Don't waste greenhouse border space on bush tomatoes - Latah and Aurora should have been in buckets so that I could move them outside and put cordons in the border.
The peppers in the border, which were put there just because I ran out of buckets, have made bigger fruit than the ones in buckets.
If I grow melons again, be sure to keep them well watered. I basically water the tomatoes in the greenhouse border once and never again, this makes melons sad little bunnies and they didn't do anything until I started watering them.
My tomato house was pretty useless for tomatoes - see below.
The greenhouse cukes were quite early but also gave up the ghost quite early whereas the outdoor ones hardly produced anything - a combination of mosaic and too much heat for the greenhouse ones and too cold for the outdoor ones. Use the tomato house next year for cukes (The tomato house is basically a sheet of monarflex scaffold sheet for a roof and scaffold netting sides).
Don't. bother. with. outdoor. tomatoes. ever. again.
Don't bother with maincrop spuds except for Sarpo - blight again.
Keep the brassicas down to the varieties that I will actually use - the Kohl Rabi has done well, but we'll never use it ourselves and my attempts to give it away have been futile. And plant lesser quantities in more batches to stagger them - especially cauli.
Use more lime too.
PSB is fantastic. Everyone should grow it.
I'll add more as I think of it. :)
Being a bit sad, I still have my daily diarys from 07 and 08 and have similiar notes to yours at the back of the book. :P ;D ;D ;D
This is my book. If I try to use a proper paper thingy, the wife'll 'file' it. ::)
PS I'm thinking Sungold and Brandywine for toms next year. Latah tastes of cardboard, or at least mine did. Anyone grown tasty ones?
Heyup Robin, did'nt you get any Fantasio plants off Kes? been beautys best taste and loads of flesh, them and sungold next year for me. Your Toms in the border still need water i water mine at least 3 times a week. Been a crap year for outdoor Toms luckily mine were a few Moneymaker that someone gave me.
No, he didn't offer, or maybe he did and I said no...how big are they?
As for the greenhouse toms, no water at all this year after the initial bedding in, and the sungold have been brilliant again. I do plant them very deep though.
Another note - F1 sweetcorn is the way to go, I've been disappointed with the flavour of Ashworth and Double Standard, both from Real Seeds.
Fantasio - the ones in the borders are more like a Beefsteak the ones in pots are satsuma size.
Quote from: RobinOfTheHood on September 19, 2009, 19:46:25
Latah tastes of cardboard, or at least mine did. Anyone grown tasty ones?
Yes, tasty enough - juicy not cardboardy. I'm not a big tomato fancier, more of a Victorian - prefer them cooked. But, I grew them mainly for my parents who miss home-grown tomatoes and they loved them.
Not big nor good-looking, but early. I suppose you have to trade something for that.
I'll grow a couple as 'first earlies' next year. They were ripe before any others I saw around the allotments so basically they did what I wanted.
Fair enough, mine were marginally earlier than the sungold even though I started them later, and I may do the same, put a couple in buckets as earlies.
Peas. Don't just plant a row, put several double rows in at once. At least some may make it back to the kitchen then.
Plant a few at a time.
More carrots, brocolli, climbing french beans, strawberries, BNS
Fewer beetroot, lettuce, courgettes,
Try again for a decent cauli, they had a whole row on the next but one allotment, so I can't blame the soil, weather etc etc.
Leave a bigger space for PSB.
8 courgette plants are too many for one person..
Check beans are stringless before planting hundreds of them..
Dont plant peas up a trellis behind a row of courgette plants, as they will get smothered and you wont be able to get to them to pick them anyhow..
PSB will soon outgrow a 2 foot high cloche and the pigeons will just use the hoops as a perch and peck through the net..
Put the brassica cage up BEFORE the butterflies have laid their eggs..
Grow more Zinnias and Dahlias..
Hi there, my notes for the year, (and I also keep a garden diary) are:
forget the Three Sisters planting - not worth the effort. Beans never grew (Cornish wet/cold summer again) pumpkins went miserable and sweetcorn only grew to about 2 feet (weather again). This is only worth doing if you live on the American prairie, and have a never ending supply of Buffalo pooh!
never ever grow outdoor toms again - I pulled up 20 plants thru blight
double the amount of strawberries (easy with runners), half the amount of potatoes, and we really only need one or two parsley plants not 8!
grow more onions, spring onions and garlic, masses more, and remember to water them
Onward peas are fantastic do-ers - plant more successionally next year and start earlier
why did I grow Broad Beans - no-one even likes em, so don't grow stuff you don't personally love, it's a waste of time effort, money and space
look after your back!!!!
..and never give up.
Caro
Grow more broad beans because they freeze well.
I staggered plantingmy my onward and other peas but the later planted ones caught up with earlier planted ones!!!!
