So, whats your growing year been like? Successes, failures, highlights, low points?

[Mrs Dobby]

Well, when you consider its been our first year of growing, and we've nothing to compare it with, then I'd say its been a fairly good year for us! We've not bought any fruit or veg at all since late March, and its looking like we'll have plenty to eat for at least a while yet!

Successes
Onions - (both sets and from seed), have enough stored, pickled and frozen to see us thru the winter with ease
Cabbage - Still plenty growing, had some really good sized ones that have tasted fab
Caulis - All of the ones we planted did well, harvested at the stage when big enough for a meal for 2 of us!
Parsnips - Huge!!!!!! We've had 13 or so, so far, and have another 87 growing, ranging in size from 6" diameter and 30" length to more modest sizes!
Broccolli - some very tasty and decent amounts!
Mange Tout - still producing and we've about 10lb frozen too!
French beans - about 15lb in total, tho lost a lot to wabbits!
Leeks - just reaching baby size, have over 300 growing on our 2 plots!
Tomatoes - outdoor ones have failed abysmally, but the greenhouse ones and hanging basket ones have been fab! Still harvesting about 9lb a week!
Carrots - late maincrops are looking very good, earlies were a bit of a problem, both with carrot fly and wabbits nibbling them to death!
Courgette - steady supply thats still coming, no huge gluts this year, but we're putting that down to the weather!
Broad beans have been good, about 15lb frozen and lots eaten!
Early strawbs and rasps were great, got loads, but later ones dont seem to have done too much yet!
Rhubarb - 20lb frozen for the winter and we've had lots to eat!
Spring onions and radish have been great, lots of them!
Lettuce has been good, esp the little gems, keep well in the fridge too!
chillies - masses still on the greenhouse plants!
Peppers, must have had 40 + so far, and still lots on the plants in the greenhouse!
Aubergines, had 13 so far, lovely and still about another 14 or so on the plants!
celery is growing well, but not harvested yet
Peas have been ok, tho not the best crops this year.
Cucumbers - had 27 from one marketmore in the greenhouse, including a 21" long one, and still lots more coming from the same greenhouse plant. Outdoor ones havent really done much at all.
Gherkins - 7 so far from the outdoor ones
Jerusalem Fartichokes - at 11' tall, masses of them, so probably have lots of them for this winter!
Borlotti beans are looking like being a massive crop!
Had 4lb of cherries from the 4 yr old tree in the front garden, and about 7lb of cooking apples and 11 eating apples from the other 4 yr old trees in the front garden!
Pumpkins are doing well, we've a couple of huge ones, about 9 mediums plus some other assorted squashes, but not the quantity we thought we were going to have!
Early spuds were fab, about a barrow full of them, but maincrops were hit by blight early on, so a bout 2/3rds of a barrowfull from 2 full beds.
Swedes - harvested some lovely big ones, and still plenty left in!
Sweetcorn, just starting to harvest, looks like we have about 70 cobs of varying size, plus some minipop to harvest!
Blackcurrants - about 10lb of fruit in total!
Blackberries - about 5lb of fruit so far
Garlic - about 75 decent sized cloves harvested, plus some other smaller ones and still some spring planted to harvest yet!
Shallots - about 35 to harvest yet!
PSB - looking good for a reasonable harvest in the very near future!
Sprouts - looking good for a harvest soon!

Failures
Asparagus - 4 spears showed their heads, so were weeded and left alone.
Goosegogs - mildewed and very little crops
Early carrots - as mentioned above
Maincrop spuds as mentioned above
Outdoor toms as mentioned above
Pickling onions, nibbled by wabbits and didnt amount to much, fortunately some of the later onion sets we planted didnt grow too big, so I've about 5lb of them pickled instead (gods they are really good too!)

And thats about it so far, still plenty of stuff growing, hopefully enough to keep us going for a while yet!

Highpoints - seeing the plot free of weeds after 6 months or double digging, squealing with delight at the first cauli we had, tasting the first pickled onion last week!

Lowpoint - weeds, a never ending battle this year with all the wet weather!

