What veg Are you total failure at this season?
Lets hear some more tales of failure.
Maybe you will learn what not to do by reading all the tales of woe.
What a novel notion! Why don't you start?
I'd like to welcome you on board this great informative site but I'm having problems getting my head around your name? Wish or promise?? ;D ;D :P
Anyway my failure this season was my swedes. Planted too early, got too hot and bolted. Not too serious: I can live without them given all te other great produce. Actually this has been a bit of a bumper year otherwise. 8)
my first season on my (our!) allotment, cauli's were a serious failure, kolh rabi didn't appear (poor germination?) onions were OK..ish I won't overwinter them again (too wet). Apart from that lots to learn but chuffed to bits! ;D
Tomatoes (like most people), however to add insult to injury, came down this morning to find that the few remaining san marzanoes were savaged in their bowl by our newest residents (mice)!
For the first time at growing anything i am very pleased with the "general", outcome although my onions were a total loss, really small, I let the weeds get out of control while getting the lottie up and running while also trying to plant as much as possible. So I have learned the valuable lesson. WEED WEED WEED WEED.
I got my allotment in March and have been working on it hard most weekends. I didn't think I would get any vegetables in this year but I managed to grow quite a few.
My biggest failure were the tomatoes~I lost them to blight. I had to dig them up. I picked the green ones off and I am still waiting to see how they fair.
My other failure was rocket. The seedlings appeared and faded away and I dont really know why. I think I might get three parnips if I am lucky.
The successes have outweighed the failures and I have learnt so much during this first year on my new allotment.
Duke
Fennel - all bolted so far have a few in the wings, so may still get some, fingers crossed.
Garlic - don't know what happened the leaves simply started dieing two weeks after planting out no signs of disease, they still formed cloves but got no bigger than a large marble very strange :-\. I will plant more in November so hope to have a harvest next summer.
Chinese leaves - was a major learning curve probably got 3 good heads, but didn't realise they were such a pest magnet, first the slugs and then the caterpillars. Cleaning them to cook was so gross full of pests and their sh*t :-X, so next year plan to use the coffee 'tea' brew i learned here to clear the ground of slugs and also grow under netting, to keep the butterflies off.
Here is the link to the coffee brew slug clearer in case anyone wants to check it out:
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,4440.0.html (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,4440.0.html)
Welcome to the site nbg :)
Worst two failures were losing my outside plum tomatoes to blight for the second year on the trot. Swore I would never grow toms outside again but a little voice from my son said "but I gave you a passata machine for Christmas". Oh dear, plan B.
The other was that during the last couple of weeks we were all too busy to look closely at the brassicas - only to find that most of the sprouts and all the kale had been stripped to skeletons by the caterpillars.
Oh yes, and the fruit trees didn't do at all well either.
Otherwise, no complaints, it's been a pretty good year in other respects. :) :)
What about you, nbg, any disasters this year ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
actually, no failures this year. Course I don't grow caulis, and I'm not silly enough to try Celery any more, and the Celeriac doesn't count, as i've got it on someone elses plot, and there's the Fennel, which can still go either way
It is very reassuring to know that I'm not the only one to preside over allotment disasters! I got my teeny tiny plot in March and most things have grown well (despite me mucking about with them), with the exception of my onions, which just sat there and produced nothing but an inch of green on each, my 12 PSB have been turned to skeletons by the horrid caterpillars and the rocket that I planted mysteriously turned into some very nice red lettuce.
TOMATOES!
welcome nbg
winter onions, really great last year total rubbish this
carrots 1st lot got at by (rabbits??)
beetroot didn,t grow past baby ones (just seem to give up)
beans were very slow but have turned up trumps
parsnip and swedes are looking very good
cauli,s terrible but they never do well on our site
brassicas holding their own against most pests so far! I have found most winter brassicas get over pest damage once the frost kills the pests off so don,t give up on the sprouts yet
marg
Tomatoes, cleared the plants yesterday after coming back from a weekend away to find that blight had hit.
