Topic: 2012 crops - Has anyone had any particularly good yields/results??

[Debs]

 It has been a really poor year from seed sowing disasters to poor growth due to weather conditions.
But has anyone had any fruit or veg successes??

I have had plentiful amounts of rhubarb, potatoes grown in bags have produced good results, and thornless blackberry bush has got masses of fruit slowly ripening.
Curly kale is also growing brilliantly & hasn't suffered with caterpillars - possibly because there seems to be a distinct lack of butterflies

What are the experiences of  A4A peeps?

Debs

[goodlife]

Gooseberries...I had 'tons' of them. So far I've only lifted some of my potatoes and Charlotte's have not failed to perform again.
Peppers..loads to ripen and even if they don't I've got plenty of green fruit to eat.

I've had some other crops that have done ok..not particularly well or exceptional,just ok..BUT..I have more failures than success this year.. ::) Even I have been moaning the year on every other post, I glad for what I have been cropping and there is still plenty to crop..not all over yet!  ;) ;D

[5rod]

hi all
 yes ive had a very good crop of potatoes,should not boast but only 3
of us out of 50 on the alloment  had potatoes this year,frist i put second early in in feb
we had very bad floodings but mine were ok. then my main crop was so big
that i had to give lots away,the potatoes were sarp axona .first class spud.
good luck to all for next year
                                    5 rod

[Bing]

I had tooo many broad beans, and now runner beans, I just pull and throw away them at the moment.

[ed dibbles]

Broad beans did well for me too. Fantastic celery that loved all the wet. Parsnip and salsify looking excellent along with oca and yacon. Lettuce, endive, kohl rabi perpetual spinach/chard along with cauliflowers and picked a nice crop of komatzuna last week (only took a month!).

Carrots are finally being harvested.

Runners finally doing their stuff along with promising looking brussels, cabbages, broccoli. leeks, swede and kale. Winter radishes and spinach are looking good too.

Not forgetting the jeruselem artichokes either ;)

Soft fruit a success too, also some grapes in a few weeks.

There have been some serious failures - potatoes and onions, beetroot to name three.

But still have things to eat so not too many  complaints overall ;)

[gwynnethmary]

Lovely big blackberries and tons of them, broad beans, French beans and runner beans good, but no peas came up at from two sowings.  Everything being later has actually worked in my favour, as stuff that usually gets past its best while we're away in Sweden is just at its peak as we've come back. 

[Borlotti]

Raspberries doing very well, and I can't take much credit for that, as they just look after themselves.  The blackberries growing wild around the site are rubbish this year, last year they were brill. Sweet peas also brilliant this year, apart from that not a lot.  Might have plenty of pears, if they don't drop off the tree before they are ready.  Normally manage to bring something home even if it is only the one small carrot I grew. 

[Mrs Ava]

Runner beans, French beans and peas have been amazing and we have more beans than we can manage so the neighbours are pleased.  Raspberries weren't huge this year, but there were masses of them.  Lettuces (little gem) were fab, but bulked up and bolted quicker than we could eat them, same with lollo rosso.  The top growth on the parsnips is fabulous so hopefully below ground with be good also.  The squashes are doing okay, lots of fruits although I have lost a couple of pumpkins due to rot. 

[Jeannine]

Yes, after all the searching for the  very large Gigandes beans and most not coming up to what I wanted, I ordered some genuine eating ones direct  from Greece, a whole KG. what I sowed  germinated very well and despite the rough weather we have had  the trellis they are on is loaded with bean pods with the correct size seeds in... I am so very happy now  as it has taken me 4 years to find replacemets for my lost seed stash.


Yeah!!

XX Jeannine

[Digeroo]

I have two rows of dwarf beans that are doing amazingly well.  The soil was hard and full of weeds and had been used as a path.   I chopped off the weeds, hoed off the top couple of inches and threw in the seeds.   I did not expect much, they were simply ground cover.  They are now 18" (1/2mtr) high and producing loads of beans.

