What are you growing?
- Thread starter punkrockcaveman
- Start date
-
BushMoot: Come along to the amazing Summer Moot 31st July - 5th August (extended Moot : 27th July - 8th August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
I'd plant a couple of minni tomatoes too. I do them in hanging baskets(which you could hang off the shed on a bracket. Also a few strawberry plants along the front edge would be rather nice.
Well, the carrots and beets went in the day before yesterday, then it rained so saved me a day or twos watering. Lettuce and spring onions in today.
Spied a blooming rat sitting in the middle of the lawn eyeing me up, so yet more snap traps, and bait boxes set. This was a baby, so the blighters are breeding again. Found out they are now they are in my compost bin!!! Aaarrgg!
This is getting ridiculous!
Spied a blooming rat sitting in the middle of the lawn eyeing me up, so yet more snap traps, and bait boxes set. This was a baby, so the blighters are breeding again. Found out they are now they are in my compost bin!!! Aaarrgg!
This is getting ridiculous!
You could do with a friend who keeps ferrets and likes to take them out on trips.
Finally remembered to get some pics of what I've got growing so far.
My veg growing areas are rather limited to some raised beds squeezed around where SWMBO has flower beds but I've got 4 raised beds dedicated to fruit and veg.
I've got sugar snap peas, beetroot, broccoli, some carrots and potatoes and a load of strawberries, some blueberries, raspberries and rhubarb. Theres a couple of sweetcorn growing in pots and a random cucumber plant that I shoved in a corner on the off chance it'd grow.
It's not a LOT but it is nice to be growing things. The last time we grew sugar snaps my kids treated them like sweets and would "sneak" some as a little treat.
ATB
Andy
My veg growing areas are rather limited to some raised beds squeezed around where SWMBO has flower beds but I've got 4 raised beds dedicated to fruit and veg.
I've got sugar snap peas, beetroot, broccoli, some carrots and potatoes and a load of strawberries, some blueberries, raspberries and rhubarb. Theres a couple of sweetcorn growing in pots and a random cucumber plant that I shoved in a corner on the off chance it'd grow.
It's not a LOT but it is nice to be growing things. The last time we grew sugar snaps my kids treated them like sweets and would "sneak" some as a little treat.
ATB
Andy
Finally remembered to get some pics of what I've got growing so far.
My veg growing areas are rather limited to some raised beds squeezed around where SWMBO has flower beds but I've got 4 raised beds dedicated to fruit and veg.
I've got sugar snap peas, beetroot, broccoli, some carrots and potatoes and a load of strawberries, some blueberries, raspberries and rhubarb. Theres a couple of sweetcorn growing in pots and a random cucumber plant that I shoved in a corner on the off chance it'd grow.
It's not a LOT but it is nice to be growing things. The last time we grew sugar snaps my kids treated them like sweets and would "sneak" some as a little treat.
ATB
Andy
"
It's not a LOT but it is nice to be growing things"
THIS
This is the most important part I think , Not many of us have enough outdoor space to be able to dedicate it to a growing area ( although its still impressive to see what can be grown in a limited space- vertical growing ) so whatever we do grow is more a token presence of what we need.
But the growing process itself is the learning and enjoyment aspect - and understanding how and when certain things need to be sown, planted out , harvested , how they can feed one at various times of the year .
I'm not sure where to post this, it could go into a foraging thread. Anyway, as we're growing them for food here's a few pics of our bamboo.
New years shoots:
A shoot ready to eat:
Shoot trimmed with the edible stem left:
And finally the shoot cut and boiled for a few minutes and ready to eat. I gather they can be bitter and the boiling reduces this but the plants I chose produce shoots ideal for eating and I've not found them that bitter. They're actually rather nice, if a little plain.
New years shoots:
A shoot ready to eat:
Shoot trimmed with the edible stem left:
And finally the shoot cut and boiled for a few minutes and ready to eat. I gather they can be bitter and the boiling reduces this but the plants I chose produce shoots ideal for eating and I've not found them that bitter. They're actually rather nice, if a little plain.