Notes so far.....
Plant greenhouse tomatoes earlier. They didn't get in until mid June this year, so I've only been picking them the last month, although hopefully they will last longer. Also, the system of taking off the sideshoots below the first truss and then letting the other shoots grow has worked well, so I would do that again.
Not growing broad beans again...I tried them this year as I had never tried homegrown and was prepared to give them a go....and I still don't like the taste! :-\
Only grow three types of dwarf french beans, Cupidon, Purple Tepee and Triomphe De Farcy...they outshone the others by a mile..
Sweetcorn.........go back to tried and tested favourite, Extra Tender & Sweet, The pink popcorn were so late I still haven't got a crop! ::)
Don't grow so many sweet peppers...had a very prolific year and don't know what to do with them all...
Go back to early potatoes only.....all the maincrop were planted too late, they got blight or were slugged before reaching a decent size. Because they were late out of the ground I didn't have anything to follow on with except salad.........so I'll get more out of the space sticking to earlies I can harvest and get another crop in by June. Well that's the plan anyway...
Try and have something ready that can take over from wigwams of early peas...... ::)
Forget outdoor tomatoes.....three years of blight, I have learned my lesson the hard way. >:(
Don't bother growing Cape Goldenberry its took over one greenhouse (Saddad did warn me) the berrys are'nt ready either.
;D
Gosh !!!
Stagger french bean sowing.
Sow carrots earlier, then stagger.
Not too many earlies and dig up before July.
Sow cabbage seeds more sparingly.
;D ;D ;D
Mine so far.....
grow more broadbeans so some might make the freezer !
Only grow home guard and smile potatoes, not worth doing main crop !
More Feline outdoor toms they dont get blight and are nice toms.
Grow huge amounts of vic climbing peas they are brilliant !
Dont grow purple beans we dont eat them.
Def grow goldfield climbing beans great taste.
Never put the squash plants in amoungst the fruit bushes again, grew well but it was like a mass of growth and until the leaves and tips where taken off no idea what was in there !
grow less cosmos and cornflowers and more zinnia and dahlias
Grow more sweetpeas and stagger them.
Make bed for carrots wih added sand, grow more carrots.
Make sure everything is ready for the spring !!
Have fun and sit and enjoy the plot more :)
I forgot where I put my notes from last year. ;) ;)
Less earlies and more maincrop potatoes, but make sure in by Paddys day!
Only two courgette plants.
Get pumpkins and butternut squash in earlier ( use cloches )
Sweetcorn in earlier to follow early pots.
Don't plant chard looks brill ( don't like taste)
Overwinter peas and broadbeans to get a first earlier crop and extend growing season.
Don't grow outdoor toms at allotment ( blight )
Plant fewer brassicas but put in successionally
Cucumbers plant non bitter variety two were great and one was really bad.
Net the Josta berries ( now at netable height )
Direct sow beetroot ( worked well and easier than modules) Don't direct sow peas ( mice get em)
Carrots dury out so far have been better at home in potatoe grow bags.
Make sure label so don't get brussels, cabbage and caulis mixed up !!!!!
Beetroot great but how do I get it bigger?
Planting on compst heap did well and maximised space.
Kohlrabi great as catch crop between other slower brassicas.
:) :) :) :) :)
don't let Ray mulch up over all my labels, got all the beans mixed up ;D
An addendum :
don't put all seedlings in fly away argos green house unless really really really really well secured first ;D
PPS.
Don't ever get complacent about slug protection ;)
and Never Ever turn your back on the caulis or they will flower !!!!! ;D
Next year I'll be trying to remember:
Plant little and often - have had cabbages, caulis and PSB all ready at once - and there's only so much cauli I can eat before feeling very fed up with it!
Resist the urge to 'just squeeze' one more squash in - remember how big they get, and this year haven't been able to pick the runners very easily due to tryphid-like squashes.
Give up on outdoor toms - fed up of blight.
Plant more broad beans - never seem to be enough.
Water more.
Weed more.
Make fewer 'veggie chillis' (made from everything that needs eating) as have yet to make one which tastes any good - maybe better to give more veg away!
Get a freezer.
Get the asparagus in - can't waste another year.
:D
xx
I enjoyed reading all your do's & don'ts and never agains ;D
I have been keeping a diary since 1986 so I learned a long time ago, a lot of the lessons some of you have just been finding .
My first rule is; When I have finished a season and I am about to re-order seeds for next season I get all my part packets of seeds together and pass judgement on each variety
e.g. will I grow that one again/won't grow that one again? throwing away the part packets of the 'won'ts'
Then I go through the catalogues ONCE........ to do it more than once, invariably results in me buying stuff I don't really want!....so that my second rule!
