What are you experimenting with this year?

[oldfella]

Well funny you should ask, have just written a screed and had saved as a draft, but how do I load it, cos the last time I tried it disappeared into thin air,

[Odsox]

have just written a screed and had saved as a draft, but how do I load it,

Go into "User Control Panel" and on the left of the screen click "Manage Drafts". You should now see your saved post and under the "Saved At" half you should click "Load Draft" and then you can either continue writing or send it as is.
Hope that helps.

[sarahkeast]

Starting to think about this year; more peas and broad beans, spread out mange tout [ok all sowings]

Any recommendations for slug proof spuds ? lost half of mine last year.

More onions and garlic, less tomatoes but looked after better !

More spinach and better timed salads. More chard too.

Carrots. Argh, Just want one without root fly ! will try fleece and maybe resistant varieties,

I have about a dozen Globe Artichokes, which I started from seed last year in pots. Anyone want one ? looking forward to trying to fit them into the borders !

Has anyone tried Edamame beans ? any recommendations ?

[Millymollymandy]

have just written a screed and had saved as a draft, but how do I load it,

Go into "User Control Panel" and on the left of the screen click "Manage Drafts". You should now see your saved post and under the "Saved At" half you should click "Load Draft" and then you can either continue writing or send it as is.
Hope that helps.

How many years have I been on this forum and I had no idea such a thing existed!

[Odsox]

I always like to try something new every year, this year I am experimenting with four different things.
<snip>
Thirdly, I am going to have a go at growing early strawberries hydroponically. Percy Thrower produced ripe strawberries for Easter and I have tried several times over the years and failed miserably. Easter is early this year so I don't stand much of a chance in reality, but it will be "interesting". I dug up some Royal Sovereign runners and they have been in the salad drawer of my fridge since early December. I potted them up on Saturday and hopefully they will burst into life soon.

All good fun and keeps that old grey matter stirred up.

Will enjoy hearing about your experiments Tony.

Well the first results are in and I can report a success on this one.
OK, so it's only 3 strawberries and not a punnet full, but still in time for Easter even though Easter is early this year.

The plants in the fridge died and I had to go and dig up some more runners in the garden, which took some time as I waited about 3 weeks to see if the plants really were dead or just dormant. So might have been a bit earlier
They really do taste nice though, we just ate the big one .. half each.

Next is the new potatoes, due to be investigated for this Sunday's dinner.

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[MKG]

Now all of the work is done, we have two greenhouses and an allotment-sized piece of ground between them where the pond used to be. This, then, will be the first time for donkey's years that I haven't had to fit stuff in wherever and whenever I can. Now, of course, I'm beginning to realise that It all needs to be planned so that rather than having gluts in summer and autumn, there'll still be stuff to eat in winter and early spring. So that's my experiment for this year - can I still get the grey cells to wrap themselves around organised gardening.

Mike

[Odsox]

So that's my experiment for this year - can I still get the grey cells to wrap themselves around organised gardening.

Not so much this year Mike, but next year would be easier providing you take notes and write a diary (as per an earlier thread on here somewhere)
I find it essential to note down when you sow, prick out and start harvesting each veg. That way you know how long it takes from sowing to eating in your own micro-climate and can plan your year with a little more confidence.
Either that or buy several freezers.

[MKG]

The spreadsheet is already set up, Tony.

Now if only I can remember where I've put it!

Mike

EDIT: The onion sets are in - and duly recorded (ah - and dog and pigeon-proofed).

[gregorach]

Every year previously I've always started out keeping decent records, then fallen by the wayside come June or so... This year I'm just not going to bother. The weather has been so absurdly variable here anyway - even without proper record keeping, I know I've had wildly varying performance year on year from just about everything.

[demi]

im currently taking notes and pictures for my sweet potatoes.
seeing as iv never grown them before, im experimenting on different methods to see which is best.
currently got them in jars of water and they've now all got established roots and shoots are starting to form.
its taken a month for the first roots to appear, its going along slowly but at least they are growing! we were doubtful as to wither or not they would germinate at all as i couldnt get a hold of organic ones from any of the local supermarkets and the regular ones are sprayed with anti-sprouting agent. but repeatedly washing them seems to have worked and they are coming along nicely

maybe i should start a new thread and post the pictures for you guys to see.
has anyone else tried growing sweet potatoes before?

[wabbit955]

more wine making
all was good last year so this year will do more
already got gorse, alexander, rhubarb and spicied plum on the go

[Stonehead]

Secondly, I have always thought that commercial frozen peas taste manky and my own frozen peas tasted just fine ... until last year. I used to grow Onward peas but switched to Douce Provence and they DO NOT freeze well. So this year I am growing 5 different varieties of peas, just a 6' row of each variety, all sown at the same time, and compare yield, taste fresh and taste frozen so that I can grow the best one in future years. (Onward grows too tall for my tunnel)

We grow a Latvian pea. It's not bad fresh, but has the advantage of drying well and then lasting for years if well sealed. I was given a handful of them some years ago, but I believe the Heritage Seed Libary sometimes offers it. Soak the dried peas overnight, drain and boil for about an hour. They're excellent in soups, casseroles, stews and the like. They can also be ground to make pease meal.

[Odsox]

As noted in a previous post, I dug the first potatoes for dinner tonight.
They would have benefited from being left for another week, but still very nice and a first for me to have new potatoes for dinner on Easter Sunday.
So, it's all working out well at the moment.

Also a photo of some of my "this year's" tomatoes, although we have been picking them for a couple of weeks now.
They are the follow on plants from the over-wintered ones, which I pensioned off yesterday.

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[stevetc]

I am having a go with chillis, this year. I had a chilli plant given to me many years ago, and it thrived under glass - I lived in a transit and it was perfectly content in the passenger seat, although I did end up doing quite a lot of manoeuvring around to face the sun. I sun-dried the fruit, and they lasted me ages.

I've never grown them from seed though, so I've put glass over the top of a raised bed, which should get them started off - I'll prolly be relying on outdoor sun when they get big. . . if they survive. I thought they'd failed to germinate until a couple of weeks ago when i found a dirty great slug scoffing them down. . . I'd foolishly assumed they'd be too spicy for slugs too eat, but it doesn't seem to put them off at all. Fingers x'd. . .

And my red onion experiment from last year continues, cos I planted them too late. . .

[demi]

As noted in a previous post, I dug the first potatoes for dinner tonight.
They would have benefited from being left for another week, but still very nice and a first for me to have new potatoes for dinner on Easter Sunday.
So, it's all working out well at the moment.

Also a photo of some of my "this year's" tomatoes, although we have been picking them for a couple of weeks now.
They are the follow on plants from the over-wintered ones, which I pensioned off yesterday.

Tony, as always i am eager to see what your up to. you are an inspiration.
now we just need to build a heated conservatory so we too can fill it with over winter veg well done and keep on posting