Absolutely 100%. It's more about the process and just being able to grow some things.
Interesting option to pursue - It is as I understand it , a prolific grower ( and spreader ) so any idea on the calorie return ? I imagine its fairly full of fibre?
Bamboo does seem to get a bad press these days as an invasive, but it's still sold everywhere.
Ours does now grow well and spread, after taking a few years to establish. We have room for it and no neighbours for it to spread in to. I think we're getting a few hundred new shoots a year.
We grow it for multiple reasons: I like it, it acts as a good wind break, it provides plenty of usable garden canes and it's edible. I don't know much about what it offers nutrient wise but have seen a few recent articles that say it has some benefits. I just like another edible perennial about the place that provides something else interesting to eat.
First new potatoes of the year. A couple of spare seed spuds popped into the greenhouse before the tomatoes get planted out.
A couple more courgettes went in today, and I got two cucumbers at the market yesterday. Never grown them before but I have a little corner I can get them into., and a couple of glass panes ,so I might just fashon a minni greenhouse for them somehow.
Spent the afternoon on my backside cutting the grass round the raised beds short with scissors, (must get some new angled shears, mine were left out over winter, only to be discovered rusted shut with the first lawn cut last month...idiot!) ready for my gardener to come and mow the grass tomorrow, as the mower doesn't quite get up to the edges.
I now have blisters, and my knees are clicking when I walk!
Just filled up my biggest water but by rotating my water storage, ready for the heatwave!
Planted up my flower hanging basket last week, and it's now ready to hang up, but I'm too short! So I'll have to get the gardener to put it up tomorrow.
Strawberries are doing well, and I should have my first pickings in a couple of weeks.
The tayberries have gone crazy and I'll be picking those soon too.
As long as I can keep watering up to scratch, I should have a good fruit harvest this year with apples currants strawbs gooseberries tayberries and rhubarb all doing well so far despite the cold spring.
Spent the afternoon on my backside cutting the grass round the raised beds short with scissors, (must get some new angled shears, mine were left out over winter, only to be discovered rusted shut with the first lawn cut last month...idiot!) ready for my gardener to come and mow the grass tomorrow, as the mower doesn't quite get up to the edges.
I now have blisters, and my knees are clicking when I walk!
Just filled up my biggest water but by rotating my water storage, ready for the heatwave!
Planted up my flower hanging basket last week, and it's now ready to hang up, but I'm too short! So I'll have to get the gardener to put it up tomorrow.
Strawberries are doing well, and I should have my first pickings in a couple of weeks.
The tayberries have gone crazy and I'll be picking those soon too.
As long as I can keep watering up to scratch, I should have a good fruit harvest this year with apples currants strawbs gooseberries tayberries and rhubarb all doing well so far despite the cold spring.
Im ashamed to say apart from tending to our general fauna I have nothing in the greenhouse, raised bed or ground this year. Hopefully get the runner beans in this weekend
Yeah, bamboo does get a bad press because most of those who plant it don't knwo how to manage it. It is controlled by pruning the roots not the tops......
GC
Having managed to get the polytunnel covers on during that brief warm spell in March, I have at last got the tunnels organised and a reasonable amount of planting in them. The spring being so late didn't help- everything is 3-4 weeks late around here.
I have quite a bit planted in the tunnels now. A pair of kiwi fruit in one and a grapevine in the other as "permanent" planting, both getting their feet down at last and starting to put on some decent growth. Tomatoes of several varieties and at different stages, cucumbers, melons, peppers, chillis, pattypan squash, cucamelons, mange tout peas. The melons are really slow to get going, and the peppers/chillis are also taking their time. I did cheat and buy some veg plants a month ago and I am glad I did, they are quite a bit ahead of the ones I grew from seed.
The polytunnel herb trugs are doing nicely, they really enjoy the dryer/warm conditions. Rosemary, oregano, thyme (2 types) and catnip (2 types), and there's a large sage bush planted outside, it's grown so much better since I hit it with the big strimmer last year, really rejuvenated it.
