Advice for a hopeless gardener

[jennyjj01]

I'm reluctant to make this free food cost me an arm and a leg in flavouring ingredients, or a fortune in oven time.
So, the plan so far is to try augmenting with stockpile ingredients. Maybe some sort of slow cooked stew, curry, etc. and something I can preserve.

Fry or dry-fry? They end up like an oatcake

Scottish or Staffs (or Derbyshire)

Anyways.... A plan is forming. It will involve FOUR stockpile staples and a slow cooker powered by solar

[jennyjj01]

Parsnips:.....

I was told to leave them in peace til October, But with heatwave, neglect and drought, most of the foliage has died.

Do I dig 'em up now? or can they be ok without leaves?

Ah! I knew there was something I was supposed to do

My parsnips are still in the ground and the foliage seemed to recover!?!. Bearing in mind that there will be more than I immediately need, should I pull them all up now and try to store them in sand, or should I just leave them and harvest a few each week?

I have some second crop carrots seem to be thriving in buckets. Leave them in, into winter or harvest them before they die and rot?

[steptoe]

Joining this thread possibly a bit late in the sowing season. I've coaxed the OH to make me a couple of planters out of some decking 2 of about 1200 by 800 by 400. I already have one growing tomatoes garlic and coriander. Soil is very sandy and troubled by ants and snails. The buggers ate my strawberry Plenty of sun, but I'm in the Northwest, not a hotspot.

I'm Looking for inspiration as to what I can start now or soon. Thinking beetroot, onions, garlic, herbs? but I'm lost after that. I'd like stuff that's easy, with long harvest interval, so I can neglect it rather a lot and eat as I go or dehydrate. I'm not inclined to grow spuds or carrots because they are so cheap. I don't really like beans. Are aubergines and courgettes easy? Parsnips? Turnips?

Ok i can tell you how ot keep slugs and snails out , put the copper tape round the top of the bed and that keeps them out but when you first fill you will have a year where the little bu88ers appear to parachute in but after that just keep and eye out and also use some wax melted and add salt to it to make like a wax crayon with salt rub that round again slugs and snails hate that , also any not used porridge oats put that round the side of the bed in the top on soil any that come in will eat that it swells inside them and pop , ants the best i have found is ant powder round trhe base of the boards early in the year then if you get them in the bed plants marigolds not sure why but ant's hate the chemical they give off so i plant 6 to a bed 8 ft x 4 ft 1 in each corner and then 2 hlaf way the long side it works for me .

What can you grow now not a lot is the answer i do in the poly tunnel but the rasied beds coem to a stop i have some lettuce still in as the weather is mild and spring onions but thye are now near slow to stop , you can make covers for the bed and if you put polycarbonate on the frame it makes the soil super warm for earl spring sowing

[jennyjj01]

Joining this thread possibly a bit late in the sowing season. I've coaxed the OH to make me a couple of planters out of some decking 2 of about 1200 by 800 by 400.

What can you grow now not a lot is the answer i do in the poly tunnel but the rasied beds coem to a stop i have some lettuce still in as the weather is mild and spring onions but thye are now near slow to stop , you can make covers for the bed and if you put polycarbonate on the frame it makes the soil super warm for earl spring sowing

Crikey Mr
That went back to when I first started gardening.
I have 5 raised beds now, one sort of converted to a polytunnel of sorts. Just a few herbs and leeks growing in one at the moment. and parsnips in another.
I've sprinkled some peas in the others to make a manure crop and to suppress weeds. mostly working ok. I have a few buckets of carrots struggling along unloved. Can't wait for next year.
We are on an allotment list, but seems a very long wait.

[steptoe]

Joining this thread possibly a bit late in the sowing season. I've coaxed the OH to make me a couple of planters out of some decking 2 of about 1200 by 800 by 400.

Crikey Mr
That went back to when I first started gardening.
I have 5 raised beds now, one sort of converted to a polytunnel of sorts. Just a few herbs and leeks growing in one at the moment. and parsnips in another.
I've sprinkled some peas in the others to make a manure crop and to suppress weeds. mostly working ok. I have a few buckets of carrots struggling along unloved. Can't wait for next year.
We are on an allotment list, but seems a very long wait.

