Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: bison1947 on July 20, 2007, 22:36:09
-
Well this is our second full year on the plot & last year more
or less everythig we grew was a great sucsess but this year
so much has gone wrong due i think to the weather.
Spuds had Blight , Garlic not bulbing up , Peas dying after a few
pickings ,Shallots not to good and to top it all half the plot crawling
with marestail.
Although we are getting some good results
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,33610.0.html
Still a little disapointed but then maybe am i expecting to much
i think reality has hit me this season that dont expect the same every season
Bill....
-
Every year will be different. Different challenges thanks to the weather, pests or diseases. Some years, for no apparent reason, some crops will fail. Seeds refuse to germinate or vandals trash the lot. But this is the challenge, and joy of being an allotmenteer. Us hardened growers of fruit, veg, herbs and flowers, we learn to take the good with the bad. So my tomatos have blight, but I have never had such a supperb crop of french beans! And my rhubarb, I could use one stem as a golfing umbrella they have grown so vast! Every year, I say to my darling, 'that's it, this is the last year I battle on' and every year I come home with a joyful smile on my face and a bag of goodies, then moan like hell about all the things being eaten, diseased or vanishing. Take the downs with a pinch of salt, rejoice in your successes!
-
Wow EJ ever thought of being a politician ...?
Derek :D
-
Wow!!! From the foto...it looks like you're doing ok though. This is our 1st year..didn't get plot till late april, so ..so far...only a few tatoes..a few carrots,onions,beetroots. Not enough of anything to make a fully home grown meal yet! Try not to be to disheartened. :)
-
I'm not disheartened - we've had a few Raspberries, a few Broadies and just started on some spuds! But that's it so far this year, but then I think of people who have lost their whole crops in the flooding, (and those that have lost alot more), and I think........mmmmmmmmmmm a single home grown raspberry, with a dollop of ice-cream (Homemade) how lucky am I!!! :D
-
To answer your bison....I am extremely disheartened. Like you this is my second full year ( a lone female of mature years) and yesterdays rain brought the third flood. Not much left growing now apart from some sweet corn , but that has been rather flattened by the wind from yesterday. On the postive side, have several plant pots on a table on the plot in which I set some bean seeds and some spinach seeds a couple of weeks a go, they should fill up some of the space if/ when the waters go down. At least it isn't my house, but it is heart breaking and several tears have been shed over it I can tell you. Will the sun be shining at christmas do you think?
-
Not me, I am not disheartened, I think gardening is a bit feast and famine anyway so we rejoice when some stuff is scarce and we find a little that we didn't think we had.
I think the hardest thing for me is all the physical work John has struggled to do, plodding on day after day and it has all gone to waste,that does make me sad.
Still, looking forward to next year, and compared to all the distress I am surrounded by in Hull I feel quite fortunate really.
Hang in there, another year is just around the corner,a good frost, followed by a nice Spring sunshine and it will all be history ,we will be refreshed and ready to go again next time.
XX Jeannine
-
Despite all of the setbacks I`m still chirpy. My soil is so free draining it`s nice to see it moist. The biggest let down are the herbs-basil is rubbish,and most about everything has been slug damaged.
-
Everything's going wrong for me at the moment; the latest is another flood yesterday. But for the long term, I'm not discouraged at all. Next year will bring different problems, but at least I'll have got settled into my job, and be organised again.
-
Don't think I'm ever settled or organised Robert but despite the blight and things I've still got lots growing well..
8)
-
As of today my dahlias are 6 inches under water ! but we are not, but the Wye has now burst it's banks.
-
I may plant rice next year
-
If global warming continues I have my eyes on Ginger and Water Chesnuts!!!
;D
-
Hey Saddad , I grow ginger now!!
-
I'm not disheartened, but am a llittle sad that this will be my last year for a while and it's been a dissapointing one. We will be moving house in June next year, so there is no point in me even starting anything off next spring. :(
-
Jeannine, how do you grow ginger?
-
Not disheartened but find that the weather has affected most vegetables. It is as if they are waiting for better weather. Plants are growing but not much and no fruit/root/head growing. My best crop has been lettuce and in truth I did not plant those. The seeds were from the compost heap.
My onions are the best they have ever been (Wilko's last minute job). My broad beans were good for about three weeks then they turned brown and the small pods did not develop.
We still have September ::)
Bill Door
-
Ginger. I buy a fresh root from the supermarket and plant it in a large pot, it will grow into quite a good houseplant, I use the green shoots rather like using chives however you can grow it on and harvest the rhizomes later. If you grow into a big plant it is a perennial ,grows to 4 feet,they are tender but will grow well in a conservatory. I would grow this in a tub.Rhizomes will be ready after about 10 minths if it grows and matures well. XX Jeannine
-
Thanks Jeannine, will buy some tomorrow...lol Is this the same as the 'ginger lily'? or is that a totally different plant? I confess that I grow very few flowers apart from the wild ones
-
The only reason I am slightly disheartened is that I haven't been able to do as much on the lotties as I usually do. After stressful days at work I usually find my hour on the lottie in the evening saves my sanity and gets me in a god mood for the next day. It also has the added bonus that through the summer I lose weight with the amount of physical work I do working the soil etc.
