Grow Your Own

I think the nice weather has been so helpful in the growing!

I've got rocket, beets, raddicco, turnips, and swede seeds that have already started to grow! Leeks and strawberries are doing well as well. Whee!  Have more room to go as well, planning to do so this weekend.
 
I've got a kitchen full of tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers to put out under a greenhouse (because its always way too cold otherwise!!)

 

I want Tomatillos and our poblano's didnt grow well last year....

We planted some jalapeño seeds, cilantro and parsley....we have mint growing like crazy.

Keeping it simple this year and hoping the peppers grow!

we have mint growing like crazy.

I've decided that mint is practically a weed with the way it grows! (maybe it actually is a weed?  ).  We grew mint outside the coffee shop that I used to work at, so that we could put it in iced tea.  It took over the entire bed!

We're moving in 2 weeks and we've had a bit of a gander in the gardening sections of a few DIY shops.  We found a planter for potatoes, so that you can grow them in the pot, but there's holes in the bottom where you can pull the potatoes out without removing the plant.  Has anyone used one of these?  Is it worth it?  We were intrigued!

I've decided that mint is practically a weed with the way it grows! (maybe it actually is a weed?  ).  We grew mint outside the coffee shop that I used to work at, so that we could put it in iced tea.  It took over the entire bed!

We had mint outside growing like that when we moved into our house 6 years ago, and somehow we managed to kill it. 

We haven't been able to get mint to grow since - the slugs always get at it first. 

At least they leave the oregano, marjoram, rosemary & lavender alone.

One thing that has really been an inspiration is the amount of people who plant their own here.  How amazing is it to produce something with your own hands, even if its just one or two things?

My father and my family back in PR still plant fruit trees, but I really hope I can convince the rest of my family to begin.  This is something so many people should do, especially with prices they way they've been.

I know nothing about gardening, but we have an apple tree, a rhubarb plant and wild blackberries in our back garden.  I decided to try a few herbs last year and pretty much killed them. Cilantro growing and I are not friends.  So this year, I tried a few more things.

I have Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme (sing along, now), mint growing this year.  I've also planted some seed potatoes (the plants are HUGE now!) and some onions.  Also, the chocolate mint, tarragon, oregano and lavender have come back on their own.  I'm trying to keep them alive.

So far so good.  Now if only the grass seeds would grow. LOL.

I'm doing some experimenting this season.  Gardening is a bit complicated up here, mainly because of the high winds and not especially high temperatures.  We'd like to get a poly tunnel greenhouse down the road, but we've got some landscaping work to do before we'll have a suitable place for it. 

So, for this year, we've just got a roll of horticultural polythene and some flexible water conduit pipe, and we're making sort of giant cloches to go over our raised box beds.  We're also going to make a little A-frame greenhouse out of an old swing set.  That's where I'm getting really ambitious: Roma tomatoes (in upside-down planters), sugar pod peas, bell peppers, pickling cucumbers and, hopefully, sugar bush watermelons.

I planted everything in a propagator about a week ago, and everything but the watermelon has sprouted.  The cucumbers & peas are ready to go into larger pots already.  I don't know if anything will last once it's put outside, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

If none of that works, we'll still have the normal UK crops: potatoes (spent 3 hours planting them on Saturday!), onions, cabbage, carrots, broccoli and beets, and lots of different herbs.

That's it for this year.  If our experiments go well, and/or we get the poly tunnel, there will be even more next year.  We're also hoping to add some raspberry & blackberry bushes.

How's everyone's harvests coming along? So far we've eaten about 30 radishes (and the second planting is coming along nicely), about 4 big bowls of strawberries, and then last night I harvested my first beautiful courgette.

I've reduced our veg box order down so we don't get overwhelmed!

And we were at some friends' new flat on Sunday, and we ate her home grown kohl rabi. I was ashamed to admit that I didn't even know how it grew, but I'm so tempted to order some seeds now that she's said how easy they are to grow...

