Advice for a hopeless gardener

[steptoe]

Those look ok , i always said i was growing it to eat not for show , some of the allotment growers are tarts as i called them oh my onion is not 3inchs round and so on , nope but it tasted good lol .

I grow to eat

[jennyjj01]

Those look ok , i always said i was growing it to eat not for show , some of the allotment growers are tarts as i called them oh my onion is not 3inchs round and so on , nope but it tasted good lol .

I grow to eat

When Charles Dowding demonstrates seed sowing, he makes the exact point that multiple onion seeds per pod won't give you massive single award winners, but more acceptable sized veg in your harvest. To we frugal growers, overall volume of food is THE feature. Those parsnips were sown and grown individually at 3 inch intervals. Grew slowly, but easily.

And now my heads in a spin, itching to buy or make some sort of grow lights. Ideally to be powered off my 12V car batteries..... ON A BUDGET! I see strips of LED's. I see panels. I see bodged up pie tins with butchered opened domestic light bulbs.... And prices from bargain basement to £stupid. And the geek speak just goes on and on.

So, How does this sound for a starting point.... A 5m strip, to be stuck on a recangular board about 600mm x 400mm https://www.amazon.co.uk/iNextStation-W ... 06W9LSB3R/

[steptoe]

To be honest for the money you will spent gerry rigging something you are better to go for a cheap set of proper hydro lights , of keep and eye on facebook market thing , when people get bored of growing their herb because they think it is so easy lol when they get in to it it ain't so easy as throw a seed in and get huge crops they sell up on there cheaply .

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404068473619 ... R7zdxLenYQ

[GillyBee]

No bodge needed. Just add a power bank to one of these.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Function-Anywh ... _ba_s_1_sc

[jansman]

I have two old fashioned heated seed trays ( I struggle to remember the odd phrase) with plastic covers. Rather good. However,this year,what I grow ,I hope will be done seasonally to save fuel at all costs. Quite a ‘survival’ task . Of course,if needed it will happen,as the crops themselves are more important,cos they are grub! In my small poly tunnel of 8’ x 8’ I built ,I have an internal cold frame ,which helps a lot.

I have had a large food garden forever,along with allotment too when the family was young,and my money was frankly awful. In the last ten + years it’s been a hobby. It still will be ,but TIME means my garden can make a difference for the two of us. That has to mean COST especially. Because of poultry,I make a lot of compost,so no expense there,especially as the growing areas are now in beds for ease of maintenance. I also intend to go back to making my own sowing compost too :John Innes ,non peat.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mu ... es-compost

I used to make it very well,and mainly because I had no car,and little cash back in those days. Plus the fact that the old peat based composts seem to be being ruled out gradually. I have a LOT of suitable sand in the yard to add too

I can see a lot of hard - up folks growing even a few runner beans etc.just to save a quid,and why not? I have a neighbour,same age as me : we were school mates and have lived here the same length of time. He’s had cancer,and cannot work now,but has organised a small bed to put in his favourite climbing beans and spinach,along with tomatoes against the South facing water. I have provided runner and spinach seed ,and Gerry next door will provide him with tomatoes later on. No cost!

[jennyjj01]

I have two old fashioned heated seed trays ( I struggle to remember the odd phrase) with plastic covers. Rather good. However,this year,what I grow ,I hope will be done seasonally to save fuel at all costs. Quite a ‘survival’ task . Of course,if needed it will happen,as the crops themselves are more important,cos they are grub! In my small poly tunnel of 8’ x 8’ I built ,I have an internal cold frame ,which helps a lot.

Heated Propagator? I have one about 600mmx400mm. Not really any great places to put it with no greenhouse.
Also my windowsill propagator, but the kitchen window faces east.
I'm going to try to use the seasons better: maybe two crops of spuds. and some salad greens But that will entail diet changes.
So far, I'm thinking that my garden planters will be dedicated to seed prep as cloches

Random question for the experts..... I have my desperate, sickly strawberry plant in a 5l bucket. (shared with a weed ) How and when can I nurse that to health, with a view to making cuttings? Or is it beyond salvation?
I've removed the weed and centralised the rootstock a bit in that 5L tub. Should i add a bit of fertilizer? Should I split or repot? There's a couple of pairs of new 1mm leaves, so it's not quite dead yet.
I can give this warmth in the house or propagator tray, or I can give it a bit of sun, but no warm windowsill, so it doesnt get both. Best i can think of is shelter from wind and rain in my tent cloche?

without the weed...

[Ara]

That strawberry is looking great to me. I would just give it a bit of shelter but no heat or it might think it's later in the winter than it is. I've always found strawberries to be pretty tough. Actually, all my plants need to be tough because I can't be bothered with ones that need cossetting.

[GillyBee]

At this time of year strawberry plants are pretty much hibernating and always look awful. As long as they have a couple of healthy leaves and a reasonable size rootball they will bounce back when the weather warms up. You will not get any new plants off it until next summer so if you want some for the allotment it wil be a matter of waiting until next year, trading with other allotmenteers or buying some if you can stand the expense.

[jennyjj01]

At this time of year strawberry plants are pretty much hibernating and always look awful. As long as they have a couple of healthy leaves and a reasonable size rootball they will bounce back when the weather warms up. You will not get any new plants off it until next summer so if you want some for the allotment it wil be a matter of waiting until next year, trading with other allotmenteers or buying some if you can stand the expense.

Thanks to all for the advice. Hopefully I won't kill it with impatient kindness. That weed was strangling it and making it look much worse
I CAN afford the expense, but I'm experimenting with absurd frugality, part of a bigger 'speriment. I'm counting every penny expenditure and return on the allotment, from key purchase, rent, seeds, compost, tools. I'm trying to condition myself to be less wasteful and to look after my green babies a darned site better than last year..

Before anyone mentions losing the ship for a ha'peth of tar, I recognise that risk.

[jennyjj01]

So, I found 3 bulbs of garlic in the food cupboard which were seriously past their best. Indeed they were starting to decay. I could see that they had the odd whisker of new root growing and some tiny bit of shoots forming.

Waste not want not !

I broke them up. Discarded the worst and plonked them in a plastic meat tray of compost. Barely an inch apart and some barely sunk into the compost.
With just 3 days sat in the kitchen window, they show signs of life.

Am I being too daft? These are to be transplanted outdoors as soon as I get my 'lotment keys and a small area cleared. Probably in two weeks or so.

Laughably, I'm also 'sperimenting in regrowing onions from onion bases. Start them hydroponically for about 4 days, then transplant. From what I see on youtube, I MIGHT get small onions at more than one for one.

Meanwhile, I have ordered some egyptian tree onion bulblets plus a few other seeds. If those tree onions arrive before the 'lotment is ready to receive them, I will probably pop them in a window box too to keep them alive. Is it better to give them the stress of transplanting, rather than having them dry out unsown?

https://youtu.be/vr3ZxWexS5c