Reintroduce Yourself!!

[veggiechicken]

It occurred to me that our newer members will have no idea about those of us who have been here for a few years. Many of us will have changed course since writing our first Introductory post, so, in the Nuttiest of Nutshells, how about Introducing ourselves again - on this thread?

[Small pumpkin]

I like your plan VC
You first

[veggiechicken]

I'm veggie chicken

Hello everyone, thank you for letting me join the Grapevine .

A little bit about me.
I don't have an allotment but garden at home. My back garden is home to 4 chickens, 3 crazy dogs and a lot of fruit trees. I like to mix and match my plants and rarely plant in rows, preferring a more natural approach - a nod to forest gardening and permaculture.
I don't dig except to plant or dig up perennial weeds, don't use pesticides or chemical fertilisers.
I have a lot of nutty ideas which I run past the Forum - some work, many don't - but I don't mind because its only by trying that you learn what not to do again.
I have a healthy obsession with seeds - buying, saving, swapping and even sowing!
I also like collecting greenhouses and have 5, only one of which I bought, the rest have been on free sites.
............I also seem to be a bit of a chatterbox.

[Scarlet]

Haha! Fab idea

Hello I'm Scarlet, it was going to be scarlet runner bean but I decided that was too long to type.
I grow at home and have two greenhouses. ( 20ft and a 12ft)
I prefer raising seedlings and saving seed than the hard graft of a plot and every year things change with circumstances.
This year my veg area has been reduced and I've had to take back control of the garden as it was running away with me. I have a small nursery area for seedlings/cuttings to grow on until they are big enough to go into the garden. A fruit area with several gooseberry and black currant varieties. A couple of red currants, Autumn and summer rasps, tayberries and blackberries. Hazelnut and a very large grapevine a couple of pears and plums with my eye on planting an orchard in the Autumn. I planted nearly 200 whips early last Spring with a mixed native hedge (to replace the fence that I accidentally burnt down ) and my back hasn't recovered yet.

I love nothing better than having a nose at other peeps gardens and allotments...and will choose my dog walks with this in mind
I love growing tomatoes and chillies the most....dahlias are catching up slowly.

Today I mostly weeded ground elder but I also potted on some foxgloves and picked runner beans for tea.

[Small pumpkin]

This looks like a fun forum, so thought I�d join

I�m another home gardener. Love growing veggies and a little fruit. The rest of the gardening is a necessity more than a pleasure
Favourite thing to grow are squash & pumpkins, carrots, tomatoes (but I�m not actually very good at growing toms ). Apparently I have a clinical obsession with growing chillies. I�ve got 3 polytunnels which I spend a lot of time in. I�m a bit of a seed hoarder.
Easily led astray by others with crazy gardening ideas

[SarrissUK]

I'm Sarriss, or Tina and I am a Swede (the nationality, not the vegetable) living in Lincolnshire near the sea. I grew up on a farm in Sweden which imprinted on me how good it tastes to pick a carrot from the ground and eat it.

I have a tiny Victorian garden at home which is packed full of vegetables and flowers, and two allotment plots that are only half full of vegetables so far. I grow no dig, which means I don't purposely dig the veg beds, but simply lay down mulch on top and let the wonders of nature do the rest. Considering I was a bit dubious to start, and the absolute state of the two plots I took on just over six months ago now, I'm hugely surprised by how well the no dig method works. I have lots left to do in terms of infrastructure on my plots and I'm loving it all.

I work fulltime for the NHS and love that, and I love to travel, and I have one dog, four cats and a chicken to look after... so the plots fit in where they can.

I find that this forum is the most helpful and kind place to go for gardening advice.

[Bren In Pots]

I'm also a back garden grower, I started with a couple of toms and some runner beans in buckets.
Since then veg growing has sort of taken over the garden we've removed a shrubbery, filled in the pond then dug up some of the lawn all to make my veg beds and space for a greenhouse.
I couldn't be happier

[Snoop Puss]

Hi, Snoop here. I garden at home. Have quite a lot of land but struggle with water as I live in what was once a very rainy part of Spain but is now prone to drought. Climate change is here.
Anyway, dogs, cats and chickens. Impressive, not to say scary, local insect life. No greenhouses due to very destructive hail most years.
Gardening for me is a very optimistic activity. I love seeing seedlings come up. Every spring is a new opportunity to start afresh.
I use fertilisers, organic and otherwise. Try not to use pesticides (I'm of the squishing and stamping school) and don't use herbicides.
Not sure what else there is to say. I do go on a bit though.