[Farmer_Gyles]

you've had a very good year!
this was my first year i've really given it a serious go - nowhere near as much success as you but i started late, i've done well, experimented a fair bit, and had some good success

had a few pounds of runners from 4 plants, more to pick
couple of pounds of french beans from 1 plant, more to pick
handful of pea pods
about 17 corn cobs from 11 plants (not all picked yet)
picked 7 or 8 lettuce (2 varieties) got another dozen in the ground
picked a few rocket, binned the rest
couple of celery in the ground growing well, few more in pots to be put in the ground
loads of sprouts and red cabbage to pick
picked several caulis and blanched and frozen them, more in the ground, more sown for overwintering
had a carrier bag full of radishes, more to pick
4 rows of carrots growing (sown late)
half row of beetroot growing
several swede in the ground
one rhubarb doing well, 4 crowns died
loads of pepper plants but only 1 pepper per plant
had a few ridge cucumbers, only 1 or 2 per plant, very bitter though
2 outdoor cherry toms went mad with toms till they got blighted
2 more cherry toms in greenhouse gone mad with toms
4 bigger toms in greenhouse doing well (sown late) and now producing
had a handful of strawberries
handful of raspberries but plant not grown very well
loganberry grown very well but no fruit this year
gooseberries (3 varieties) did well till the birds ate the berries
garlic stems got eaten by slugs, bulbs not very big
spring onions did well, went nice with a salad
several pounds of plums, gave loads away, made some jam
all the apples and pears are going straight in the compost this year, will make cider and perry next year
melon plants in the greenhouse grew but no melons
never got round to digging over and sowing the onions

overall a good year, have learnt a lot, enjoyed eating what i've grown, will do much better next year
will also get an extra freezer for next year - gonna need it!!

[OverWyreGrower]

How can we compare with that??

It's been my first year growing so will just list my successes!

Cucumbers - gowing like triffids, producing huge cucumbers over a foot long
Courgettes - have grown to hate them!
Plums - loads of jam again!
Apples - better yields from the eating apples, but loads of cooked apple in the freezer
Peas - my Feltham First earlies were rampant in the greenhouse, got loads and loads from them. Definitely one to try again!

Must try harder at: weed control! Bring on the flame gun!

[Cutecumber]

This is a most humbling thread - I still can't believe that this is your first year, Mrs Dobby, that's an incredible list of produce! So much for starting small - perhaps this is a lesson on just plunging straight in

I was attempting some sympathy regarding your early carrots and blighted potatoes, but since you've not had to buy any veg since March, my sympathy wained slightly!!!!!

Anyway, putting my jealousy aside...

I have had more success in successional growing this year. We have some lettuce every day for months instead of vast amounts for a couple of weeks, and several batches of carrot and beetroot have come and gone since June. More are to come, too.

Brassicas have been happier this year because the weather has reduced the butterfly problem, but I have had pigeons for the first time instead! Just a few each of calabrese, cauliflowers and cabbage. Got some PS brocc in the ground, growing well, which is an achievement.

I have had a bigger a big crop of tomatoes, overall, despite the blight, but then I grew lots of plants in several locations.

Sweetcorn is late - we are only just harvesting (at least 2 weeks later than normal) - and is a delight as always, though a small crop and so short lived.

Cutecumbers, sorry, cucumbers in the greenhouse have done very well.

Pak Choi and Chinese Cabbage - bolted as usual

[moggssue]

My first year as well, and I started late, so I'm happy to have carrots, french beans, courgettes, broad beans, peas, lettuce, potatoes, cauli, few brocolli, and hopefully parsnip, more tatties and cabbage still to come, plus the herbs - mint, basil, rosemary, bay, parsley. Failures of course were the tomatoes, peppers may yet come good, first lot of courgettes and parsnips. On the whole not a bad year given my lack of experience and the weather conditions. Well done to each and every one who is eating their own (ohhh, I feel some rude comments coming on ...!) ...

[shirlthegirl43]

Wow! well done you Dobby's!!

We have enjoyed cucumbers from the greenhouse and some tomatoes though the outdoor ones all got blight along with 30 buckets of spuds and were chucked out with no crops (well, we got one meal of spuds).

Had a handful of peas and the same of dwarf french but not many planted - will try more next year.

Sweetcorn is now 8 foot high with some stalks forming 5 cobs - so hopefully that will get a chance to ripen and will taste good.

One measly meal from 3 courgette plants. One carrot so far with more growing (but not many).

Got some brocolli growing, some turnips too. Also got chard and kale ready to plant out but only a couple of each.

All in all, did a lot of learning, need to clear much more ground to make a better go of it all next year. weather didn't help much though did it

[HeyWayne]

Holy sh*t! Excuse my French, but that's incredible!!! Well done the pair of you - outstanding!

Successes:
Potatoes - Maris Peers earlier in the year and last of the King Edwards were dug up the other day (seemingly blight-free thankfully...)
Courgettes - still coming, steady enough.
Sugarsnap peas - first plants are just about done - second planting are just getting into the swing of it
Runner beans - two wig-wams seems to be just about right for the amount we use.
Onions - sets are now laying on the ground drying out, seeds are still in the ground and about the size of shallots now.
French beans - well into their stride now
Cabbages - might be ready for Christmas...
Cauliflowers - ditto
Brussels sprouts - sprouts are starting to develop on the stems
Tomatoes - those in the mini greenhouses all have tomatoes on, but they seem to refuse to go red
Chillies - all still alive, but without any chillies as yet...

