The ups and downs of growing your own dinner 2016...

Happy New Year everyone!

My success stories last year were :
Courgettes - Defender (dark green) and Soleil (yellow) fruited like mad
Pumpkin (can't remember the variety) did very well, I harvested six the size of small spacehoppers
Butternut squash (Hunter)
Crystal apple and crystal lemon cucumbers (but I shan't bother with them again this year - I only tried them for novelty!)
Tumbling Tom, Sungold and Maskotska tomatoes did brilliantly both in the greenhouse and outdoors
Chillies galore (plus it looks like about half a dozen of the plants might make it through to next year, fingers crossed)
Spinach, kale, salad leaves and chard continue to be excellent
Beetroot, swede, celery, celeriac, pak choi and carrots were all good

Disaster:
Runner beans! I can't recall the variety but they were tough, fibrous, stringy and tasteless. The year before we grew a variety called Mergoles which were amazing so I have reverted to those for this year.

Rhubarb - I cannot seem to grow rhubarb, even though everyone else I know says it's impossible to kill. I have just bought two more crowns (champagne, and vioctoria) and I am tryiong one in a huge (tree sized) pot of compost and the other in the corner of the veg plot and will see what happens.

Plans :

I would love a dwarf quince tree, so may treat myself to one any day now. Mister C J keeps grumbling that we have nowhere to put it but that's rubbish, we have plenty of space (the veg garden is about half an acre) and dwarf rootstock will keep it to a manageable size, won't it?

I love raspberries, and urgently need to be harvesting more of these in the summer and autumn. I have a dozen canes which I dunked into pots last year because I was short of time - they grew well and we got a fair amount of fruit from them but I am sure they'll do better in the open ground so I must decide on the best spot for them. I hope they'll be OK with being replanted (will they? won't they?

Looking forward to the new season

Happy new year all!

I'm hoping to be more organised with my growing this year.

Last year I had great success with strawberries, moderate success with one apple tree and one cherry tree (both still young so what is produced is quite small but very tasty). Our failings were great, worst year for us yet, only two pears, no plums two failed apple trees and two failed cherry trees but again they are all still young trees. No blueberries, only a handful of raspberries, a few parsnips, no green beans or runner beans and our usually highly successful carrots turned into one huge carrot in the centre of the plot and a few scrawny ones around it.

I did however build a small bug hotel that looks to be well used so hoping I will have plenty of pollinators around for this year and may build them an extension ready for next year.

Our garden is still a work in progress but our growing area is coming along nicely with some nice raised plots, lots of growing tubs/pots, a large strawberry planter, huge water butt, 2 dalek compost bins and a compost heap. Shame we are looking to move in the next two years as we will struggle to get the same growing space anywhere else with enough room left for dogs, rabbits and socialising area.

This year we are going to grow:
Apples x3 trees two already in the ground and one in a large pot to be put in the ground in the next few weeks
Cherries x3 trees one in the ground two potted ready to ground
Pears x3 trees one in the ground will buy two new to pot for a year or two
Plums x3 one in ground, one potted ready to ground and one to buy new
Potatoes x 2 plots, didn't bother last year but wished I had
Carrots x 2 plots
Parsnips x2 plots
green beans x2 tubs (6 plants)
Runner beans x2 tubs (4-6 plants)
Broccoli X1 tub, first time growing
Raspberries x20ish canes
Blueberries x 2 one four year old bush and will add a new one
Strawberries x 15-20 plants eight in large planter the rest in pots, may build a second large planter too.
Lettuce x 1 plot, haven't decided what varieties yet
Radishes X2 tubs, didn't grow last year but have previous years
Peppers x 6 plants, grew successfully a few years ago but not bothered since.

Over the next few weeks we will sort the raspberry canes and fruit trees and start preparing the plots and tubs for later in the year.

That should be enough to make it worth doing but not so much we can't keep on top of the workload with busy work lives. There's nothing quite like a summers day sat in the middle of the growing area with birds on the feeders and reading a good book, just hope we get the summer for it this year.

What a great thread, thank you.

I've just got my first allotment so looking for all the advice I can. Have quite a few seeds already and I think about forty strawberry plants, taken from eight old plants. I will be sharing these with friends.

I've also had a few seed catalogues delivered and the main thing I want to try are Munchkin Pumpkins so they can climb up my arch.

Tink xx

Love to join in, I'm a keen gardener but not so good with veg growing. I'm currently rebuilding my vegetable garden and am replacing all the old rotten beds with more smaller raised beds and hopefully get a greenhouse.

Currently have 2 apple trees, a load of black, red and white current bushes, gooseberry bushes, rhubarb, plum tree and a brand new pear tree. Sadly the wasps and hornets had all my plums last year.

Looking to grow this year
Asparagus, Brussels, broccoli, cabbage, French beans, cut and come again salad mixes, maybe some sweet potato