:( :(
1) Cherry Tomatoes are not too bad but main toms are almost non existant.
2) Overwintering garlic produced one bulb about the size of a pickled onion from 8 sown.
3) No apples on one of the trees. The other has tons.
I was home last week for 11 days and everything else was doing well, my OH & kids have been eating stuff as it was ready. Will see about the rest when I get back at Christmas though everything else seemed to be doing OK..... so far.
lost our gladiis to thrip,tomatoes to blight,otherwise we seem to have done pretty good,given that its our first year! enjoyed huge caulis,beetroot,spuds,rocket,dahlia,sunflowers were giants! rocket still going strong,as are cabbages,got tons of spuds,onions,pumpkins going great,shall i go on? x
Quote from: ktlawson on September 02, 2008, 12:03:00
I was home last week for 11 days
I know things are bad, but when did the government bring in an 11 day week? :D
Hugely expensive Carmen F1 cucumber seeds (actually I got them as the free packet with any ten other packets) - germinated 4 seeds (100%), 100% damped off. The only seedlings to damp off this year! ???
Could be worse - I might have paid a fiver for them :)
Main failure has been not acting quickly enough to prevent bindweed damaging the raspberries.
Quote from: Barnowl on September 02, 2008, 12:30:04
Hugely expensive Carmen F1 cucumber seeds germinated 4 seeds (100%), 100% damped off. The only seedlings to damp off this year! ???
2 of my Carmen died but the one that survived did really well. I will definitley be planting them again. (£4.50 for 5 seeds from Exhibition Seeds as opposed to everywhere else who charges around £8)
Quote from: Rhubarb Thrasher on September 02, 2008, 12:28:10
I know things are bad, but when did the government bring in an 11 day week? :D
You know how it is. Every job has its perks ;D
I don't think I would 'over winter' onions again, way too small, but still usable. Plus would plant proper garlic cloves, still I did get usable sizes, enough for two ;D
Three packets later, and still only have three parsnips to fight over at Christmas ::)
Hi Lauren, it's interesting what you say about the onions being small as mine are too and this is the first time I have over-wintered them. The chap on the next door allotment has the most wonderful big onions, he grew them from Stuttgart Giant, I am going to look out for them next year.
And you have beaten me with the parsnips, I've only got two! Still have loads in the freezer from last year but I would have liked to be able to freeze some more....
T.
Tomatoes - all got blight
Fennel - I won't try again, it just bolts and bolts and I didn't get one bulb.
Melons - but I will try a friend's suggestion of growing under fleece next year.
Not a brilliant harvest but I got a fair amount of potatoes, onions, shallots, the garlic is small but tasty and the brassica look very promising so far. Excellent fruit harvest too.
There is always next year!!
Quote from: ktlawson on September 02, 2008, 12:31:24
(£4.50 for 5 seeds from Exhibition Seeds as opposed to everywhere else who charges around £8)
Try http://www.plantsofdistinction.co.uk/acatalog/A-Z_of_Vegetables_CUCUMBER.html (http://www.plantsofdistinction.co.uk/acatalog/A-Z_of_Vegetables_CUCUMBER.html) 6 seeds for £3.50
..but as I mentioned, if you order a lot of seed from T&M (10 packets I think it was) you are allowed to specify a free packet, whatever you like.
I will have another go next year although I'm really pleased with Petita F1 (half sized cukes)
PS Moles Seeds are the cheapest, but have a minimum order of 25 seeds
I made the fatal error of being careless with the fleece over my brassicas-all now just skeletons,but they might grow back.
Melons were a complete failure.
Quite a few folk seem to have trouble with florence fennel-Have you tried the variety `Rudy`-it works for me
Tomatoes!!!!