Rule three ....... I order early ( usually cheaper)......I completed my order for seeds/compost & fertilisers this morning so that's one job out of the way.
I am taking delivery of my load of farmyard manure this week so I will get that dug in before the end of next month...so that will be another job out of the way!!
Then I forget all about my allotment (apart from harvesting) till next April/May time.
I usually start up a few things in January in my greenhouse at home but don't really get stuck into sowing etc till well into March.
and thats that!!..........another season over!
One from me.... net all leeks before september before th **&&&*(&&*^^%^% leek moth gets them again.
Sow just a few cabbage. Lettuce, courgettes, beans,tomatoes. ( Think i'm feeding an army) Sow sweet peas naturally instead of faffing around with the cordons. Don't worry too much about the birds on the soft fruit as there is enoug for us all. Grow more winter squash. Make more time just to sit and look.
( Think i'm feeding an army)
Thats Allotments for ya ;D
Grow lots more marrows.
To feed chickens. ;)
Quote from: shirlton on September 22, 2009, 19:29:19
Make more time just to sit and look.
I think this is my fave comment :) And as the plan, over winter is to build a seat with a frame around it for the vine to grow over, I'll definitely be trying to do more sitting next year ;D ;D
Spend less time talking and more time working.........
Just to carry on plotting, pottering and pondering!
QuoteI think this is my fave comment And as the plan, over winter is to build a seat with a frame around it for the vine to grow over, I'll definitely be trying to do more sitting next year
We have one of those!! :)
Lucky you Saddad! Must say I'm looking forward to it :D
I have planted willow shoots either side of my old bench. Hoping it will grow over the top as a canopy.
I put an old garden bench outside my greenhouse, to sit and contemplate the veg plot.....it's made a lovely extra bench for seedlings, courgettes on the way back to the house, place to put my secateurs.....I've never sat on it yet!
what a great thread...
here are my thoughts;
1 courgette plant - possibly in a container - any more is madness!
chard - for the 1st time - colourful, easy and tasty (so I'm told)
cavolo nero - again 1st time - looks fabulous - possible caterpillar attractant (?)
autumn onions are in and doing well
tomatos, chillis etc - not going to bother in garden but will try on window sill @ work
aubergine - worth a try on windows sill
going to blog it for a year - thanks tom
http://watchingtheveg.wordpress.com/
Hi, puffinboy, welcome to a4a ;D
make sure Ray doesn't mulch up over my labels, couldn't remember which beans were which, or squash , going to use prebiotic pots written on with permanent marker on top of canes, see him cover them ;D
Same as most for me, plant in succession, going to get a cheap dairy from quidland and plan my plantings ( subject to weather )
Leave more room for easy hoeing between my onions this year.
Try outdoor tomatoes (seems a lot are doing the opposite)
Try Butternut squash
Spend more time looking at my plants for signs of disease / pests so i can get in there early.
Enter more in the show than i did last year.
Hi Puffinboy and welcome to A4A :)
re the cavelo nero - I netted mine (not very well it must be said!) and it doesn't seem to have been munched on too much, the catepillars seem to prefer my purple sprouting broccoli ;)
Might have to try some of that - Cavalo Nero that is.
I've grown dwarf curly kale for the last couple of years, the cabbage whites don't touch that.
Quote from: RobinOfTheHood on September 19, 2009, 19:46:25
PS I'm thinking Sungold and Brandywine for toms next year. Latah tastes of cardboard, or at least mine did. Anyone grown tasty ones?
It may be a climate difference, Robin., but my Brandywines became huge, tall, rangey Beasts of plants, perhaps half again larger than my regular toms
but not that many fruits though what they produced were large. My supports weren't tall or strong enough by August so I'll revert to Anna Russian and some others for a large tom.
Grow in the walk-in coldframe: 1 hybrid green pepper "New Ace" (worked great and still eating them, and the plant is loaded with many sizes still)
1 aubergine ( a small variety did well, might try a larger one)
1 cherry tom ( I'm really missing toms now and am sure we'd be eating them still if I'd put a plant in there
Find rectangular tubs for lettuce to utilize the wall space better
I'm trying to be be more organised at the end of the season as per TeeGee's wise words, I've had my manure delivery already and the beds that are clear are dug over and topped up. Being not very well the first half of this year has taught me to 'make hay while the sun shines', so whilst I am fighting fit I'm making the most of it and getting things done while I can. I'm concentrating on working on clearing the half plot next to mine and getting that up to scratch ready for next year, that is looking much better now the paths are complete and some overwintering alliums are in.
I have also appraised my crops performance this year and decided on what will be given a second chance next (e.g. Legend tomatoes, Winston potatoes) and what won't (Pink popcorn sweetcorn, Tutankhamen peas), but as for only looking through seed catalogues once..I can't do that! :o ;D