I started to cull and dismantle some of my greenhouse tomato plants the other day, and as I do every year took stock of what has grown well. I also see if any adjustments to my usual growing methods that I've tried have worked or not; thought I would post my findings for everyone to see and comment on.
Tomatoes in large pots.....FAIL!
My home greenhouse is fully tiled, so I have usually grow my tomatoes in growbags, with a bottomless pot on top to give greater root depth. This year I was given some large black plastic buckets, so I used these instead, using polystyrene offcuts to fill the bottom quarter and my usual compost to fill.
Pluses were I didn't have to buy growbags, minuses were: I had to water more often, I had to use more compost to fill the larger pots, and finally, when I emptied out the pots, all of them had slugs hiding in the polystyrene! I have had a lot more slug damage to the tomatoes this year, now I know why!
Cucumbers in bottomless pots on a growbag tray.......Big improvement!
I've tried all sorts of methods to grow cucumbers and never really had any large fruits, tried all sorts of varieties too. This year, I decided to try three cucumber 'Telegraph improved' plants in a large bottomless bucket, sitting on an empty plastic growbag tray that I kept topped up with water. I had run out of room a bit TBH and that was all I had left, however I had the best crops I have ever had! Got some powdery mildew in the last month, but nowhere near as bad as previous years.
Aubergines, another failure.....
I've tried different varieties with these too over the years, but this year, nice big healthy plants, large pots on gravel trays, regularly misted........flowers.........but no fruit. Don't think I'll try again!
Melons........surprise, another FAIL!
Yes I know I said I wouldn't bother again. but I had a couple of plants left over from the plant sale, and I even bought one at GWL against my better judgement.......and they both got severe powdery mildew and died before setting fruit. I really am going to have to stop now!
Peppers and chillies....late, but chillies better than peppers?
I thought with all the cool wet weather we had this summer my chillies would struggle....but to my suprise it was the peppers that suffered. A lot set fruit, but then either dropped off, or the fruit started to rot before it was full sized. Chillies set well, covered in fruit, and although some are only just starting to ripen now, the crop is great. Odd eh?
Mini tomatoes in pots outdoors......reliably good thank goodness!
Tried Minibel, Tumbling tom (red and yellow), three plants to a clay pot. All have fruited and ripened before any of the greenhouse varieties, and have supplied us all summer, good job something has! Got a bit of blight, but I kept picking off the affected leaves and they are still going strong. Will definitely repeat this again next year!
had a good greenhouse crop even though its my first year of my greenhouses on my allotment
grew my cues in the ground and had a great crop and tomatoes in the ground and tubs and had good results
but we started the greenhouse clearout this morning
I learned a VERY big lesson this year about growing in general. Do not let a surgeon anywhere near your husband around May & June. This year is a wash out apart from raspberries, blackberries & some redcurrants.
Quote from: grannyjanny on September 23, 2012, 14:55:49
I learned a VERY big lesson this year about growing in general. Do not let a surgeon anywhere near your husband around May & June. This year is a wash out apart from raspberries, blackberries & some redcurrants.
R
Oh dear, that doesn't sound promising.....all ok now?
As this has been the first full year as a part-time 'gardener', I'm no real gardener just some one who enjoys it and only between April and September there is a bit of time left for me to work on all the green around here. Mostly 8-10 hours a week mowing! This year I've learned an awfull lot! As a newbie in this world everyday is a day of learning and learning.
Resume:
All over: suprised how much time it all costs! I had no idea! Now I know that mosts of you spent between 4-16 hours a week at their plot!
Fruit cage: black currants, red currants, raspberries, gooseberries: bit less compared to last year and a bit late. Done some pruning on the raspberries and caned them. They need some new manure. I mixed some good soil with manure so hopefully this week a new layer on top. Need to do some more pruning on the currants and gooseberries.
Greenhouse:: I had some trial packages from dtbrownseeds on the Strillo tomatoes. Planted out 27 plants in growbags in a GH. Have put plastic pots in the growbags for watering. Did not know how to take care of them till they reached the roof (don't laugh!). A complete bush! Had to take off a lot of leaves as you can understand! But they brought me about a 1000 cherry tomatoes and still there are more to come. Did not know that tomatoe plants will grow for ever and ever! How much water they exactly need it still puzzling me......Late blight: yes, me too! Every day cutting out the dead leaves. By doing so they are still surviving
Tried to grow some upside down in a hanging basket outside: failure!
Asperagus Yersey: 2 beds of 10 meters: bit less than last year and about a month later. Planted out 30 new plants: failure and lost them except for 1. Maybe planted them too soon in April?
Strawberries: bought about 20 plants in April and planted them out. Half of them died and the rest did not give much fruit. From seed I tried Florian indoors in a GH. They grew well. Lot of baby plants now and still they are flowering and giving fruit. For next year I would like to built something like a long raingutter and put them all in and keeping the fruit away from the soil.
Plums, vigs, pears, apples: a bit less plums in compare to last year. Tast is a bit more watery. Pears: they are the hard ones (don't like them). Vigs are still green so I wil;l leave them on the tree. Apples: also a bit less and this year they are smaller!
Plants: Bought 30 propagators at Lidl and started growing from seed. A lot went wrong! My biggest problem is watering (often too much!). Planted out far too soon and lost much! Pansy was allright but in August it was over for them. Sunflowers: not good; out too soon. Geraniums: splendid! Bizzy Lizzy: too bright colours for me, not again. Sweet pea: people say the most easy ones: not for me! From 4 packages seed only 1 package survived (and doing good!)
Potatoes: Charlotte was great! Planted them again for end of this year!
So, for next year: buying less seed, planting out later. Not trying to do it all but what I do do it better than this year. Buying some netting from the fruittrees. Black plastic for the asparagus and spots with are overgrown with weeds and which are not used. Putting more manure on (there is really plenty overhere).
Han