stuff out of assorted pots and containers on my roof. I only started late last summer but have managed to "harvest" a few carrots and radishes, lettuces... and there are peas, beans, onions and garlic well on their way.

This year I'll have the full benefit of being able to start sowing stuff in Spring, so I'm probably going to go a bit mad and plant 1 or 2 of EVERYTHING I can think of! That way I'll gain experience - some things will fail and others will do OK (hopefully!) and by the end of the year I'll have a better an idea about of which vegetables and fruit to concentrate on in the future.

Don't get me started!

Onion seeds are already planted in pots on the windowsills. Overwintering sets of onions, garlic, and some broadbeans are already battling with the snow.

My box of seeds is far too full to list all the contents - I got a tad carried away ordering . My biggest growing areas will be dedicated to potatoes, onions, leeks, carrots, parsnips and broad beans. (Runner beans and French beans don't do well for me - they'll still get a little corner of course.)

The greenhouse will be tomatoes, courgettes and cucumbers. I might also be given a polytunnel this year. OH is very keen to build one - on condition I fill it! (As if he needed to ask! )

Fruit bushes include rasberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries, apple, pear and cherry. (Most newly planted last year.) I have also dug up some elderberries from my mum's place - they are supposed to be excellent for warding off flu etc. So they'll go in this week end.

Perennials include rhubarb, Jerusalam artichokes and Globe artichokes and I hope to start some asparagus.

I have also just ordered some cobnuts off the internet. Funny thing was - once I went to pay I discovered that the seller was just up the road. So I'm going to collect them myself. AND thanks to the Peplers I have also decided to buy sweet chestnut trees too! (Not quite a wood's worth - but perhaps a dozen.)

Last year was my first "big effort" year; although I've been dabbling for many years with little bits here and there.

I get huge pleasure out of this, it's incredible. Although it could be a sign of my age - someone told me that "You'll know when you've hit your forties because suddenly gardening seems like a good idea!"

Have got loads of 'real seeds', some of which I'm going to start off in my greenhouse now it's february, I have a little paraffin heater in there if needed (not that that's particularly sustainable really).

One I'm particularly going for this year is melons!

Pelargoniums.

There's a 'free' packet of carrot and lettuce seeds on the cover of this month's Kitchen Garden magazine.

(Declared interest: daughter Roxanne writes the recipe page )

Seasonal recipes
90 Quick and easy comfort food
Roxanne Warrick makes soda bread and broccoli and Stilton soup

Just planting some seeds today.

Have discovered a load of greenfly on my kale seedlings - at the beginning of Feb! Pests!!

I really need to learn more about soil and compost types. We've grown a few things in the last couple of years, but last year everything that I planted or moved to bigger pots, using the same compost, took a turn for the worse and mostly died. I think maybe it was more intended as a mix-in to improve our nasty clay soil.

Then again, it could have been a more general lack of plant care knowledge...

That reminds me though, I'm supposed to be visiting a local freecycler to pick up as many bags of topsoil as I can fit in the car. *runs*

-jmb

Hops!

We still have an estimated 18 months until we get an allotment (or is it 18 months from when we applied? In which case we should get it this year. Hmmm...should check), but have a little bit of space by the house.

I'm looking forward to brewing in September.

s.

sentiententity wrote:Hops!

We still have an estimated 18 months until we get an allotment (or is it 18 months from when we applied? In which case we should get it this year. Hmmm...should check), but have a little bit of space by the house.

I'm looking forward to brewing in September.

s.

How much is 'a little bit of space'? I thought hop vines were ginormous?!

How much is 'a little bit of space'? I thought hop vines were ginormous?!

Well, they are, but in the z axis! The varieties I have planted (Challenger, Fuggles and Goldings), are about 20 ft high. They don't take up much square footage on the ground I think, they follow trellises or whatever upwards. I am growing them up the side of the house and the (nextdoor) church wall.

We'll see how it goes.

Cheers

s.

Sounds good! Hmmm . . . home brew, yum!

I pruned the grape vines and bottled wine, 18 whites and 6 reds, yesterday.

Our climbing peach has just gone in, and I want to get some sorrel going too.

Our garden isn't very big so I haven't the heart to plant stuff like spuds and carrots which we can get locally and cheaply from the shop down the road. So we might keep to the z-axis also and do more sunflowers and beans.

I planted a good variety of fruits last year from plum, apple, pear, cherry and gooseberry, black and red currant, raspberry, loganberry and some hazel. Planted also a wide spectrum of veggies to see what would work. I could not believe how easy spuds were to grow and my god what a taste.
So a hell of a lot more spuds this year, no more turnip or cabbage (kids wont eat them) and of course will plant the usual salad crops. My cheapo plastic greenhouse was torn to shreds in the recent winds so a later start this year.
Never did I think in my hedonistic youth I would get so much pleasure unearthing a treasure trove of mouth watering spuds I grew myself. i cant wait for the first early crop!