The "Grow Your Own" Thread

[lemonjelly]

Got my backside into gear with this today before heading off to the bowls match.

Into the ground I've sown:
Purple carrots
Normal carrots
Onions
Spring onions

Into pots I've planted:
leek
Thyme
Basil
Cucumbers
Beans
Peas
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Rainbow Swiss Chard
Tiger Tomatoes (supposed to be stripey?)
Yellow Courgettes.

Lets see how we get on...

 

[lemonjelly]

Oh yeah, also have a blueberry bush in a pot (probably too small for fruit for a year) and a blackcurrant plant in the ground that has just sprouted leaves, so is at least growing!

 

[Hereford Wolf]

We planted a blueberry bush a couple of years ago. We just realised last autumn that the dog has worked out how to suck the fruit off it.....

 

[lemonjelly]

Apparently it is national gardening week:
http://www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk/

Get out there people!

 

[machin05]

Already installed a load of sleepers around the edge of my lawn and levelled out a new area for some grass. Seeded it last weekend. That's the extent of my gardening prowess.

 

[lemonjelly]

That's good stuff matey! I moved a fair amount of turf in september last year, as previous tenants didn't do gardening. Borders were both too big & full of weeds, so I've moved the turf to extend the lawn out. Less maintenance/weeding, so that's good.
Delighted to see it appears to have taken. Will need to build a few bits up, but there you go!

 

[machin05]

Couple of photos of my mad garden skillz. Very much functional and hard wearing:

That corner area has been seeded now.

Try and ignore the bin bags!

Kind of matches the main front border and steps I installed last year, although this years installation uses smaller sleepers (from Wickes - love that place!)

All of that soil was levelled(ish) and grass seeds planted (and grown) last year.

As you can see, it's a pretty small garden, so maximising "leg it about" space for the little dudes is the main objective.

Next project is to move the shed from one corner, where the sun shines all day, to the corner where the bin bags are, that is shaded all day, and build some decking or lay paving slabs where the shed currently is.

 

[Wolf Hunting]

Nice little garden Will.
That reseeded corner would be perfect for 2 chickens... fresh eggs every day, kids'd love it going out to see if they'd left a couple....
If you can get hold of a belt sander, it'd take the sharp corners and edges off all those timbers then a tin of light oak wood preserving oil from IKEA and the grain would come up a treat.

 

[PPB]

I'm growing me own wildflower ' meadow ' with Pre seeded Wildflower Mats. Hopefully a mass of colour and a pleasure to look at

 

[Stan Hullis]

New house in July with freshly laid turf.

South-South West facing so complete blank canvas to work with. Looking forward to attacking it next year

 

[lemonjelly]

I'll post some pics at some point. However, a fair few items have sprouted.
I'm currently doing my annual "me tomatoes haven't sprouted, the seeds must be shit" dance & panic.

I've deliberately not looked in the greenhouse for 3 days, but watering will have to happen this evening so I'm hoping there's something happening then!

 

[Nando]

We're growing radish, shallots, lettuce, strawberries, spinach, beetroot and an abundance of different herbs at the moment. They all seem to be doing well. The radishes should be perfect in another week or so.

 

[PPB]

My herb garden is coming on splendidly. Although had to plant a lot of Lavender too to stop the deer from eating it all. They hate the smell apparently.

 

[lemonjelly]

An update on me garden stuff. After a few weeks with the usual wondering if anything would grow, a few green shoots promptly got roundly munched by bastard slugs and snails!
I've been going to war on the swines this week. I decided to plant a few more seeds as a result of the carnage:



Into the ground I've sown:
Purple carrots - a few shoots, but I'm concerned that most of these have been got at by the varmints
Normal carrots - doing better, but still evidence of slug behaviour
Onions - kicking in really well!
Spring onions - no signs of life at the moment sadly

Into pots I've planted:
leek - some very spindly looking plants 60% success rate
Thyme - couple of small plants, not sure which was the basil (below) & thyme. Will have to wait and see...
Basil - see above
Cucumbers - were doing really well til the vermin got at them 50% got blitzed.
Beans - absolutely nothing. I'm guessing slugs/snails
Peas - ditto
Tomatoes - I know a couple got munched. I assumed that a number got done, however since I first noticed a few have popped up. Got about 6 seedlings now.
Lettuce - got 3 separate batches on the go, plus planted some seeds again yesterday. However those damned critters have started to have a go here too!
Rainbow Swiss Chard - going great guns! The success story so far! The stems are starting to get some colour too.
Tiger Tomatoes (supposed to be stripey?) - to date, only 1 has sprouted. I wonder if slugs etc got at these too
Yellow Courgettes. - 3 planted, 3 nice looking plants

I forgot to say in the original post that I'd planted some red Brussels sprouts too. They were going well, but disaster did hit. They're generally ok though, about 12 have survived.
I'd also planted beetroot, but there's absolute carnage there too.

Evasive action taken this evening by planting extra beetroot, leeks, cucumbers, and spring onions.
At the weekend I planted a shedload of extra tomatoes, as I thought the ones I'd planted were doomed. Looks like I have a potential tomato plant surplus again.

A friend gave me a couple of blackcurrant bushes, with I've planted & all have taken. I've planted one in a chimney pot (a mate is dismantling them off houses down south wales, & brought me 3 up, with hopefully a few more to follow!) I haven't repotted the blueberry bush yet. That'll be this weekend.

 

[lemonjelly]

Repotted the sprouts and cucumbers this weekend.
Couple of tomatoes seem to be popping through.
Swiss chard going nuts, gonna have to thin them out in a week.

 

[lemonjelly]

I focus all my efforts in the back garden, but found this article quite interesting:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32780242
Front of my home was paved by previous owner. New neighbour is paving his front garden too.
The article has some interesting food for thought...

 

[Wolf Hunting]

Going to start growing my own eggs soon!
Not sure what to start with, RI Reds or a White Horn Leg Horn or whatever it's called.
I've looked at loads of sites about hens.
Anyone got hens, any recommendations?

 

[machin05]

Get the ones that do double yolks.

Here to help...

 

[Wolf Hunting]

Get the ones that do double yolks.

Here to help...

We used to get our eggs from a local farm and she had a set of hens Will, and in every dozen you'd get 10 doubles!
We had some friends staying from Burton on Trent and their kids were having breakfast with us and I asked if they'd ever had a 'double yolker'.
They'd never seen one!
They hadn't so I went on and elaborated and bigged it all up, fantastic good luck, fame and fortune awaited those that received one and.... bingo!
A Double Yolker each!
They were truly amazed and jumping up and down excited....

Quietly, so was I!

I must find out from her what type of hen it was...

 

[lemonjelly]

Going to start growing my own eggs soon!
Not sure what to start with, RI Reds or a White Horn Leg Horn or whatever it's called.
I've looked at loads of sites about hens.
Anyone got hens, any recommendations?

I started a thread asking the same.
Apparently they'll wreck ya garden WH!