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Good morning all!
My name is Kim and I have a new obsession with trying to grow something vaguely edible. I tried sowing some herb seeds in propogators when I was in my late teens and I don't think I have managed to get anything past seedling without hitting what I now know to be damping off. Now I am....in my late twenties and ready to try it seriously.
If I buy a live plant I am just fine at not killing it but the price and variety of plug plants is not great. At the moment I am poor and unemployed so I am trying to do what I can on a budget of........nothing. I am hoping that if I can get all the heavy work done this spring/summer then it should be possible to keep on top of it when I finally find some work.
So then, the garden. Large, huge in fact but full of brambles and mature trees. The land is "well rested" by which I think FIL means he never did anything with it. Last autumn I did some work trying to reclaim half the 'field' back from the brambles with some sucess but the boss won't allow the felling of any of her beloved trees so I have to work with the space I have. There is also a lot of rubble and rubbish on the land from several generations of OH's family just chucking stuff outside and forgeting it (including the current one), the previous neibours have also contributed. Any digging job out there seems to turn into an amature episode of time team only there is nothing valuable out there.
Possibly the biggest problem I have is the grade of the land. Living on a major road through the colne valley the property is quite steep. From the road it is a good 10 feet up to the front door and it only gets higher. By the time I reach the very back boundary I can see over the house easily (and see all the weeds growing in the gutters).
Tool wise I would kill for a chainsaw (and possibly with a chainsaw) and a shredder would be nice too but I shall have to make do with what I have for now. The only problem being that I have to carry them all outside with me each time as I don't have any outdoor storage. There is an old stone outhouse but it has no door, the windows have fallen out and the roof has rotted and caved in. Hopefully this can be repaired at some point. A wheel barrow is probably next on my wish list.
A greenhouse.....oh how I would love a greenhouse. I have even picked a nice spot for it away from as many trees as possible for maximum sunlight. I have dreams of building a lovely 10x8 timber/polyclad structure but that is for the future, for now I have to make do with the cheap but expensive 2x10ft polytunnel. Perhaps this year I can work on the foundations for it, lay a treated timber rectangle after leveling the area I would place it and dump all the rubble from everywhere else in as hardcore. I love to create things that are a little different so I suspect that even if I had the budget for a 6x8 ordinary greenhouse I would want to spend the money to build something more out of the ordinary. I had considered a polytunnel but we like to have a bonfire every november and I suspect that flying hot embers and poly tunnels equals swiss cheese and the need for a new cover.
Composting......I have a dalek which has been going for a good few years now but is impossible to turn so I suspect it has gotten rather compacted and slow. There are several spots around the garden which are solid organic compost. Years of garden waste (mostly privet that has been chopped after getting so overgrown it was eating passing pedestrians) and left for 10+ years. I have also started a small worm bin indoors with a view to expanding if it is a sucess.
My plan is to divide and conquer the space, the part nearest to the house will likely remain a normal garden but will be a low maintainence affair so I can save my time and energy for the part that will actually produce something. The upper half will be done in an allotment style. Raised beds on a loosely square foot gardening style. Mostly scavenged materials so it will be a little rough and I'm not planning in advance, I shall just let it evolve as I add beds and paths.
Plant wise I want to try lots of things and have aquired LOTS of nice seeds. I had a little sub half litre box marked seeds when I started containing seeds of dubious age and quality (some from sainsburys kitchen roll a few years back). Then I thought I might pick up those nice inexpensive seeds from aldi and lidl, oh and a new two litre box to keep them in as I had outgrown the old one. Then a trip to wilkos with my mum on my birthday and some more seeds and now I seem to have outgrown this box too!
I am a scientist and want to experiment in lots of techniques and have so far pre-germinated 1 sage seed (old seeds) and 8 out of 10 Perpetual leef beet spinach by the 'wet paper towel in a bag' method and will also be trying the gel (cornflour and water) method for root veggies which I have seen around on the interwebs. Perhaps one day I might even get to play with hydroponics or aquaponics.
Planted today....peas (sugar snap), broccoli (calabrese), brussels sprouts all of which will remain indoors on top of my conveniently tropical fish tank until they appear and then outside (worked for the pre-spouting seeds). There are no good windowsills in the house for the job, all are either north facing, shaded or very draughty as there is no central heating or double glazing. And you risk it being sat on by a cat in the only windowsill which is any good. Any seeds which actually make it outside will have to go into a makeshift coldframe whilst something more permanent is worked out.
Anyway, after what might just have been the longest hello post ever I would love to hear anyones thoughts or ideas that might help me towards sucess. If there is anyone else in the HD7ish area of huddersfield with more (or less) experience who might like a potting pal to mentor (or share failure with) then I would love to hear from you.
Kim
And don't talk to me about slugs.....we have man eating slugs in our garden. Slug patrols are about to commence and any who enter the house are now being eliminated without prejudice.
