RBY: giffgaff grow our own corner 2019

ijustcantdoit

With the growth in healthy eating and people not wanting to consume as much or no meat as in the past our green fingered giffgaffers get the chance to show us all how to grow our own!

Share your tips and secrets on how to make the flowers bloom and the fruit and veg blossom.

There are plenty of veg and flowers you can still grow without a garden. spinach, arugula, radicchio, romaine lettuce and many herbs and flowers, using buckets ot pots etc, i recently grew potatoes in bulders plastic tubs

So don't be shy let's grow our own with help from each other,

Add your step by steps guides or just Show us yours

You can post pictures of your home garden or like me whatever space you have available.

We had so many contibutions and help for our green fingered members i have brought it back for 2019

but here is our great thread from last time so you can search through and see all the top advise and pictures etc

giffgaff-grow-our-own-corner

janny27

ijustcantdoit
I have grown quite a few things in the past but nowadays as we're both retired we spend a lot of time away from home. I have a few pots around and I still have a herb garden which is a must. I do like to see a bit of colour in the garden. I think I need things that will thrive on neglect!

yvonnearmstrong

@ijustcantdoit

Great it's back

Hubbys got an allotment but last year was a bit of a disaster with the weather

But hopefully this year will be better

CHEERS

Yvonne

ijustcantdoit

@yvonnearmstrong Helo Yvonne

I really enjoyed planting and watching my potatoes grow and best of all eating them 😆

Its such a satisfying pastme and great money saver

pamfletch

@ijustcantdoitHi there we grow our potatoes in the black pots in which flowers are delivered to shops. We bought them years ago from a supermarket, we have about 15 or more lined up by the garden wall. They are ideal for root veg, would do for carrots and parsnips too.

ijustcantdoit

@pamfletch wrote:

@ijustcantdoitHi there we grow our potatoes in the black pots in which flowers are delivered to shops. We bought them years ago from a supermarket, we have about 15 or more lined up by the garden wall. They are ideal for root veg, would do for carrots and parsnips too.

Fantastic Pam @pamfletch

I found them so easy to grow and they tasted lovely , i used potatoes left over that had gone to root .

with advise from the members on how to grow them .

May try something different this time are carrots easy enough and could i mix them or would they be better seperated

bluemoonbaz

Hoping for some better weather and then start looking at planting out .

frenchielove

How lovely to see this back @ijustcantdoit I don’t actually growm much apart from herbs at the moment, our tomatoes were a but of a disaster, however, I love reading this, so look forward to see what you are all growing

andyslc

My seeds for the year arrived today. I’m abandoning most of the more traditional seeds this year and going for different flavours and varieties. I ll post a list when I’m a bit more with it. I get my seeds from a local supplier a few miles down the road, They do mail order and pack their seeds to order. They have some very interesting sounding foods hence my diversification this year. I ve also chosen quite a few hardy types to prolong the season.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk (Oxfordshire based)

Didnt have much luck starting chilli plants from seed last year but I’m better prepared this year. Blooming weeds have not stopped growing though cause it’s been so mild. Raspberries have now been cut back but are already showing new growth through the soil. Still much to do.

andyslc

@frenchielove If you have space you should consider getting a dehydrator. We had one of the plastic ones and upgraded to this

The plastic ones are probably a good place to start and are better for small amounts. They are also much much cheaper (and quieter)I now dehydrate my herbs for later use (like dried herbs bought in jars). I’ve also dehydrated blackberries, apple, and courgette. Herb wise I ve done mint, basil, rosemary and thyme.

Recently I dehydrated lemons, limes, and root ginger to make my own lemon and ginger tea. Trying mango and grapefruit next.

frenchielove

That sounds amazing @andyslc I love my mint, thyme, basil and use lavender too, we also have a large rosemary bush in the front garden, lemon balm, thank you

piethorne

It's too early to do anything yet up here, but the rhubarb I've got in 2 tubs has already started growing !

bluemoonbaz

@andyslc wrote:

@frenchielove If you have space you should consider getting a dehydrator. We had one of the plastic ones and upgraded to this

The plastic ones are probably a good place to start and are better for small amounts. They are also much much cheaper (and quieter)I now dehydrate my herbs for later use (like dried herbs bought in jars). I’ve also dehydrated blackberries, apple, and courgette. Herb wise I ve done mint, basil, rosemary and thyme.

Recently I dehydrated lemons, limes, and root ginger to make my own lemon and ginger tea. Trying mango and grapefruit next.

Hello Andy @andyslc

What a great piece of kit that is 😉

bluemoonbaz

@piethorne wrote:

It's too early to do anything yet up here, but the rhubarb I've got in 2 tubs has already started growing !

Mmm quite partial to rhubarb and custard @piethorne

masterluke

@frenchielove wrote:

That sounds amazing @andyslc I love my mint, thyme, basil and use lavender too, we also have a large rosemary bush in the front garden, lemon balm, thank you

Hello @frenchielove how's you and your front bush? :manvery-happy:

masterluke

Isn't it impressive that I've grown & over-wintered Tom Thumb Lettuce + Miner's Lettuce up here in the Arctic, and look how healthy it looks. It wasn't intentional that ordinary lettuce & miner's lettuce is in there together. The miner's lettuce didn't show when I sowed them, until I also put the lettuce seeds in assuming it wasn't going to grow, and then both grew. :manvery-happy:

frenchielove

Doing very well thank you @masterluke that lettuce looks amazing, you are so resourceful, but where you live, I guess you have to think ahead

kathleen414

My pots and hanging baskets are looking sad at the moment :smileysad:, if nothing makes a sign of life it may be a full repot for me .

everywhere looks grey without my flowers

woolcos

Afternoon all. Hope everyone is well. How amazing is this weather for gardening?? Loving the sunshine.

I just wondered if anyone might be interested in this blog I did for work? Its all about seed germination and gives you some tips on getting more of your seeds to sprpout. Pretty useful whatever you want to grow this year.

https://www.haxnicks.co.uk/blog/tips-tricks-seed-germination/

Hope you find it interesting (welcome any feedback as I'm new to blogging)

pamfletch

@kathleen414 wrote:

My pots and hanging baskets are looking sad at the moment :smileysad:, if nothing makes a sign of life it may be a full repot for me .

everywhere looks grey without my flowers

@kathleen414 hi hon I planted pansies and cyclamen in my baskets for Winter colour, much better than bare baskets, my pansies were fine but the cyclamen failed this year. My snapdragons over Wintered well, some flowers still on some but I cut off the seedpods last week, hope it wasn’t too soon since the weather is supposed to change.

pamfletch

@piethorne wrote:

It's too early to do anything yet up here, but the rhubarb I've got in 2 tubs has already started growing !

@piethorneHi, my rhubarb is showing through now so I’ll have to finish the crop I froze last year ready to start freezing again.