A bit of a tongue in cheek title, but you get the idea. Food security is looking a little dodgy at the mo, and it wouldn't help to have a backup.
Any gardeners out there who are thinking of growing veg in the back garden, on the patio, from window boxes etc etc?
I don't have particularly green fingers myself, but my partner is pretty on top of this kind of stuff, and I can detail our layout and supplies for home grown fruit, veg and herbs if anyone is interested. Also keen to hear any top tips I can pass on to my partner!
Given the situation everyone should be given some allotment space; even if they have to dig up parks and other public lands to do it.
That nice documentary 'The Walking Dead' frequently features allotment scenes. Bound to be some helpful tips to be found there?
Quote from: von Boom on 19 March, 2020, 02:37:03 PM
Given the situation everyone should be given some allotment space; even if they have to dig up parks and other public lands to do it.
Go for the golf courses!
Golf is a mental illness. Nationalising the land is a public service in more ways than one.
I wouldn't say I'm green fingered as I've had a fair few disasters over the years but I will try and and offer some tips if I can.
Slugs are the worst for me but the blue pellets which were the best to control them have been or about to be outlawed so I have went down the beer trap route - found out they are fussy B's and shops own brands don't work as well as Smiths, Mcewans or Guinness (don't know if we will still get beer in the apocalypse 🙁) Overall beer traps do work to an extent just got to keep emptying & filling them up again. There are alternatives but not tried them yet.
I grow things I like to eat but might have to change to grow for bulk.
Peas are good but to get a decent crop you need a lot of plants. I saw your pics and if that fence is south facing it would be ideal to create a boarder at least 18" wide and with some netting on the fence and let the peas grow up.
If you can afford it or even better can scavenge more scaffolding boards then I'd make more raised beds like in your pictures.
Living in Scotland I've found the best potato crops for the space I have are 2nd earlys (ready by mid July).
The best carrot crops I've had were growing in a 1mt tall barrel with the top cut off - this stops carrot fly who can't fly at that height- in an experiment as I love them I've since changed the barrel to grow raspberries and last & year (the 2nd year) I got a decent crop 👍🏻
"Salads" are fairly easy just keep those slugs at bay
I've never had success with onions so if anyone has tips for those I'm all ears.
Brassicas are good especially sprouting broccoli but that's more a spring crop so if you have the space you could try some cabbage but watch out for those cabbage white butterflies 😡 they've ruined many a cabbage- fine netting can keep them at bay just make sure you peg it down.
Another pest you have to watch out for especially with container gardening is vine weevils - the grubs will eat through your roots.
That's all I can think of just now but if you need any more info I'll try my best to answer.
I'm just hoping there is still enough seeds at my local garden centre this weekend so I can start this seasons crops
Quote from: sheridan on 19 March, 2020, 05:22:16 PM
Quote from: von Boom on 19 March, 2020, 02:37:03 PM
Given the situation everyone should be given some allotment space; even if they have to dig up parks and other public lands to do it.
Go for the golf courses!
Perfect! They've been well tended for years so the soil should be very fertile. Lots of lovely potatoes.
You might also want to invest in some protection for your crops. I have had my potatoes stolen... (not a euphemism)
A word of advice, if you'll indulge me...
Most people give up on self-sufficiency because it's next to impossible. Think of it, instead, as a process of moving towards self-sufficiency. To my mind, the goal is to de-centralise as much as possible, both for yourself and your community. Grow some food between you and swap, use farmers' markets and local shops, exchange your time and services with each other, develop a local currency, form little groups to deal with all the things that come up, join the Agora - things like that. We can't do everything for ourselves - that's why there's so many of us.
Aim for somewhere between self-sufficiency and centralisation - I think that's a good and practical ambition.