My name is Kim and I have a new obsession with trying to grow something vaguely edible. I tried sowing some herb seeds in propogators when I was in my late teens and I don't think I have managed to get anything past seedling without hitting what I now know to be damping off. Now I am....in my late twenties and ready to try it seriously.
If I buy a live plant I am just fine at not killing it but the price and variety of plug plants is not great. At the moment I am poor and unemployed so I am trying to do what I can on a budget of........nothing. I am hoping that if I can get all the heavy work done this spring/summer then it should be possible to keep on top of it when I finally find some work.
So then, the garden. Large, huge in fact but full of brambles and mature trees. The land is "well rested" by which I think FIL means he never did anything with it. Last autumn I did some work trying to reclaim half the 'field' back from the brambles with some sucess but the boss won't allow the felling of any of her beloved trees so I have to work with the space I have. There is also a lot of rubble and rubbish on the land from several generations of OH's family just chucking stuff outside and forgeting it (including the current one), the previous neibours have also contributed. Any digging job out there seems to turn into an amature episode of time team only there is nothing valuable out there.
Possibly the biggest problem I have is the grade of the land. Living on a major road through the colne valley the property is quite steep. From the road it is a good 10 feet up to the front door and it only gets higher. By the time I reach the very back boundary I can see over the house easily (and see all the weeds growing in the gutters).
Tool wise I would kill for a chainsaw (and possibly with a chainsaw) and a shredder would be nice too but I shall have to make do with what I have for now. The only problem being that I have to carry them all outside with me each time as I don't have any outdoor storage. There is an old stone outhouse but it has no door, the windows have fallen out and the roof has rotted and caved in. Hopefully this can be repaired at some point. A wheel barrow is probably next on my wish list.
A greenhouse.....oh how I would love a greenhouse. I have even picked a nice spot for it away from as many trees as possible for maximum sunlight. I have dreams of building a lovely 10x8 timber/polyclad structure but that is for the future, for now I have to make do with the cheap but expensive 2x10ft polytunnel. Perhaps this year I can work on the foundations for it, lay a treated timber rectangle after leveling the area I would place it and dump all the rubble from everywhere else in as hardcore. I love to create things that are a little different so I suspect that even if I had the budget for a 6x8 ordinary greenhouse I would want to spend the money to build something more out of the ordinary. I had considered a polytunnel but we like to have a bonfire every november and I suspect that flying hot embers and poly tunnels equals swiss cheese and the need for a new cover.
Composting......I have a dalek which has been going for a good few years now but is impossible to turn so I suspect it has gotten rather compacted and slow. There are several spots around the garden which are solid organic compost. Years of garden waste (mostly privet that has been chopped after getting so overgrown it was eating passing pedestrians) and left for 10+ years. I have also started a small worm bin indoors with a view to expanding if it is a sucess.
My plan is to divide and conquer the space, the part nearest to the house will likely remain a normal garden but will be a low maintainence affair so I can save my time and energy for the part that will actually produce something. The upper half will be done in an allotment style. Raised beds on a loosely square foot gardening style. Mostly scavenged materials so it will be a little rough and I'm not planning in advance, I shall just let it evolve as I add beds and paths.
Plant wise I want to try lots of things and have aquired LOTS of nice seeds. I had a little sub half litre box marked seeds when I started containing seeds of dubious age and quality (some from sainsburys kitchen roll a few years back). Then I thought I might pick up those nice inexpensive seeds from aldi and lidl, oh and a new two litre box to keep them in as I had outgrown the old one. Then a trip to wilkos with my mum on my birthday and some more seeds and now I seem to have outgrown this box too!
I am a scientist and want to experiment in lots of techniques and have so far pre-germinated 1 sage seed (old seeds) and 8 out of 10 Perpetual leef beet spinach by the 'wet paper towel in a bag' method and will also be trying the gel (cornflour and water) method for root veggies which I have seen around on the interwebs. Perhaps one day I might even get to play with hydroponics or aquaponics.
Planted today....peas (sugar snap), broccoli (calabrese), brussels sprouts all of which will remain indoors on top of my conveniently tropical fish tank until they appear and then outside (worked for the pre-spouting seeds). There are no good windowsills in the house for the job, all are either north facing, shaded or very draughty as there is no central heating or double glazing. And you risk it being sat on by a cat in the only windowsill which is any good. Any seeds which actually make it outside will have to go into a makeshift coldframe whilst something more permanent is worked out.
Anyway, after what might just have been the longest hello post ever I would love to hear anyones thoughts or ideas that might help me towards sucess. If there is anyone else in the HD7ish area of huddersfield with more (or less) experience who might like a potting pal to mentor (or share failure with) then I would love to hear from you.
Kim
And don't talk to me about slugs.....we have man eating slugs in our garden. Slug patrols are about to commence and any who enter the house are now being eliminated without prejudice.
, I'd like to say hello and welcome to the vine, it sounds like your full of enthusiasm which in this gardening lark is a good thing, it also sound's like you've got a bit of a challenge on ya hand's.
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