My Gardening Failures in 2012

[Garvey]

Although the weather was poor I think I got away lightly with only two vegetable disasters of note.
Most of my leeks went to seed - this was not the case the previous growing season when they were show quality.
The same can be said for my parsnips. Last year they were perfectly formed and massive. This year they were small and misshapen - most had forked quite spectacularly

Was this down to the poor weather or were there other factors I should watch out for this season?

[rustylady]

Leeks going to seed is probably due to the weather.

As for parsnips, forking is usually because of stony ground or fresh manure.

[Garvey]

Rusty Lady. I've never manured the plot, but do add compost religiously. Do you think the ground could be too rich for parsnip?

[muddyfeet]

My whole plot was a disaster this year. I can think of only a few things that were not a failure, and they were undersized and sparse. Celeriac and cabbage seemed to cope with the wet and cold best of all.

[SeleneMourie]

Cabbages murdered by slug / caterpillars.
Carrots got carrot fly annoyingly they where big and straight!
Parsnips affected by carrot fly / canker and again where huge
Fennel never got past fluffy
Khol rabi was tiny
Ah well there is 2013 to look forward to!

[Moopmoop]

Where do I start.

Beetroot - roots never swelled - don't know why.
Sweetcorn - not warm enough.
Spring onions - sown far too close together - lesson learned.
Squash/pumkins - not warm enough.
Peppers - not warm enough.
Aubergines - didn't even germinate - think poss too cold?
Brassicas - absolute disaster other than calabrese - poss club root?

Did have succes with others so i'm not too upset.

[binley100]

lets face it 2012 was a rubbish year for growing ........and nothing was universally bad. I had great parsnips, ny neighbours were rubbish- my neighbour had great sweetcorn , mine were rubbish and so it went on . What did well for one did rubbish for another .........time to look forward now and hopefully the sky will dry up ..........

[Andromeda]

Where do I start.

Beetroot - roots never swelled - don't know why.
Sweetcorn - not warm enough.
Spring onions - sown far too close together - lesson learned.
Squash/pumkins - not warm enough.
Peppers - not warm enough.
Aubergines - didn't even germinate - think poss too cold?
Brassicas - absolute disaster other than calabrese - poss club root?

Did have succes with others so i'm not too upset.

Did you dig the brassica roots out and have a look at them? It's pretty distinctive if you did...

[Moopmoop]

They didn't look as severe as some of the images on google but they were twisted and misshapen?

[Potstubsdustbins]

Garvey adding good home made compost to the plot wiil add around about the same nutrient values as well rotted horse manure.

Colin

[horticultural_hobbit]

Everything went Goodnight Vienna. I'm blaming the weather and low lying plot.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Me, I was the failure this year
I kinda blamed the weather, but in all honesty, I was just too busy doing other stuff. The garden looked nice though, and the Guinea Piggies kept the lawn mowed when it was sunny enough

[veggiechicken]

I'm not going to blame the weather or the slugs either - I could have done better if I'd tried harder (sounds just like my school reports)! Maybe next year.............

[Aberdeenplotter]

Me, I was the failure this year

Unlikely missus. The lack of sunlight, early spring followed by late winter and no summer to speak of is to blame. Even expert growers struggled so anything mere mortals manged to get to the table must be seen as a success.

[kentishgal]

I had some pretty big failures too. The leeks, pumpkins, parsnips and perpetual spinach never grew. The fruit bushes, kale, brussels and chard got eaten, oh and the dogs decided that my pretty thyme plant was going to be their new toilet!
Still I had enough success for my first year not to put me off!! I got some lovely carrots, beetroot, courgettes, beans and plenty of salad crops. Plus I now know what I really should net and what is just too big for my weeny garden. (lets hope Ive moved up the allotment list and am nearly there!LOL).