Topic: SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT YEAR?

[knottygal]

Sow Peas in succession  :)
Get better at sowing brassicas for a succession  ;)
Not bother with bush toms in polytunnel - they are going for a take over bid :o
Get an aubergine to set fruit...  :-\
Grow a decent beetroot...  :'(

[pigeonseed]

Main one probably wider paths between veg, smaller beds, no walking on planting beds. I'm hoping it will look nicer as well as being better for the plants.  :)

[Bill Door]

Use different seeds!!

No over winter onions,  sow broad beans in Autumn as i got a tremendous crop from them this year.

Leave the blackcurrents alone, did not get one this year after "opening" out the bush last year.

Keep collecting fallen leaves and stacking them even though it is pouring with rain.

Try onions from seeds as well as sets.

Only grow two courgettes, two cucumbers and two marrows (I am also fed up with the buggers.   ::)

Grow less potatoes.  Contemplate more dig less.

happy new year everyone
Bill

[Ophi]

Have a try at growing Yacon if I can get it.
Put in sturdier support for Jerusalem Artichokes.
Remember to get the garlic in over winter and plant up a row of Welsh Onions.

If we have time, attack the communal fruit area that no one touches so that it does not decide to start growing in over allotment as it has this year.

[Jeannine]

I am going to design myself a sowing and transplanting calender..then stick to it.

Keep adding more stuff to my perennial veggie bed.

Get another plot just for soft fruits


XX Jeannine

[Anisemary]

Like a few others, more onions from seed. Wellington and Bedfordshire Champion have done brilliant this year both multi and single sown. Also start harvesting when crops are a little smaller instead of being greedy and wanting them all to be maximum size. Nothing to be gained as they are all ready at the same time, and before you can use them all they are past their best. Although cabbages never wasted, the hens don''t mind what condition they are in so long as they're not slimy!

[1066]

Not bothering with autumn sown broad beans - complete waste of time.

Me too, after the last 2 years of not a lot to show for themselves it's back to Spring sown for me!

not sure whether or not to bother with aubergines again

less spuds - we really don't eat many

oh and less courgettes - been a bumper year, after a couple of years of having decent amounts this year has been a year of ridiculous amounts  :-X

[The Widge]

I shall be investing in a greenhouse of some description & growing tomatoes in there, rather than outside.  I'll also be starting stuff off earlier & growing a lot more onions, garlic & broad beans  :)

[Aden Roller]

I am going to design myself a sowing and transplanting calender..then stick to it.

XX Jeannine

A very good idea!!  ;)

Each year I set out to keep accurate records of when I sow and transplant but it usually goes to pot when I get busy. Notes are typed into my allotment diary but it takes for ever to read through and find them the following year.  ::)

Next year (if all goes well) I will sow back-ups and take a chance planting out earlier.

I also have a new larger garden to plan.  :)

[carbonel11]

I am going to plant less potatos and stick to no more than three varieties.
I am going to dig out half my blackberries and one of my josta berry bushes and replant area with apple and pear
cordons.
I will try to get broad beans in earlier with a distinct second planting later.
Want a fig tree and a vine but have to work out space issues
And somewhere far of in the future some flowers, sweet pea, glads and dahlias  :)

[Sparkly]

I was always say stick to my planting plan, but I never do! Plant more onions and garlic on our 2nd plot as the soil conditions seem better there and they did really well. Get the seeds in earlier again or at least remember to go and water them regularly if they get planted in the dry season! Our germination of some things was pretty naff.

[brownowl23]

Me not plant as many varieties of potatoes, and only do very few earlies.

PLant more carrots in sucession. More parsnips as no 2 son loves them. Mpre sweetcorn. More tomatoes. More onions.

Prune vine!

Oh and parents  (not trying to kick the bucket) permitting have more time on plot next year!!!!!

[Digeroo]

Water the beetroot more.  More raspberries - though I am hoping this will happen naturally.  Less digging.  Put more straw round strawberries.  Plant more in cloches and so get more veg in June.  Erect the greenhouse.  Hoping to cover part of garden in strawbales with plastic underneath to discourage bindweed.   Great crop of autumn onion will plant more.  No more aurumn broadies - waste of space.

[mickhindle]

Not use Manure that is unknowingly full of Fat Hen seeds!!!!!! I've grown more Fat Hen than fruit & Veg!

[Gadget]

Maybe plan what I'm going to grow instead of randoming planting :)

In total agreement about courgettes 2 maximum, maybe do the roundy yellow one and one normal one  ;D

[Borlotti]

Not pick, dig up veg before they are ready, I am so impatient.

[Aden Roller]

Maybe plan what I'm going to grow instead of randoming planting :)

In total agreement about courgettes 2 maximum, maybe do the roundy yellow one and one normal one  ;D

I tried the globe shaped ones this year and I'm very pleased I did. I've had some yellows and some green ones. They seem a in a bit less of a hurry to turn into monsters than the traditional long ones.

[Mr Smith]

I will be on the lotty more frequently after I finish work next March sorry after being made redundant next March, hope to have a better plan for next year and try varieties that I have not grown and hopefully I won't have to wait for the water tap to attach my hose on, 

[triffid]

Yes, yes yes to success through successional planting! I am so bad at this -- at least, I remember at first, then as the season really kicks in, I forget and forget...  :-[

And yes, to green manures too in every available patch of soil next year, even if I'm digging the plants in only half-grown. The difference in the corners where I've grown and dug-in two crops of green manure this year is amazing (works wonders on soil heavy with London clay).

Then... more Stupice toms -- it's my first year with them and they were ready a full month ahead of anyone else's, even other plotholders' greenhouse toms! Fantastic.

More parsnips, leeks and shallots, more raspberries (better than strawbs for us because they freeze so amazingly that there's just no such thing as a glut).

Be brave and try sweetcorn again (gave up this year having had three rotten years and am now being taunted by everyone else's wonderful plumping cobs on our site  ::)

More herbs... more flowers (this is a gradual evolution rather than a sudden change).

I think I'll be reigning back on spuds, except for my personal favourite, Pink Fir Apple. All the other spud varieties that I've tried and liked have also been top of the menu for slugs! And I've not yet found a Sarpo spud I really like, so it'll be nice not to worry about blight striking. 

Re courgettes: been adding every year (having realised that two plants just doesn't do it in the Triffid household  ;D)
This year I seem to have got it about right: three yellow, one round "de Nice", two Lebanese and two "Firenze" (regular dark green). Except for the round ones, it's meant I can pick all the others small and sweet.

[non-stick]

More peas is a good shout and definitely work on the successional planting. Getting better but still not got it right