Gardening/Foraging 2013 Diary

Elena · Jan 13, 2013

:wave:

What are we all planning this year?

I have seeds for basil, coriander, dill, rocket, borage, calendula, nasturtiums, cornflowers, dandelions, dead nettle, fenugreek, musk mallow, plantain, sunflowers, violas and yarrow. I doubt I'll put all of those in, especially things I know always come up on the allotment. Plus my trusty mint, sage, rosemary, echinacea, lavender, oregano, marjoram, marshmallow, chamomile, jerusalem artichoke and thyme plants. I'm also hoping my bergamot plants come up again this year.

Then on the allotment I am growing carrot and fennel which they will get the tops of (providing they grow!) and pea pods. Oh and strawberry leaves once the fruit has gone. There is also the brambles and assorted weeds; dandelion, plantain, goosegrass, borage and dead nettle. Also petals from our large rose plant in the front garden and Mischa's rose as well.

I've already picked some dead nettles this year, I expect this cold snap will kill them off. The bunnies weren't impressed though, dead nettles aren't really their favourites :roll:

hurricanhoney · Jan 13, 2013

It will be similar to what you grow edible flowers will probably take up half the garden bed with herbs marjoram and origano. It wasn't a good year for veg last year as it was all masicurred by slugs and snails. Pots will contain herbs,raspberry and strawberry plants. The pea shoots were very good last year and the buns loved them.

I do have parsley and cabbage greens growing in the greenhouse at the moment.

Elena · Jan 13, 2013

The slugs were HUGE last year, my first carrot sowing got got by slugs and the second sowing barely grew at all :roll: they had ALL my lettuce, about fourty plants I put out in the end, every single one was eaten.

susie bun · Jan 13, 2013

I must try harder this year. I was very disheartened by my green beans (I grew them for the leaves, which Spenser loves) failing last year, especially as Dad's did very well. :evil:

We have a friend who has an allotment, and he has promised Spenser kale.

Long before I had Spenser we had an invincible clump of parsley, but when we took a cutting for an Aunt the plant took offence and died.

footballgirl · Jan 13, 2013

Will be doing strawberries, raspberries, brambles, pear and hopefully my apple tree will finally settle and produce leaves this year.

Gonna try to grow some plantain as well. I tried nettles but neither bunny liked them :roll:

I forage for hawthorn as theres loads down an alley where I live. Plus forage for brambles as well.

The slug invasion was like a horror film last year! So so many. Rubbish weather though, so it suited them.

@susie my green beans were awful last year and so were my grandads. The weather wasn't good for them and especially down here in kent when we started off with hosepipe ban. I struggled watering them and then when it didn't stop raining. They just didn't take

I spose at least no hosepipe ban this year! :lol:

susie bun · Jan 13, 2013

footballgirl said:
Will be doing strawberries, raspberries, brambles, pear and hopefully my apple tree will finally settle and produce leaves this year.

Gonna try to grow some plantain as well. I tried nettles but neither bunny liked them :roll:

I forage for hawthorn as theres loads down an alley where I live. Plus forage for brambles as well.

The slug invasion was like a horror film last year! So so many. Rubbish weather though, so it suited them.

@susie my green beans were awful last year and so were my grandads. The weather wasn't good for them and especially down here in kent when we started off with hosepipe ban. I struggled watering them and then when it didn't stop raining. They just didn't take I spose at least no hosepipe ban this year! :lol:

Let's hope for a good year (north and south!) for green beans. I think the frost got mine (we had a very late frost).

sierra*323 · Jan 13, 2013

I currently have some parsley inside and a patio rose outside, plus the little willow tree... last year I attempted strawberries and some edible flowers, but didn't do very well. I'm moving the rabbits to the other end of the garden once the playhouse is ready, as they will have more shade, which leaves me a sun-trap of a patio full of pots to work with.

Any suggestions for a novice?

Elena · Jan 13, 2013

sierra*323 said:
I currently have some parsley inside and a patio rose outside, plus the little willow tree... last year I attempted strawberries and some edible flowers, but didn't do very well. I'm moving the rabbits to the other end of the garden once the playhouse is ready, as they will have more shade, which leaves me a sun-trap of a patio full of pots to work with.