And peppers - first lot didn't germinate; second lot did, but were eaten by snails; 3rd lot got to the 3" pot stage before they, too, were eaten! Only 1 person on our plot had any spare, and he generously gave me a couple, but by the time they were ready to plant out in the GH I'd run out of potting compost and put my back out so I couldn't lift anything for several weeks. They're still sitting in 4" pots and are unlikely to produce anything, especially as we're now nicely into autumn!
Apart from that, a bumper year for lots of crops. I've even got a good crop of carrots, which are very difficult on our London clay. Mind you, I've only just started lifting the main-crop potatoes as it's so wet, so I expect the slugs are having a field day!
Quote from: Trevor_D on September 02, 2008, 13:50:22
Tomatoes!!!!
And peppers ........ They're still sitting in 4" pots and are unlikely to produce anything, especially as we're now nicely into autumn!
Stick them on a windowsill - cut them back to about a 6" stem and pot them on in a month or so when they start to sprout again - chillies for Christmas :)
Ho hum, the moment of truth - what was a failure this (my first year)?
Pak Choi 1st planting bolted, second planting eaten by slugs, and third and absolutely last planting taken ages to germinate and now just sitting there.
Winter onions - I'll never bother again, high windy Cornish hillsides don't suit 'em
Organic Butternut Squash - germinated 12, gave away 8 (silly me). two of mine eaten through stem by slugs the other two, lots of growth, no flowers, nada (but courgettes a-plenty)
Beans - several kinds, very few flowers, pitiful crop, put it down to weather
Potatoes - on the Monday, looking great by the Wednesday blight had got the lot!!! Urrgg
Outdoor Toms - why bother? They all sulked for ages (weather) then got blighted.
Beetroots - tiny and refusing to grow
Lettuce - unbelievably in all this wet weather they refused to heart. Still did get some leaves.
Am I downhearted after this appalling wet slug-laden year? Not likely - I've already started again (winter cabbage and lettuce) and somebody has given me raspberry canes. I've even installed a 1000 litre water tank ready for next year's hot summer. It will all get better ;D ;D
Melons and pumpkins only a few germinated then died off. :(
Chinese cabbage bolted as it did two years ago, never again. >:(
Celery not even worth a mention. :-X
Sweet potatoes too much hassle. ???
Coconuts. :o
Butternut squashes. Only managed to get a couple of seeds to germinate. Then, after feeding and nurturing the plants very carefully, only got one decent size squash before the leaves turned yellow and the remaining (small) fruits turned brown.
tomatoes and broccoli, totally rubbish. Runner beans were also very slow due to weather.
most things were great, only swede and romanesco broccoli have been a problem, but when we went to the Eden Project, their romanesco has bolted, too :)
sorry but reading this thread has stopped me from being downhearted ,
celery ; still only 6ins high and they've had PLENTY of water
onions, most lost to onionfly (wont use fresh manure again to attract them)
corgettes, had a few but not many
sweet potatoe; still only 6-8 ins high. been too cold and wet
tomatoes ,BLIGHT same as a lot of others
pepper,stripped by caterpillers while away for 4 days
squash ;slugs crawl over the pellets put down for them to get at these
anya potatoes; blight
also lost a plum tree when full of fruit
other than this everything else done well, actually had 1 potato today weighing 2lbs :) Lady Balfour made great chips
Dave
sweetcorn didn't / hasn't performed well this year, prob lack of sunshine, everything else is great, (don't grow things that don't do well) ;)
Carrots - sowed them late, few appeared. Lettuce - bolted or rotted!
.
What about you Nastybritishgardener? You asked the question so how about answering it as well!
Tomatoes. Butternut squash; it got as far as planting out and just sulked. Big Max pumpkin, it's finally got as far as producing a rampant vine but no pumpkins. The ordinary version has only got two among three plants. Trail of Tears beans, they just sulked till the slugs found them.
QuoteWhat about you Nastybritishgardener? You asked the question so how about answering it as well!