*walks off-stage to the rapturous applause of his own footsteps*
And remember that if you do enough of these activities they are taxable ( as you will have to pay income tax). I don't know the details but in is not possible to completely live off the grid so to speck
Onions, shallots and garlic all in the ground. I've started digging the remaining raised beds for spuds and all other stuff. Mrs Tips is also getting the greenhouse ready for the tomatoes (We have the cost down to around £27.50 per tomato now) but it was really hard finding somewhere open to get grobags.
Mrs IP bought a load of wood and a pile or dirt. So I guess we're heading for the growing lark.
Don't forget to compost your grass clippings and food waste, kids! And how about a composting toilet? How about sharing a goat with your neighbours? Think - what would Tom and Barbara do?
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 05 April, 2020, 02:54:53 PM
Think - what would Tom and Barbara do?
Run upstairs for a shag, usually.
Quote from: Greg M. on 05 April, 2020, 02:57:37 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 05 April, 2020, 02:54:53 PM
Think - what would Tom and Barbara do?
Run upstairs for a shag, usually.
Not to mention a quick clutch and fumble with Margo.
I don't have space to grow anything but I have been testing out recipes. I've used this bread roll recipe from the Tesco website twice now and it's worked beautifully both times.
https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/really-easy-bread-rolls.html (https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/really-easy-bread-rolls.html)
I may have to set up a home bakery.
so I've been getting the gardon ready to grow stuff like I used to with my dad went and found the seeds we have but my memory sucks can anyone identified theses bean seeds ?
(https://i.ibb.co/r0KP3kS/rsz-20200407-130606.jpg)
I think this page should be of help to you, Cyberleader. :)
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/The_Beanstalk_(Into_the_Woods)
Just sown some sweet pepper seeds.....Fingers crossed.
Quote from: Cyberleader2000 on 07 April, 2020, 01:42:17 PM
so I've been getting the gardon ready to grow stuff like I used to with my dad went and found the seeds we have but my memory sucks can anyone identified theses bean seeds ?
(https://i.ibb.co/r0KP3kS/rsz-20200407-130606.jpg)
The Jelly Belly website (https://www.jellybelly.co.uk/flavours/official-flavours) says Mixed Berry, Sparkling Wine and Cappuccino.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Mother recons that the two coloured ones are two variety of runner beans and the white one in the middle is a french bean.
I am massively non-green fingered my self, so asked my partner for hints and tips to share with you.
She instantly recommended the app 'RHS Grow Your Own'. You tell it exactly what it is you want to grow in your garden, and then it tells you every month what you have to do to grow those things from seeds, every step of the way.
Throughout, it gives tips on growing, planting, harvesting, common problems, dealing with pests, and recommended varieties.
She is learning as she grows (excuse the pun), so this time next year she won't be as reliant on the app.
She also recommends you keep a diary (you can do this in the app if you want) of what worked and what didn't work, to either repeat the successes or figure out how to be more productive next year.
All my sweet pepper seeds have failed to germinate! :(
I really need a soft, long ... hosepipe (Stop it! I've re awakened my old knee injury and I can't cope with all the watering I need to do.
Quote from: The Doctor Alt 8 on 29 May, 2020, 02:23:18 PM
All my sweet pepper seeds have failed to germinate! :(
I really need a soft, long ... hosepipe (Stop it! I've re awakened my old knee injury and I can't cope with all the watering I need to do.
Yup - a knee-trembler isn't going to help ;)
Meanwhile, sawfly have attacked my beloved gooseberry bushes. Gooseberries are my favourite fruit, so the utter lack of them in shops mean I thought finally having a garden would allow me to actually have some each year. Currently waiting for some highly specialised living culture thing to arrive in the post - but it might take seven days in which time the bushes will be stripped of leaves.
Same thing has happened to our gooseberries - reduced to sticks in a week by little caterpillary bastards Luckily our raspberries in the same bed have escaped so far - is it separate species of sawfly for each? (he asked hopefully)
Quote from: TordelBack on 29 May, 2020, 08:40:38 PM
Same thing has happened to our gooseberries - reduced to sticks in a week by little caterpillary bastards Luckily our raspberries in the same bed have escaped so far - is it separate species of sawfly for each? (he asked hopefully)
No idea - but I'll let you know if the nemotode thing works.
