Planting Flowers, Fruit & Veg

[Purrrrrrr]

I'd recommend going by local horse paddocks to see if they are giving away their manure. Must've saved £20 filling up some old shopping bags for life. Agree with the other posters about not overthinking things, just keep it as simple as you can.

The Gardening Influencers are a bit weird. Just lots of dancing and repetitive content.

Used to have to buy manure and my gran always followed the horses with a bucket. now they have a very hard job giving it away.

.

.
Another thing don't let supermarkets and people on groups make you feel you are late in doing things. Most in groups do it way too early and a lot of their plants die. those who wait later don't lose many and their plants are no smaller than those who went early. Supermarkets and even many nurseries sell forced plants, if ou plant these and a frost hits they will die. My local nursery only sells what can survive. a good nursery wont sell you what will proberbly die if you don't keep them indoors supermarkets and places like B&Q B&M will sell you anything

Many seeds can be planted directly in the ground so until that times passes you are not late

 

[Xales]

Hi all, can I join in?

I have some cabbages and kale which have overwintered. I thought the slugs were eating them but it has turned out to be a fat pigeon so I have covered them in the hopes of salvaging some.

I brought some elephant garlic to try along with the garlic I missed last year that is coming back up.

Radishes, onions, winter salad, lambs lettuce and broadbeans are all starting to show in the veg beds.

Brsselspouts are showing in the green house. Potatoes are chitting.

This weekend I have planted runner bean, pea and courgette seeds in the greenhouse. Carrot, tomato, beetroot, spinach and swiss chard are next on the list.

I brought 20 of the little tin pots that hang on the fence and they all have strawberry runners from last year in.

Trying raspberries for the first time, they are budding. However my redcurrant and blackcurrant don't seem to have survived winter.

 

[Saddlesoap]

I'm actually a bit excited about spring today, despite the fact it's super windy outside and my garden resembles a bog

Have you tried rosemary or sage? They're usually pretty hardy. Fennel too although I've yet to cook anything with it!

I couldn't grow a thing at my former home so I guess soil plays a part. Some things just out fox us no matter how hard we try...I cannot cook rice for the life of me

Off topic, but I couldn't cook rice until I mentioned it to my dad one day and never had trouble since. Uncle Ben's (has to be), plenty of cold water, cook. Really simple and always cooks perfectly.

 

[Nolongerjustalurker]

Third year of our allotment this year and I’m looking forward to seeing what you’re all growing! We ignored the plot over winter and have only just started a bit of digging. Also trying not to get caught up with the crowds and plant early.

 

[Saddlesoap]

I've just spent time planting seeds

Corn, carrots, sweet peas, mint and pea shoots.

Courgettes and peppers to do later, and I'm going to try cucamelons as well (just cos they looked cute!)

 

[50sGirl]

I've just spent time planting seeds

Corn, carrots, sweet peas, mint and pea shoots.

Courgettes and peppers to do later, and I'm going to try cucamelons as well (just cos they looked cute!)

Re Cucamelons, we grew them one year. A lot of effort for teeny fruits and I wasn’t too keen on the flavour tbh. Do you have a greenhouse? We had more success in there.

 

[Saddlesoap]

Re Cucamelons, we grew them one year. A lot of effort for teeny fruits and I wasn’t too keen on the flavour tbh. Do you have a greenhouse? We had more success in there.

No, although had considered getting a little one if I bother with tomatoes as they were rubbish last year.

 

[50sGirl]

No, although had considered getting a little one if I bother with tomatoes as they were rubbish last year.

Tbh I think most veg growers struggled last year due to the changeable weather. My toms got blight.
We bought a greenhouse last September so we are hoping for more success in there. I bought some greenhouse cucumber seeds yesterday so I shall try those in there too along with my trusty Burpless Tasty Green variety outside.

 

[soymilk]

I’m growing one, it took a while to get a stone to sprout - I skewered the with cocktail sticks & then balanced it over a yoghurt pot of water, keep the bottom of the stone submerged. After a while a root will sprout from the bottom, then transfer to a nice deep pot and leave somewhere warm. Eventually a stem & leaves will come through from the top. Definitely needs patience, I must have had 6 stones in water at one point and have only got one plant from them.

