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Gardening

Anyone going to bother with growing veg this year?

(122 Posts)
GillT57 Sat 02-Apr-22 17:31:31

I have to be clear; I am no great gardener, but a keen amateur. I have a small greenhouse and usually grown cucumbers, tomatoes, sometimes lettuce, sometimes courgettes. I have stopped growing courgettes because the plants take up so much room and I never seem to grow many, besides which, in the summer they are really cheap in the shops. But, I love UK grown tomatoes and generally have a few plants. Last year, like many, mine suffered from last minute blight so not only did I have a very small crop, no seeds, and had to bin the compost. This year, with gro bags at around a fiver each, I am wondering whether it is worth it, maybe just grow flowers for the house instead. Anyone else still planning on salad stuff or changed their mind this year?

karmalady Sat 02-Apr-22 17:43:40

I have a small garden and a lot of berries and 3 apple trees. I am self sufficient in blueberries and gooseberries over 12 months and have rhubarb and blackcurrants and very many strawberries with the pink or red flowers, they are pretty and productive. I am being selective wrt my veg and they have to be value for space so am limiting myself. I am growing asparagus, blight resistant tomatoes, one courgette, 2 mini cucumbers, one purple sprouting, one brussels, dwarf beans, carrots, beetroot, shallots, charlotte potatoes, few lettuce, radish, parsley. I already have a herb bed

MissAdventure Sat 02-Apr-22 17:44:29

I was really put off last year as we were infested with earwigs (thanks, council, for not maintaining your property)

Funnily enough the wiggies didnt touch the veg, really, but it put me off, and then I wasnt very well.

I would like to grow a few little bits and bobs of veg in pots this year, though, if I can.

Pepper59 Sat 02-Apr-22 17:50:49

Yes, I am but I'm not an expert. Did not have a great crop of anything last year, but have planted a couple of veggies. One lives in hope!??

MissAdventure Sat 02-Apr-22 17:53:48

I always grow tomatoes, and they always do really well.
They were falling off the wilted old plants but still really tasty last year.

Coastpath Sat 02-Apr-22 17:55:17

I have a small veg patch and will be growing salad leaves, spring onions, radishes, runner beans, tomatoes and a pumpkin for Halloween. I can keep us in salad all summer which I like, especially avoiding all the plastic that comes with veg from the supermarket.

I agree about the grow bags and compost. So much more expensive than last year.

Beechnut Sat 02-Apr-22 17:57:01

I’m going to grow tomatoes and probably put some salad leaves in pots. I might buy a courgette plant. I’ve got rhubarb coming on and a blueberry plant. Other than that I wasn’t planning on anything else at the moment.

BlueBelle Sat 02-Apr-22 17:59:59

Yes definitely
I m putting my shallots and potatoes in this weekend Parsnips went in last weekend
I love courgettes so they re going in and peas, beans, onions, baby cucumbers, leeks, radishes
I have strawberries, gooseberries and raspberries and rhubarb all well established
Not going to do greens this year they were a pain with butterflies/ caterpillars last year, chard grew beautifully but I don’t really like it that much Tomatoes were a wipe out so no
I m not doing them this year
We need them even more with the prices going up

MissAdventure Sat 02-Apr-22 18:00:04

I have a gooseberry plant that might pop up from the grave of it's pot this year.
I also have a pineapple plant which is taking over my kitchen, so I'd like that to get out for some air this year.

lixy Sat 02-Apr-22 18:00:25

Yes, I have some tomato seeds on the go for the really tiny tumbler ones, and beetroot too as that has been really expensive this year.
This is my first year with this garden so very much at the experimental phase. I just love the ground to table in less than 10 minutes taste.
Compost is expensive this year so using it as economically as I can - and the compost heap is beginning to fill up.

BlueBelle Sat 02-Apr-22 18:02:04

We get big bags of compost free from the local horse stables you have to bag it yourself though

Blondiescot Sat 02-Apr-22 18:05:12

Yes, OH is quite a keen gardener and we have a huge garden. Last year we had a glut of tomatoes as well as peppers, courgettes, cucumbers and chilis from the greenhouse. In the garden itself we had potatoes, onions, peas, carrots, spring onions, lettuces, radishes, turnips, beetroot, parsnips and leeks - some of which we are still using.