I wouldn't hold your breath, mate - NBG (aka TGG) isn't likely to admit to failure.
;D
They are one and the same then Amazin' I had my suspicions.... :-X
Amazin I'd be surprised if he does! I'm sure that anyone else would be happy to reply.
What an interesting thread this has become! Thanks to the nbg for starting it! Looking forward to hearing remedies for all these problems!!
We have to wait for the time difference for him to log on! I'm certainly not staying up for that, it's been a long day and he's not worth the effort.
Though it has been a good thread!
my failure was lettuces and cabbages due to a troublesome Kaninchen.
I finally killed them after 3 week rein of terror to my veg.
They made a very nice Hasenpfeffer.
Quote from: nastybritishgardener on September 02, 2008, 23:34:33
my failure was lettuces and cabbages due to a troublesome Kaninchen.
I finally killed them after 3 week rein of terror to my veg.
They made a very nice Hasenpfeffer.
Well that clearly states not British, killing rabbits and making stew and using GERMAN words for it.... sigh!!!
The use of german words was for effect.
As for my garden and home ,I am located not far from one of Chucks homes.
Quote from: nastybritishgardener on September 02, 2008, 23:56:15
The use of german words was for effect.
As for my garden and home ,I am located not far from one of Chucks homes.
Dallas, Texas then. Only home I know Chuck norris to own!!
springbokgirlie wrong chuck. the Chuck I am talking about .
Is a large scale organic grower. With mother named Elizabeth
and his first wife died in car crash.
I'm sure you'd be good in a Hasenpfeffer too!
Quote from: nastybritishgardener on September 03, 2008, 00:04:19
springbokgirlie wrong chuck. the Chuck I am talking about .
Is a large scale organic grower. With mother named Elizabeth
and his first wife died in car crash.
Royalty and germans huh... PSML. Oh come on.. your so typically across the pond mate mentioning that one!!.
Quote from: nastybritishgardener on September 02, 2008, 23:34:33
my failure was lettuces and cabbages due to a troublesome Kaninchen.
I finally killed them after 3 week rein of terror to my veg.
They made a very nice Hasenpfeffer.
Well done. I bet revenge was sweet!
Brussel Sprts total bust. :(
On the other hand- I grew a fantastic crop of beetles. ;D
Question: why do none of our resident birds eat those specific beetles. :-\
greyhound yes and delish.
Total failures this year are Casa banana, Quillquina and Burdock. Most other crops produced results in line with the seasons weather with Ocra rating as outstanding. The Oca and Sweet potato harvests are not due for another 12 weeks or so but are looking healthy.
My goodness Eristic, you do grow some unusual stuff! I must try to be more adventurous in future!
Melons and cucumbers for me. Melons i tried Minnesota Midget again but no joy the fruit just would'nt grow so i dug them up and replaced with a Tomato plant. Cucumbers i tried Telegraph in the greenhouse where you have to remove the male flowers all the fruit i had off it were bitter so i must not have got all the males off. All female variety next year and not bothering with melons. Other than that been great, big up for raised beds.
Tomatoes!
They grew ok but got the blight in both pots and soil - I think I may have over watered ?
Sweetcorn , First couple of cobs ok - rest bit rubbish !
Peas! left them on the plants too long and lost a lot !
Main crop spuds ! Deserie [ cant spell ] Early results lovely, then found a lot of slug damage, will
try the coffee solution next year.
In passing, NBG - TGG - or the BGG ho ho ho :P
You remined me of someone I knew many years ago, who would - at coffee break - offer a hot topic
for a group discussion, then once everybody was in full heated swing -- He would disappear unnoticed !
It,s not you is it ? ? ::)
Floss xxx
I'm not counting my toms as failures, cos although both 'house and outdoor ones got blighted, I'm still going to get loads to ripen under paper, but..
