Hi All
Well this being our first full year on the plot we had very
good results with every thing we planted.
Onions
Garlic
Caulis
Leeks
Parsnips
Shallots
Beetroot
Sweetcorn
Swede
Turnip
Lettuce
Spring Onion
Green Beans
Celery
Potato - Arron Pilot , Wilja , Desiree
Courgetes
Sweet Peppers
Chillis
Herbs Coriander, Parsley, Basil, Thyme
Disappointments
Tomato (Greenhouse) Not a very good crop
Carrots very hit & miss with germination
Sprouts riddled with caterpillar larve so
lost the lot , will be netting them next year.
But i dont think we did to bad & now planning
for next year cant wait
Bill....
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Very mixed. Good for apples and garlic, lousy for bees. But most years are pretty mixed.
Generally very good. Potato crops were small but very tasty crops of everything else fairly average apart fom runner bean Lady Di which cropped exceptionly (watered daily) and tomato San Marzano 2 which produced a HUGE ;D yield of very large toms every one of which ripened outside on the vine. You wouldn't get that in an average summer. :)
every year brings one or two disappointments but every year also brings amazing wonders as well - this year poor peas and parsnips (both caught in the strange weather), carrots not very good, globe artichokes didn't yield well and it was almost impossible keeping lettuces alive in the extreme heat but everything else wonderful with still so much to look forward to but if I hadn't watered well during the drought things would have been different. Fruit has been exceptional and my top veg would have to be beetroot, cucs, sprouts, leeks and all the brassicas
Only started in January and very new to all this so mixed bag really.
Lots of cherry tomatoes in pots in garden and aubergines in pots at home also where great - put two outside earlier than the others and these didn't fruit at all so next year will keep them all inside until really warm.
On plot - garlic was okay as it only went in around late Jan so it wasn't massive - have just planted this years so fingers crossed. Red onions bolted but are still being used - very strong!
Some lettuces were good - little gem particularly and trays of cut and come in the conservatory. Carrots were pathetic - very hit and miss germination all through the summer.
I had three gooseberries from a stick someone gave me! Could have had lots of rhubarb but it being the first year I was very good and left it alone!
Only had first early potatoes this year (Epicure) not overly impressed with yield but this could just be my inexperience! Am going for Charlotte I think next year. Asparagus was planted but of course couldn't touch that!! :P
Runner beans did nothing for weeks and weeks but suddenly they came alive and I am still picking! PSB is there but covered in grey aphids so will need spraying - did I read somewhere on here about garlic and washing up liquid ??? - cabbage plants are tiny still.
Managed 5 butternut squash from three plants - my mum had loads from her three - but mine were on a piece of land that hadn't had anything done to it for years so next year lots of muck! I picked the 5 yesterday and am ripening them in the conservatory as worried now about the cold nights.
Self-blanching celery is a total waste of time - just leaves so won't bother with that again. Sweetcorn got eaten before it was ripe enough to pick.
I have just found some swede that I forgot I had sown - was merrily weeding away and noticed a row of what looked like giant radish leaves hiding!
All in all for first year I am so pleased I started - I can escape there and was only yesterday saying it is the one place I go where I don't think about anything! I just switch off completely - bliss! I am so glad I eventually got a shed - I would be lost without it now - and also as we don't have any water on site - I had to have a water butt - now on look out for a second. Resident rat in compost bin is beginning to annoy me so will have to sort that out. Have decided I much prefer gardening in the winter to the summer - far too hot to be up there this year and besides the ground was too hard to do anything with - blowy, nose-running days I can cope with once I'm wrapped up - and as I have the shed this year I'm quite looking forward to hiding in there with a cuppa!
And finding A4A - a great achievement! Thanks for everyone who posted advice! ;D
This year was very good. No pests, no blight and no theft of pumpkins.
Only 3 courgettes and 4 aubergines, but other crops were abundant: french beans, runner beans, broad beens, asparagus, onions, various tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, red, black and white berries, brambles, raspberries, various sweet peppers, chillis, oriental greens, etc. etc.
A full freezer, lots of jam and twelve very large pumpkins in my sitting room.
And thanks to the advise on this site, there are still things growing: a late variety of carrots, corn salad, winter cabbages, leeks and lettuce.
srping onions - blimey! fantastic; will cluster sow in posts next year and plant out tho' as weeds were causing a problem.
Courgettes -still picking babys, very pleased.
Tomatoes - plated seedlings too late so earlier next year
Potatoes - relatively small crop and lots of complaints about peeling tiddlers (don't see what's wrong with a good scrub meself)
carrots - 1st sowing, not may germinated. 2nd sowing (in late August) good germination.
Cabbages - poor germination, protection and weeding ability, but pleased with the way they look at the moment - ate one last night!
Sprouts - going well and probably too close together.
broad B's - very good.
Peas - more support and more sowing needed
french beans - poor
borlotti, poor until 4 weeks ago and now have loads off a few plants.
On the whole, things are doing alot better than I expected. It's the first time for alot of plants for me so am foolishly thrilled when things work. Next year I'll be able to be a bit more gung-ho about sowing and try not to eke out my seeds to the 9th degree!
I shall also get a shed and - hopefully - a greenhouse.
What did make it trough the lack of rain was good, but some things totally failed this year,
Broad Beans - had two failed sowings early on, but tried again and had a really good crop.
Peas - complete disaster, came up looked OK for a week or so then all got eaten by somthing.
Onions - hardly any white rot this year, not very big but very strong flavour.
Shallots - very good, again no white rot and had a very good crop.
Carrots - very good, still pulling them from first sowing. Not much forking this year, i spent ages preparing the bed, making sure it was nice and loose.
Parsnips - one failed sowing early on (except for a few), second sowing very good - they look OK so far.
French beans - dont normally grow these, but stuck some in where the failed peas had been, had a bumper crop.
Swede - Good crop, loads left to pull. This year i grew them in cells first - this made a big difference in success rate.
Runners - Very slow to get going - but not too bad in the end.
Gourgettes - As usual i grew too many plants - my kitchen cupboard is full of marrows.
Melons - were going very well - had one to eat and it was amazing, then some scrote nicked the rest.
Sweetcorn - 80% of first sowing totally failed to germinate ! Planted some more and got a resonable crop, although 20% not properly polinated.
Spuds - Earlies, Arran Pilot - died off early very poor crop. Cherie - very good crop.
Spuds - Mains, Cara - very good, no slug damage, lots of tubers though not quite as big as other years. Desiree - OK, not very big this year, but still plenty.
Cabbages - Had a few which were very good, then someone attacked some of them with a shot gun, the rest got sunburnt.
Sprouts - looking very good so far
Purple Sprouting - looking very good so far
Strawberries - Heavy crop again - but did'nt crop for as long as last year. Must start new bed off.
Tomates - Best crop so far, still eating them. Lots of the cherries split after picking though.
Leeks - looking good at the moment.
Weeds - Dispite my best efforts i had a bumper crop, as usual they seemed to thrive on constant weeding, hoeing and lack of rain.
This was my first year on a half-plot (next year maybe the full plot?) and I'll never be buying potatoes from the supermarkets again :)
Also had peas, couple of varieties of leeks, carrots, parsnips, fennel, more leeks, beans, pak choi, broccoli, psb, strawberries, loads of tomatoes in the greenhouse but those outside got blighted, hundreds of chillies (oh dear!), sweetcorn, onions of various types, garlic and shallots and did I mention the leeks? Also saved myself £60 a month by cancelling the gym.
Looking forward to next year!
Jon
well theres always next year