Everything is coming up swimmingly!  Just trying to keep the pigeons and rabbits away from eating everything 

Nothing ready for eating yet, but the rocket should ready momentarily!
I've got tatties, turnips, sweedes, onions, cabbages, cauliflower, brocolli, zuchinnis and cucumbers under a cloch, kohl rabi, peas, french beans, rocket, strawberries, raddicio, chard, parsnips, celaric, carrots coming and growing.   Making another bed so I can get in some radishes and lettuces in.  I'm keeping the tomatoes and chilies and peppers in my house, its far too cold to grow them without a greenhouse and they're growing great on the windowsils.      

Had our first potatoes a week or so ago, first tomatoes will be ready in about 1 week, maybe 10 days, and the courgette is budding (but I don't think we'll see real fruit set for at least 2 weeks.)

Yay for tomatillos!! I grew them for the first time last year! Things I learned - you MUST keep them very warm until they're at least a foot tall (so you need a greenhouse or very sunny windowsill). Only plant them out after you're absolutely sure there won't be any more front. Once they're outside, stake them really well as they love to grow tall and bushy. And feed with tomato fertiliser when you do your tomatoes, too (I learned this the hard way last year - I neglected to feed them at all at first, and then they didn't really like my seaweed fertiliser). And they freeze really well if you take the husks off.

I was so inspired by the gardening TV thing you mentioned last Christmas. Though I was not able to watch the video as I was in the states at the time, you posted about growing tomatillos. After that I was obsessed with the idea. I finally bought a propagator and seeds last month and started growing my own. Glad to have the updated on some of the pitfalls. I'll definitely follow your advice.

Well, no harvest yet, other than some herbs from the windowsill.  We've had incredibly crappy weather for the past month.  The high winds have been making it next-to-impossible to get anything outside done.  So, our cloches/greenhouse haven't been installed yet.  I've got plenty of huge 'seedlings' waiting to go out, and no place to put them where they won't die instantly. 

Well, no harvest yet, other than some herbs from the windowsill.  We've had incredibly crappy weather for the past month.  The high winds have been making it next-to-impossible to get anything outside done.  So, our cloches/greenhouse haven't been installed yet.  I've got plenty of huge 'seedlings' waiting to go out, and no place to put them where they won't die instantly.  

Aye, wettest May on record since like 1901.  And yet there's a drought in England  

coming to the thread later.  We had an allotment last year and I just loved it, but unfortunately, we had to give it up this year.  It really broke my heart, but DH is working on his new business and I have two babies as well as my own business.  It was just to much and not fair to those we shared the allotment with.

Our compromise was to grow stuff in our back garden.  We started very late because we were gone for several weeks around Easter, but we have Champion of England peas, some runner beans, tomatoes, and swiss chard.  We also have some herbs in pots--thyme, chocolate mint, basil, rosemary.  Our chives are a bit iffy from last year, and we have a Vietnamese Coriander that was really nice, but hit a frost after we took it back outside.  We thought it was dead, but it seems to be coming back slowly.

Anyone have any ideas about things I can plant in the space that's left.  I had planned on courgettes in our remaining space, but we didn't get them planted earlier.  What can I start as late as this (besides beetroot which I don't like)?

What can I start as late as this (besides beetroot which I don't like)?

Radishes, lettuces, peas, spinach, rocket 

Everything is coming up swimmingly!  Just trying to keep the pigeons and rabbits away from eating everything 

Nothing ready for eating yet, but the rocket should ready momentarily!
I've got tatties, turnips, sweedes, onions, cabbages, cauliflower, brocolli, zuchinnis and cucumbers under a cloch, kohl rabi, peas, french beans, rocket, strawberries, raddicio, chard, parsnips, celaric, carrots coming and growing.   Making another bed so I can get in some radishes and lettuces in.  I'm keeping the tomatoes and chilies and peppers in my house, its far too cold to grow them without a greenhouse and they're growing great on the windowsils.      

Ya know PB I want to see a pic of this lovely allotment you scored - it seems you have TONS!
I have been purposely walking to allotments and doing a tour and I am AMAZED how awesome some are!