I need to get some lettuce/greens sown and some more mange-tout peas in. I am not that fussed on runner beans and neither is my other half, so not put them in, but might try some dwarf french beans in a raised bed in a sunny spot (I need to make the raised bed first....). I have some hanging baskets (to hang from the crop bars in tunnels) for strawberries, so tomorrow I am going on a trip to the local garden centre, last time I was there they had a good range of strawberry plants at a sensible price (they are an old-fashioned sort of garden centre that focuses on plants rather than garden lifestyle).
The getting the tunnels organised was critical, I have my picnic table set up in one which is handy for so many things! It's a dry place for potting on (or just sitting with a cuppa on a wet day) and is a platform for trays of seedlings. It's been hard work as everything in the tunnels is in raised beds, the ground is gravel on top of rocky soil so needs raised beds to grow anything. I also have hoses in various places around the garden, makes watering much less of a drama.
My raised beds of blueberries (and one cranberry) outside in the one of the boggier areas of the "garden" are going OK although I need to strim around the outside of the bed edges, I am not expecting fruit this year. The orchard trees are doing OK, hopefully the warm spell will bring them along. A couple of weeks ago I treated them with nematodes for vineweevil when I found some grubs on some other plants that were in the same batch of overwintered pots, and I have more nematodes in the fridge for another treatment once the heat passes. The quinces look like they have set fruit for the first time in a couple of years.
It's been a really busy 3 months in the new garden. Still a long way to go, but compared to where it was when we moved in a year ago, it's come a long way.
GC
I have quite a bit planted in the tunnels now. A pair of kiwi fruit in one and a grapevine in the other as "permanent" planting, both getting their feet down at last and starting to put on some decent growth. Tomatoes of several varieties and at different stages, cucumbers, melons, peppers, chillis, pattypan squash, cucamelons, mange tout peas. The melons are really slow to get going, and the peppers/chillis are also taking their time. I did cheat and buy some veg plants a month ago and I am glad I did, they are quite a bit ahead of the ones I grew from seed.
The polytunnel herb trugs are doing nicely, they really enjoy the dryer/warm conditions. Rosemary, oregano, thyme (2 types) and catnip (2 types), and there's a large sage bush planted outside, it's grown so much better since I hit it with the big strimmer last year, really rejuvenated it.
I need to get some lettuce/greens sown and some more mange-tout peas in. I am not that fussed on runner beans and neither is my other half, so not put them in, but might try some dwarf french beans in a raised bed in a sunny spot (I need to make the raised bed first....). I have some hanging baskets (to hang from the crop bars in tunnels) for strawberries, so tomorrow I am going on a trip to the local garden centre, last time I was there they had a good range of strawberry plants at a sensible price (they are an old-fashioned sort of garden centre that focuses on plants rather than garden lifestyle).
The getting the tunnels organised was critical, I have my picnic table set up in one which is handy for so many things! It's a dry place for potting on (or just sitting with a cuppa on a wet day) and is a platform for trays of seedlings. It's been hard work as everything in the tunnels is in raised beds, the ground is gravel on top of rocky soil so needs raised beds to grow anything. I also have hoses in various places around the garden, makes watering much less of a drama.
My raised beds of blueberries (and one cranberry) outside in the one of the boggier areas of the "garden" are going OK although I need to strim around the outside of the bed edges, I am not expecting fruit this year. The orchard trees are doing OK, hopefully the warm spell will bring them along. A couple of weeks ago I treated them with nematodes for vineweevil when I found some grubs on some other plants that were in the same batch of overwintered pots, and I have more nematodes in the fridge for another treatment once the heat passes. The quinces look like they have set fruit for the first time in a couple of years.
It's been a really busy 3 months in the new garden. Still a long way to go, but compared to where it was when we moved in a year ago, it's come a long way.
GC
There are two different types of bamboo. Clumping and spreading. Even in my experience clumping will still spread. I tend to dig them up, split and replant. 2 for the price of one.
Similar threads
