First season blues!

[juslh]

So I have had my allotment a year, won it back from the weeds etc and got plenty of seeds and seedlings in back in the spring. The things that have worked are great - lots of soft fruit, pumpkins, sweetcorn, runner beans. But so much has failed I feel a bit despondent! And what's weird is that other plots nearby have succeeded with things that just haven't worked for me. My cabbages and broccolli have been decimated, swede, carrots, beetroot all germinated then disappeared altogether, salad just seemed to bolt before I get to it...I tried slug pellets but didn't seem to have much impact. I have spoken to other allotmenteers who just say yes its been a bad year. But that still doesn't explain why they have carrots etc and I don't. It's definitely been worse for me!! Are there any really obvious (or even plausible!) explanations for why 2 nearly adjacent plots can have fared so differently?

[Nicos]

Maybe that they spray their crops with poisons?????

Bad year for us too- I'll be lucky if I pick more than about 5lb of carrots from a whole packet!
Beetroot are rubbish- loads not worked.

Have a chat and see what they do.
Maybe they companion plant ???
or grow resistant varieties???

[bario1]

Did you net your cabbages, broccoli, and carrots against pests? Water your salad leaves in dry spells? Plant your beetroot and swede where they'd get plenty of sun? Keep everything well weeded so that they weren't competing for light/space?

There are so many variables, it's impossible to say what happened to some of your crops, but if you managed pumpkins, sweetcorn and beans in your first year then I'd count it a success! It has been a difficult year for everyone, particularly a new starter - your neighbours probably just have a bit more experience than you and know the lay of their land a bit better. Congratulate yourself on what went right, try and identify what went wrong, and start thinking about next year.

[scarey55]

I think some things work and some things don't. I have had a really bad year this year with veggies but I have had a great fruit year, it just happens like that sometimes. Don't beat yourself up about it, just look forward to next year, give the plot lots of organic matter and home made compost, cover it and browse the seed catalogues

[Nicos]

^^^^ lovely reply bario!

[PyreneesPlot]

The first year can always be tough - while you've worked really hard to clear weeds, they still will have stripped out goodness from the soil.
This is my sixth season and the first to get any reasonable sweetcorn yet they grow fields of it here so well done for that!
Next year will be better and different!

[Greenleaves]

I have been growing for years, and have some good, some excellent and some pretty dire years. In fact, probably never two years the same, next year when you have success you will probably find your neighbours are struggling.

Why I love growing, never say never

[Bigmallly]

A lot of growers fail something every year so don't get too despondent. Try & find out how the other plot holders sowed, planted & cared for their crops & pick up their tips. On the whole allotment folk don't mind sharing there tips. In fact many take pleasure out of it. Good luck next year, it will be a lot better but still expect a few failures.

[Lumpy]

I ditto all of the above so try not to be too hard on yourself. When I first attempted growing (lettuce) I assumed that I would be good at it because looking around the fields my attitude was 'how hard can it be'.

Wrong, so very wrong!

After sowing the whole of a very large packet of lettuce all at the same time I began to realise that assumption is a very dangerous thing when trying to magically turn a little seed into something edible.

Like many others I have failed dismally on many things this year and will have to rely on the local market for my veggies.

Be proud of your achievements

[Penellype]

Its difficult with a new piece of land where you don't know what the problems are. When I took over my friend's veg plot last year I tried all of the things that worked so well for me at home, and many of them failed. Her site was more exposed, and therefore windier, so things like bean wigwams fell over. Her soil was quite different to mine and she had a much bigger population of slugs and snails, so things disappeared over night. There were also rats coming in from the fields, which ate things like potatoes, carrots and beetroot, which I really didn't expect. And because she had added a lot of horse manure in the past, some things grew much bigger than expected and therefore didn't fit under the nets I had put up for them. The weeds were completely different and far more troublesome too.

All you can do is learn from what happens and try new things next time.

[sparrow100]

If it's your first time growing, don't be so hard on yourself. You've had some really good successes and perhaps some of the failures could also be put down to soil conditions as well as pests. I've got one bed where things just don't do well. It's claggy and not very fertile so I know I need to add lots of organic matter to it to beef it up for next year. My site's quite exposed and I've had awful dwarf beans, melons and courgettes possibly just because of the wind - and the slugs. As others have said, it can help to ask your neighbours what they did to get the crops you wish you had. Usually people are happy to share information and advice.

Chin up, next year will be a whole new adventure and you've got lots more experience of how your plot works to help you.

[hawocol]

Juslh

Like you I took over a neglected plot in January this year and had a battle with weeds, slugs and the weather.

My summer harvests have been pretty not existent but thankfully we had tomatoes and cucs in our greenhouse at home together with courgettes and beans outside so we have not starved !

Part of my problem is not going often enough ( perhaps once a week) and other people on the allotment live closer and can be there more often to do the necessary chores of weeding and watering

My chard is looking good and hopefully the brassicas will escape devastation from the Cabbage White and I can also start to plan how great my plot is going to be next year ( well I can hope can't I ?)

[Potstubsdustbins]

Plenty of good advice above but to give you an idea of what a year it has been................. My friend is 82 and been growing for 50 years, we sat in the pub on Sunday lunch time and agreed that weather wise this year has been one of the most challenging for nearly 20 years.

Our experience gives us an advantage over the beginner, but we have struggled I have lost half my runner bean plants and to make matters worse I have no idea why.

[jonny the plant pot]

It's also been my first year and I too have had lots of things either not grow or bolt .
The way I see it my alotment is my sanctuary a place to get away from all the troubles .
And if I manage to grow something that is edible then to me that's a bonus .