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?
Andy Hunt wrote:Just sowed some seeds directly into the ground - sweetcorn and butternut squash around them. Once the sweetcorn are growing nicely, I'll sow some peas around them so they can climb up the sweetcorn.
Have you done that before? It seems very early to be sowing things like sweetcorn and butternut squashes directly into the ground. I don't think that either plant can take a frost, which means that you don't want them to germinate until April/May/June,
Can I chip in?
I planted onions, garlic and peas in the ground at the beginning of Feb, Only the garlic is coming up so far. However I also planted onion, cauliflower, beans, peas sweetcorn, parsnip, tomato and radish in the green house. The onions are well on their way, and the cauliflowers are just coming up. I find myself trotting out to the greenhouse every morning to check up on them. How sad is that.
Andy Hunt wrote:Just sowed some seeds directly into the ground - sweetcorn and butternut squash around them. Once the sweetcorn are growing nicely, I'll sow some peas around them so they can climb up the sweetcorn.
Have you done that before? It seems very early to be sowing things like sweetcorn and butternut squashes directly into the ground. I don't think that either plant can take a frost, which means that you don't want them to germinate until April/May/June,
Peter.
It's a bit of an experiment really. If they fail, I will just get some more seeds. I don't have a greenhouse (although I have plans for a small one), and I just want to see if they will be OK with the milder weather this year and all that . . .
Pete_M wrote:Can I chip in?
I planted onions, garlic and peas in the ground at the beginning of Feb, Only the garlic is coming up so far. However I also planted onion, cauliflower, beans, peas sweetcorn, parsnip, tomato and radish in the green house. The onions are well on their way, and the cauliflowers are just coming up. I find myself trotting out to the greenhouse every morning to check up on them. How sad is that.
Pete M
Not sad at all. Our bedroom window currently has seelding propogators full of peas, tomatoes and lettuce in. Next tray to bring on is the Red peppers and chilli's. It's a great thing to do and give a real sense of well being. Bet I won't be saying that when all my produce is being munched by white fly, slugs and snails
Pete_M wrote:Can I chip in?
I planted onions, garlic and peas in the ground at the beginning of Feb, Only the garlic is coming up so far. However I also planted onion, cauliflower, beans, peas sweetcorn, parsnip, tomato and radish in the green house. The onions are well on their way, and the cauliflowers are just coming up. I find myself trotting out to the greenhouse every morning to check up on them. How sad is that.
Pete M
Not sad at all. Our bedroom window currently has seelding propogators full of peas, tomatoes and lettuce in. Next tray to bring on is the Red peppers and chilli's. It's a great thing to do and give a real sense of well being. Bet I won't be saying that when all my produce is being munched by white fly, slugs and snails
Me too! Out in dressing-gown and slippers to talk to my beauties.... tomatoes, salad seedlings, onions, leeks, celery and celeraic are all up..... peas just planted.... & I'm sure there's other stuff too..... ahhhh.. sets me up for the day.
We had an expected bereavement (my father-in-law) and so things stopped and everything has been topsy-turvy for the last fortnight or more, but I managed to restart things on Thursday. Treading carefully at the moment though, for obvious reasons.
I bought a 2nd hand car trailer and today managed to completely clear the bonfire and its remnants - required three full trips to the local recycling dump. So tomorrow I have the final third of the plot to dig over. We have had an unusually dry and sunny period for the time of year in NI with no measurable rain since the 29th March so the ground has become quite dry - one of my other interests is meteorology and I have a little weather station linked to one of my PCs.
I will update more when I have had a chance to think about laying out the plot and what I am going to plant, when and where. Decisions, decisions, decisions...... Do we not need to wait until the ground frosts are gone - usually about mid May? Or is this only for some species?
There are loads of things that can and should be planted by now. Things like runner beans and the more exotics, such as tomatoes, cucumbers aubergines, shouldn't be planted out until the frosts have gone. The rest can get away with with being covered at night, if a frost is due, with garden fleece or bubble wrap or even a thin layer of straw.
We've got parsnips, carrots, onions, potatoes, salads, broad beans all sown and coming through. We are a bit further south than you Snow, but do you benefit from the warm maritime air a bit more than we do?
I replied - but it has disapeared into the ether........
Yes, more maritime up here - higher minimum temps. and lower maximums all year round. Often very grey skies with lots of rain - apart from the last 2 weeks.
I am going to plant a couple of varieties of potatoes - any suggestions? Where should I get them?
Local garden centre, allotment or horticultural society (they sometimes have potato days where they sell dozens of different varieties of spuds, but it's a bit late for that now).
My wife likes Pink Fur Apple, it's a small very knobbly potato but it has a very good flavour. There are so many different varieties for different purposes, mashing, frying, boiling. It's always worth planting some First Earlies, new potatoes, for summer salads and then a main crop variety or two. If you've got a good local garden centre, they'll advise you on the best variety for what you want.
Get down there quickly because there won't be many left now.
It's not really a gardens or preparations contribution, but I found, or one of my dogs did, the first adder of the year out for a strole in his/her bright new season suit. It was just outside my (open) back door! I caught it in a cut off lemonade bottle and freed it well away from house and dogs.
kenneal wrote:It's not really a gardens or preparations contribution, but I found, or one of my dogs did, the first adder of the year out for a strole in his/her bright new season suit. It was just outside my (open) back door! I caught it in a cut off lemonade bottle and freed it well away from house and dogs.
How did you catch it in a cut-off bottle? How big was it?
It was a 1.5 litre plastic lemonade bottle with the bottom cut off, Mike. We use them as individual cloches. The snake just slithered in. The snake was about 350 - 450 long, a small one really.
I once found a grass snake about 750 long with a lump in its body about 75 long and twice the width of the rest of the snake. It has obviously only swallowed a mouse but it still looked weird.
Today Ive just eaten the first radish of the season from the garden. It was green house sown then transplated. The garden sown lettuce are now coming up.
I see a repeat of last years problems looming when we had to eat toms for weeks on end. I have to live on a diet of radishes for the next few weeks soon to be followed by a mountain of caulis. I just cant get a balance of output.
Lettuces are ready to start cutting and then I'm going to be anxious to see how well they 'come again'!
Going to plant some radishes soon.
Tomato, pepper and chilli plants all doing well in the greenhouse though. Pea plants are out in the garden along with the garlic. Need to get on with the rest of it now!
Still got sweetcorn, potatoes, beans etc etc to go into the ground.
Brilliant fun though isn't it? So satisfying seeing them grow.
