What a soul destroying season

[binley100]

I'm convinced Mother Nature sets out to test us each year..a bit like "so you think you can grow parsnips ? Well this year you're not" ....sort of thing.....
I've had a good year for goosgogs and currants , my lottie mate has had hardly any........
My parsnips (never usually have a problem)have had very erratic germination , another lottie friend has a huge crop (her best ever).....
Last year all my courgette plants got eaten , this year they're fine.....
My carefully nurtured toms in the gh are looking a bit the worse for wear. the spares chucked in at the lottie look fantastic......not many ripened yet but hey ho there's always green tomato marmalade for the big ones and military pickle for the little ones......
After last years abysmal weather and certain non crops I've jstopped stressing......

[Lazgaot]

I think the seed quality plays a large part in your success as well as the timing of your sowing.
I usually have good success with beetroot. This year two sowings of Boltardy failed miserably and I've been through two packets of seeds. I have third sowing, another new packet, which might give me a couple of beets.

Radishes were dry and woody, it was too hot and dry though. My latest sowing with a new packet of seed is much better and it's been wetter here recently which has helped.

I usually never have any luck with carrots or fennel, but I have harvested a few this year so I'm counting that as a success.!

Shallots were great, garlic not so great -I've had better garlic harvests.

It's a year for learning that's for sure!

[kathyd]

Hi Marb67. You might have guessed by now that we're all suffering from the same sort of problems!

I now plant my carrots in the polytunnel, but I hook debris netting across the bottom half of the open doors - initially to keep out dogs/cats/escaping neighbour's goat, but wondering if it might also be helping to keep out the carrot fly.. Plus as soon as I thin or pull carrots, I sprinkle something like mint leaves around to mask the smell a bit, then throw a piece of fleece over them for a while until any stray carrot flies have got bored and moved on. So far so good.. touch wood.

My brassicas are only loosely covered with debris netting now - butterflies were still getting in, so now I concentrate on reducing numbers rather than preventing them completely - go for manageability rather than eradication, and save your sanity! Loosely covered means it's easier for me to remove the netting and check the plants. Um... you can tell I do this regularly by the complete shreddedness of most of my cabbages when I checked yesterday!!). Didn't actually find any caterpillars for once, but did find some tiny weeny snails and some big fat slugs. Chucked bio slug pellets down, but don't know if this will help with snails - the pellets were bigger than the snails! So daily hand picking I guess.

My basic strategy now is cover everything until it's big enough to fend for itself a bit (except brassicas, leave the covers on permanently), then use slug control method of your choice, and force yourself to appreciate the things that DO work - you said you had potatoes from the ground? Well done! I had about 3 , but I had luverly peas and strawberries .

[WPG]

Sorry to hear you've had a run of bad luck Marb67, your broad bean problem sounds familiar - mine went the same way (except the overwintered ones which were terrific, going to sow them again this November). Hopefully next year will bring you a bumper crop.

It's been quite a challenging year with the late snow and the heatwave, but all things considered I've been pleased with my summer veg. A bit disappointed that there won't be much to harvest come the winter though - all my autumn calabrese have gone to seed, most of the brussell sprouts went the same way, the winter purple sprouting broccolli started sprouting in July, and yesterday I noticed some of the leeks are getting flower buds. My only winter crops which are still looking OK are parsnips and romanesco.

I guess our lovely unpredictable weather means that every year different crops do well or badly - maybe next year will be a cool wet summer and the winter veg will do better?

The one thing I'm going to do differently next year is to forget about the so-called 'butterfly netting' for the brassicas and invest in a giant roll of enviromesh instead. Every trip to the allotment at the moment seems to be spent caterpillar hunting, I just can't keep up with them!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Am I the only one having a great year so far? My only Epic Fail is carrots - but then that's the same every year! And I was disappointed with my peas (pea moth). Oh, and I suppose my strawberries weren't up to much, but then the currants and raspberries are superb, so I'm not going to complain.

There's some good advice on this thread for the OP - especially about covering crops (note to self: take grapes advice on this!)

In all, a much better year than last year for me.

[zazen999]

I'm having a fantastic year; the crops just harvested today alone covered the cost of my plot.

If you have a particular issue; then you need to address that. I suspect you might have phosphorus deficiency if all your root crops are failing and not resisting pests and disease? What about buying a soil testing kit to see if your soil is an issue, start at the ground and work up and down...

