Growing vegetables in a townhouse back garden (+ in my bedroom) – tomatoes, chillies, peas, potatoes

Lots is happening now that the weather is improving!
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Peas, potatoes and beetroot are in the ground (fingers crossed the slugs don’t eat them all). Tomatoes are growing fast and will soon be planted into the allotment or in large containers in the garden.
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so I planted all my seedlings on the
11th which was 19 days ago cuz it is the
30th now anyway let me show you how all
these things are growing cuz it’s quite
impressive I think everything has grown
so much this is what I’m super proud of
look at all of these they’re all
Tomatoes there are three different
varieties all there they’re actually
producing like their proper leaves cuz
the first two leaves that come up after
the seed is planted are like the seed
leaves and then afterwards you get the
proper tomato leaves anyway they’re
looking really good some of the plants
I’m going to keep inside this box like
the tomatoes and chili peppers they need
it warm and also the basil I’m going to
keep it under here they need it warm for
a bit longer uh but there’s some things
like beetroot and sugar snap peas which
I’ve actually moved into the garden
already and I think I’m actually going
to transplant the sugar snap peas today
I’m going to put some bamboo Post in the
ground plant the peas so that they can
climb up the bamboo I’ve never been able
to get basil seedlings to grow this well
to be honest last year and the year
before I tried but failed they sort of
seemed to germinate and then just die
but these give off such a strong smell
it’s amazing it just reminds me of pizza
and summer those I’m probably going to
put into slightly bigger pots at some
point soon and then put them back
underneath this grow light cuz it’s
really nice and warm and basil likes it
warm let’s go into the garden and plant
the
peas I can’t actually quite believe it
it’s not raining and windy and
horrible I’m going to make the most of
it and plant my peas this morning
there’s these three sort of raised beds
here which um previous tenants of the
house built my only concern is that the
Sun comes from over there and I’m not
too sure how much sun is actually going
to reach these beds especially the back
one cuz it’s quite near the back wall
and I’m not really sure yeah how how
much sun we’re going to get anyway first
step is just going to be putting down a
thin layer of compost
[Music]
then we need some
string that will allow the heas to cling
on
[Music]
to my only worry is that it’s quite
unstable cuz I can’t actually push these
posts in the ground that far now for the
exciting bit these are the pea plants uh
in each of these modules I sewed maybe
three or four PE seeds so now we’ve got
loads of plants and I’m going to take
them out of
the little thing module you can see that
they have filled up that space that’s
all
Roots so impressive how quickly they
fill out the container and then we’re
going to Simply pop these in the ground
so I’ve planted seven groups of sugar
snap peas and it looks quite nice at the
moment and if we’re lucky they will grow
up nice and tall flower and produce us
loads of little seed pods that we can
eat however I’m not too hopeful that
this is actually going to work because
we have a serious slug problem in this
Garden pretty much everything in this
Garden gets eaten by slugs in some
amount and sugar snap peas are pretty
tasty for Slugs yeah I’m not too hopeful
this is going to work anyway I got some
of these slug wool pellets from the
Garland Center and I’m going to give
them a go I think you basically put them
around the all the plants and then the
wool pellets draw the moisture from the
Slugs and they don’t like
that if this actually works then I’ll be
very very impressed however nothing has
worked so far against the slug problem
here that is a whole bag of these well
there we go we’ll check in with these in
a few days and see if the slugs have
eaten them because I’m pretty sure we’ll
find out quite quick whether the Slugs
like them and if the lugs eat them all
then at least I’ve got a few more plants
to plant in their place and we’ll give
it a second try good luck plants please
don’t get eaten be safe out there in the
big wide
[Music]
world I’ve been away for the past couple
of days but I’m really intrigued to see
if my peas have survived I’m going to go
in the garden now and check them I’m
almost certain they are going to be
eaten by slugs these plants are fine as
usual I mean I say they’re fine they’re
not looking too great The corianders
Looking a bit worse for wear but
hopefully they’ll do okay when the
weather improves ooh my tulips are
nearly coming out they’re all purple I’m
pretty sure I didn’t buy all purple ones
no
way they look intact there’s no damage
whatsoever I can’t quite believe that
now from my previous couple of years of
sugar snap pea growing the more they
grow the better if they can grow to a
big enough size without being destroyed
by slugs and snails they should be okay
it’s when they’re really small when
they’re very vulnerable so hopefully
these are going to be okay yay I I can’t
quite believe it all the peas it doesn’t
look like they’ve been touched at all I
think the wool pellets actually worked
let’s hope they continue to grow without
any slug
[Music]
damage if we look inside the grow box
you’ll be able to see that everything is
growing rather a lot and I actually need
to repot some of these plants especially
the basil the basil is
outgrowing its little
module tray that it’s in and also the
chili plants I need to pot them on I
mean everything to be honest even the
tomatoes need separate pots I don’t know
if there’s going to be enough space in
here once they’re all in separate pots
but we have to do it to give them more
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let’s go and plant some plants in the
garden bucket of compost my voice went
weird bucket of
compost and then we’ve got all the
plants that we’re going to pot on I’m
going to put that basil in a new pot and
do these Tomatoes as well I think and