This year - my stress levels are a little higher and I have retained my winter pudding layer - but the sun shone today and I managed to have a potter around so spirits lifted. Back out again in a couple of minutes - I only came back for a cup of tea. :)
-
I'm not disheartened at all, when things dont work it just gives me something to think about for the next year.
Imagine if growing stuff was like this....
you put one seed in the ground and it grows exactly in its place to the right size,
you never ever get weeds,
nothing is ever diseased,
its always the same weather every year
.... whats the point, I wouldn't bother.
For me its the challenge of gardening thats interesting not the success and thats probably true of almost everybody.
-
Not disheartened at all; this is my first year so everything I've managed to grow has been a bonus. OK the onions look a bit pathetic, tomatoes are a goner and all the brassicas got eaten...but it's all good experience.
On the plus side, carrots, peas and blackcurrants are amazing, and it looks as though the beans will be good too.
I am mainly frustrated by the lack of opportunity to get down there....every free evening/weekend seems to coincide with a monsoon. This means that unfortunately my plot does not exactly resemble the lovely neat, sundrenched, weedfree pictures in my books...ah well....next year.... 8)
-
The ginger I grow is just the supermarket ginger that is used in cooking,I ma sorry I don't know the lily XX Jeannine
-
Though I havn't lost any crops yet (though the gherkins are looking grim) my plot is floodedyet again and there will soon be no hope of planting winter maturing crops. I am not disheartened as such I have been gardening too long for that but being retired a large chunk of my daily life has been removed since for the best part of the last three months there has been absolutely nothing I could do on the lottie :'(
-
I started ginger as described by Jeanne (cut into three pieces), but during a tidy up in early May my OH put the pot outside, where it has remained ever since. Despite this, green shoots have now appeared so I'm hoping for a flower eventually. I think the tropical conditions (downpours and heat) suit it!
-
The ginger I grow is just the supermarket ginger that is used in cooking,I ma sorry I don't know the lily XX Jeannine
What volume of crop do you get from 1 plant? I always fancied growing ginger but would be put off if you only got 1 tiny root!
-
Imagine if growing stuff was like this....
you put one seed in the ground and it grows exactly in its place to the right size,
you never ever get weeds,
nothing is ever diseased,
its always the same weather every year
.... whats the point, I wouldn't bother.
For me its the challenge of gardening thats interesting not the success and thats probably true of almost everybody.
This puts it all into perspective 'sawfish'..... wouldn't it be boring, but just once I would like my seeds to come up in a staright row, just where i had set them, for thema ll to grow tall and produce a bumper crop...just once. It never happens as i am absolutely useless at growing from seed
-
Larkspur, is there anything you could start off in modules?
The reason I ask is that we started a thread on the Swap Shop specifically to offer seeds to peeps who'd lost their allotment/ garden produce due to the floods (and thanks to Irish Digger for reactivating the subject):
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,33551.0.html
PM me if I have anything you can use.
And if you need a list of what you can still get growing -
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,33549.0.html
-
Jeannine, Thanks for the advice on growing ginger, I`m off to the supermarket tommorrow to buy some ginger.
-
I only grow ginger for the greennow but have grown tubers overseas , in the Asian veggie book I have it says:
Ginger can grow to 4 feet.
Leaves, shoots,flowers and tubers are edible.
How to grow. Gingers are tender deciduous perrenials that need long warm humid summers or a conservatory or greenhouse in a cooler climate.
They prefer bright light to hot sun so should be planted in a warm but shady position.
They need moist soil with good drainage as they will rot in cold wet soil., but keep well watered.
In cooler areas start in the house and only put outside when warmed up. Bring the pot inside if the weather turns cold.
It takes about 9 months to harvest tubers.
Buy them from Oriental markets preferably withgood growth buds visible.
The same book has instructions for growing waterchestnuts by the way and lemon grass.
XX Jeannine
-
They prefer bright light to hot sun so should be planted in a warm but shady position.
So that's why mine is looking a bit brown and shrivelled on the edges. I'll get it out of the greenhouse now!
cj :)
-
me too after battling my way on the tube and train I get an hour at home and its tending to be raining at the mo....I swear the slugs on my plot are the size of squirrels! :-\
-
Cheer up everyone - anyone would think that summer was finished. Being an optimist - hey there are lots of things that you can plant now for later crops!
Plan what you are going to do for next year! You can move things around - dig the deep beds that you have been planning to do for years but never had the space because they have always been ful - Life is for living - yes some of you have had a really bad time - but you would probably be suicidal if you didn't have your lottie to go to!
So Cheer up - It is not the end of the world - The sun will come out soon and we will all be more cheerful.!!!
Good luck to all who have lost stuff - but chin up and help someone worse off than yourselves - that always helps.
Old Bird
::)
-
Disheartened ?
Peas went yellow sitting in water
Blight on my potatoes,possibly now on my tomatoes
Mildew on my onions
Chocolate spot on my broad beans
Weeds everywhere!
Courgettes rot after growing only a few inches
Im not bitter or disheartened........just wish i could lay my hands on a flame thrower ;) ;D