2013 crop

[grahamR]

Reports are that 2013 has been a great year for growing. My 2nd year on the allotment (my first on the fully- prepared plot) has certainly pleased me.
Particular successes are potatoes and autumn raspberries. Failures - lost all garlic in Spring; tomatoes very watery and the remainder of the crop has just developed blight; beetroot allowed to grow too big; mid- season brassicas succumbed to white butterflies even though netted (clever sods, after finding no way through the net, circled at ground level to find the slightest opening - and found one hardly noticeable).
In cash terms to date: outlay, including rent, £130.00 - harvest value approximately £300.00. Still got caulis, parsnips, potatoes, leeks, carrots, apples, raspberries and Brussels to come. Can't complain at that, especially when you include the fresh air and exercise.


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[Four Seasons]

Like most years some plants crop well and others don't so nothing new there. What I like to judge a good year by is the quality and quantity of fruit produced. The extra sunshine has made all my fruit sweet with great flavour so in that respect it has been a wonderful year with a heavy harvest . I dare say the wine made from this year's grapes will be a vintage to be sort after.
The problem with the extra sunshine is that insects that love it are in abundance so if you didn't protect your brassica (I didn't) then there isn't much left for you to eat after they've had their go at it.
Potatoes of course have avoided blight so the crop should be heavy this year and clean for storage. So yes generally speaking it's been a wonderful year for growing after a dreadful start.

[Bill HH]

Well if you judge success in monetary term it will take me twenty years to show a profit. New greenhouse and polytunnel, raised beds, loads of down pipes and fittings to save rain water, 2 compost bins and more bagged compost than you can shake a stick at. Add to that a total loss of my potatoes to blight, total loss of my secatuers and a lot of moaning from my wife who would prefer I was decorating. The latter is'nt helped by the fact that every time she pops into the garden I have just sat down after intensive hard work.(which she does'nt believe).
Having said all that the good thing is I have lost weight and eaten well.

[Four Seasons]

Having said all that the good thing is I have lost weight and eaten well.

And that's the main thing isn't it. What price can you put on good health and good eating? Plus the satisfaction you get from producing something from your own ingenuity and hard work. Worth every penny Bill.

[Rocketron]

I'm very pleased for all of you.
It's Sods Law that we haven't grown anything this year as we knew we would be moving slap bang in the middle of harvest time.

[grahamR]

Update.
So many raspberries we've now left the rest for the birds. All potatoes harvested. We've found the odd one of the 2nd earlies with a touch of blight and a few with slug holes but it has been an excellent crop. Varieties were: Winston, Kestrel and Cara. The Winston were left in a bit too long so we ended up with some huge potatoes, but still of good quality. - neighbours asked for more!
Have learnt a lot this year about growing and about my plot. It's on a slope and there are two spots that never dry out which has affected tomatoes and a row of onions.
All the effort I put in last year digging the new plot with an apse (spade & fork too hard then) has certainly paid off. Whilst the ground still needs more organic stuff it is so easy to dig.
Good exercise, enjoyable work, good results - what more can you want?



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[Four Seasons]

I have a spot that never dries out too but it is a real bonus Graham if you work with it. Celery would be an ideal plant to grow there and will always have the copious amounts of water it needs. It will quite happily sit with its roots in water as it is a marsh plant and the water keeps it sweet. Celery that is allowed to dry out for any length of time obtains a bitter taste and gets tough.
My advice would be not to fight the wet spot but to use it to your advantage. But celery is a hungry plant and will need either manure or compost adding, preferably manure as that will retain the moisture better in really dry conditions. Slugs might be a problem but you can use organic pellets to reduce their numbers or just ignore them and harvest the inside stalks only which are usually clean from slug damage.

[grahamR]

Thanks, Four Seasons. I have been thinking about what would be best there, did wonder about Runner Beans, for instance. Have never tried celery. Did sow some celeriac this year elsewhere on the plot, but it never germinated - now got a couple of rows of 'Eskimo' carrots there. Main problem is sorting out the crop rotation areas - the wet spots affect two of those planned. One would be amongst potatoes next year if I follow rotation recommendations. Have a feeling it wouldn't be good.


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[Four Seasons]

Unless your soil is really heavy and difficult to dig I would just change the soil and keep the celery in the wet spot every year. It's what I do but my soil is light and not too difficult to change.