whats this w/e's jobs then lads

lettuce started in modules inside here, you...............?

I want to plant broad beans, lettuce and spring onions this weekend.  Thing is i have hundreds of lettuce and spring onion seeds, so i guess you dont just plant one at a time, can anyone enlighten me on the process?  I mean how deep and how many do i chuck in?  And do i have to pull out the weak ones, and how many etc.  tia.

Imv this site has good advice on the timings for putting veg in the ground
. http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Grow-Your-Own/Veg-A-to-Z#s
It's a charity so if you like them, consider giving them something - though the way the world is going they'd probably prefer to receive a kilo of seed potatoes rather than two of our pounds, as seed potatoes have real value and can't be printed.

Back on topic, check for types of veg that can be planted in late August / early September and give a crop the following spring - spring onions are good for this, they should not go outside before beginning of May but can be started indoors in a propagator now - the way the weather is now you have to spread your sowing about a bit. There can be some surprisingly warm days in November to January.

Delta: I grow corno di toro peppers in the greenhouse (unheated - can't see the point when you're already paying to heat your home - simply keep your plants indoors until the war weather arrives).

They're very sweet peppers - delicious raw, but shaped like long chilli peppers, which is a bit inefficient. (The name means "horn of bull".) So each year I save the seeds from the first pepper which appears with a fairly rounded rather than pointed end and use those for the next year. Gradually I'm getting a larger, more bulbous, and earlier, pepper crop each year.

Sewed this year's crop in half a dozen old cream cartons filled with 2/3 John Innes seed compost and 1/3 perlite. I like perlite, as it seems both to absorb excess watering and release it when you forget to water. Covered with a plastic carrier bag and 2 sheets of newspaper on top. Left them near the woodburner, watering daily from a spray bottle.

Now got 11 plants growing uncovered on a south-facing windowsill. Move them back nesr the woodburner at nights, watered twice a day.

Will transfer them to 9" pots in the greenhouse when the days start getting to 15C and frosts disappear from the forecasts.


Tomatoes I've always found less straightforward and more vulnerable to grow from seed. I'm happy to pay a few quid for some healthy looking plants from the garden centre in a couple of months time.

Yes. You're right, B-B. I shouldn't have made such a flippant remark.

Sorry.

W

W

Try again.
When you grow your own the one thing you will notice is the dramatic difference in taste from the stuff the supermarkets push out.
You wont save money but when you stop buying produce which is judged by shelf life and appearance and has travelled half way round the world you will remember how good food should taste.
Home grown broad beans are particularly good and also sweetcorn. Soft fruit is also a revelation.
If you grow too many seedlings or plants for your own use give them away on Freecycle.

I won't be growing much this year but I am getting involved in the community scheme I mentioned on the first page of this thread.

I'll probably just buy some chilli plants for the window sill even though I don't use them much. I seen an over wintered chilli plant in a friends house and it's producing already, think I'll try that for next year.

I would recommend people to grow plants that are either expensive or rare to find in the shops. I can say again about Khol Rabi, very easy and quick to grow but I also grew some pepper plants in upside down planters last yer that were very productive. Considering peppers are 50p each in Tesco's, each of my plants produced 10+ peppers. Try varieties like purple cauliflower (I'll have to try this myself) or a rarer potato variety.

Look out for Lidl this time of year. They have some great, cheap vegetable plants in trays. I bought a brilliant Tumbling Tom Tomato hanging basket with 5 plants that gave me all the tomatoes I needed for last year. They also have 8 cauliflower/ cabbage plants etc for £2 which is pretty good but remember 8 plants all at the same time will harvest at the same time so if you can find a mate or 3 to split between you t makes more sense.

Can anyone upload any pics?

I will when I start growing.

I never have any wastage as my chickens scoff it all

Curly Kale is really handy if you're stuck for space, just pick from it when you need it. It lasts for ages and much better than growing a cabbage which uses the same amount of space. Beetroot is also very underrated, I've still some pickled in jars from when I rented my private allotment 2 years ago.

well you got yaself a bargain there screamin'  - I know when I went to get some, price had remained the same, but quantity was about 25% of previous size..

* sowing seeds in the snow isnt recommended imho

Ffs that should be highwater and early pots.  Defo a crippling hangover in the post. 

Chives, parsley and coriander slowly coming up on the window sill.

Something I don't really understand about allotments is the need for high security fencing - ok if you're raising chickens or keeping goats which could get into someone else's patch, but why the need for vegetables to be protected. They're like medium security prisons. With a Union flag flying. As if that'll make the spuds grown any faster.
Commercial arable farmers don't operate with the high fence protection, padlocks, warning signs etc of some allotments.

Well i ut loads in this morning.... Lettuce, broad beans, artichokes, beetroot, spring onions, leeks and spinach.   Roll on the good weather.

Im hoping to get fresh lettuce all year round.  I might have a go at those mixed greens you can buy, you just chop off what you need with scissors and they grow back.

Something I don't really understand about allotments is the need for high security fencing

quite a bit of robbing goes on now Bongo because of the high price of veg, also many of these gardeners will be growing exhibition stuff which will earn them a few £ at shows.

I've been sitting in there this morning Bongo a lovely combined smell of tomato plants and paraffin.

beetroot in this w/e