UH oh.... Those bastards attacked my roses last year. I resorted to a chemical spray (Although it claimed to be organic) It's the only way.
Well it's a mixed bag here in the the postage-stamp Wastland appended to TordelTowers. Herbs, salad leaves and raspberries are plentiful and delicious; the various legumes, carrots, leeks, courgettes and tomatoes are steadily growing; but our gooseberries are now reduced to barren sticks and motherstarvin' Potato Blight (Early variety) has struck and struck hard: and our earlies and main crops take up half of all our available space, so it's a bit of a fungus in the arse.
Anyone have any experience of tackling blight? Incredibly I've never had it before, and had even fallen to scoffing at the endlessly-repated blight warnings on the weather forecast. Pride goeth before the Phytopthora.
We've only about 40 plants in total (15 earlies, 25 main crop), so so far we've just been cutting back the affected stems - should we go the copper sulphide route too? The earlies are the ones showing symptoms at the moment, and should be good to start harvesting over the next fortnight, so we're sort-of crossing our fingers at the moment.
We received our first batch of the delightfully named Nemasys (https://www.gardening-naturally.com/natural-fruit-and-vegetable-nematodes)* sprayed one batch, kept the remainder in the fridge and then did the garden again. The gooseberries appear to be recovering, though I doubt we'll see much more in the way of fruit this year. From what I understand of the life-cycle of the gooseberry sawfly† it looks like they may have laid eggs in the soil, so I've got another batch coming about two months after the first. I'm weighing up whether to be ultra-alert next year or just go ahead and buy some anyway‡.
* no warlock-ish tendecies yet apparent.
† in answer to Tordel's query - yes, it appears to be genus-specific - different sawflies attack different plants.
‡ I can't emphasise enough how annoying these things are to somebody whose favourite fruit is rarely seen in shops - I've seriously been able to eat gooseberries six years this century - and that's counting last years tiny first-year gooseberries from the garden and this year's small crop before the sawfly came along§.
§ I'm not counting gooseberries that have been processed in to jam or yoghurt here. Though that would only add one or two years anyway.
No blight detected in my patch (yet) I've just lifted my 1st shaws of my 2nd earlies (Epicure) very popular in my area and the first ones sold out in the local garden centres.
These are going to be boiled tonight served with a dollop of butter to go with my rib-eye 😁
Everything a wee bit later up here in Scotland but things are picking up
Harvesting some of my pea pods.
Red onions are looking good.
Plenty of lettuce.
Carrots & beetroot look promising.
Strawberries almost ready
Raspberries starting to flower.
Broccoli plants ready to replace The tatties when lifted.
Working from home has definitely allowed me to keep on top of the garden this year.
Keep growing and enjoy the taste 👍🏻
Quote from: Professor Bear on 19 March, 2020, 05:48:38 PM
Golf is a mental illness. Nationalising the land is a public service in more ways than one.
I did agree with you in the past, and still hate both the game of golf and the idea of what could be an attractive local park being turned into a weirdly sculptured freakshow that people in stupid clothes have to pay to walk slowly around.
However, I know more than one person for whom golf is the only barrier between themselves and intense depression and loneliness. In my home town, the golf course is fairly well known and apparently not prohibitively expensive - you see the people who were once considered chavvy, troublemaking sorts mixing with the middle-class types from so-called respectable backgrounds. (The last time I saw that was when ecstasy was introduced to the town, and my much younger self was dancing and hugging lads who used to bully me).
Anyway, I'm growing what my friend assured me is called 7 Mountain Giant mint, and yesterday found some wild peppermint home and put that in a pot too. I also have basil, which is flourishing, and coriander, which I really don't seem to be able to look after at all - it just goes from a lovely green clump to a withered mess every time.