[Thelma Sanders]

Am I the only one having a great year so far? .

It's my best year for ages, everything is about 4 weeks later than usual - but harvests are great when they do come along

The only slight worry is whether the squash will have enough time to ripen before first frosts, but at the mo there are loads of courgettes, so I really mustn't complain

[Two_Sheds]

Am I the only one having a great year so far?

Yesterday was the first day this year that I enjoyed being on my plot, I think. The mulches are now doing their job, and the beans & pumpkins have FINALLY got going so the ground is being shaded instead of baked dry

We've only had about 1cm of rain since March.

I had a good pea crop, currants, and lettuce, and this year I have no-maggot-carrots (environmesh).

[Potstubsdustbins]

Apart from the slow start I have had a good year so far. The only true failure was cauli's and that was down to cabbage whites, standard butterfly netting is useless so that's getting changed for enviromesh next year.

The distinct advantage I have is that growing in my own garden I have a good water supply to hand, mighty useful in a year like this one.

Potty

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

Having had a year off growing due to relocating, everything that is edible is a small success for me. I'm finding my feet growing new things and the ground I am working was, and is overgrown and previously unworked.

I have had my failures and disappointments (broad beans, spring onions), other things very late and not as abundant as I would like (runners, beetroot), only a single sweetcorn is forming so far, my caulis are non caulis with net curtain foliage.

On the flipside, we have had lots of small successes and personally it's my best year yet so far. It is getting me fired up for the preparation work this winter ready for next year and hopefully I will reverse a few of the failed items!

[danniiangel]

I had a terrible year last year, as I think probably most on here did. This year is much better. It sounds like maybe the soil could be the issue. Like others have said, make sure you feed lots.

I also got my shallots from 99p shop and they were great - I've got about 100-odd shallots from £1.98 worth of shallot sets. I'm just a begginner so I don't have a magic solution but I have watered lots, fed sporadically and tried to keep on top of weeding. I plan on manuring this winter and trying to fit green manures in where I can.

If you put banana skins underneath the tom's that should help them ripen.

I am also organic and lost my broad beans to blackfly and my runners haven't done much. My beetroot and rhubarb are pathetic and I've had a number of globe artichokes keel over on me. My brassicas got munched before they even left the greenhouse. My aubergine seedlings got obliterated when I moved other seed trays around them in the greenhouse as did my herb seeds. So although I'm very happy this year - I've had a number of losses/disappointments.

I will just learn from this year and try to do things a bit differently next year.

Good luck - don't lose heart, it's horrible when nothing works out but it just makes the successes of the next season even sweeter.

[Marb67]

I do feed, believe me. Seaweed, chicken manure pellets, nettle feed. I have lifted the insect enviromesh off my chard, kales, onions, beetroot and spring onions only to find things have been eaten in there too. Tell me how a fat large caterpillar got in there then ? There were tiny scallop looking white things stuck to the underside of my kale leaves. Not butterfly obviously but never seen them before. The only thing I can describe them is barnacle scallopy things like tiny limpets. Out of all the beetroot I have sown I have had zero globes. I have in the past had some decent sizes. Next to these plants I have spuds and am wondering if they have shaded them a bit as they don't get too much sun as it is due to late afternoon sun. I have no choice but to have my veg patch there as we have no room. again, I have had things grow in that part of the garden in the past ok. The onions are pathetic. Tops gone, as small as when I planted the sets. Spring onions planted out in the same plot still small. Awful. If I was a believer in the superstitious (and I am not) I would think that the garden was under some kind of curse or something

I do have a problem with a lot of leaves distorting and bubbling from some kind of attack. is there nothing that can be done to get rid of flea beetle/thrips ?

Look at the leaves of these plants as an example. I sound negative but the same happens every year. The garden looks fantastic, lush and healthy until mid-late summer.


Peas


Broad Beans


Broad Beans

[Marb67]

Spuds


Broccoli


Courgette


Clematis

[Marb67]

Honeysuckle


Pathetic Spinach grown in moist, new compost

[taff]

My problem was that it was really cold, which put me behind because i spent 4 months off my feet, and after that, just didn't get much done, and what I did get done was spitting into the wind.
I'm not unhappy with my good harvests, i just wanted to have done more before the weather warmed up but it wasn't to be
Never mind, lots of mulching over winter, a change around of beds, maybe a bit of manure and we'll see what happens.....