How was your year?

I had a great year seeing that this is really only my first time. Last year I only done a few salad items, 2 strawberry plants and a rhubarb plant,  but this year I made nine 1metre squared crates with apex lids covered in clear plastic and started very early and also dug a couple of small areas in the garden. I don’t have an allotment, just a back garden which is lawned, hence the crates.
I did a mixture of salad and veg of all types including:
Leeks – still in the ground; Broccoli – poor crop; Sprouts – which are still growing;
Cauliflower -  fair crop; Cabbage -  good crop; Parsnips -  super crop; Carrots – super crop;
Onions -  good crop; Red Onions -  an excellent crop; Butternut squash -  good crop;
Runner beans – excellent crop and still going strong; Dwarf French beans- excellent crop;
Peas – excellent crop; Rhubarb – excellent crop; Strawberries / raspberries – excellent crop;
Tomatoes – excellent crop; Garlic – good crop; Spring onions – fair crop; Radish – good crop;
Lettuce -  excellent crop; Bell peppers – good crop; Chilli peppers – good crop; Turnips – excellent crop; Swede -  not so good; Potatoes -  fair crop; Cucumbers -  excellent crop; Beetroot – excellent crop;
I now have some more parsnips, carrots, celery, beetroot, lettuce, spring onions, winter onions and garlic all going strong in the crates undercover.
The large chest freezer is full. I also go foraging and have plenty of fruit pies in the freezer.
My hobbies include fishing and shooting and I have also stocked plenty of bream and bass and rabbit and pigeon in the freezer. I don’t think I will go hungry for a long while. Cant wait until next season.

Not a bad year overall, potatoes, onions, garlic and beetroot were our poorest crops, not great yields and king edwards weren't big enough for jackets, onions and garlic didn't get very big and beetroot only got to the size of marbles.  Oh well, on the plus side our sweetcorn was fabulous, most plants producing three huge cobs on each plant  runner and french beans were prolific and i've taken about 15 butternut squash from four plants.   Tomatoes weren't great but we've got far too many cucumbers   

Courgettes, carrots, lettuce, caulis, broccoli, pumpkins, peppers all did ok 

We took on another 1/2 allotment that no one had been on in living memory and have managed to reclaim maybe 50% of it so far.

Given we weren't around from mid-may to mid-july we can't really complain, but it was disappointing that the cast iron guaranteed bankers - potatoes and onions - both failed in the extreme heat/dry; on the other hand, courgettes were a real positive surprise, we got loads of raspberries from some random canes a woman down the way gave us, the squash went big and went tasty and there are a few portions of green beans in the freezer for good measure. All in all not a disaster, but a little short of what we'd hoped.

But the scary thing is blocking out a plan for next year and thinking that with all this extra land, it's just not enough. If only we had a little more...

Great thread this,

As some of you may know we wrecked a beautiful ornamemtal garden with lots of lawn bushes trees rockerie etc to have a vegetable garden and chicken garden.
Do we regret it??/ Like hell we do

As this was our first year of ever growing veg in our lives it was a great year as everything was new to us.

Taking into account that we rotivated the garden at the end of May so everything was late planted or sown.

Here is what we grew:-

Carrots --- all weird curly shapes small and had by the root fly -------- cheaper to buy in the supermarket

Broccoli  ------- seeds planted and I am still waiting for them to show their heads above the soil ------- they obviously didn't work

Second ealry potatoes Maris Peer ---------- quite a few from what we planted and beautifil taste ---- will def plant them again.

Maincrop potatoes  Desiree ------------- another good yeild and some monster sized potatoes --------- will def plant then again

Cabbages --------- all had catterpilla holes but they were not wasted as they were all eaten by our 7 chickens who thought every day was their birthdays.

Sprouts -------- just picked them today and there are loads of them.

Beetroot lettuce radish all produced loads and I am still growing some in the green house.

Raspberries although produced quite a few they were all breaking up easily and I found that the chickens like them too  :blink:

Goosberries were poor  Rhubarb was first year so left that alone.

Tomatoes quite good and still got loads coming in the greenhouse but taking ages to go red.

Runner beans and Dwarf French beans were fab though our munt frame was collapsing towards the end.

Swedes are still in the ground but not what I was hoping for seems lots of us have had problems with these.

Leeks still in the ground but have been picking the odd few for a stew and they are amazing in taste if not in size.

Can't think if there was anything else. Oh nearly forgot the tons of apples our neighbours let us have that I stewed and froze and there are still loads of apples we can have just got no room in the freezer now lol.

Roll on next year  :happy: :happy:

Beans and peas by the bucket load. Plenty of herbs, lettuce, strawberries, raspberries, apples, plums, pears, rhubarb, marrows, courgettes.

Grew far too much kale and didn't water the brussels enough so most of them have blown but we have some. Onions and garlic just fine and plentiful. First ever attempt at cauliflower was good.

Carrot failure for the first time ever and the beetroot were small (lack of water I suspect). Put the calabrese too close so not much of a crop. Parsnips small but edible and swedes better than usual along with the kohl rabi (funny but these aliens are growing on people). Broad beans were reasonable but I'll do better next year now that I have experience. Didn't put enough fertiliser under the celeriac but that was the first time tired and I will do better next year. Put that down to lack of experience.

It's been a good year all in all. The plot has kept two households going up till now and donated to two more - kale for pet rabbits and guinea pigs. And as ever - experience added to the sum of knowledge. Left to myself I would grow flowers but they are not edible.