What will you do differently next season?

[Emily Peagram]

Hi everyone,

I know many of you have been reflecting on lessons learnt on the plot this year, but we'd like to know what you'll do differently next season! Are you going to be growing any different varieties? An exotic fruit/veg? Will you be experimenting with new growing methods? If there's anything you're planning to change then we'd love to hear about it.

Please note that answers may be used and edited in the January issue of Grow Your Own magazine.

Thanks

Emily

[vixylix]

I want to try some more heritage and unusual varieties - I stuck to the basics this year because I am a beginner and want to make sure I was growing things I would normally eat. Excited to go a bit different next year though - looking forward to cucamelons, purple carrots, black tomatoes and crystal lemon cucumbers especially!

[Lumpy]

I must remember to label things. Although it's a nice surprise waiting to see what a plant becomes, not knowing what they are from the beginning causes havoc and space problems when I try and organise my growing year.

[bramble]

I will start my chilli peppers off at the end of December or very early January rather than waiting until February.
I will plant my first early potatoes using a bulb planter rather than trying to dig the soil which is usually wet and heavy at that time of year.
I will try a few different varieties of potatoes just to compare the yields.
I wont plsnt peas as they take up too much space which I csn ill afford.

[spamvindaloo]

Not buy plants before I know I've got somewhere to put them

[Guest]

Summer squash are out - courgettes yes, winter squash yes but summer squash just aren't appreciated as much.

More dwarf beans - to separate the climbing beans of course

Peas kept in their own bed instead of mixing with beans. Trying to keep to short varieties so they can be netted. I had an issue with small birds eating all the shoots this year

Water spuds - I am still undecided whether I will have a spud bed or just a few trugs. However if I do have a bed I must water them.

Outside toms - I grow in pots but from now on they need to go in patch (so there is no chance of the ducks eating them) and canes tied in so they can't fall over.

Bed of sweetcorn - h.w.m.b.o wants sweetcorn. I only tend to do a small block and never seem to do very well

As big a pots as possible for peppers - I got caught out with several plants that fell on the floor during the night, due to being top heavy so I ended up losing peppers

Then my biggy is, 2016 is hopefully the year of the melon for me . GH2 is a short season greenhouse so I intend to grow only melon in there and start the seeds of indoors. I also want to have a bash at a couple of hotbeds. In true grape nature I already have a few seeds of different varieties lined up .

[Bonsai Si]

1) Start earlier with planting crops, this year I started late as I only got my plot late Spring.

2) As I got a load of random seeds from Chilterns bargain basement seed sale, plant a load of new varieties of flowers.

3) Try and get more organised down my plots. Now I have the extra half plot I need to settle on where things are going and stick to a plot plan.

[Root66]

This was my first season and I had success with the fast majority of my crops, so I am really pleased.
I thought it would be a nice idea to throw down a couple of flower seed mixes, the ones with lots of varieties to help with the pollination and the general aesthetics of my plot. I did find it very hard to distinguish between these and some weeds, so these growing areas did become untidy and chaotic. In the end, not many flowers and a lot of weed.

Will be trying an alternative radish, as I didn't think the French Breakfast 3 had much taste at all.

Plant more in succession! I was too worried about failures and so planted a lot at once, most things grew well and so had gluts.

[Bigmallly]

Because they are so cheap to buy, I won't be breaking my back growing tatties ever again................

[vixylix]

Because they are so cheap to buy, I won't be breaking my back growing tatties ever again................

I was going to say grow them in grow sacks - then you can just tip the whole lot out, take the tatties and tip the rest somewhere else - easy peasy. THEN I realised that my OH did the tipping out and in bit and I only did the pulling the potatoes out bit

[Nicos]

Mulching...much , much more mulching!

[Penellype]

Net the gooseberry bush to avoid it being munched into oblivion by sawfly larvae.
Water the apple tree more if we have a dry spring to avoid bitter pit.
Not grow cherry tomatoes (apart from Sungold) as they are impossible things to peel for sauces.
Not grow beefsteak tomatoes at home - my garden doesn't get enough sun for long enough to ripen them.
Use the growhouse as a strawberry cage once the seedlings have been hardened off - the glass panes come out easily and I can throw a bird net over the frame. The twice I have tried to use this for tomatoes have not been a great success and melons were a complete disaster in it this year, so I will probably do better using it for the strawberries.
There will be more, but I can't think of any at the moment.

[Small pumpkin]

Next years plan is to enjoy my garden a lot more. There will always be a new variety of tomato and chilli, but I haven't decided what yet.

[jonny the plant pot]

Next year's plan .

Just to enjoy it

[dilettante]

I've just got my first allotment plot, so my plan is not to get over-excited or over-whelmed with all my space. I'm bad enough staying organised in the few garden beds I'm allowed, what am I going to be like with 250 square metres?