[burnie]

Hi, I'm a back garden grower of mostly fruit and veg, a fair amount of wild native flowers to encourage pollinators. I have a 12 x 8 greenhouse with tomatoes, chillies, butternut squash, cucumbers, strawberries and sweetcorn on the go just now. Having moved to NE Scotland I have had to learn what will and won't grow outside. I have three raised beds all no dig, this year one has carrots and beetroots, another peas, Onions from seed, Leeks and a few salad crops. Final one has more peas, French beans and trench celery( a crop I have never grown before, something I do every year)

[mothhawk]

Hello, I'm Mothhawk, and grow and grow veg in my tiny north facing back garden. My entire veg patch is four feet wide and twelve feet long so I can't fit a lot in. This year I'm growing runner beans which I grow every year as it's my favourite veg, 2 tomato plants, and a few sacrificial lettuce to keep the slugs occupied, plus the few autumn raspberries against the fence. The other half of the garden grows flowers and a hedge. No room for a GH.

I have one dalek for composting and since I joined the Vine my veg bed has risen in height by 5" from all the lovely compost. I can see over the fence into next door's garden now, but they can't see into mine

edit: I'm also growing three kale plants, disguised from the cabbage whites by being between the tomatoes and intertwined with calendulas. got those flutterbys thoroughly foxed!

[elsie-scot]

Hi
A on/off poster but frequent checker of the vine.

Having moved from sunny north east to west of Scotland almost 10 years ago and still trying to figure out how to grow things here.

Garden is a sloped raised beach - stone overload. Wet a lot but have had issues with hot weather too. Major ground elder and creeping buttercup hassle.

Loads of ideas but never enough time. Am revamping this year so not much food growing.

[Chrissyteacup]

Ok so I’m probably still new enough that my original introduction still stands but hey I’m all in for this sharing!
We (myself and mr coffee pot) bought our first home together 2 years ago and been doing constant DIY since.
I work full time for the NHS and my escape is the veg plot at the end of the garden.
Last year was my first year growing. We have got two greenhouses (which came with the house) which are full of tomatoes chillies cucumbers and I’m trying watermelon and tomatillo’s too. I only have the five beds which I’m no digging. One of which I’m turning into an asparagus bed but I’ve had to re plant some as it’s not done that well (I think I planted it too deeply).
It’s very weedy as I don’t spend as much time as I’d like out there but it’s growing and productive we have raspberry’s gooseberrys and a strawberry patch in our borders. I enjoy just having a wander round and seeing things developing! Oh and of course I love the harvesting and seeing seeds pop out as seedlings too!
I tend to get a bit over excited (if you hadn’t noticed!) and I have got to rein in my seed buying so hopefully will be able to use the seed circles and swap this year to stop me from buying so much.
I really feel like I’ve learnt loads but don’t always have the knowledge to contribute much so I’m often “lurking” haha yes I really am a creepy woman
And finally I am dyslexic so please forgive any spelling errors or grammar issues I do try to make sense
That’s more then enough about me for one post!!

[roitelet]

Hi, I’ve been here a long time , before there was an ‘introduce yourself’ thread.

I retired to France nearly 20 years ago from North Devon. We have a large garden, 2,500 square meters!! We have converted from a field to a garden with a large veg patch and lots of flower beds. I will have a go at growing anything and frequently more than I need so don’t come by in the spring or you will go away with lots of my surplus plants. We keep chickens and have three cats and he occasional passing stray. I have always loved gardening and this has given me the chance to indulge my passion, that’s when I am not doing DIY. I don’t think that this house will ever be finished!

[Mr Bones]

Hello, thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Mr Bones which isn't my real name and I'm not really a skelly bob (wanted to get that one out the way so it didn't cause anyone to have bad dreams about a skeleton running round waving a spade).
My wife and I tend a 500 square metre no-dig allotment which produces most of our veg and fruit plus cut flowers for the house.
I've attached a couple of photos taken at the plot yesterday, the sunflowers and calendula are self set from plants we grew years ago.

[Scarlet]

Wow! That looks bloody amazing!!