what can i plant now?

[loopyloulou]

hello  ;D

well after months of me n kids taking turns at being ill and managing a mad dash down inbetween showers weve fairly well failed with everything weve tried, its either drowned in weeds or been eaten by the eeeeeevil ones, kids are sooo upset as they miss theyre vegetables and my dad has spent sunday just gone trying to reclaim it all from the couch grass, so i can now weed the bits id previously dug.....

what can we plant???? i dont think my sweetcorns up to much (sob!) and im 7m pregnant so i cant be doing much in the way of digging, i was thinking of clearing a spot and laying down weed resistant membrane and getting some strawberry plants as i think the catalogues send them out next month, but is there anyuthing were likely to be able to eat in the meantime? (kids dont like raddishes n lettuces, lol, but the slugs sure do!!!) weve got herbs and spuds in bags at home (well what the slugs have left us) and theres currant and raspberrys bushes in so were hopefull well get some raspberrys at least, but i feel so bad as the kids miss picking beans and digging spuds and weve got ppl eyeing our plot up and asking what they can have... (couch grass anyone??)  i wouldnt mind if they offered to help us but thats not going to happen, lol!

anyways sorry 2 sound so down im just so annoyed with myself after having worked so hard last yr, my dads busy laying paths down to make it easier and the couch i ddint get out last yr is going under black plastic when the site shop get some in (nearly killed me digging half the plot surface off last yr and ive a huge pile to show for it!) i just hope we can get a break from all the illness and sneak down in the spring n crack on with it next year, fingers crossed theres something the kids would eat that we can grow! i cant for the life of me think what tho???

thanx for anybody whos able to help, next yr is the promised fruit trees when im back to being able to dig, lol, ds is desperate for apples!!
thanx again, louise xx

[loopyloulou]

[debster]

id be interested too cos i missed out o a lot of stuff this year so would be interested in catching up although in this weather rice might be a good bet

[pigeonseed]

- in a warm part of the country you could try some dwarf french beans
- italian kale for baby leaves
- mustard greens and other oriental leaves
- mooli (sorry I know it's a radish! But you can also cook the leaves and it's got tons of leaves)
- beetroot
- then in autumn there'll be garlic

you could do fruit bushes and trees. It can be done - I had a baby in early Sept and in Nov I planted fruit trees. It was hard but do-able!

Your dad sounds great by the way!

[anemone]

how about carrots? the moreveg newsletter suggests carrot neptune for sowing in August

Also what about buying plants? I was surprised to find the local garden centre empty but homebase had a fair few things left. I bought a couple of sweet peppers fo 99p at the weekend. They looked better than the ones I already have growing ::)

[thifasmom]

Hi if you put in individual plant names on ebay you could also get a small variety of plants that you could plant out straight way.

or there are sites out there that also cater to these needs if you want to go down this road, it will if nothing else give you a head start :-*.

here are two of them i found:

http://www.rocketgardens.co.uk/showdetails.asp?id=395

http://www.organicplants.co.uk/acatalog/Winter_Vegetables_September.html

[jan.lynne]

from hopefully-the-weather-will-be-reasonable-scotland. just sowed turnip(swede), turnip (white), carrots early nantes, more oriental greens - good for salads & stir-fries, kales, cabbage - spring, "saladini mix" of hardy lettuce & endives, rocket, lambs lettuce, land cress & angelica, mooli & spring onions. Some will need cloching I suspect in October/ Nov. How about Christmas potatoes in bags if you can keep them in a frost-free place. Broad beans for next spring. Almost time to buy garlic & autumn onion sets. And of course there are always overwintering green manures - I like red clover for quick cover, rye grass for a fine tilth & phacelia for flowers if you let it get that far! Don't give up, youve done so much! If you don't have one, see if you can build a green house to give you an early start next year. Ex bus-shelter panels are good. Good luck!

[saddad]

Good luck for the new arrival...
If I was sowing carrots now I'd still use Autumn King... they are dirt cheap @40p at Wilkinsons... so no problem with throwing in whole packets!! (take them out of the foil though) ...  ;D

[loopyloulou]

lol thanx guys! ill look into fruit trees, weve got several fruit bushes in and i think they need moving (crowded!) ill play november by ear tho!
we have since been gifted a bucket of strawverry plants so theyll go in asap and i think garlic and onion sound like a fab idea!
weve got a shed but i dont know if i could manage to get hold of bus shelter panels to make a greenhouse (and not get arrested and put in the loony bin!!) but we do have a conservatory at home, unheated, but im hoping to start sweetpeas off and keep my fingers and toes crossed!
oh will try putting the carrots in foil and all, weve tried every which other way and seem to have little/no luck, so maybe taking them out the foils the problem....  ;D will hunt down those 40p packets tho....
and broad beans, straight in the ground? would they need cloche/fleece?
and i might creep to my dad as theres a homebase by them.... last year i was handing over beans n courgettes and things to mum, this yr hes done loads of work and ive nothing 4 him, so i feel v guilty!
will try again with some dwarf beans if i can get hold of some, hopefully well get something b4 xmas, and luckily ive got spuds in the garden in bags, i got them in that offer? hopefully well still have some left come xmas....
and i realise i didnt say where we are! makes a big difference! were in the midlands, birmingham, so should be warm but the rain!!!!
if all else fails tho weve a huge field behing the lotty full of brambles, we spent a lot of time bramble picking last yr (and getting covered!) and the kids loved it, so hopefully well be able to do that still...cmon brambles ripen up!!!

thanx again for the advice, im still so cross at missing the year after all the work i did last yr! this yr was meant to be shifting the other half of the couch and mega amounts of spuds beans and sweetcorn... next yr......(please!!!!!!)

[tim_n]

And there's me been pondering for the last few days what I was going to plant out now a few of the spring/summer things have given up.  Just planted a few cauliflowers and purple sprouting brocolli myself.

So this weekend after my trip up to bodyworld (or whatever it's called) with the wife (yes during my absence on allotments4all I got-a-married) I intend to plant:

- Autumn king carrots
- Dwarf fench beans
- beetroot

Looking forward to planting:
- Broad beans (isn't october/nov more like planting time for these?)
- Garlic (I _always_ fail with garlic, but I ususally plant in spring, so lets try winter this year...)
- Onions (got some kind of white powder mould I've heard mentioned around the place this year... but at least I actually got some onions!)

[1066]

Congratulations Tim  ;D

I'll be starting to prepare for garlic and broad beans soon
And have just planted out more Chard, Spinach, Chinese Cabbage, Kohl Rabi and Fennel. Will also do some more sowings of Rocket and Mizuna. Some of these have gone into an area of ground that is covered with cheap weed supressant, the rest I've mulched.

Good luck LoopyLouLou  :)

[tim_n]

I noticed some self seeded oriental greens growing out of my path which is cheap weed supressant membrane covered in bark.  No idea how it managed it but it looked pretty d**n healthy.  I planted it into a proper bed, that kind of voracity for life should be encouraged.  Until I stick it in the wok that is...