Fennel, despite growing Rudy (slow to bolt) and ANOther 'slow to bolt' variety. None of them bulbed up, yet I've grown successfully each previous year I've grown them.
btw....took me ages to realize that 'Chuck' was 'Charles'...thought this was yet another strange American name in its own right when my US friends talked about their husbands when I had my first puter & started making international cyber-friends.. :-[
Quote from: nastybritishgardener on September 02, 2008, 23:34:33
my failure was lettuces and cabbages due to a troublesome Kaninchen.
I finally killed them after 3 week rein of terror to my veg.
They made a very nice Hasenpfeffer.
are you in germany then, only asked as you used German words to describe your pests. are you going to try winter lettuces to make up for your loss. although i live in a semi-rural area i haven't got problems with rabbits, but foxes digging up the garden that i have >:(.
Saying it was my first year of growing I'm chuffed and over-the-moon with the returns that we have had, but for next year it is a good crop of onions, carrots, Peas and Saurkraut:)
Quote from: nastybritishgardener on September 02, 2008, 23:34:33
my failure was lettuces and cabbages due to a troublesome Kaninchen.
I finally killed them after 3 week rein of terror to my veg.
They made a very nice Hasenpfeffer.
What were you doing allowing a rock/punk band on your patch ? not suprised they mucked up your lettuces. ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaninchen
I thought Hasenpfeffer came from a Bugs Bunny cartoon
"BRING ME HASENPFEFFER!!!!"
Nah you're thinking of wacky racers. Muttley "HASENPFEFFERing dick darstedly."
Ahem, sorry back to topic..........
Quote from: northener on September 03, 2008, 07:12:25
Melons and cucumbers for me. Melons i tried Minnesota Midget again but no joy the fruit just would'nt grow so i dug them up and replaced with a Tomato plant.
Did you do the hand pollination bit?
Tomatoes - they were fine until I went away on hol and when I got back half of the outside ones were brown and YUCK! Greenhouse and rest of outside ones are currently okay. I had about 20 odd plants and have had less tomatoes this year than any other. Not impressed by that at all.
Caulis and cabbages the caterpillars got to - grrr
Best thing has been the potatoes and chillies.
Heyup Barnowl Yes i got them to about golfball size then they just stopped.
Mine (six on one plant) vary from recently starting off to small grapefuit size but recently seem to have slowed down a lot. Only one successfully pollinated one dropped off - that was when it was about half golfball size. I've read here that's what squash do when they aren't properly pollinated.
PS Sorry should have mentioned, it is in the GH where I try and keep the atmosphere quite humid, to deter red spider mite.
The usual suspects
Aubergines: Oh what pretty flowers! Oh they've died and dropped off ::)
Celeriac: They're growing ... they're growing ... they're the size of marbles ::)
Outdoor tomatoes: WHY do I bother ... year after s***ing year ::)
Watercress: It's doing well .... it's sprouting ..... it's got 4 leaves .... it REMAINS with 4 leaves and never gets any bigger ::)
Sea Kale: It's growing ... it's growing .... it's gone to seed overnight ::)
Carrots: I've REALLY prepared the soil well this year ... oh ... they're the size of a baby's pinky finger YET AGAIN.
Plums: Oooooh the tree looks well this year! So why only 3 plums?
A Squash: Right then. I can't remember what you're called but obviously you're ALL MALE and not going to grace my table this autumn, which saves me from saving seed from you and growing yet another season of 'un-named' squashes.
Atlantic Giant Pumpkin: A categorical 'no show'. HOW AM I GOING TO WIN THE PUMKIN COMPETITION WITH NEIGHBOUR AHMED WITHOUT YOU ... YOU FILTHY ROTTEN SEED!
Lamb's Lettuce: Have the lambs been in my allotment whilst I wasn't looking?
