Allotments 4 All

On the lottie or in the garden, my list for next year includes

religiously pinch out the side shoots on the tomato plants
carefully label everything and move the labels when i re pot
allow enough space between big plants
keep the weeds more under control

that is by no means everything but some of them

Quote from: debster on August 19, 2008, 16:05:34
On the lottie or in the garden, my list for next year includes

religiously pinch out the side shoots on the tomato plants
carefully label everything and move the labels when i re pot
allow enough space between big plants
keep the weeds more under control

that is by no means everything but some of them

The only thing i am going to change is my Sun Dance, i must of been going round the garden fire the wrong way.

With climate change I am only going to grow tomatoes in the greenhouse as the blight has robbed me of the tommyatoes I was looking forward to.

Only 4 courgette plants next year.

Plant more raspberries

Give up on autumn planted onion sets and use seed or spring sets

I am going to rip up the paths and just have one big allotment, plant double the amount of spuds, keep on top of the weeding and cover what I'm not using, plant stuff on time, oh and only grow carrots at home because they clearly don't like my lottie!  I WILL BE MORE ORGANISED!  ;D

Quote from: delboy on August 19, 2008, 17:45:33
Only 4 courgette plants next year.

with all the info gleamed prior to this years first attempt at courgette growing i though 4 plants would be sufficient for a family of 5 with no gluts, well i still had a glut i have learnt to cook courgettes in ways i didnot know existed :o next year 3 plants not a leaf more.

plan to keep growing my sweet peppers outside as well as my aubergines, but will construct a temporay polytunnel over them to give them extra heat and protection, which should give a better crop.

the green house will be for the real challenges ie ochros (okras) and melons >:( bring it on 2009.

Don't bother with outdoor toms- blight got them all.And don't grow big toms in a small greenhouse- I can hardly get in there!
Don't bother with cucumbers- only got about two.
Don't bother with aubergines- five plants and one fruit so far!
Don't take the net off the calabrese after I've cut the main heads- the birds have had the rest!
Pull up some of the borage seedlings before it takes over the plot! (But I do love the flowers!)
Sow more carrots now I know they will grow well in dustbins. (Get more dustbins!)

Grow more artichokes (globe) - I had 4 plants from seeds out of a seed swap and they produced lots of head - expect more from them next year. But the flavour out of this world.

Like everyone else - less is more when it comes to courgettes.

See if i can't get some sort of fruit cage in place - redcurrants and then my blueberries seem to be top of the bird populations gourmet menu.

Listen to Dave - his advice allowed me to grow the best potatoes ever. I am converted back to homegrown spuds again.

Oh and continue to get tips and advice from the experts on A4A.

I am going to plant less in my greenhouse.  After switching most of my greenhouse varieties to F1 - I needed to plant less as they are more prolific.  I planted the same number of stuff but have ended up with less fruits on cucumbers,  tomatoes and peppers due to the vigorous growth of the F1 variety.  This is defiantly a case of 'Less is more'  8)

Not going to bother with overwintering broadies - spring sown catch up ::)
Extend fruitcage - so we can keep skyrats off the psb >:(
Grow more climbing peas than dwarf - far better yield ;D
Sow onion seed(and plant out seedlings) earlier - too many small ones :-\
Only 2 courgette plants next year :-[
Try Tim's raised stawberry planters idea 8)
Find alternative to horse muck this winter - just in case ? :(
Grow lots more flowers :D
Resist the urge to buy too many seeds :P

Dismantle all the raised beds I built this year on second plot and cultivate it the same way as plot one where paths develope naturally and I don't trip up planks   ::)

Quote from: Dadnlad on August 19, 2008, 22:40:54
Find alternative to horse muck this winter - just in case ? :(

see my post for a possible source of clean animal derived manure, but you need to screen potential donors to ensure no hay or straw gets into the batch.

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,44865.0.html

I would label seeds and not plant willy nilly, so when I weed I do not dig them up by mistake.  I promise not to dig things up to see how they are doing before they are ready.  I will not fill the freezer with blackberries as I still have loads left from last year.  I will not plant so many courgettes that are green, but will plant different varieties, ie yellow and some that look like flying saucers, or are they squashes.  I will do more planting, picking and weeding and not spend so much time looking at other peoples plots and talking to all my lovely friends, or maybe I will spend more time talking to my friends.

This was my first year, so i had a lot to learn.

I would plant a lot more of my favourite crops - broad beans, potatoes and peas.

I would listen to the built up wisdom of generations, and not plant out frost-tender plants until the end of May.

I would seek out and destroy every trace of Horsetail....

Good luck with the horsetail.  Hope you are retired as you will find it a full time job.

I would change some of my raised beds to run north/south and put wider paths between them (big footed blokes seem to have problems)

Growing-wise, I always have good intentions around now for next year, and forget them when spring comes.  Perhaps I should write it down, then I'd probably lose what I'd written.

:) :) :) :)

Lots of good New Year's Resolutions above!  Some I'll benefit from as well. Thanx.  :D

My theme song is:  Up, Up and Away.  Grow everything possibly vertically since the trombone squashes, cucs and Italian purple pole beans have been so prolific growing up fencing and shrubs (in Part Shade even)! Easier to pick also.
Make "arbors" to walk under out of branches/poles for the beans and squash since the twig arbor worked well, looks interesting and was free. Experiment with some new vining varieties of veggies and flowers.

So, grow fewer bush beans and those do a single row (not my usual cramming job) and REPLANT FREQUENTLY count on these before the pole beans start producing.

Make myself the unheated greenhouse/walk-in coldframe from salvaged windows since the bubble wrapped coldframe was successful in growing earlier tomatoes.

Use more plastic mulch to reduce weeding. This year we had a new veg. garden where a hedge was removed and the entire bed was covered in porous plastic " fabric". What a breeze!  Absolutely no weeding- all I do is walk outside and pick the veggies and once in awhile water. Pleased with the crops of tomatoes, pole beans, squash and cucs.  If you need a time-saver, try this one.

Give up on cabbages unless I can build cages. Give up on green peppers and potatoes.

Switch to only autumn Heritage raspberries- can't keep up with picking summer type along with the blueberry and strawberry crops.

The jury is still out on my first attempts at parsnips and brussel sprouts. If they're winners start planting on the roof? ::) (over hubby's dead body!)

Get I disagree into gear and get some decent potato seed not the remains of the pick.
only plant 3/4 cucumber plants im overwhelmed with them.
Concentrate on growing the things i like not other peoples favourite(its my bad back they all like the outcome but no-one offers the heavy work)

I won't re-use stones and pebbles to make paths on my next allotment (I've moved and am on a waiting list)

Stones don't suppress grass growth and then you can't cut it properly because of all the stones.

But it did seem such a good idea when I was digging up buckets and buckets of them...

Oh forgot to add, I will not be growing quite so many tomatoes - if these ever ripen then I will have 30 plants worth to eat! And that's after giving away over 25 plants!  But I won't be putting tumbling toms in baskets again - the yield was poor and they're all core, not much yummy fruit.  Looking forward to red pear tomatoes I planted though.  ;D

Isn't it strange how different things work for different people and sites? My real successes are overwintering broad beans and onions, autumn raspberries, black and red currents, cucumbers (this year), sweetcorn and potatoes. Less so have been tomatoes, runner beans and carrots and the real failures were parsnips, melon and peppers. As to what I'll do diffrently, I really don't know as last year, this years "failures" were fine. Each year is different, I guess dependant on the weather, as I do everything else the same.