Failures:
Parsnips - unable to get a single one to germinate early in the year so gave up
Carrots (first attempt) only four germinated, so likewise, gave up and started again a bit later
Butternut squashes - they are still producing, but almost every one is either rotting, or being eaten
Strawberries - they were swamped with bindweed as soon as I turned my back for five minutes

[Winged one]

We only get to the plot, which was very overgrown when we got it in February, about once a fortnight. So we have nothing like the successes that most of you have. And it's an open plot, no greenhouse, tunnel or shed (and no room for these at home either).

However, as our first year of growing veg properly (cos a pyramid of peas in a tub and a hanging basket of cherry toms for the past 3 years, doesn't really count), we've had:

Onions - red and yellow sets - most grew well, some red bolted but almost all usable in some form. Will feed ourselves on these until at least Xmas I reckon.
Garlic - have about 40 cloves, some very small which will be resown in about a month and lots of lovely large ones which will feed us hopefully til next late spring.
Potatoes - only did earlies, and 1 small bag of seed, but didn't get blighted and had maybe 3 supermarket bags of a harvest which were gorgeous.
Peas - earlier I would have said only the ones in the garden tub did well (and they did very well this year), but my 2nd and 3rd sowings on the plot are producing now - a handful of pods every week/2 for the past month. The garden gave us 6/7 meals worth and lots of toddler meals seperately.
Mangetout - some of these grew into proper peas (lack of regular harvesting), and only a few plants survived the pigeons and slugs (quite similar to the peas really), but getting a handful on every visit since July.
Brocolli - a great success - a fair bit went over, but have 9 meal sized bags in the freezer and have had it for probably 15-20 meals.
cabbage - rain-induced rot and slugs got a few, but we've had 5/6 nice ones and a final one yet to harvest.
Cauliflower - had 2 and there are 3 more coming along (out of 6 plants planted).
Lots of spring onions and lettuce - eating it almost every week since early July.
Radishes - grew wonderfully, but OH had planted them and then didn't know what to do with them, so they mostly bolted and were composted (I am not a radish eater).
Carrots and beans - sown late July - are coming along, as are a last sowing of peas. (Lettuce never came up from that lot).
Loads of tomatoes from our compost spreading in the back garden - will have a couple of pounds of green uns in the next week or 2 (and have to pull then cos builders coming in to build on that bed).
Hanging basket with 3 plants of cherry toms did WONDERFUL - we have been eating them non-stop for the past month.
French beans gave us a handfull for various stir fries regularly for over a month.
Parsley - thriving on the plot so harvesting all summer (lots of lovely bacon and cabbage with parsley sauce) and have a couple of bags in the freezer as well.

Failures - lots of peas came up but got eaten by slugs. Lots of lettuce and cabbage got attacked too. And my courgette plants - all 4 of them that had grown! And a lot of the seeds I sowed either never germinated or died an early death. And forgot to sow lots of seeds I had bought - lack of space cleared and lack of time to do it.

Next year I hope to:
Have the entire space on my plot available for planting.
Have a bit more time to spend there - no college and study, and also that the toddler will be less demanding (that may be a vain hope though!).
Plant more - both quantity and variety of veg - and visit it more regularly.
Definitely plant more spuds.
Do more manuring.
Do more protecting.

Also, should have added that while we didn't get huge quantities of any one thing in particular (most less than I would have liked), we did get a reasonable variety of produce, so we were able to make lots of stirfries (which is how we do a lot of veg anyway) using mainly our own produce. And I have been eating lovely homegrown salads at work all summer, when I usually can't abide buying lettuce and using that (flavour thing). and the toddler has been eating a fairly good variety of homegrown stuff, not only nicely cooked, but lots of it raw as it's being picked. She had unfortunately figured out where peas came from reasonably early so the harvest from the tub was more sporadic than expected (I'd catch her with a few pods in her hands!), but luckily the cherry toms were so high she had to ask to be lifted for those (only about 8-10 a night went into her as part of her tea!!!).

[bubblewrap]

Harvesting runner beans when they were £4.80 a kilo on Loughborough market

[Snadger]

The weather aint been great and it WAS my first year after tackling two rundown plots,but..........................
Overall I seem to have had more successes than failures.............and there's always next year anyway!

