One year on...

I came on here last year asking for a bit of advice on what to grow in my garden (a first time gardener!).

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=47809.0

I did manage to stick it through and have now finished my first year of veg gardening (from a starting point of zero knowledge!!)

This is what I’ve learnt and what did and did not do well. If anyone can spot and obvious mistakes I made then please let me know! I always wanted a year of experimentation and it’s certainly been fun!! Also, would be interested to know what my experiences tells me about my ground/conditions etc??

What went well:

Potatoes. First and second earlies. Amazing crop, really pleased and still eating them now from storage! Found them easy to do and managed to ‘chit’ them successfully at the turn of the year so very happy.

Chili’s: Cheyenne and Super F1. Was really looking forward to these and sowed them on the 27th January! Some got a bit leggy but were all successful! Found then quite easy to manage once on the patio as can go a bit dry. Got some great crops, all in pots, and have been burning my hands recently chopping and freezing chilli’s! Found Cheyenne a bit hit and miss on the heat so will porb just do the Super F1 which were superb!

Cherry tomatoes: Really wanted to do well as the kids love them. Tried about 5 varieties and had some success with all. Found the watering a bit punishing at times and got bored (!) of feeding half way through the season. Got close to being unmanageable indoors (especially Gardeners Delight) but got them out at the right time after the frosts. But overall very happy – got hundreds of toms and the kids very happy. Just about finished now. With better feeding they will last longer next year. Did not get on with Gardeners delight as they grew more like ‘normal’ tomatoes and I really wanted easy to grow bush cherry’s. Really liked Tumbler and Garden Pearl. Red Alert did not taste that nice for me.

Broccoli (Green). All grew really well but once the first centre is taken out then it’s a bit of hard battle to stop going to seed. Starting to pull them up now, not getting more.

Courgette: Knew they were easy and grew well. Planted 1 plant and boy did it go!! Courgettes, Marrows, we had em all and its still going. One plant! Amazing.

Turnip. Tried a few as a trial and grew fine.

Onions: Planted Heat treated sets and all grew into decent size. Pulled them up yesterday and stored (should have kept them in longer?)

Parsnips: Jury still out of course but so far so good. Had really good hit-rate sowed straight into ground. Pulled up a couple and all growing down well.

Salad Onions in Buckets: perfect. Easy and great to pick as and when needed.

What has not gone well:

Runner Beans! Really wanted them to do well as my other half loves them. Planted a load of catalogue purchased seeds straight into the ground, none came up!! Had a look and all had tiny white worms in them! OK fine, got some plants from the garden Centre (needs must and time was getting on). They all grew quite quick up the canes. And not one flowered, not one! Not even a couple I had spare and put them in pots. Looks like the buds got eaten but can’t be sure.  So they are still out there, green with not one bean. Not one. Not really got to the bottom of the problem yet but will do some research.

Leeks: Not looking good. Grew them in Cat Litter trays fine. Maybe got planted out a little late due to waiting on the potatoes. Anyway, they are looking very sorry for themselves in the ground and look like they are dying to me. Certainly not grown much.

Sweetcorn. Not surprised as my garden is not in constant sun and again did not get planted out until after the potatoes. Grew ok in paper pots and grew fine in the ground (still look healthy) but just looks like its all happening a bit too late. Just not developed enough (how long will they grow for, I notice Maize is still in the fields. Only tried them for fun.

Beetroot and Spinach: This was weird. Something in my garden loves these. No sooner had I they two leaves them boom, they were eaten. Tried covering them with chicken wire and even tried Slug pellets but whatever was doing it was tenacious and unstoppable. Tried to get them going in pots as well but as soon as they were in the ground then they were history. Same with peas but only tried some Mangetout as a small trial.


Anyway, really enjoyed my first year but really need to refine what I grow as I only really want stuff I like and will grow well. I love stirfries so might focus a bit more on ‘baby’ veg, Pak Choi etc. Not sure yet.

A very good year you should be well chuffed. There is always some unexpected problem that will test your patience. You can grow one particular variety of vegetable year after year with great success then have a poor year due to disease, pest or even the weather.

I find runner beans are best started in pots and then planted out after the forst frost. Prepare the the area where you are going to plant them digging in plenty of compost or well rotted manure as they like plenty of moisture. Some like to dig a trench a few months before planting them filling it with old vegetable matter, compost and manure. Try a variety call White Lady.

Well done.

my beans were looking disastrous and then they picked up , hence i have a late crop but yes i have beans even if it has only been the last two weeks

skewball
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=57236.0
remember when I said sweetcorns after spuds is not very good idea because they are greedy feeders. I assume you didnt have a good nourishment inbetween.