Advice for a hopeless gardener

[jennyjj01]

Picked up some seeds at 29p from Lidl. It's not a wide range and not all the seeds are so cheap, but 29p. 49p.

I wonder if they restock these or just sell them down till no stock left?

It’s mid Summer. Selling them off .

I assume they'll still be just as viable next year? I understand carrots have limited shelf life, but maybe different varieties last longer.

[jansman]

Like food, dark, dry and easy temperature

[GillyBee]

Guidance here on seed storage and lifespan which may help.

NB Do not keep them in the greenhouse. If the heat and humidity dont kill them the mice wil eat them straight through the packet.

[jansman]

I have spinach beet and lettuce seeding now. I reckon another month they will be dry enough and I’ll just tap em into paper bags. A lot I will simply tap so they hit the ground. They grow. The paper bags are the back ups I stash each year and never need! Egyptian onions are starting to set seeds,so I’ll pass some of those to my sister,along with perennial cabbage cuttings. She has an open area in her woodland and wants to put some in there.

[jennyjj01]

Today's harvest....

7 little desiree spuds without scabs. 3 small pods of peas. A rather large spring onion and a dinky courgette.

There was also a teaspoon of chive seeds collected.

Just need to ramp up production a bit.... Well rather a lot really.

It's taken a heck of a time, but a very few tomatoes starting to form in my tubs and growbag.

Parsnips now over 5 feet tall. I THINK they are making seeds. Wish they'd hurry up.

[jennyjj01]

Today's harvest....

Just need to ramp up production a bit.... Well rather a lot really.

Parsnips now over 5 feet tall. I THINK they are making seeds. Wish they'd hurry up.

Because of other commitments, I've grossly neglected my allotment and garden and that's led to this, and this...

An overlooked MASSIVE courgette from one of my tardis composters. So much for harvest small and frequent
Going into a big curry with chickpeas.

And discarded spuds have completely overgrown my two tardises. About a cubic metre of foliage!!!!! I'm delaying harvesting those. expecting great stuff. Should I cut off some of the foliage to promote tubers?

Meanwhile, it's taken a LONG time, but my 6 foot parsnip trees have given me a big envelope of nice big seeds. I can discard the trees now and liberate the planter.

[jansman]

I let foliage die back naturally,as I see it as nutrition for the developing tubers. I am sure I can be taught another way.

[jennyjj01]

I let foliage die back naturally,as I see it as nutrition for the developing tubers. I am sure I can be taught another way.

Cheers Jansman.
I'm leaving those spuds to grow a bit more as I struggle to eat and store the lotty ones.

Only ONE courgette prospered this year, but it's still more than plenty.

I've just completed harvesting my parsnip seeds. Got about 60g, mostly brown and dry. I chucked away some of the greener more stuck ones, as that is plenty. Need to look up when to sow them. It's great to get a raised bed liberated. I think late spuds in there. There were about 5 parsnip trees hogging the bed: One heck of a LONG time to wait! It looks like the bed largely self seeded. oh hum, volunteer parsnips.
To compost the parsnip trees and greener seeds? or do I risk them growing everywhere I use my compost?

[Medusa]

Over run with baby cucumbers which are being given to anyone who will have them, I am a keen believer in sharing the harvest. Lots of courgettes, carrots tops are huge this year and wondering whether the actual carrots are big or very small, I need to have a look. My bell peppers in the greenhouse are very late flowering this year and I doubt I will get anything but green ones which is fine really, although the greenhouse currently resembles the Amazon rain forest. Not quite sure what happened with my broccoli as we usually get a really good crop but most of it has given very tiny heads or heads which have died off before doing much. Possibly the heat earlier in the year or perhaps something not quite right with the soil. The strawberries did well, as did the raspberries which are now into their second fruiting. Lovely crop of plums this year which are just starting to ripen and all of the apples seem to be doing well also. The beetroot look to be a mixed bag but I think I am probably guilty of trying to grow too many in one container and I went a bit overboard with tomatoes so will make lots of tomato sauce for the freezer.

[jennyjj01]

Help defending my stored spuds.....

So, I harvested a cardboard fruit box full of spuds, out of damp ground. They were all in good condition.

I figured that I'd leave them unwashed in the box, in my warm enough garage, to dry out, later to bag them in hessain.

It didn't quite work. They never got bone dry and today I saw slime trails over them, and a couple had 8mm spherical holes eaten from them. On some there was what looked like white egg sacks. Eventually i found a small 15mm long slug on one. It was black with a damp orange underbelly.

So.... How can I improve my storage and keep these buggers at bay? Should I wash the dirt off, Or dry them somehow better, with dirt on.

Further to storage, I'm thinking of making and freezing mash. Any better suggestions?

.