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Calling SMB veg growers

  • Thread starter Deleted member 5265
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I feel like I made a start. On a long trip we stopped at a Dobbies for a toilet break, rather than a service station. It feels cheeky using their toilets and not buying anything, so I grabbed some seeds while I was there. Sweet corn, peppers, tomatoes, small yellow golden tomatoes, broad beans and dwarf beans. I need a lot more before I get going planting (and it is too early) but it is coming.
 
Butcher's Coat said:
Sounds good marra.
But Charlotte's are a 2nd early. They are a "waxy" salad potato. I always put them in around mid April.
Main crop spuds about a week or so after them.
My 1st earlies always go in bags/pots/tubs on or around St.Patricks day - usually ready at the end of June.
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I don't bother with first earlies. I plant Charlotte's this time of year in pots or bags in my polytunnel and move them outside when it gets warmer then plant more later in the year.
 
All my earlies potatoes (Wilja) are in pots in the polytunnel now, they go outside in a month or so.

Peas are popping through, early beans are too, tomatoes have germinated, peppers still haven't but sitting on a heat mat, so hopefully this coming week.
 
My tomatoes have come on lovely. I shall be pricking them out later on this week, as well as my chilli plants.
I sown some brassica seeds the other week and they are germinating in the cold greenhouse = early peas, curly Kale, nero kale, purple sprouting broccoli, sweetheart cabbages and savoy cabbages and some sprouts. Still waiting for the sprouts and swede to germinate though.
I planted a couple of rows of parsnip seeds in the ground last week and have cleared the ground for some leeks.
Leek seeds have germinated in a tub in the cold greenhouse, and I shall put them outside in cold frame soonish. They will get "puddled-in" around May/June time depending on the weather.
Yesterday I set away some carrots in a tub (I get carrot fly at the allotment) so all my carrots are grown in tubs about 2 foot from the ground.
Also some cylindria beetroot set away in modules.
My 1st early spuds are chitting away nicely in the shed, and will go into grow sacks on St. Paddy's day.
The 2nds and main crop spuds are also chitting canny.
My onion sets (both red and white) have got around 1" to 2" green leaf on them, and I transplanted them into their final growing position yesterday. Got a covering over them to deter the bird from pulling them out.
Broad beans will get set away this week in pots, whereas the autumn sown broad beans are doing canny in the soil now.

So a busy time at the allotment ahead.
Just got to be aware of frosty nights, so watching the local tv weather forecasts daily now.
 
Finally got the call to see if I wanted an allotment plot. I’ve been on various wait lists for best part of 15 years it’s a small part of a plot off Shields Road. 4 raised beds and a 3x2m patch with a 4x4 concreted part that I can stick a small green house and some seats on. I can’t see it as a long term thing, but it is a start to hopefully get a bigger plot there. Already got some bits and pieces in plug trays that I had planned to put in the garden so I’ll need to scale that up a bit.
 
anth said:
Finally got the call to see if I wanted an allotment plot. I’ve been on various wait lists for best part of 15 years it’s a small part of a plot off Shields Road. 4 raised beds and a 3x2m patch with a 4x4 concreted part that I can stick a small green house and some seats on. I can’t see it as a long term thing, but it is a start to hopefully get a bigger plot there. Already got some bits and pieces in plug trays that I had planned to put in the garden so I’ll need to scale that up a bit.
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Good news mate. How long were you on the waiting list?
 
Wilfy said:
Good news mate. How long were you on the waiting list?
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This was someone who put it on facebook a few years ago. I messaged them but someone got ahead of me. She calls it a ‘community garden’ so it’s more of a bigger plot, divided up and there is a communal hut. That is separate from the main one. I get the feeling that is more of a who you know thing, rather a fair list taking turns as plots come up. But I can’t back that up. This is why I’ve jumped on this small bit, a get your foot in the door kind of thing.
 
Thinking of starting this year maybe next weekend got a bit of time off.

Is it too late to plant stuff ?

what would be best in raised beds ? also might invest in small greenhouse

Get the sun from about 10.00-16.00 when its out :)
 
KNACKERED.
Been a busy time in the PTR garden of late. Last weekend, I dug 2 feet down and 3 feet wide into my horrific clay to create a decent bed for a M26 Red Falstaff - daughter asked for an apple tree, so needed one that wouldn't grow too big, self pollinates, and gives good eating apples. Fingers crossed for 2-3 years time!
Also cleared out the strawberries from the front patch, and the raspberries from a poorly lit corner in the back, as part of a bigger plan.

