How's your success rate been?

[Kirk]

My success rate is probably negative.
Sure I put in the ground more then comes out.
Tomato's seem to be about the one thing that produce anything meaningful.

I may as well pickle the onion sets, I have one well chewed swede out of 2 rows.
Turnips appeared about 2cm above the soil then steadily died.
Cauliflowers did much the same.
Trying another lot of spring onions as the first lot seemed to think that forming compost was a better option then forming a spring onion.
Few carrots seem to have made it, but very few considering the seed in the rows.

Presently "started" off some overwintering onions. Not going to hold my breath.

No wonder Tesco/Aldi/Sainsburys make money.

Suppose the question is: Why do the tomato's do well? Why do they not die and wither like the rest? At least then there would be sopme consistancy.

[Yasai]

... and, joy of joys, the Toms ARE finally going red...

[Seagull]

All in all, I'm pretty pleased, considering it's my first proper year on the allotment.

Lost well over half of my first early potatoes to slugs. The blighters also stripped three of my tomato plants, grown lovingly from seed, down to mere stumps.

I had no luck whatsoever with Pea Meteor. Four sowings amounted to precisely zero.

However, my purple-podded peas have been amazing. Gorgeous to look at and a lovely harvest. I don't really mind that you don't get much of a yield.

A couple of sowings of French Bean Blue Lake grew beautifully in pots, then died almost the instant I put them in the ground - despite hardening off. Around six weeks ago, another plot holder said he just bungs the seed in the ground and if it grows it grows. So this is what I did, and I now have about ten extremely healthy French bean plants that are around six feet high!

I've also managed to grow some lovely-looking fennel, having failed twice with my attempts last year.

Courgettes are ridiculously bountiful, and squash are looking promising. Tomatoes don't appear to be yielding many fruit, but I think I might have planted them in slightly too shady a position.

My overwintered onions, Troy, were spectacular (even if I say so myself!), so I'll definitely be growing them again. And even my garlic, which was struck down with rust, provided a decent harvest of bulbs.

So yes, nothing that has made me too despondent!

[hamamelis]

I haven't done great at the plot this year; some things did far better than expected though. The broad beans did ok, (which is great for me 'cos they're usually dire) got the first crop off the gooseberry (a kilo at least, maybe 2 ), and the other soft fruit did pretty well too, though the strawberries are getting a bit old now mostly, the lettuce unaccountably didn't get slugged, the achocha is just starting to crop well and the oca is looking far better than last year.

However... The spud crop was a joke, though admittedly I did grow them more as a ground cleaning crop and they didn't get much attention, the carrots (which looked really promising) appear to be about an inch long, only 10 parsnips germinated out of a pack and a half of seed, the runner beans were a nightmare to get going, I'm finally picking from one with another 3 plants coming out of about 30 seeds of 3 varieties, I've had about 8 pods of peas from 10 plants, and half the squash just look pathetic, though the others are looking OK.

I was late with planting most things, too early for others, and I really need to work on the soil more. Plus the slugs. And the birds.

Next year!

[Thelma Sanders]

Poor runner and French beans but great Borlotti harvest already - go figure

Spuds either slugged or very small

Peas not too bad, but I lost all of my spring and summer cabbages and half the swede to snugs
Winter cabbages look as if they'll be ok, though - I've used lots more slug pellets with these!

Fingers crossed for sweetcorn cos the cobs were very late forming compared with the flowers, so they may not have pollinated.
Squash are beginning to ripen, but haven't got as big as usual.

This week the outside tomatoes got blight, 2nd year running ............. don't think it's worth trying toms again.

So a good year weather-wise, but a so-so year harvest-wise.

[Guykp57]

Overall I've not done to bad 1st full year ok plot. Potatoes ok, onions disappointed, beetroot very disappointed hardly anything compared with last year when I just threw seeds down anywhere and had great crop, this year grew from seed at home first took seedlings up to lottie and had just 1+ 1/2 jars. gooseberries had about 2 kilos. Courgettes amazing. Now preping for winter and not sure what to put in. Any ideas please.


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[brownfingers]

I gave the impression that everything was superb on my patch this year, oh how easily we forget the failures, peas, I had two bowls of peas then the whole lot got mildew, some courgettes got it too, even my lupins and sweet peas got it. I have tried all the cures, milk, baking soda etc to no avail. Surely there is something? So no more peas or courgettes in the future until I have licked the problem.

I've tried licking, but mildew tastes awful! It doesn't cure it either.

I usually get mildew on my cukes, but this year I grew outdoor cukes in the gh and no mildew in sight.

[Bigmallly]

Now preping for winter and not sure what to put in. Any ideas please

A couple of weeks ago, I made a nursery bed specifically for sowing approx 3ft x 3ft. I have various winter Cabbage, Cauli, PSB & Swede coming through ready to plant into there permanent places.

[Two_Sheds]

A great year over here, the best in my memory. No frost (no winter). Really mild or warm since last summer, with weeks of sunshine & plenty of rain early on. Then we had a few weeks without rain and it got touch-and-go, I lost the peas but had already had a lot off them.

It's a lot of hard work though, it's certainly not easy ~ it takes a lot of hours to run an allotment.