[Two_Sheds]

I concentrated mainly on French Beans (lots of heritage varieties) for drying, and butternuts. No butternuts whatsoever survived the wet/cold/darkness, and the beans didn't do much better.
I have been eating Chard nearly every day though!
There's always next year. Roll on March!

[Snadger]

I concentrated mainly on French Beans (lots of heritage varieties) for drying, and butternuts. No butternuts whatsoever survived the wet/cold/darkness, and the beans didn't do much better.
I have been eating Chard nearly every day though!
There's always next year. Roll on March!

Whats chard taste like? Do you eat the stems or the leaves!?

[Alison]

Chard's a bit of an aquired taste, personally I love it. Eat both stems and leaves but I tend to separate them as the stems (unless very young) take longer to cook. If anybody ever has a glut, I can recommend the chard pesto recipe I posted a bit back.

Re successes and failures,

Outdoor toms have done really well and I've managed to avoid blight. Tomatillo's OK considering I only planted 5 out and not grown before. Herbs always good. French beans, not bad but suddendly stopped even though re were regularly picking. Also good pea (round and sugar snap) crop and broad beans were OK. Greenhouse toms not as good as normal and many are only really ripening now. Chillies OK and cucumbers (apple and normal) both done very well. Oh yes, and we picked our first ever apple the other day - yeah! Other soft fruit (raspberries, strawberries, red currants, blackcurrants, blackberries and tayberries) about as normal, have manged to freeze some for use later in the year.

Failures, courgettes have been very slow as have the runner beans. Squashes not done anything and may as well not have bothered with aubergines.

Probably loads of other stuff but not too bad considering I don't have much space and the weather was so lousy.

[andrewo]

Successes:
Cabbage in pots, didn't think they would take but they are turning into firm heads.
Rhubarb, has gone crazy.
Hops, started well with 15 feet of growth but cold is killing them now.
Potatos, Red Duke of York, they were just beautiful bu my Mum didn't like the ones my Dad planted - that's taste for you.
Hanging Basket Tomatoes - very few of them but lovely.
Sweet Peas - are attacking the neighbours.
Pumpkins - They've put on alot of growth and look great but no sign of pumpkins.
Strawberries - masses of them.
Raspberries - buckets of them.
Peas - yum yum love those canoe variety.
Cucumbers - got mildew.
Greengages - delicious, even though they split.
Apples - equally delicious and bumper crop even after someone stole a few.

Disasters
Courgettes - good foliage growth, two courgettes both small and tasty.
Tomatoes - bush ones have just failed bar Sungold.
Sweetcorn - vanished.
Beans - Have given up ghost.
Blackcurrants - went mouldy.
Gooseberries - went on holiday and birds had had them or neighbours (think latter).
Lavender - hates this weather.
Rosemary - hates this weather too.
Me - hate this weather also, not grown one inch.

[Woofster]

This is my second year on my plot which had been abandoned for about 15 years, apparently. It is on a 30 degree slope and conceals an old air raid shelter, I am told. What it grows best, after weeds, is chalk. The best thing about it is that the gate at the back of my garden gives right on to it so it could not be more convenient. I have cleared about one third of the plot and and grow mostly in raised beds. I am quite pleased with my season so far:
Onions -yellow and red from sets very good - some of the red grew very big
Shallots - lots
Garlic - enough to see me through to next year
Potatoes - Orla (in bags), Lady Christl, Charlotte, Cara and Mayan Gold. Had to harvest some early to prevent from blight. Mayan Gold are delish.
Tomatoes -blighted
Courgettes - lots especially the yellow ones
Cabbages - 8 monsters - had to share bits of them with slugs and snails. Caught some of the latter trying to get to them through the Enviromesh (they did not survive !)
Caulis - harvested about 8 in various conditions - still I was pleased as I had never grown them before
Broccoli (Calabrese) - four plants - not bad
Pumpkin - 3 Baby Bears
Squash - 5 so far and quite a few more on the plants
Runner beans and climbing french beans - only 6 plants of each but a reasonable crop
Sweetcorn - a dozen plants all with cobs on - look promising
Beetroot - good
Leeks - fine
Cavalo Nero kale - looking better having been attacked earlier by slugs etc BTW are they cut and come again or do you harvest the whole plant at once ?
Perpetual spinach -coming along nicely after having received the attentions of local cats
Raspberries - Autumn Bliss settling in o.k. Have had several servings of lovely fruit.

I am hoping to clear another third of the plot this autumn and put in some apples, currants, cobnuts and an elder. Oh, maybe a globe artichoke or two.

Looking at this list it looks more impressive than when I look at my plot from the comfort of the toilet seat (yes, I have a loo with a view - of my lottie) It is a good place from which to make plans...dream on....