Back to drawing board for me

[Brengirl]

I have always dabbled with grow your own but this year, having a new glazed workshed, I went all out to prove I had green fingers. I can only say my efforts have been a complete disaster.

Failures:
Out of 4 indoor toms - none of the toms are edible.
3 indoor cucumbers - none have even got beyond gherkin size
1 charentais melon is only now beginning to flower and set one fruit.
Chillis have yet to produce flower let alone fruit.
Outdoor cucs. nothing doing!

Moderate successes:

Runner beans there but hard to find
French beans - wish I had planted more

Saving graces:

Squash not plentiful but pretty big.
BUT
P*****PS so good so far.. I will have to wait and see.

[Nes]

Don't be too hard on yourself! My indoor tomatoes are only now beginning to ripen, my 2 indoor cuc plants only have 2 cucs on them so far, not big enough to pick yet, but have some baby ones to follow, runner beans have been very slow until today, when I've finally picked over a pound of nice beans which should last us a couple of meals. My french beans are also being slow, but am hoping they will pick up in the next week or two like the runners!

My point is that it's still too early on in the season to be despondent. There's still plenty of time for things to pick up! At the end of the season, take stock of what went well, what could be improved, and what you won't bother with again, and try again next year! I try to note down everything I harvest, weight and date, so I can really see how well or not things went. That way, I can look back and compare to previous years and be surprised all over again that my runners rarely produce much before mid August!

[Tomatoking]

When you say glazed work shed, how might light does it get, is the roof and sides glass.
Light is one of the most important factors when growing, so it could be that.

Just an initial thought, Brengirl.

[binley100]

Well my melon didn't even grow big enough to flower and don't even go there with the runners.........
Don't beat yourself up , there's still time and after all you have ..........PARSNIPS

[Brengirl]

Thanks for the optimism Nes. If you are still waiting for the harvest I must tell myself not to be impatient.

Tomotoking...My shed was self designed. My son/il built it for me. The toms grew well until they reached the ceiling and then became scorched so I introduced some shading. I have some lessons to learn obviously.





ps... it has polly something roof

[Brengirl]

Binley...I have never grown the unmentionables before. I only tried it as a sort of challenge in containers. Whatyouthink?

[binley100]

They're bigger than mine .........

[Brengirl]

ATM maybe. When it comes to pulling time I will show you mine if you show me yours.

[binley100]

It's a deal

[Tomatoking]

Bren a fine shed but it shaded on two sides and I think it would be fine to keep the plants in there till the frost is well over then put them out side.
I have some tom's in large pots by my shed which was shaded mosted of the day. As soon as they were moved to a sunnier position they did a lot better. I just moved them by the shed again if its raining or really windy.
The worst thing is low light but really hot, and of course you couldnt really spray with a hose in your shed to cool them down. So you had to shade.

People do worry about scorch, but I spray my plants a few times a day in hot weather with no scorch happening. I havent used shade either, as I really like the extra light without it.
Maybe your son could build a lean-to greenhouse against the shed.

Saying all that, it has been a funny year this year, all my crops were behind, even in the polytunnel.

[Brengirl]

Well there you go. It's not you know but who you know once again.

[gojiberry]

All through the growing season I am planning next season and what I am going to do different. However by the time next season comes I have forgotten most of what I was going to do differently.

Ian

[Glutton4...]

All through the growing season I am planning next season and what I am going to do different. However by the time next season comes I have forgotten most of what I was going to do differently.

Ian

I soooooo know what you mean!!!

[SarzWix]

I've pulled back the all the shade netting on my greenhouse now; the plants are as big as I want them, I just want something to ripen. And to be honest, with the weather we have now, scorching is highly unlikely

[Tomatoking]

All through the growing season I am planning next season and what I am going to do different. However by the time next season comes I have forgotten most of what I was going to do differently.

Ian

Funnily enough, I was just thinking that in the polytunnel an hour ago. So was thinking that I would do a post on my blog to remind me. The trouble is next season could be totally different weather wise!
But a quick list would be:
1. Label properly, so I know what is what.
2. Plant earlier in the polytunnel if it is cold as those I planted earlier had warmer roots I think and did slightly better.
3. Space my plants even wider to give even better air circulation.
4. Fit irrigation in the whole of the polytunnel.
5. Get some water butts closer to the polytunnel.
6. Do not worry about low temperatures at night, because all of my fruit set on the lower trusses.
7. Sow what I just need, not what I have available to sow.
8. Mrs TK has just said 'do not grow so many bloody cucumbers!'


Mr TK