2017 GROWING THREAD

I sow that every year (together with virtually everything on your list), but when I went to sow this year's realised I'd found my saved seeds beyond it last year and had bought some more, used them all and seeds from those plants wont be ready for saving until later this year.

Bought some more with other stuff from T&M, 6 x 99p packets = £5.94, with buy 5 get 1 free = £4.95, using £5 code from last catalogue = only £1.95 P&P to pay, 33p per packet delivered. Delivery email confirmation includes a new £5 code for another 'free' up to 6 packets of seeds, and so on. EDIT: T&M Have now made it a £30 min spend to use those codes, yet another 'loophole' has been closed .
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Sowed some Helenium and Heliopsis today (I do like loads of flowers for cutting).

 

Those vouchers never work with what I'm buying. Not bad though, I just never fancy anything 99p from there it's normally £2 quid odd

 

Sowed Bridgwater beans, some of @Angelina's bulgarian tomatoes that @Jack McHammocklashing kindly sent me Alisa craig onion seeds.

Planted out Stutgarter Giant onion sets.

Put me hand into the potato clamp and it came out covered in ants

 

Baģs of 80 from Morrisons?

 

Do they store well @Scrungee? I had sowed a load of onions and then we had a very hot couple of days here nd I managed to steam the lot so all now in the bin and getting a bit late to sow onions now I fear so may have to resort to sets.

 

No, 45p's worth from Groves Nurseries

 

Only got 3 left from those harvested last August/Sept and they're still in perfect condition. But the pack of onions I bought reduced to 1p at Tesco on 22/1/17 because they'd reached their best before date are starting to sprout.

 

I'm thrilled to announce that I have managed to get some parsley seed to germinate this year! (It's not the first time by any means that I have tried, but the first that I have succeeded.)

So: 29 pence worth of flat-leaf parsley seeds from Lidl (I wasn't going to make a big investment on this one considering my past record....) Half sown outside in early March. Then last weekend, as those weren't doing anything, I soaked the rest for 24 hours, planted them in a seed tray, and put them in the airing cupboard. Now both lots have germinated and I am looking forward to lots of parsley sauce in the months to come

 

I ran out of viable saved parsley seeds this year, both fkat leaf and curly, and got mine from Lidl, @ 29p/pkt, but I went for the 5 packets for £1 (also got some flower seeds - strawflowers, china asters and sweet william). I also soaked overnight, drained and sowed thickly in cell trays [1]. Everything has germinated - Lidl seeds are a real bargain, loads of herb and dozens of bunches of flowers for only £1


[1] Rather than use full size, or even half size seeds trays, these days I prefer to use multiple cells cut from 15x cell tray inserts, so as each cell is pricked out/cut off, valuable propagator/growlight space is freed up. It also enables the cells to be separated and spaced apart to avoid the seedlings in the middle of seed trays growing spindly as they compete for space.

Even when I use 24x cell trayswhere there's no subsequent requirement for pricking out/tansplanting, I still cut the trays into 4 lots of 6x cells to make them easier to juggle around the same propagator, growlight, heated greenhouse space to achieve the most effecient use of it all. And it's much cheaper than buying pots.

 

3 lots of peas in : early onward, onward and Hurst green shaft.

Tumbling Tom and 100s & 1000s poked through today.

Think I over done the penstemon and clarkia.

 

April sowing plan:

Sunflowers
More peas
Carrots
More herbs
More spring onions
Lots more lettuce and leafy veg

That sounds relatively relaxed and achievable, think I'll have a well earned glass of wine and delay April seed sowing until tomorow.

 

Sowed a load of Manx Marvels, will be bringin some up to Shineyland if anyone wants some

Started digging out the old compost heap but then got distracted by a £3 survey and a bottle o homebrew

 

Im being a little naughty this year attempting to grow things that should not fruit in this climate... but ive never let a challenge stop me before!

I am in the midst of creating an exciting practical and ornamental fruit bed which includes;

- fig tree
- chilean guava
- pineapple guava
- pomegranate
- calamondin citrus
- ornamental banana
- strawberries
- chili and peppper plants
- lots of vibrant colourful beddin g fillers.

 

Are they varieties grown for cut flowers?

I believe if you have an allotment you can never have too many bunches of flowers (always on the look out for bargain period/antique vases at car boots, but they seem to be getting very scarce these days, been a few years since we got a large Edwardian glass vase for 50p).

Even if they don't get cut, they brighten the plot up in miserable weather, and provide some additional interest with all the insects and butterflies they attract, although a bit of a distraction at times when stalking them with a camera instead of gardening.

 

No they were for the back garden but now you've mentioned it may as well, fully didn't expect such a high germination rate since the first lot were so slow. I was going to just put the usual suspects there, nasturtiums, sunflowers, cornflowers, calendula and dahlias