First year good and bad and average

[Scarecrowdave]

Hi this is close to the end of my first year as an allotment holder I have tried various things with varying degrees of success
Beetroot has been brilliant
Peas and beans total failure
Cabbage red and white ok
Cauliflower and broccoli poor
Potatoes will find out soon

My biggest disappointment was my tomatoes had plenty fruit of good size but the flavour was a touch bland i really need advice on how to prepare the growing medium and any other info that might help i like tomatoes with a tarte flavour i grew
Moneymaker
Golden sunrise and shirley
And gardeners delight these were ok but want the same kind of flavour in bigger tomatoes

That said I have enjoyed the experience and will hopefully learn from my mistakes
I will take any advice thank you

[veggiechicken]

Every year has its ups and downs, so don't let this year's failures stop you trying again next year.
Were your tomatoes outdoors or in?

[Jay-ell]

Think of it this way - if you had a fantastic bumper year then every other year from now on would fail to match up

Each year is different and each year we all learn a little bit more. Everyone has that something they struggle with. For me it's carrots. And Swede. And Cauliflower. And Broccoli.

I would have said sweetcorn but this year it's ace. Usually my beans are great but not so this year. Sweet potato is doing better than last time - to be honest the only way it could have been worse is if it died off.

Spuds weren't bad - some slug damage but still not bad. Giant Pumpkins doing well. Ordinary pumpkins and winter squash doing abysmally. Cucumbers and courgettes done good.

I have a full height freezer full of soft fruit.

Conditions that favor one crop might not be good for another so each year brings it's own successes and disappointments. The weather this year has helped me improve the way I garden with mulches so improved my gardening skills. Still lots to learn though.

[Scarecrowdave]

Every year has its ups and downs, so don't let this year's failures stop you trying again next year.
Were your tomatoes outdoors or in?

My tomatoes were in the greenhouse in the border i think i probable should have dug it all out and put in for want of a better word fresh soil in i did use tomato feed in liquid form apart from that water
My chillis peppers and cucumbers all seem to have fared well

[Chestnut]

I tried outdoor tomatoes this year, which I suspect would have worked better if the summer had been hot and dry, and spring wet.we have had 4 ripe tomatoes from 28 plants, and there won’t be any more because they succumbed to blight a few days ago....

I shall be following your lead and putting at least some of them in a greenhouse next year

One of the things I love about my allotment is that it’s ‘allowed’ for things not to work sometimes . Nature will always make one growing season better for some crops than others, and luck plays a part too.

I can enjoy personal bests, like my first ever sprouts and cucumbers galore this summer, and not worry about the rest - anything which doesn’t work this year is almost guaranteed to be better next year

[Jay-ell]

My first time growing toms was laughable. I had one of those 6x4 blowaways and grew my toms from seeds. I also bought a couple of chillis to go into it.

I hadn't planned on how many seeds would make it to viable plants so after potting up 10 for the blowaway I constructed a bamboo support system for the rest and planted them outside. Needless to say none of the fruit on the outdoor toms ripened (except the currant toms) and I had 40 plants worth of green tomatoes. Sick to the back teeth of green tomato chutney.

[Paulie]

Hi this is close to the end of my first year as an allotment holder I have tried various things with varying degrees of success
Beetroot has been brilliant
Peas and beans total failure
Cabbage red and white ok
Cauliflower and broccoli poor
Potatoes will find out soon

My biggest disappointment was my tomatoes had plenty fruit of good size but the flavour was a touch bland i really need advice on how to prepare the growing medium and any other info that might help i like tomatoes with a tarte flavour i grew
Moneymaker
Golden sunrise and shirley
And gardeners delight these were ok but want the same kind of flavour in bigger tomatoes

That said I have enjoyed the experience and will hopefully learn from my mistakes
I will take any advice thank you

In my opinion, the issue of the taste of your tomatoes is most likely due to the varieties you grew. I have grown Moneymaker and Shirley in the past, but I found them to be bland and lacking in flavour. I would suggest you try exploring different varieties as I think that will help. Good luck!

[Mark_Riga]

My tomatoes for growing in greenhouses are alicante mainly for cooking, burpee delicious for a nice beafsteak and gardeners delight for eating fresh. So far this year my best alicanti has given over 13.5lb and is still going strong with about 11lb each from the best of my other varieties (but they are all on grafted rootstocks). You don't say what sort of beans you grow but a short row of dwarf french, germinated indoors and planted out after the frost should provide as much as you can eat. Peas are a bit more finicky, they need fertile soil and plenty of support with about 12 plants per foot in 4 to 6 inch wide row.
The main ingredient for growing good plants is good soil and plenty of compost, ideally home grown. This year isn't finished by any means yet but over the winter, I will be thinking about what has been poor this year and why then deciding whether to bother with it next year or how to improve it. My biggest disappointment this year was parsnips. I bought a packet of seeds at a bargain price early spring and only 1 germinated. As the time is so long for germination, the resowing several weeks later has never caught up with the 1 original plant.
So we learn from what goes wrong but don't be complacent that what does well one year will the next.

[bikermike]

I'd suggest the varieties are the most likely cause - if they grew well, then they've done all they can.
I can't really advise as I grow the things but don't like them. However, on the basis of feedback from SWMBO (AETT) - the smaller ones are always more tasty.

You'll usually get better flavour in small tomatoes (a lot of the difference in size is effectively water, so you are diluting the amount of tomato-ness). I think plum tomatoes can be tastier, but need hot climates to fully happen.

If it's any consolation I've had a shocker of a year - partly climate and partly failure to feed the soil, and partly pests. Although I've grown some big fennels