What lessons have you learnt from this years growing

[helen1962]

This is my first season and I tried all sorts. Potatoes were great as were carrots, and peas and the tomatoes are to die for! or so the little mouse that is sneaking into the greenhouse to eat them thinks. Disasters were my French Beans both dwarf and climbing. No idea where I went wrong but will do better next year. Oh! and not to feel sorry for the caterpillars and butterflies next year!! My stupendous Brussel sprouts are just skeletons on sticks now with knarled sprouts at their leaf joints.

[endymion]

We've learned that our new veg patch isn't big enough.

The 'don't do it again' list

• Cheap fleece isn't strong enough to deter determined carrots (they grew through it while we were on holiday).
• Don't remove labels from rows of non-germinating rows of seed - they'll sprout when you least expect them to, and you won't remember what they were.
• Little plant labels or row markers can get lost amongst foliage, use the biggest we can find.
• Late-planted garlic doesn't always die or 'vanish' if the leaves suddenly die back and there's no sign of any garlic in the ground. There are tiny little 'rounds' sitting there, waiting for the right time to throw up new shoots - which are now almost a foot tall!
• When onion foliage falls over they should be lifted and put somewhere dry - even if you think it's far too soon for them to have finished growing.
• Cabbage butterflies will lay their eggs on netting that's touching brassicas, and the caterpillars can decide to hatch beneath the netting and munch away almost unnoticed. Next year there'll be taller canes over the sprouts and PSB.
• Chard gets eaten by leaf miner, almost overnight.
• Florence Fennel can bolt almost overnight.
• Wasps like French Marigolds, and don't like to be disturbed.
• Pigeons are non-selective feeders, they'll eat anything that takes their fancy.
• One newly dug part of our garden needs investigating, because nothing that was planted in it has grown, and some things died within a couple of weeks of going into the ground. It can't be aminopyralid because it wasn't manured, and we haven't used any weedkiller on any part of our garden (including the gravel drive) this year.

And 'the good bits'

• Long-tailed tits like blackfly, and will clear them from Broad Beans in a couple of days.
• Grow "Dragon" carrots again next year, they're amazing - purple outside, with a bull's eye core of orange and yellow. The colours don't fade when cooked.
• In our stony clay soil it's worth taking the time to plant carrots and parsnips in a hole made by a bulb-planter - they grow almost straight and can be lifted by hand.
• Kohl Rabi is delicious.
• Celeriac loves the 'bean trench'
• Squash "Little Gem" is worth growing, even if it takes up a lot of space
• ditto Cucumber Marketmore
• ditto lettuce All the Year Round
• ditto Eight Ball Courgette
• ditto Curly Kale, even in the 'summer'
• Netting the currant bushes is worth the effort.

[Florence Fennel]

[*]Florence Fennel can bolt almost overnight.

Don't think I've ever moved that fast!

[Loudbarker1]

1) Keep better records. (I now do this by blogging on this site).
2) if I cover brassica with fleece then
a) make sure it realyl covers the plants to keep the cabbage white out;
b) look underneath it sometimes to see what the weeds are doing

[Snadger]

No hard and fast rules!!!!!!

[Ruined]

Pay no attention to the times stated from sowing to harvest - just because it says you can harvest in 2 months, doesn't mean you will!
Always take a snack and a drink with me - I'm always there longer than anticipated.
Remember a pencil so I can write it down there and then, rather than forget by the time I get home.
Jerusalem artichokes seem like a good idea at the time!

[chalkies_shorts]

This is my first year so here's what I've picked up
Don't put carrots and parsnips in seed trays and transport them
Water the soil - not the plant
Caterpillars are evil
Use the dates on packets as a guide not a bible
20 chilli plants was a bit excessive but I love chillis and plan even more next year
2 tomato plants was easily enough
Caterpillars are very evil
Turnips are easy to grow
Everything tastes better than in the shops
Work colleagues and neighbours love free veg
Grennhouses are ace
Growing stuff is half the battle - keeping caterpillars away is the other half
Fresh herbs are fantastic
Caterpillars are evil
Gardening is fun

[snohare]

Tell me Shorts, what are your feelings on...butterflies ?

[chalkies_shorts]

Evil - more evil than cybermen and Oxford fans put together

[snohare]

What - worse than stair climbing daleks ?? !

Well...I suppose they must be responsible for a fair few hurricanes by now, what with all those wing flutters.

[Two_Sheds]

What I learned from my first year as a school gardener, is that the children won't eat anything you grow except spuds, peas and strawberries. So just grow those

[stella]

Not to start seeds off too early, they take alot of extra care and things put in a bit later in the year do catch up

[BUFFS]

I have now had my plot for a year.I did not start to grow anything until Spring although my seedlings were waiting to go in. The weather last summer was soooo dry that it was impossible to touch the soil.
Today ,I was making a note for my gardening log about my mistakes and what I would do differently when I thought what can I also learn from others mistakes.
This year has been a trial,working out what has done well or not, but it was also about how I set out my plot, time of sowing/planting etc.
I planted my brussels (25 plants) then covered with netting, but i also grew J artichokes alongside and nastursiums, so i couldn't get to plants to weed or remove old leaves, as i was crawling around underneath and getting covered in white fly ,I made a mental note to do differently next year.
Lets hear what you would do differently next year

live somewhere else,free of monsoons....

[morverngirl]

Buffs, you have the delight of living in God's given country, I was in Aberfoyle last week (Trossachs to you Sasenachs) where the ground was saturated, everything was damp but my skin was soooo soft ,the tea was pleasurable to drink and I was back in my homeland. Here, we are still in drought conditions and after carting about 20 watering cans full of water for a few plants my back is hurting like h***. want to swap places for a while. I love rain and wind, must be my West Coast up bringing

[BUFFS]

what i have learned is that raspberries multiply by,if not a square root,then certainly a square yard,per plant per year,anybody need a load of late raspberies ?(is that sound also the answer?),i have had to stop transplanting them,no more space...but oooh what a taste...