We used to have 2 allotments back in hertfordshire but well that was because i told the doctors i was going mad sat home not allowed to do anything lol ,they use to moan like mad at me but i told them i would rather die happy doing something i love than sat in a chair watching tv .
If you get the allotment i can recommend if you get one with bindweed use roundup for the first couple of years put a cane in where the bindweed is let it grow up the pole and spray but the other thing i loved was our mantis tiller we got a 2 stroke one very cheap off another holder and omg it took the hard work out of it then i got a 4 stroke and omg i still have it used it on the garden here as the garden is huge i took the bottom bit by the canal wife gets the top end we have a 16 ft x 9 ft poly tunnel and a greenhouse 4 8 ft x 4 ft raised beds and a 4 ft x 4 ft , also back to the allotments if you can get it get some dpm black thick one use that to cover up when not using areas that way weeds do not get the chance to grow and it warms the soil for spring .
Next year we are going to be working hard on medical herbs and the wife wants me to try and make her a camomile lawn yup she always sets me hard tasks but if it makes her happy it is worth it .
What veggies do you plan for next year as i said on other posts if we grow to many plants we are always happy to share
Oh i will be trying fennel again next year i have tried it a few time but i seem to get the timings wrong and it bolts in the hot weather so i might sow late next year as i chopped it down this year but left them in the ground and we have some lovely little ones growing so next year , lol now to winter we will be sat in bed the next few months dreaming of spring and the sowing season lol

[jennyjj01]

Crikey Mr
That went back to when I first started gardening.

Can't wait for next year.
We are on an allotment list, but seems a very long wait.

We used to have 2 allotments back in hertfordshire...

What veggies do you plan for next year as i said on other posts if we grow to many plants we are always happy to share

I envy you the big growing space. Not expecting to ever actually get an allotment.

This was only my second year really trying to grow food and I've learned a lot. Previously, I aspired to get maximum yield of easy to grow food. So I went big on chard, beetroots, onions, courgette and for some reason, parsnips.
Though it was satisfying to get some success, we really don't consume much of those, so a lot went to waste.
Below was my thinking ahead of the last growing season. For next year, it's all change. I'm going to concentrate on growing what we eat. Spuds are a borderline VFM decision.

I'm going to be controversial. Please humour me. Starting from the worthiness of growing the noble spud.

I googled " What vegetables to grow UK " because I have my own thoughts on what is and isn't worth the effort and groundspace. And I'm just not getting it, for me. Spuds were a top recommendation of one site But that seemed to be based on a massive yield, without reference to how cheap they are in the shops. Similar with carrots.

I'm really at odds with the idea of putting effort and resources into 'low monetary value' crops.

YES. I would change my attitude if the shops stopped supplying staples so cheaply!

With limited ground area, and zero expertise, I tried to weigh up the pros and cons of various things to grow.
Here are my thoughts, applicable to ME. Your Mileage May Vary.

If I have a try at spuds or carrots, it will be on a small scale just to see if I can do it.

Am I being totally wrong headed here? Spoiled by our easy access to food?

Crop	Shop Price/kg	Yield by Area	For	Against	Observation	In my 2022 plan?	In my 2023 plan?
Garlic:	£Stupid/kg	Medium	Long Harvest Season		Easy to grow a small crop	Yes	Yes
Herbs:	£Stupid/kg	Low	Easy to grow		Worth a small patch	Yes	More so. Yes
Strawberries:	£5.00/kg	Low	Delish	Need lots of care	I haven't succeeded	Yes	More so. Yes
Spring Onions:	£5.00/kg	Low/Medium?	Easy to grow		Worth a small patch	Yes	Yes
Chard (or similar):	£3.00/kg	High	Fast growing		Not to everyone's taste	Yes	FAR FAR LESS!
Green Beans:	£3.00/kg	High			VFM, but I don't like them	No	No
Courgettes:	£3.00/kg	Low	Staple		Not to everyone's taste	Yes	ONLY ONE!
Beetroot:	£2.50/kg	Medium	Fast growing		Not to everyone's taste	Yes	Less so. Yes
Tomatoes:	£2.50/kg	High	Easy to grow	Need some care	High value Staple	Yes!	Much More so. Yes
Beansprouts (mung):	£2.50/kg	High	Grow on demand		It's a crop	Yes	Yes
Leeks:	£2.00/kg	Low	Easy to grow		Worth a small patch	Yes	Yes
Lettuce etc:	£1.50/kg	Low	Fast growing	Need some care	Not my staple	No	Later in the year
Onions:	£1.25/kg	Medium	Long Harvest		Absolute staple	Yes	More so. Yes
Parsnips:	£1.00/kg	Medium	Long Harvest		Not to everyone's taste	Yes	NO!
Spuds:	50p/kg	High	Staple	Risk of lost crop	Why bother	No	Yes
Carrots:	40p/kg	medium	Staple		Why bother	No	Yes!

