Grow plans for 2023

Gardening to 'grow your own food' from square foot to half an acre !!
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Trev62
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Grow plans for 2023

Post by Trev62 »

So, what is everyone's aim for this growing season?
We are increasing growing all the staples (potatoes, onions, carrots, tomatoes, peas and beans etc.) making more room for them at present, digging beds out the hard way as the rotovator has gone on strike.
Along side this we are aiming to add some more fruit trees (toying with some column trees) and plant extra hedging (sea/buckthorn, rose briars, hawthorn etc.) to act as a windbreak as our garden field faces straight on to flat farm land.
Not sure we will achieve all this with the ongoing renovations and animal commitments but......... we will certainly try.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Mo
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Re: Grow plans for 2023

Post by Mo »

Windbreak sounds good. The Cheshire plain can get breezy too.
I haven't bought any seed potatoes this year. Am scaling back as I get older and for several years the slugs have been bad - rather than peel potatoes I've had to carve them. I also grew runner beans last year, but the seeds I'd try to start failed so got some plants from our dance club charity B&Buy. Might do that again this year. Plenty of fruit picking to keep me busy I hope.
Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
lancashire lass
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Re: Grow plans for 2023

Post by lancashire lass »

My garden (that is, beyond the patio) is in need of rescuing - I had prepared a bed in 2021/2022 next to a greenhouse for planting the asparagus I had growing in deep pots on the patio, but when I got ill, some of the bramble root that I missed had got well established in the bed and benefitted from the soil enrichment and they took over (and grew taller than the shed / greenhouse) blocking my access to the garden (definitely a machete job required!) It is going to be a huge task to clear the bramble alone, never mind the rest of the garden / polytunnel and mean going up and down the deep steps from the patio which I don't think I can manage yet. The privet hedge itself is a nightmare to trim at the best of times, and who knows what is growing in the fruit tree beds.
However, the patio has potential for growing stuff in pots and containers - it is south facing, and after my neighbour had cut their huge ash tree down (it acted as shade on my patio and back of house during most of the day), the patio is sheltered (fence either side, the back of the house and the run/shed on the bottom) so is a sun trap ideal for warmth and sun-loving plants. So outdoor tomatoes, squashes and even some chilli / pepper plants could do well. My biggest concern is watering as keeping pots and containers hydrated during heatwaves can take a lot of time and effort (I would put the pots into trays to retain water) Of course, we are assuming the weather will be hot and sunny this summer much like the recent trend but as we all know, this can quite easily go the opposite and be cool and wet instead.
I'm definitely looking at the chicken run and shed roof as potential to grow squashes and cucumber where the vines can meander and get full sun all day which is ideal. The problem is where to put the plant (that is, the roots) as the shed and chicken run roofs are not going to be able to take the weight of soil (I was thinking of using Gro bags) This photo from my gardening diary (2018) shows the 2 roofs at the bottom of the patio with the pond in the middle:
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To the right are 2 "brown" bins (for garden rubbish collection which I haven't used in a while) so I was thinking of creating a shelf or table on which the plants could grow and then train the vines over the roofs.
Not obvious in this next photo (again taken in 2018) but the current bramble patch is to the right of the compost bin and their nasty spiny canes have blocked the access to the rest of the garden. Looking back at the photo, I'm so glad I put the weed suppressant membrane down when I did as that will have reduced the spread of the brambles into the rest of the garden!
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Mo wrote: 05 Mar 2023, 10:27 I haven't bought any seed potatoes this year. Am scaling back as I get older and for several years the slugs have been bad - rather than peel potatoes I've had to carve them. I also grew runner beans last year, but the seeds I'd try to start failed so got some plants from our dance club charity B&Buy. Might do that again this year. Plenty of fruit picking to keep me busy I hope.
I'm more or less thinking on the same lines. As well as the fruit, I really must make an effort to harvest the hazelnuts this year - the tree is now over 20 years old and very productive!
Mo
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Re: Grow plans for 2023

Post by Mo »

I really must make an effort to harvest the hazelnuts this year - the tree is now over 20 years old and very productive!
I have hazels at the front, and anywhere else that the squirrels hide the nuts. Not a nut-eater myself.
Aaargh Brambles!!!! Good luck there - they form a web, rooting where they touch
Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
lancashire lass
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Re: Grow plans for 2023

Post by lancashire lass »

Mo wrote: 05 Mar 2023, 11:18
I really must make an effort to harvest the hazelnuts this year - the tree is now over 20 years old and very productive!
I have hazels at the front, and anywhere else that the squirrels hide the nuts. Not a nut-eater myself.
Aaargh Brambles!!!! Good luck there - they form a web, rooting where they touch
ah yes, squirrels ... they bury the nuts (or the birds have tossed the ones that had landed) and many a hazel sapling have taken root in the fruit tree bed which is what I'm expecting to find if and when I do get in the garden.
Since going back to work (lunch box food) and cooking proper meals, I have come across several recipes with nuts (I refuse to buy hazelnuts because I know I would have plenty when they are ready to harvest) and I really haven't tapped into this resource.
I know all about brambles - when I first moved into my (current) house, I spent a painful first couple of years removing them but still they keep coming back (blame the birds!)
Meanqueen
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Re: Grow plans for 2023

Post by Meanqueen »

I gave up growing veg a few years ago. I have a massive slug and snail problem here. The raised beds now have flowers and shrubs in them.
ilona
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