Topic: This Seasons Failures

[Robert_Brenchley]

My climbing beans took ages to get going, with a cold June, repeated frosts, and the slugs rampant. They ran in the end, but I had them fleeced for ages, and I lost a lot.

[boydzfish]

Onions, shallots lost to white rot
Turnips didn't get one
Swede got 3 out of a whole row
Broccoli and sprouting was OK but went on holiday when they were at their best
Radish rubbish and beetroot was not very good
Tomatoes badly blighted but got quite a few
Also my sweet potato experiment failed
Sweetcorn also not too good.

But loads of lettuce, beans of all kinds and carrots with some winter kale and sprouting coming along nicely with still a few parsnips to pull.

There's always next year :D

[Aden Roller]

Onions, shallots lost to white rot
Turnips didn't get one
Swede got 3 out of a whole row
Broccoli and sprouting was OK but went on holiday when they were at their best
Radish rubbish and beetroot was not very good
Tomatoes badly blighted but got quite a few
Also my sweet potato experiment failed
Sweetcorn also not too good.

But loads of lettuce, beans of all kinds and carrots with some winter kale and sprouting coming along nicely with still a few parsnips to pull.

There's always next year :D

Here's wishing you good luck for next year.

I think many of us are hoping for a better one!

[Number Six]

Was happy with spuds, cauliflowers, garlic, shallots, onions and salad stuffs various. However, sprouts were a disaster (over watering?) and just discovered that half my swedes are deformed (look like an out-take from a Blackadder sketch).

[kt.]

Swede - years ago i tried direct sowing swede and results were abysmal so i switched to sowing and transplanting from seed tray modules.   Success was great.  The past 2 years other plotholders had started having success with direct sowing so i tried that again this year..... and got nothing.  Back to modules from next year and will be sticking with it.

[Mrs Ava]

I'm with you KT.  Modules for my turnips and beetroot have produced an abundance.  Will do the same with swede next year, and just about everything else!!

[pumkinlover]

I find modules work for me!
Taken years to get good turnips but did well this year.

[tim41]

As a first time plotholder I was surprised that every thing I grow did well. The only thing that did not do well was our carrots. They was disformed. But my mums rabbit had them. And she said that the rabbit looked at them and wounded what they was.

[gazza1960]

Im intrigued on the modules Pumpkinlover,as we had read that a lot of sub soil veggies cant take transplanting
from mods so therefore just dig the seeds straight in.

If I thought Turnips ,carrots ,Beetroots,swedes  etc tolerated it I would try it again this season if the success rates
are worth the effort...or is it just particular "strong" varieties you have found worked.

apols for taking my own Question off at a tangent  !!!!!!!! :P

Gazza

[Digeroo]

I am also interested in growing roots in modules, I did not do very well with beetroot this year.  I do not see this as off at a tangent, after all what is the point in a thread on failures if there are no solutions? 

I have had a lot of problems in the past with carrot germination but now I put about an inch deep lay of recycled compost  and sow on top with just a light sprinkily to cover.  Had brilliant germination.  I do not think the slugs travel well over it.

[realfood]

I do not think that it is worth the bother of sowing in modules for root crops, as the roots can be damaged if you leave them in the modules too long.
Most of the failures in germination of root crops are probably due to either duff seed, soil too cold, bed not kept moist or slug and snail damage. I always have slug protection down from the start.

[Aden Roller]

I am also interested in growing roots in modules, I did not do very well with beetroot this year.  I do not see this as off at a tangent, after all what is the point in a thread on failures if there are no solutions? 

I have had a lot of problems in the past with carrot germination but now I put about an inch deep lay of recycled compost  and sow on top with just a light sprinkily to cover.  Had brilliant germination.  I do not think the slugs travel well over it.

I've only ever tried carrots straight in the ground - need lots of tlc (watering) until they're established. Beetroot on the otherhand works very well in modules. Advantages are I plant them out exactly where I want them, none are wasted and it's so much easier to sow successionally to get a worthwhile crop over a long period of time from just two or three lots of modules. No fiddly thinning out and weeding is easier if they are well spaced.

[artichoke]

It's strange. I have never grown swedes because they are dirt cheap anywhere.

But on my first husband's farm, we grew them for the sheep, and on Christmas Day my job was to peel, cook and mash some swedes for Christmas Dinner. We had MASSES to choose from.

Is it a question of scale? If we grow a short row on an allotment we may have failures and gaps, but if we grow an acre or two, we and the sheep will have plenty to share? I don't remember that we took much care of the land apart from spreading pig muck.

[manicscousers]

Our best this year were sowed in a seed bed then transplanted  :)

[pumkinlover]

Gazza- every book I read says not to transplant root crops ;D
I started doing it to get the earlier crops going and find it works. Later easy crops I may sow on a seed bed but I generally like my modules. I try and get the roots pointing down by using a dibber to plant. Another advantage is I just plant out what I need, and can give away the rest.

[green lily]

Unbelievably my parsnips are rubbish [back to gladiator next yr], the overwintering onions failed because i intercropped with sprouts- how stupid was that..... ::)
The runners eventually set but the site was too dry- big ditch of compost next year.  ;)
No melons coz i planted 2 lots of cue seed [That's wot happens when you get old and stupid ???].
No blackcurrants coz the pigeons got them..hmm, one pigeon is pie we'll get the others next yr.
Some leeks off to seed coz I sowed too early.
But carrots are brill, toms still delivering in poly but slowing now, pots v.good and next yrs challenge is TPS [ if I've saved it ok] and onions from seed ;D
Isn't gardening great!!