Any suggestions for a novice?

I think for easy things stuff that you can get from a garden centre and will come back every year are good, so stuff like sage (all mine love sage), rosemary (Mini likes it but not the other two), mint (loved by all), thyme (again some are fussy with it), marshmallow, echinacea, oregano, marjoram, etc. Then you can just pot them up. Strawberries do well in pots as well, my dad strawbs are in pots.

I find herbs from seed harder but then last year was rubbish for nearly everything!

Dave81 · Jan 13, 2013

I got some seeds from rabbit nutrition, hoping to get some of my own growing this year

katie88 · Jan 13, 2013

Ooh I like this thread! I foraged for the first time last year after one of mine had stasis, but it was quite late in the year so I only managed to collect a small amount. This year I want to start as early as possible.

I will be focusing on bramble, hawthorn, willow, birch and apple as I know where I can get all of these. I will also be growing dandelion, rocket and some herbs.

sierra*323 · Jan 13, 2013

Elena said:
I think for easy things stuff that you can get from a garden centre and will come back every year are good, so stuff like sage (all mine love sage), rosemary (Mini likes it but not the other two), mint (loved by all), thyme (again some are fussy with it), marshmallow, echinacea, oregano, marjoram, etc. Then you can just pot them up. Strawberries do well in pots as well, my dad strawbs are in pots.

I find herbs from seed harder but then last year was rubbish for nearly everything!

Thanks, I want it to be spring now so I can finish the playhouse and work on the rest of the garden!

hurricanhoney · Feb 18, 2013

When does everyone start sowing their seeds?

Elena · Feb 18, 2013

Thw only things I've put in so far is peas. i do them mid Feb every year indoors, put them out in greenhouse once they get bigger and then once they are three or four inches high they go out and get covered with a fleece tunnel. Once they are established the fleece comes off.

I'm putting peppers in tomorrow but that's all for Feb. I won't put anything else in until mid March at the earliest.

hurricanhoney · Feb 18, 2013

Elena said:
Thw only things I've put in so far is peas. i do them mid Feb every year indoors, put them out in greenhouse once they get bigger and then once they are three or four inches high they go out and get covered with a fleece tunnel. Once they are established the fleece comes off.

I'm putting peppers in tomorrow but that's all for Feb. I won't put anything else in until mid March at the earliest.

Thanks that gives me an idea when to start. I might start some pea shoots as the buns love them.

danih · Feb 18, 2013

was just getting my garden tidied up today, planning a pot garden! will be starting my seeds off over the next couple of weeks

*lily* · Feb 19, 2013

I've just ordered 500 dandelion seeds!

Though we did manage to forage all through winter to keep Louie in dandys!

rabbitnutrition · Feb 19, 2013

if you have a heated greenhouse or conservatory, you can start seeds off now

I do herbs all year round
I'm starting all my veg this weekend

*lily* · Feb 19, 2013

rabbitnutrition said:
if you have a heated greenhouse or conservatory, you can start seeds off now
I do herbs all year round
I'm starting all my veg this weekend

I have neither

Would they be ok in the house?

Elena · Feb 19, 2013

rabbitnutrition said:
if you have a heated greenhouse or conservatory, you can start seeds off now
I do herbs all year round
I'm starting all my veg this weekend

Our greenhouses aren't heated unfortunately, they're just those PVC over a frame types. I'm going to try to keep my herbs going indoors over winter this year though.

I need to pot up Mischa's rose soon and sort out his grave.

Has been too wet to even walk on the grass

Willow_Warren · Feb 20, 2013

*lily* said:
I have neither

Would they be ok in the house?

A bright windowsill will be fine for starting seeds off - the only problem can be that they get leggy due to lack of light - one way to help this is to put a sheet of foils behind them to reflect light back.

There's plenty of time for growing yet. I grew parsley very sucessfully from seed last year (still have plants now as should last 2 years).

So far this year I have sown chillies, sweet n' neat tomatoes & onions. Going to start normal peppers off shortly (they are slower growers that tomatoes) and seems like I should be starting peas and sweetpeas off soon as well.

None of these are but the bunnies though, but later I will grow some carrots along with various herbs.

Hannah

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