Starting Growing - Tomatoes etc

[richbee]

I love this time of year, as spring is thinking about arriving, solar PV is on the up, and it's time to plant Tomato, Chilli, pepper seeds etc & get gardening.
Planted the first ones at the weekend, and the first tomatoes have already poked their heads up after only 3 days in their little heated propagator!

[NikoV6]

Me too!

We moved here to our two acres of Wales to do just that!

Plan for this weekend and next week as leave is to plant an orchard in place of the trees we chopped down to stop shade on the solars. Will grow a mix of apples, pears and soft fruit, all against stakes and along wires to keep the height in check

[richbee]

Me too!

We moved here to our two acres of Wales to do just that!

Plan for this weekend and next week as leave is to plant an orchard in place of the trees we chopped down to stop shade on the solars. Will grow a mix of apples, pears and soft fruit, all against stakes and along wires to keep the height in check

We managed to buy a small (1/4 acre) field next to our house a couple of years ago - we planted woodland trees, a small orchard and built a fruit cage etc - great fun

[Mr Gus]

Right now many people ought be planting a compost bag full of tomato plants, A, nicer, when seasonal & not forced, plentiful, & b.. "just in case"

[richbee]

Haha, yes, quite topical this week - good job they are quite easy to grow - although the shortage will be long past by the time mine are ready!
They do taste so much better though

[Mr Gus]

Way less plastic, mileage on them too.

This in the guardian today...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... of-growing


I have alll but given up on anything other than salad leaves & brocolli heads out of season, having been so disappointed by flavour of forced growth veggies for many years, inc insipid tomatoes.

Makes it easier to simply load up on frozen peas & corn &_ wait for "not thanet" uk growers... but this year additional heating coats & inflation will make for gold leafed prices on veggies I reckon.

Glad I developed an appreciation for easy to grow raw spinach leaf, which is pretty versatile & my go to for a burger either on its own or with baby pea leaf salad & a sous vide veggie burger, keeps long & well in a fridge too! (this shortage of tasteless dross is an opportunity to expand the palate imho.

Air fry a head of floretted head of broccoli, (keep an eye on it) with or without salt it's different & delicious, which may get you trying kale oven crisps thereafter, ..& for the inexperienced I promise you spinach leaf is nigh on tasteless, so you can pile it high for the iron & whatever, id have no qualms giving it to a kid early in life, & wilted in a cheese sauce, ..well, I'll eat 1.5 lbs of that in a sitting if I could, ..making up for lost time.

Btw, I dug out some very buried ziplockbags of white crumbly "not recommended to be frozen" english cheese ..3 years in the freezer, tasted bloody brilliant, have been having meals of new potatoes & crumbs of this 15p per block cheese, (and going back for more) instead of butter. ..so the general consensus on the internet is wrong.

Adapt & conquer in a shortage, (especially with flavoured salt seasonings from cornish sea salt conmpany, which is eye poppingly good for a new appreciation to bland staples ..i highly recommend the sweet paprika salt (salt light, sweet paprika heavy) & their fresh garlic salt on a oiled baked spud, .. is a cheap but "asked for" weekly repeat money saver meal.

The cheese & potato's reminds me of being in Savoie, just without the horrendous cost for a candle, lump of cheese & bowl of spuds that tourists criminally waste

cheese type to be added later, flu & in bed. (cheshire, white ..a lovely crumb that is slightly sour, but moreish)

[Mr Gus]

It's longer lasting an effect than many think

"The company decided it could not afford to run the LED lights in its glasshouses required to grow a winter tomato crop, which is traditionally sown in August and harvested from Christmas until July"

Someone tell them about ripple, please!

[Mr Gus]

More news about fruit & veg shortage made me think that after some years of not growing little tomatoes it was definitely time to sow some seed..
Feb being the time to get your germination groove on & snag early compost bag deals..

I cannot remember our favoured varieties, small & super sweet is always the winner for me though, ...suggestions for a good cropper?

I like bag growing as they can be moved around to a degree, with supporting plastic trays (or ikea boot trays for mini compost packs) I got rid of our greenhouse as it was in a really cretinous position so it will be conservatory growth, on the draining board, by the butler sink & 2 windows to assist airflow & reduce burn potential compared to bottom of the garden no electric, "forgot, too hot" as was. shame it had an excellent concrete standing.

Time to organise a grow & swap with a neighbour, the supply woes & prices go on & on it seems.

Plant pot left to indent as a water filling spot reservoir to observe rather than "fill & spill" technique of trad toms in compost bags, & a filled bucket nearby for assisted evaporation purposes.

[Fintray]

I cannot remember our favoured varieties, small & super sweet is always the winner for me though, ...suggestions for a good cropper?

I got some Sungold from my neighbour last year and they were small, sweet and a good cropper.

[AE-NMidlands]

I cannot remember our favoured varieties, small & super sweet is always the winner for me though, ...suggestions for a good cropper?

I got some Sungold from my neighbour last year and they were small, sweet and a good cropper.

I am suspicious of super-sweet stuff, especially Swede and carrots. There is too much sugar in our diets anyway, without smuggling extra in in root veg...
I was surprised to see https://www.realseeds.co.uk/swedes.html advertising a super-sweet one, but it has gone from their website now. Maybe I am misremembering, and it was this sweet corn:

We’re delighted to be able to offer this variety, which is not only the first new open-pollinated corn to be bred in Europe in modern times, but even a supersweet variety at that!

A