then also chilies and broccoli
plants lots to get on with we just need
some containers that are slightly bigger
that these plants can grow in
healthfully and so they have enough
space until we then put them outside in
probably May time when the risk of Frost
has passed so the tomatoes can probably
go in these
pots and the basil the basil I’m
actually going to keep growing
underneath my grow light and then
probably the chilies as well I’ll do in
there so they aren’t so important I’m
going to fill all the pots up
first I’m really happy with my tomato
seedlings this spring they look really
healthy I think because they had lots of
light and lots of warmth right from the
beginning they’ve done quite well and
healthy these and chilies and basil like
it really warm so I think they are
thriving going to create a little little
hole in
here oh wow now you can tell that they
need more
space look at the root ball they really
are in need of some more
space so these will go in
here so these are the tomatoes that I
got given from the lady in Austria so I
don’t really know exactly what they’re
going to be like but that’s part of the
excitement I suppose so that’s all of
those Tomatoes done and then these ones
here are my cherry tomatoes they all
look very similar at this stage so it’s
good to label them I
guess I’m going to do the basil in
slightly larger pots because I think the
Basel will stay in these its whole life
unless the weather gets really nice and
warm this summer and then I might put it
outside but I think to be honest I’ll
just keep it under the grow light and
feed it lots of liquid fertilizer and
then try and just grow it all in the pot
now that is a proper root
Bowl basil smells so good honestly
unbelievable we actually we sewed two
different types of basil we got purple
Basel and green Basel
I don’t know there’s going to be enough
space
inside my grow box you
know now I just haven’t really got space
in my grow box to put any more things on
the chilies I’ll have to do because they
need it warm I might have to put them on
a window sill but these broccoli here
look at them they’ve grown so long that
they’re just falling over um and I read
that broccoli this typ of broccoli
calib uh is pretty Hardy which means I
can plant it outside and it shouldn’t
die if there’s a frost so I’m going to
plant up these broccoli plants and also
I think I’ve got one kale plant next to
these peas I’m going to put down some
compost first no there’s a slug eating
my peas as we speak the peas are
actually looking really strong that’s
the first slug I’ve seen anyway
oh no that’s quite a
lot it looks so neat when you put a
fresh layer of compost over these pea
plants are going to be really tall
broccoli broccoli broccoli or broccoli
broccoli we got one kale plant that’s
germinated last year I planted two kale
plants and I just had way too much kale
all year that was great I love making
crispy kale in the oven so
good that’s another slug get out of
there these plants I put down some like
wool pellets that apparently stop slugs
it’s another slug I’ve got some of these
Slug and snail pellets um which I’m
going to put down apparently they keep
slugs and snails away
well that’s a whole box this cost me 449
so I really hope that keeps the snails
away good luck broccoli plants wish you
the best I don’t think they’re all going
to
fit I’m trying to grow too many things
I’ve also got about 20 sunflower plants
that my housemate is keeping in here
yeah there’s quite a lot going on my bad
isn’t going to fit I might need to put
these sunflowers on another window sill
well we managed to get all the important
things into the grow box uh the basil
need it warm the tomatoes need it warm I
realized that you sew like 15 seedlings
in one of those little module trays and
then when you have to pop them on they
take up a lot more space yeah I could
have made a slightly bigger grow boox
and it would have been quite handy but
these tomatoes are going to live in here
until middle of May I guess at the
beginning of May I’ll start bringing
them outside in the day to harden them
off get them used to the colder windy
weather and then by the summer there
shouldn’t be anything left inside this
box and I’m actually glad that’s going
to be the case because that is quite a
bit of mold starting to form which isn’t
a good sign I’ll give you an update in a
couple of weeks I guess when we’ll see
how things have progressed and we’ll see
if anything eats those broccoli plants
outside see you later plants have fun in
[Music]
there so my tomato plants are all
looking rather nice like they’re growing
really well and I think that’s down to
the warm light grow boox that I’ve been
keeping them in however it’s not all
great because these are now getting too
big for the grow box like when the roof
lid of the grow box is closed it almost
touches the top and the light can get
pretty hot and I don’t think that’s good
for the tops of the
plants however it is only 8 Pro the 11th
and we still have quite a bit of chance
of frost here in the UK so I can’t
really just put these outside so what
I’m going to do is keep an eye on the
weather forecast and if it’s going to be
warm in the day like it is today nice
and sunny I’m going to put these plants
out get them used to outdoor life where
it’s a bit windier and a bit cold older
than the
growbox and then if we’re going to get a
cold day or a cold night then bring them
inside at that
hello good look at
the I was just showing my housemates my
plants I’m quite proud of these although
yeah I did mess up I planted them too
early I should have planted these about
3 weeks later and then they would have
been at this stage at the perfect time
for them being able to go outside see
that’s where planning and preparation is
really important with vegetable
gardening but it’s not that important
but if you want to do it properly then
it is cuz currently I’m left with all
these plants and nowhere to really put
them but yeah what we’re doing now is
called hardening off I think you’re
basically hardening them off to the
outside world where conditions are a
little bit
harder to live in oh they’re going to
love this sun trying to keep all the