Ad infinitum .... until next year, when I will attempt to grow these things ALL OVER AGAIN ;D
French beans, peas as always, parsnips ( a total of 7 growing), butternut squash, and I suspect sweetcorn as it's not looking good. :(
Aubergines here too - might just press the flowers that drop off to get some benefit ::)
Brassicas....... can't grow em from seed so bought baby plants. Everything I read says they are easy (just lime the soil and make sure it is really packed down) so don't know what I'm doing wrong..... can't even get them to planting stage!!
???
The much bigger disappointment though ........ is waiting in vain for even one picture of amazing tomatoes from TGG or NBG or WhateverImcallingmyselfthesedays.
::) ::)::) ::) ::)
Best thing about the season...... all the brilliant advice, honesty, humour and cautionary tales from the vast majority of posters on this forum. Let's ignore the "great" and "nasty" and concentrate on the "good" (the rest of us)
;D
BTW our toms haven't got blight (yet) - finger's crossed (but that's another thread!)
Hmmm, where to start.......
Carrots - not one anywhere despite that soil being as fine as flippin talc!
Peas - mice got them
Broad beans - who knows!
Runner beans - had some but need more plants next year I think
French beans - had 3!
Lettuce - not 1
Broccolli/Sprouts/Cauliflower - cauli doing ok, cant tell the different between other 2 right now, but fingers crossed!
Spuds - slight slug disaster but had a few tasty meals so pleased with that
Parsnips - got 5 growing, so only lost 2
Beetroot - fabulous
Tomatoes - blight - green tom chutney anyone?!
Rhubarb - planted two, but got a bit over enthusiastic with hoe whilst weeding and sadly decapitated 1!
Sweetcorn - planted late but seems to be coming on - bring on the sunshine please!!!
Onions - Brother killed one tray whilst rummaging in my boot and then I piled a load of compost over the ones I actually got in ground cos I forgot they were in there!
Leeks - ditto!
This is my first year and I think a combination of planting slightly late due to uni stuff, weather and blight has definitely had its effects. However, onwards and upwards!
I intend to plant lots more of everything as I underestimated this year. *Note to self, definitely doing to need another mini greenhouse! ;D ;D ;D
My tomatos are rubbish as usual and aubergines a non starter. Carrots started fantastic then the carrot flies from hell killed em all. Oh and my overwintering onions were a joke!
Posie I can join you on this one, being first year and all that for me :)
Carrots - We got about 12 good ones, so not so bad
Peas - not sure what ate them, but magnum borum that were sent me were fab!!
Runner beans - Grew 2 plants, my friends love them, I don't like the taste
French beans - 2 plants, and only 1 bean, slugs had the rest.
Lettuce - only successful thing this year, grew mixed leaves
Broccoli/Sprouts/Cauliflower - Caterpillars had the lot!!!.. stripped bare!
Spuds - from 10 chitted spuds had a good crop from growing in bags.
Parsnips - Only 1 has germinated, looking forward to eating that one!!
Beetroot - whole lot got diseased (posted it on forum somewhere ages ago)
Tomatoes - blight - but managed to make 8lbs of green chutney so happy!!
Onions - Nothing from sets (slugs had the lot) but my seed onions are as big as tennis balls and are lovely
Leeks - didn't get to pencil stage, still look like chives.
Gem Squash - 4 plants, some fruit but didn't realise I had to self pollinate them.
Courgettes - Planted 2 and got loads, still coming now, kids love them
Raspberries - one bowlful, autumn canes never grew
Pumpkin - one plant, got about 5 yellow tennis balls, but not much else yet.
Melons - disaster, slugs
Blackcurrants - plenty of leaves, no fruit
Butternut squash - only just starting to try and flower, and plant only a foot long!
Strawberries - (ninnycrops sent me) two punnet s :D
Definitely learnt a lot this year from the experience. A gardener who works on a 300 acre estate thinks a lot of my problems have been the soil, as its the first year things have been grown in it from the wilderness I inherited. This winter I hope to improve my soil in the garden, and have better successes next year.