[BarriedaleNick]

All in all it's not been a bad year for me with a couple of notable failures - onions and squash mainly.
Loads of beetroot, peas, beans, great cabbages, plenty or early spuds, carrots look good but only just started on them. Sweetcorn is tasty but not many of them, hardly got a cherry and soft fruit in general wasnt brilliant.
Plenty of cucumbers and lettuce and I even have a tomato glut now!

[goodlife]

Yes, after all the searching for the  very large Gigandes beans and most not coming up to what I wanted, I ordered some genuine eating ones direct  from Greece, a whole KG. what I sowed  germinated very well and despite the rough weather we have had  the trellis they are on is loaded with bean pods with the correct size seeds in... I am so very happy now  as it has taken me 4 years to find replacemets for my lost seed stash.
Yeah!!

Gosh..now that is what I call determination..nothing like getting them straight from the 'source'. You must have plenty left over to eat from that lot after sowing some to grow.. ;D

[Number Six]

All beans (broad, french and runner) have been excellent, as were the main crop onions (strange as the garlic and shallots were disappointing). Main crop spuds (Desiree) were also good but picked them fairly early. Just started eating the sweetcorn which is delicious (my first time with them). And Tayberries and Gooseberries were plentiful. However, couldn't grow a single edible radish(!) and have almost given up with the calabrese - sincerely hoping that the sprouts survive the current cataerpillar and slug attack.

[pigeonseed]

I had tooo many broad beans, and now runner beans, I just pull and throw away them at the moment.

Huuuh! (sharp intake of breath) Sounds such as waste - can't you let them ripen and save as shelling beans for soups and chillies in the winter?

I've had a lot of peas, they loved the weather. Apart from that, nothing has done very well.

But I haven't had to water anything very often - just the last few weeks were very hot and dry and so I did start watering towards the end, but then luckily we had some rain this weekend. So it's been a much easier summer than most.

[Number Six]

I had tooo many broad beans, and now runner beans, I just pull and throw away them at the moment.

The beans do freeze - assuming you have a freezer of course...

[manicscousers]

Loads of runners (3rd sowing) and dwarf french beans, beautiful peaches. Good amount of potatoes apart from some of the nadine's rotting due to blight. Lettuce, cucs ,spring onions, radish all did well, once we got the beer traps set up. Actually got some decent carrots and the parsnips are looking good. Lots of raspberries and gooseberries, loads of apples, discovery. Tomatoes coming out of our ears now and big sweetcorn but only 1 per plant. The strawberries were a bit tasteless but we had lots of rhubarb.The romanesco broccoli got slugged to death and there are loads of slugs but we're doing better than I thought we would  :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

My broadies were pathetic, and the climbing beans are only beginning to flower now. The dwarf beans were wiped out by slugs. The only one that did well was Wizard, a field bean from Real Seeds.

[non-stick]

Excellemt yields of soft fruit - gooseberries, blackcurrants, recurrants. Raspberries really starting to kick in as are the blackberries. Even had more blueberries than usual - that might be more down to me picking and eating the before the birds for a change. Spuds OK in spite of what looked like blight - got the tops off in time. Early peas were OK and the courgettes and runners are finally starting to go mad. Really good crop of beetroot again

Any squash I get this year will be a bonus as they sat and sulked for ages in the cold and damp. Everything else has been middling to awful. Although getting the first sweetcorn at the weekend was, as always, a lift.

[marcofez]

Salads & leaves done and still doing well. Courgettes, squashes, marketmore cues, beetroot, fennel, pentlan javelin & charlotte pots, all brassica ( I fib, cauli's rubbish) French & runner beans, onions & garlic. In fact most stuff ok. Only carrots was a failure after trying 3 times!

[manicscousers]

Oh, non-stick, I had forgotten about the blueberries, best year but they were put in a better place  ;D