Any thoughts or additions? Arguments?

Carrots and spuds are borderline worthwhile, but I'm giving them space next year. Parsnip took too much time and space.
Chard, beetroot and courgette gave me confidence and big yields, but I'm going to swap out for crops that we need. Going to really go big on tomatoes and peas, with more space given to spuds, carrots and onions.

[steptoe]

Hey jen you look like me you sit planning lol then it changes lol .

Ok can i ask what went wrong on the strawberries we have 2 large 8ft x 4 ft beds and do little to nothing on them at the start of the year i throw chicken pellet between them and then it is just a case of water in dry weather , you can add more pellet if needed , but then we leave them to just go mad and die down in winter then just before spring with pull all dead leaf's off and as i say away they grow ,have you tried wild strawberries or alpine they can be called omg pick off the plant and eat no good to store but pure bubble gum hit in taste .

we cut back on spuds i now do them in 15 inch pots and we get from say 12 pots enough to last from now to spring ,but you will find you work out what you all prefer in the growing , do you have anywhere in the garden you could pop a blackberry in we have a thornless well 2 and get huge amount , we just took 10lb of strawberries and other mixed fruit out the freeze to make room for chicken and we will make a huge batch of summerfruit crumbles to take round the neighbour's lol .

our alpine strawberries self seeded under the blackberries lol yup we walk on them and they still grow and give fruit i could not be bothered to move them and hence just run riot under there .

I am going to be growing and working more on herbs medical wise this year like yarrow to stop bleeding ,oh and madam wants a camomile lawn wish me luck lol , i would if we could start a seed share on site as some years well we have huge amounts of seed

[jennyjj01]

Hey jen you look like me you sit planning lol then it changes lol .

Ok can i ask what went wrong on the strawberries

we cut back on spuds i now do them in 15 inch pots and we get from say 12 pots enough to last from now to spring ,but you will find you work out what you all prefer in the growing ,

do you have anywhere in the garden you could pop a blackberry in we have a thornless well 2 and get huge amount , we just took 10lb of strawberries and other mixed fruit out the freeze to make room for chicken and we will make a huge batch of summerfruit crumbles to take round the neighbour's lol .

our alpine strawberries self seeded under the blackberries lol yup we walk on them and they still grow and give fruit i could not be bothered to move them and hence just run riot under there .

I am going to be growing and working more on herbs medical wise this year like yarrow to stop bleeding ,oh and madam wants a camomile lawn wish me luck lol , i would if we could start a seed share on site as some years well we have huge amounts of seed

Strawberry was in a badly neglected bucket, given to me as a cutting. About 4 tiny fruits, which I shared with critters.

I had surprising success lobbing some stray chitting spuds into 500mm rectangular tubs of rehydrated coir compost + tomorite. That's my way forward: Buckets tubs and trugs. alongside my beds which are either 1200 square or 1200x800. The coir compost was so soft, I could dig them out by hand.

I did try growing bags from poundland but they rotted from the sunlight

I have a wild 'briar patch' area which would be ideal for blackberries.

[jennyjj01]

Looks Like I'll have two years worth of parsnips after all the trouble I had getting them started.
...
Know what you mean about tomatoes. For all my efforts, I have only two big bushy ones out of about 50 sown. Peppers, aubergines and okra are still tiny. Maybe they'll catch up when it gets warmer.

I just harvested the last of my Parsnips, having pulled about 4 previously.

A disappointing harvest of 900g from a square metre of planter, which has been occupied since June.
It's as much as I need for my own consumption, but a very poor return on investment. There won't be many going into the allotment. The parsnips have a few brown blemishes. Frost damage or the start of decay?
I might blanch and freeze them.

Also, I just checked out my late sown buckets of carrots. Tiny finger length roots, but they are soft and waterlogged. I doubt there will be any harvest from that batch.

[jennyjj01]

Moved from another thread, for better context.

I know when I had an allotment, my neighbour, a long term grower, told me there was no point trying to grow tomatoes out of doors there due to blight. Some people always tried it and, yes, the tomatoes were blighted.

Crimson Crush resists blight very well. But the seeds are like gold dust.

Hi jen if i can recommend one think you look at is grow lights ... don't ask how i got in to grow lights...
these days i gave up on that i just have a hydroponic system on the kitchen side

I successfully experimented with Hydroponics early this year. I'll look into grow-lights this year, probably using my early solar panel and some lashed up LED's. Last years early seeds did go leggy and mostly failed. I suppose onion seeds might work.