Now have a early (Honeoye), mid (Cambridge) and late (Florence) strawberry run in my back garden - rather than a massive glut all at once in August.
And a summer raspberry (Glen Ample) run alongside the autumn (Bliss) ones in another short run in the back garden - all these have decent sun, its the spot I've grown tomatoes over the past few years.

Took delivery of a 8'x3'x18" open bottomed, lined raised bed yesterday. Stained the outside and dug out the mound where the old 3-section compost used to be (about 1' of compacted compost in situ.
Put the new bed in place, put as many logs and sticks as I could find round the back of the house at the bottom, then a lining of shredded cardboard - then emptied my unfinished compost bin onto that, covered with another layer of shredded card - then the recently-removed compost was put back in, then 4 large bags of half rotted wood chip that have been sitting for 18months. And a few inches of what finished compost I had left to top it off (gone from 2 completely full bins + other containers I could find, to absolutely nothing left. I'm going to have to buy a ton bag to level the lawn now!)

I'm bloody knackered now! My right arm is ferked.

Going to plant 2 lines of peas along the back, then the left side is getting an early and a late Asparagus (Gijnlim & Backlim crowns) and the right side tomatoes (Red Alert)

Also, in the spot the raspberries came out, I'm planning 2 Loch Ness blackberry bushes - apparently they grow like a normal shrub bush with shape, not like a rambling mess as most blackberries do! And they will be happy with just an hour or so of direct sun each day.

New plastic cover has arrived for the greenhouse, so I'll also start off some basil, coriander and lettuce, maybe tomorrow afternoon after the match. Basil will go in front of the toms, coriander in a little spot that's still free out the back - the lettuce will go in a run that gets no direct light at all, where it grew nice and slowly last year.

Never been this organised before - and I'll admit that I went through all this with an AI Chatbot (Gemini) to test ideas and get recommendations.
 
Wilfy said:
Sorted the shed and greenhouse yesterday, will start digging next week to get the potato beds ready.

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Where did you get that shelving from?

Before I got my greenhouse, I had a couple of those growhouses and they either split or continually blew over, but the shelving was ok at first. I added to it with some of this cheap stuff:
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But the design is crap really. The metal poles push into plastic side brackets. But what it really does is create little plastic pots with no drainage. It has taken a few years, but the metal poles have rusted because they sit in water all day.
 
DaveH said:
Where did you get that shelving from?

Before I got my greenhouse, I had a couple of those growhouses and they either split or continually blew over, but the shelving was ok at first. I added to it with some of this cheap stuff:
You must be logged on to see external links

But the design is crap really. The metal poles push into plastic side brackets. But what it really does is create little plastic pots with no drainage. It has taken a few years, but the metal poles have rusted because they sit in water all day.
Click to expand...
It’s garage racking. The mdf shelves were shot so I got some compact laminate shelves from work. Probably about £300 worth there!
 
Wilfy said:
It’s garage racking. The mdf shelves were shot so I got some compact laminate shelves from work. Probably about £300 worth there!
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I like them. I have seen a few cheap options like Ikea wire racking but one thing I do is have the shelves pretty full when getting seeds going, before removing at least the middle ones and using the whole thing like a frame for tomatoes, cucumbers and melons to grow in the middle later in the season.

The wire shelves from what I have got are decent, so I have considered either building a metal frame out of t-slot or something, or pressure treated wood. After some major refurb work a neighbour has a stack of pallets, but they usually split when pulling them apart.
 
DaveH said:
I like them. I have seen a few cheap options like Ikea wire racking but one thing I do is have the shelves pretty full when getting seeds going, before removing at least the middle ones and using the whole thing like a frame for tomatoes, cucumbers and melons to grow in the middle later in the season.

The wire shelves from what I have got are decent, so I have considered either building a metal frame out of t-slot or something, or pressure treated wood. After some major refurb work a neighbour has a stack of pallets, but they usually split when pulling them apart.
Click to expand...
You need the right tool for taking pallets apart. Roughneck I think they’re called.
 
DaveH said:
Where did you get that shelving from?

Before I got my greenhouse, I had a couple of those growhouses and they either split or continually blew over, but the shelving was ok at first. I added to it with some of this cheap stuff:
You must be logged on to see external links

But the design is crap really. The metal poles push into plastic side brackets. But what it really does is create little plastic pots with no drainage. It has taken a few years, but the metal poles have rusted because they sit in water all day.
Click to expand...
I've ordered some off Temu. Its a UK warehouse though, no idea if its going to be any good but for £15 i thought id give it a go
 
Last few years I've grown Alicante and St Marzano toms.
This year I wanted to try something different and gone for F1 Shirley. They are supposed to be an early variety. Anyone had any success with these?
 
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