varieties together so all these ones are
the ones that I got
from um Christine from Austria and then
all of these ones are my cherry
tomares look at that a honey bee just
landed on a cloes
peg I think it’s drinking water from
it so my fig tree here is slowly
wakening up from the winter you can see
here a little fig on the left and then
the leaf appearing on the right you can
see it’s the same on this one
here the leaves are appearing and the
tree is waking up from
hibernation however as you can see this
whole Bush here is kind of creeping
plant I think it’s honeysuckle it’s sort
of wrapping itself around the Fig Tree
so what I’m going to do is either move
the tree away or cut back the
Hedge to give the tree some more space
my blueberry bush is now in leaf as well
and I think there’s some flowers
appearing at the top on the ends of the
branches and also these strawberries are
coming alive do you remember when I cut
these back they were like I cut them
completely back so there was hardly any
leaves on them and they have just grown
back so much and the one over here is
actually put out a few flowers so we
might get some early strawberries over
the past week or two everything in the
garden has gone so much Greener and is
growing finally but it’s taken a while
this spring is really been slow to get
going and now seeing as the weather is
going to be nice today I’m going to
plant up all these plants here that I
recently got from the garden center and
I’ve done it again spent all my pocket
money at the Garden Center this is all
going to be going in the front garden I
bought these window boxes which are kind
of long thin they set on the window sill
and it should make the front garden look
a little nicer and then I also bought a
couple of these interesting plants to
put in a container on the patio got a
loopin and a sedum is that a sedum yeah
my dad had one of these in his garden
and I really liked it so I thought I’d
buy one for myself and then
lupins they have these crazy flowers and
when I was in Sweden last summer I saw
so many of these and I thought wouldn’t
it be nice to grow one on my own they
also have really interesting foliage
look at that so we’re going to put this
and the Sedum in a container and keep it
on the patio so we should have some
really nice colorful flower
displays this summer I don’t really know
what I’m doing when it comes to making
these window boxes look nice but I
figured it’s a North facing wall so the
plants need to be shade tolerant and so
I just bought a variety of bedding
plants and also a couple of these ferns
which look beautiful so we got ferns we
got got this creeping Jenny I think
that’s its common name um this stuff
creeps all over the place so that should
be nice and it should droop over the
side of the window boxes I’ve got these
fuches which should grow slightly bigger
I’ve got enmies
geraniums um Ivy and then even some of
these Cosmos these should grow quite
tall I think yeah we’ll see how this
goes I’m really not sure to be honest
first thing I have to do is make holes
in the containers cuz apparently they
don’t so I got my drill and I’m just
going to make a series of holes so that
water can drain
through I found a better way to do it
with a bit of wood
underneath so much
easier so this is where you can be quite
creative with what you put in here but
also where you can probably mess the
things up a bit I feel like having
something drooping is good to have on
the side and on the corner like
[Music]
that just giving them a water before I
put them out I think they’re all right
although it’s very hard to know how
they’ll actually look like once they’ve
grown out a bit they should look
better it should at least liven up the
front garden a little bit I’ll take some
video of these at the end of the summer
so you can see how they’ve
grown seeing as it’s such a nice day I
think I’m going to plant out my
potatoes um these are the ones that I
put in the egg box about 3 weeks ago you
can see they’ve grown little stems so I
can put these outside however I just
have to be a bit careful if there is
going to be a frost just make sure
they’re covered up but for starters I
put them actually in the ground so they
will be safe from the frost and I’m
going to plant these in the middle bed
at the back of the garden
[Music]
well I just had an idea I was placing
these potatoes equal distance apart in
this bed and I realized there’s a lot of
space in in between them obviously when
the potato plants get big towards the uh
middle end of summer there won’t be much
space but until then I figured I could
put some of these beetroot in the gaps I
think the beetroot will take slightly
less time till the Harvest and the
potatoes so these will be done before
the potatoes get too big that’s my plan
anyway I’m not sure if that’s going to
it’s going to work beetro are really
beautiful like look at the color of the
roots and the stems it’s like so deep
like crimson color is that
crimson readyy color so this is the sort
of layout I’m going for potatoes in sort
of a square pattern and then beetro
beetro this is what I like about
gardening is you can just do whatever
you like and then if it doesn’t work
then oh well you can still go to the
supermarket and buy some vegetables if
it does work well then you learn
something
[Music]
now there’s something that keeps digging
up these beds I think it’s a fox or a
cat so I’m going to put this cloth over
like I did with my
broccoli the other thing this cloth will
do will help the plants warm
up it’ll be slightly warmer underneath
here it’s crazy how slow everything took
to get going this spring and then all of
a sudden and when the warm weather comes
you can do so many things I’ve got sugar
snap peas slowly making their way up the
sticks and strings I’ve got kale
broccoli potatoes beetroot in the ground
and then I’ve got obviously all the
tomatoes which are growing pretty quick
and they will eventually be permanently
outside when the chance of frost passes
so we’ve got an awful lot of things
going we just need more of weather like
this and everything should grow really
fast I’ll give you another update in a
couple of weeks