I really want to try regrowing a pineapple from the leaves at the top, Google says it’s possible - I’ve not yet had any luck

this is really good advice, thank you! I gave up on my first attempt bc I moved apartment but I'm thinking I should give it another go

 

[SpindleWhorl]

What's everyones tulips doing

 

[Bereb45]

Focusing more on fruit and flowers this year. Planted a blueberry, rose and clematis yesterday. Planted the rose and clematis to climb through each other so we’ll see how that works out.
Going to sow some cosmos and sweet peas.
Still waiting on daffs to flower. My tulups are a long way off yet.

 

[50sGirl]

What's everyones tulips doing

Some flowered this weekend. Others only have leaves at the moment.

 

[grumpy_curry]

Hello hello everyone, I'm here from the Winter of discontent thread where this one was kindly recommended!

I'm really looking forward the the gardening season! My chilies and tomatoes and aubergines are already sprouting. Trying fennel for the first time this year.

Mostly Jalapenõs this year, as I did Jalapenõs in Vinegar two years ago and they were excellent. Last year's harvest was bad, no heat to any of the chilies at all.

Have about 5 kinds of tomatoes, and I made the mistake of using allllll my Oxheart Tomato seeds as they were getting old but they seem to be sprouting quite well still. So now I have a choice of about 20 tiny plants for that variety will give some away after repotting!

Can't wait for April as this is the month most seeds are supposed to go into the cold frames

Also bought some climbing roses as I plan to redecorate the garden. So far they've been doing well even though they were 3,49€ from the local B&E. Had a look at a gardening shop close to me for climbing roses which were pretty expensive at 29,99€. So this one was a bargain I couldn't resist!

 

[SpindleWhorl]

I only have a patio and was wondering how big a pot you might need for one Rose plant

 

[Renegadedancer]

I only have a patio and was wondering how big a pot you might need for one Rose plant

Roses like a lot of room to spread and grow to their full potential. Also depends why type of Rose you have, shrub, climber? Put in the biggest pot u have and see how it goes.

 

[SpindleWhorl]

Roses like a lot of room to spread and grow to their full potential. Also depends why type of Rose you have, shrub, climber? Put in the biggest pot u have and see how it goes.

I was thinking about getting David Austen "Desdemona"

 

[Renegadedancer]

I was thinking about getting David Austen "Desdemona"

I bought a David Austin Roald Dahl last year, not the bare root the potted one. It was stunning and flowered all year. First one I’ve ever bought from them. I’ve just pruned it down and fed for this year . I think you will be really happy with what you buy, I’ve also had an email to say there 15% off till end of March. Have you got a code for the discount? If not I will check my email .
Edit - just checked the code is STORY. Not a one off so anyone feel free to use.

 

[SpindleWhorl]

I bought a David Austin Roald Dahl last year, not the bare root the potted one. It was stunning and flowered all year. First one I’ve ever bought from them. I’ve just pruned it down and fed for this year . I think you will be really happy with what you buy, I’ve also had an email to say there 15% off till end of March. Have you got a code for the discount? If not I will check my email .
Edit - just checked the code is STORY. Not a one off so anyone feel free to use.

I was thinking about buying in a few weeks once my tulips have finished with their terracotta pot and planting it in that, I'm assuming at that point I will be buy a full plant instead of a bare root? Sorry it's my first "season" with any outside space at all so very inexperienced x

 

[Renegadedancer]

I was thinking about buying in a few weeks once my tulips have finished with their terracotta pot and planting it in that, I'm assuming at that point I will be buy a full plant instead of a bare root? Sorry it's my first "season" with any outside space at all so very inexperienced x

I think you have the choice all year round . Ordinarily you would plant a bare root anytime as it’s dormant and will come to life in the spring. I think I got my first one last year around May, it arrived full of buds and after a few weeks in a pot was full of flowers. Bare root literally looks like a dead plant even though it isn’t. I’m by no means an expert but I was very impressed with my David Austin one. All I would say is don’t leave it too late as the very popular ones sell out very early in the season. You’ll be fine in a few weeks. Have a read on the website and there’s a video of how to plant it and what soil to buy.

 

[PumpkinKing]

Coming back to this thread as I've just bought an assortment of salad seeds, would also like to start growing some fruit and veg. My problem is I'm a bit useless, only thing I've managed to grow from seed is 2 sunflowers last year.
Wary of planting in the garden as next doors cats use my garden as their toilet
Considered buying one of those mini greenhouses but the biggest reason for me growing my own is to bring down costs so not sure.
Is salad veg easy to grow? I have
Cucumber
Tomato
Spring onion
Iceberg
Radish