MissAdventure Sat 02-Apr-22 18:06:40

You could make a wormery.
They're pretty simple, but mine would fill up with earwigs. Ugh!

I can't have anything like that in case the council make me remove all my pots.

travelsafar Sat 02-Apr-22 18:07:55

I have rhubarb and strawberries and will have a go at runner beans as don't think you can beat the taste fresh off the plant. Like others the cost of compost, the time and effort is too much now I have limited mobility. Shame as I loved nurturing seeds in the greenhouse and watching them grow into something edible.

MissAdventure Sat 02-Apr-22 18:09:58

I feel like that this year, too.
Mine went to rack and ruin last year.

M0nica Sat 02-Apr-22 18:19:05

I have a big veg patch and love my home grown veggies and fruit. I already ahve a range of plants waiting to come off the windowsill and go into the greenhouse and come the warmer weather in Monday, I will start planting outdoor veg.

I do not use any gro bags. I just plant the veg in the soil in my green house.

GrannyGravy13 Sat 02-Apr-22 18:23:52

As we are waiting for confirmation as to when the builders arrive, we are hesitant this year.

MissAdventure Sat 02-Apr-22 18:24:01

I don't use grow bags either.
Just dirt. smile

merlotgran Sat 02-Apr-22 18:36:28

I have downsized so no longer have a large veg garden but my new garden does have an area that will support three or four small raised beds.

I’ll concentrate on salad crops, beetroot, dwarf beans and courgettes. Won’t bother with potatoes, brassicas, or anything high maintenance. I always grow lots of tomatoes in pots and freeze the surplus.

PrettyNancy Sat 02-Apr-22 18:38:35

We have a large veggie plot and my husband grows most of our veg. Last year he grew butternut squash for the first time, they were hugely successful and he will grow more this year. Spuds, leeks and peas are already in. He uses the 'no dig' method and buys in builders bags of spent mushroom compost every year besides making a lot of his own in 5 compost bins.

gulligranny Sat 02-Apr-22 18:41:42

We have an over-abundance of slugs and snails so not going to do much other than runner beans (I found some last year that were self-setting which was great). We have a loganberry/tayberry cross which gives a crop of very edible long black berries, we've got some raspberries and a good clump of rhubarb, plus a small Victoria plum tree which gave us a great crop last year. Tomatoes were okay but not worth the effort, so not bothering with them this year.

MissAdventure Sat 02-Apr-22 18:42:20

I have some broad bean seeds that must go in this year.
They look very pretty in a little glass pot in my kitchen, but I need to plant them!

I can't stand broad beans, but the leaves are lovely.

BlueBalou Sat 02-Apr-22 18:49:31

I will grow tomatoes in the greenhouse, runner beans and strawberries. I have raspberry, blackcurrant, red currant and white currant plants as well as an apple, a pear and a plum tree that I hope will fruit for us this year.
I have sown courgette and peppers, will probably give most of them away.
I enjoy growing things and I am quite happy giving away any surplus.

MissAdventure Sat 02-Apr-22 18:51:07

I do enjoy scrabbling around for home grown potatoes.
I don't think I will this year though.

Beauregard Sat 02-Apr-22 19:06:08

We have a large veg garden and will grow potatoes, onions, parsnips, carrots, peas, beans, sweetcorn, leeks, garlic, squashes and pumpkins. DH covered the plot in a thick layer of horse manure in the autumn and it just needs rotovating before we start to plant. We'll grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and chillies at home as well as flowers. We don't have much success with lettuce, spring onions and radishes so I won't bother with those. I stopped growing brassicas because of all the caterpillars we get in them. We're still eating onions and potatoes from last year's crop. Having said that, I've not started any sowing yet or made preparations, apart from chitting the seed potatoes. We're going away at Easter so it will be after that when we get going, then it will be a mad rush!