[andreadon]

Now every year I try to grow stuff and usually fail.
I have very small pieces of ground, and the soil is stupidly clay-y in places...
I normally manage courgettes (or should that be marrows??!! ) and pumpkins.
Last year I grew runner beans very well so I'm doing those again.
The carrots were plentiful but very closely sown oops  so they grew tiny and didn't mature properly...

But I want to grow something new!
I have an area about 1sq m where I had sweetcorn last year (don't ask)
and another same size where I have (still got) broccoli.  Time will tell if I'll get anything out of that.... (but that will be free as soon as they're ready)
and i've got a more shallow bit about 1m x 2m where I had potatoes in the past, but last year was fallow.....
I'm attempting spring onions in another bit that size, but so far I'm convinced grass is growing...
I *think* the spinach was successful, which was in a bit 1.5m x 1m.
Where I grow courgettes and pumpkins is really large: should I use it for them again or something else? (it's shallow but well fertilized)
and a cold frame that's 2.5ft x 5ft
Can I use the area inside my raspberry square for anything (that's about 5ft x 5ft)?

Sorry that I've listed all the areas I've got separately, it's just that I have a weird shaped garden and shrubs so the areas are all in different places!
Permanent plants are: gooseberry bush, raspberries and strawberries (although the chickens ate all of the strawbs this year)
oh, and I don't like broad beans.

[lucywil]

i dont like broad beans either but the ones you grow yourself taste nothing like the ones you buy.

if you have had success with pumpkins why not try some other squashes like butternut

[GrannieAnnie]

Butternut squash makes a lovely winter soup!!!!mmmmm

It depends what you like really!  My most important crops are tomatoes, runner beans, chillies and potatoes, then onions and shallots, carrots and parsnips and beetroot for Brian, as I don't like beetroot.

I never have a good crop of brassicas, so I'mcutting down on those this year, but I do still have loads of seeds, so I will grow some, particularly calabrese!

[andreadon]

ooh, squash.
I like the sound of beetroot and parsnips - I've never done parsnips but I assume they're similar to carrots in method?  I love beetroot roasted up with herbs, so it would be nice to grow those - Did I see somewhere on here that we can eat the cooked leaves?

[lucywil]

you can eat the baby leaves raw in a salad, usually by the time they get big they are full of holes

[woodburner]

What! No tomatoes?    

Add lettuce and outdoor cucumbers and hey presto you have salad.

[andreadon]

What! No tomatoes?    

Add lettuce and outdoor cucumbers and hey presto you have salad.

 

sorry, I'm only laughing because I've had terrible results from trying to grow those red things (or in my case, black things)
lettuce might be good though - i can frow that in a pot, can't I?
i don't know how easy cucumber would be! ooh!

[GrannieAnnie]

Cucumbers have a mind of their own I think!  2 years ago, I had more than I'd ever need, I was giving them awy, throwing them awy, but last year, they didn't do well at all.

Re tomatoes, perhaps try something like tumbling tom or garden pearl, that you can grow in hanging baskets or containers?

[woodburner]

What! No tomatoes?    

Add lettuce and outdoor cucumbers and hey presto you have salad.

 

sorry, I'm only laughing because I've had terrible results from trying to grow those red things (or in my case, black things)
lettuce might be good though - i can frow that in a pot, can't I?
i don't know how easy cucumber would be! ooh!

Oh dear. Do you know what went wrong? What variety did you try and how and where were you growing them? (Inside/outside, pots/ground/growbags etc. ?)
Lettuce can be grown in pots, growbags, open ground, almost anywhere. I've only ever grown the cut and come again types, as I was led to believe it can be hard to get ordinary ones to heart properly.

[andreadon]

DD thought it sounded like blight.
 

[GrannieAnnie]

There WAS a lot of blight around last year, I lost more than half my potatoes, and it even got into the polytunnel and got a lot of my tomatoes!!!  Luckily, I grow a lot!!!!

[randombod]

tell me about it i planted 2 seeds got 40 plants  and lost 38 to blight all beef steak and money makers. i have a habbit of planting 1 seed and getting 2 plants from it 

[GrannieAnnie]

For the first time, last year I planted a sideshoot that I cut off a plant.  Worked well!!!  Which is good becauseI'd saved 2 of my Sweetheart tomatoes, and had the seeds drying off in my little sieve in teh kitchen.  Hubby decided to load the dishwasher for a change!!!!!  That's right, you guessed it, they all disappeared down the septic tank!!!  So I opened the other one, and there were only 2 seeds in it, so I'll have to take cuttings of the sides when they grow, if they grow!!! lol

[randombod]

For the first time, last year I planted a sideshoot that I cut off a plant.  Worked well!!!  Which is good becauseI'd saved 2 of my Sweetheart tomatoes, and had the seeds drying off in my little sieve in teh kitchen.  Hubby decided to load the dishwasher for a change!!!!!  That's right, you guessed it, they all disappeared down the septic tank!!!  So I opened the other one, and there were only 2 seeds in it, so I'll have to take cuttings of the sides when they grow, if they grow!!! lol

smeg!

see this is why we blokes dont wash up we only get in to trouble 

[tam]

I'm growing a little bit of all sorts on the grounds that something will work  Carrots in pots, runner beans, mange tout, pepper, tomato, aubergine, lettuce, radish, spring onion & spaghetti squash.