Advice for a hopeless gardener

[jansman]

Garlic will be fine. Egyptian onions,yeah. My very first lot,I banged one bulb per pot to create a plant,them bunged in when suitable.The crop,I just let it ‘walk’ and there are dozens and then some! Cannot beat ‘em.

[GillyBee]

My DT Browns seed catalogie has just arrived and I notice that it has a very nicely designed veg growers planner in the middle.
A quick poke about on the website and they have also made this as a printable here which might be good for anyone who does not already have one of these.
https://www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/Home_2/growingrecord/

[jennyjj01]

My DT Browns seed catalogie has just arrived and I notice that it has a very nicely designed veg growers planner in the middle.
A quick poke about on the website and they have also made this as a printable here which might be good for anyone who does not already have one of these.
https://www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/Home_2/growingrecord/

Excellent. Thank you.

Note to moderators: Thank you button? Please.

[jennyjj01]

So, I found 3 bulbs of garlic in the food cupboard which were seriously past their best. Indeed they were starting to decay. I could see that they had the odd whisker of new root growing and some tiny bit of shoots forming.

Waste not want not !

https://youtu.be/vr3ZxWexS5c

Crikey Moses!
Just 10 days later, these cloves have now grown to over three inches tall. Just a couple of no-shows as of yet.

Variety? No-Idea.
Did I sow too soon? or too late? I don't think I did because they were on the cusp of going rotten.
These will be transplanted ASAP when I get my plot keys. Or should i separate them into pots for a while? Should I pop the tray outside to get them used to the cold?
If I transplant them how far apart? I'm thinking 6 inches or so?

Patiently awaiting my ordered few seeds and sets.

[steptoe]

Hey jen you need to get them in the ground or something to slow them , i have leeks just popping up my garlic is in the fridge ready to go in the rasided bed but had a few rough days health wise so rested .

I know you want to get going but go slow , also i just found a great way to get the garlic going , did you ever do hyacinth bulbs over water in a jar well appears peole are raving to start garlic liek that , they get the bulb from the supermarket and some are using the clear plastic egg box cut the top off fillthe bottom with water sit the whole bulb over it and bingo it lets them all start but a little slower i will be putting mine in the polytunnel to slow the shoots .

Good luck in the coming year with the allotment and your growing

[jennyjj01]

Hey jen you need to get them in the ground or something to slow them , i have leeks just popping up my garlic is in the fridge ready to go in the rasided bed but had a few rough days health wise so rested .

I know you want to get going but go slow , also i just found a great way to get the garlic going , did you ever do hyacinth bulbs over water in a jar well appears peole are raving to start garlic liek that , they get the bulb from the supermarket and some are using the clear plastic egg box cut the top off fillthe bottom with water sit the whole bulb over it and bingo it lets them all start but a little slower i will be putting mine in the polytunnel to slow the shoots .

Good luck in the coming year with the allotment and your growing

Thanks.
I'll get them in the ground this week. Probably in a raised bed.
Seriously, why would I want to slow them? Are they bolting and not bothering to develop cloves? I thought I was doing good to get fast growth
I made this mistake last year. Sowed a load of expensive f1 tomato seeds in Jan. They seemed to prosper on the windowsill, but by March they were all bu66ered, one way or another.

I did some experimenting with kratsky hydroponics last year. Some photies.....

That one got a bit of algae

Yoghurt /trifle pots with big slots cut in the bottom just small enough that a few mm of coir compost would sit over the holes. Sow seeds or cloves in that. then sit the pot in a coffee jar of water to just wet the coir. The roots develop down into the water. As the water goes down, the 'air' roots follow it. The bit of compost just acts as a support and wick to get it started.
Also some regular small plantpots sat in trifle pot reservoirs of water.

I got some good tomato and carrot starts like that.

Like this... But I was too frugal to buy the components. I found a trifle pot fit perfectly into a kenco jar.
Wrap the jar in paper to prevent algae and add a few spots of tomorite.

https://youtu.be/lbR-EQ03hTE?t=212

You'll laugh but the last three onions I cooked had the bottom 2cm retained and suspended over water to try to regrow as sets.

[jennyjj01]

Me, this time last year...... Itching to sow something, anything. I MUST RESIST. RESIST RESIST.

viewtopic.php?p=208120#p208120

Back then I murdered two dozen or more crimson crush tomato seedlings, by sowing them early, then putting them outside whereupon they got blown away in the storms. My okra, aubergines and peppers died of neglect. The only things I could not kill were courgettes that grew like triffids. Beetroot and chard I grew a years supply.
Onions bolted. Garlic drowned and rotted.
Leeks..... Well, I got about 4 and some are still in the ground looking to all the world like spring onions. Got just a few kilos of spuds and carrots combined. Some spuds went scabby.

Must do better down on 'Jenny's Farm'

Project #1 this month. Clear a patch of lotment.
Project #2 Pool noodle gutter hydroponic system.
https://youtu.be/Dz_Nw3_NcjA?t=15

[jansman]

Told you last year - take your time . Cannot beat nature. Go with the flow.

[steptoe]

Me, this time last year...... Itching to sow something, anything. I MUST RESIST. RESIST RESIST.

viewtopic.php?p=208120#p208120

Back then I murdered two dozen or more crimson crush tomato seedlings, by sowing them early, then putting them outside whereupon they got blown away in the storms. My okra, aubergines and peppers died of neglect. The only things I could not kill were courgettes that grew like triffids. Beetroot and chard I grew a years supply.
Onions bolted. Garlic drowned and rotted.
Leeks..... Well, I got about 4 and some are still in the ground looking to all the world like spring onions. Got just a few kilos of spuds and carrots combined. Some spuds went scabby.

Must do better down on 'Jenny's Farm'

Project #1 this month. Clear a patch of lotment.
Project #2 Pool noodle gutter hydroponic system.
https://youtu.be/Dz_Nw3_NcjA?t=15

Hi jen i am like you i try and get ahead well i did when we use to do the allotment these days i can get ahead because i use indoor grow lights but i also have the polytunnel and in there it gets you well ahead , i use to plant my garlics in raised beds to over winter as i also just frames over the beds but you do have to watch them getting up to early or the frost nips them and slows them .
Just go slow and toms i would not be sowing yet , i do find i have to get my bell peppers in christmas as they take a long time to grow , i use to have a mate on a herb growing site use to over winter his last year bell peppers and the rat use to get lovely crops , i did try it once in the tunnel but the plants went mouldy and it was a lot of work so i gave that up as a bad job lol.

[jennyjj01]

Told you last year - take your time . Cannot beat nature. Go with the flow.

I'll be good, this year.

Thankfully, ebay and Royal Mail are conspiring to slow me down. Some seeds, and tree onion bulbs should arrive later this week. The tree onions will need a home straight away, I think I'll pot half and pop half in a bed..... Better still... I'll read the blinking instructions.

I need to knuckle down with clearing about 25m^2 of my plot. That alone will eat up January. I'll pop those garlics into a bed for now.

Apart from some onion seeds and maybe a few bell peppers, ASAP, I resolve to sow NOTHING else this month....