What nuggets have we learnt this year?

[Welsh Wizard]

I guess I found out that square foot planting just doesn't suit me. I haven't got the patience to plant and weed a tiny square each week, I need to bung a gigantic row and forget about it.

Mixing all sorts of summer and winter veg in a bed can be a pain cos just when you want to rake over the bed, there is still random crap in there. Stick to growing fewer crops in larger numbers.

Also spacing plants out correctly gives nicer crops. DONT OVER SOW AND ALWAYS THIN!

Grass clippings make good mulch.

Don't take holidays in the growing season.

Sandy soil is easier to work but give ultimately poorer results than clay based soil.

Autumn fruiting raspberries are great and will work in buckets!

Follow up spring plantings with planned late summer plantings.

PSB likes to flop. Lots of PSB will take over a bed entirely.

So that was this years lessons for this relative beginner (2 years in!). Any others?

[FionaH]

1. A family of four does not need 24 tomato plants!
2. No matter how much you whine your family won't eat THAT much green tomato chutney (see point 1)
3. Cat thinks new beds are toilets, get over it, I can't train the cat!
4. Everything round here likes to eat brassicas, give it up Fi it aint happening.
5. Family will eat it, they just dissapear when it needs digging
6. An entire plot given over to leeks for winter is PERFECTLY reasonable, (see point 4)
7. A greenhouse with blighty tomatoes is no place for Christmas potato

[zazen999]

Modules and Mulch.

And damsons are one of the best fruit in the world so grow one if you can.

[binley100]

No matter how much you like pickled gherkins you do not need ten plants.......
You can never have too many jars..........
Like wise with cupbaord and freezer space.........

[stella]

Put labels on everything, (written with a pen that wont run/rub off). I will not remember by next week what I have planted where and all green seedlings look the same, well to me they do.

[susieq100]

You can never have too many jars..........
Like wise with cupboard and freezer space.........

Having grown fennel I have discovered that I don't actually like it.
Successional planting means more than twice!

[Two_Sheds]

That however much you prepare, the weather will always throw you a curve ball (this year it was a long cold Spring, drought in July, then daily rain since 1st August...)


So, diversify: grow lots of different crops and something will prosper. This year it was carrots & raspberries for me

[rustylady]

I really do not need six courgette plants, even if they were from a mixed pack.

[northepaul]

I *DO* have room for just one more thing in the garden....
Seriously
I need more than 10 tomato plants next year to have a crop all summer and autumn.

[Snadger]

So, diversify: grow lots of different crops and something will prosper. This year it was carrots & raspberries for me

Diversify and prosper..........sounds faintly Star Trek-ish to me!

Might just add that to my signature.........Diversify and Prosper.......Yep I like the sound of that!

[zazen999]

Asparagus Peas.

Neither pea like - nor asparagus like - don't taste of either nor of anything worth tasting.

Fine for a pretty flower but that's it.

[Although technically, I've known this for a while now].....

[Jeanied]

I've learned not to listen to 'good advice' from people who like to tell me what's what around my plot - I prefer to consult the vine!
And I have confirmed that I definitely have a great plot for squashes and pumpkins - but I can't grow onions and garlic (onion rot) so I shall try those in pots at home.

[binley100]

Not to leave the lid off the compost brew as it gets invaded by disgusting maggotty things..yuk

[Croila]

Before you go a-planting with great gusto, make a note of how each thing you're planting actually likes looked after. Like, how often do you feed it? How soggy (or not) does it like to be? Write these things down and commit them to memory!

Do not plant peas in a raised bed that totally shade out the stuff growing next to it. Peas are tall!

Do not plant early purple sprouting broccoli in a square foot bed. It grows like a triffid, shades other things out, and needs staking.

Plant spring cabbages in pots with organic slug granules round the perimeter. And cover with fleece. They are doing beautifully. (So far!)

If growing tatties in bags, don't forget to water them. *sigh*

When planting out leeks, dig deeper holes for them.

Don't kid yourself that the peas you grow are ever going to make it to the cooker. They're too nice raw!

Thin carrots BEFORE they get so big that untangling the foliage is soul destroyingly difficult.

This was my first summer growing anything so I've actually got LOADS more to say than this but I won't bore you any more

[Two_Sheds]

Don't plant all your precious heritage seeds, in case you get a year like this one when the crop fails. Save some back.