What have you learnt this summer?

Joly_Roger

Gardening is a sometimes frustratingly slow learning curve as it runs on a 12 month cycle, some mistakes take a year to come to fruition and your earliest opportunity to correct the mistake is not until the following year.

So with that in mind and autumn upon us, I think now is a good time to reflect on the summer that has passed and perhaps share with others what has worked and failed this year in your garden.

What things worked surprisingly well and what has disappointed or perhaps even perished. What new techniques or tips did you learn?


For me, this year I've learnt that:

1. My garden (and probably most others) has very defined microclimates and I really have to plant according to these conditions. It has frost pockets, arid areas, boggy areas, shady corners, warm sun traps etc..

I've learnt to allow the plants' requirements to dictate where they will go and then to arrange them practically/ aesthtically within that area. E.G.:

My Gunnera was useless in well drained soil, where the previous owners planted it. No wonder they had 3 watering cans next to the water butt!
The Discksonia has to have some shade. The succulent and arid condition loving plants need to be placed in sunny spots with good drainage.
My Musella Lasiocarpa looks so much happier in a sheltered damp corner rather than where it was planted (by previous owners), where I had to water it every day. I lost a grape vine as I had the pot against a North facing dwarf wall. The plant was in the sun, but the roots were in a frost pocket.


2. Don't be too fussy with weeding and you might be pleasantly surprised.
I've allowed my garden a little freedom of expression and not fastidiously weeded every self seeded plant popping out of the soil. So I have been surprised to discover Crocosmia, Morning Glory, Fox gloves, Forget me nots Violas and many attractive wildflowers filling in gaps in my borders.
I now only take out weeds once I've allowed to them to grow big enough so that I can recognise them as weeds.

3. Some hardiness guides, are just that, guides. I have a Yucca Elephantipes outside, it's supposed to be a house plant protected from frost. It survived that winter just passed and is now a 6 foot tree.

4. Passionflower is prolific! I Planted a small clump of it in May and its taken over 3 lengths of 6ft fence panels so far.

5. Strawberries are great in hanging baskets.
No worries about slugs as the baskets are off the ground. My kids (3 &7) take great interest and water their strawberry hanging baskets daily.

6. Red Cordylines look nice when small but they soon turn a horrible muddy brown colour when mature. They are also less hardy that the green Cordylines so more susceptible to perishing in the winter. I've had 2 die on me this year, one was over 7 foot tall. Actually glad to see it go!

7. I can't overwinter Cannas in my garden. Even though they were heavilly mulched, I lost all of mine to the frost this year!

WV3

I agree with you on the strawberries, they are great in hanging baskets, I grew my own this summer.

Weeding as well, you can get a bit over the top with weeding, and yes you can get some nice surprises, however neglect to do any at all can get disastrous pretty quickly - so make sure you monitor!

invisiblecabbage

Don't plant buddleia next to your vegetable patch ..... unless you are happy to feed all the butterflies with your brassicas!

Rummer

Netting over brassicas, all of mine were eaten to death and I was gutted.
Move courgettes out of the greenhouse for a better crop
Start seeds earlier in the house and keep them there longer

gazza975526570

...........that i absolutely hate cabbage whites!!!!!

buxtonrabbitgreen

I won't grow broccoli again , waste of effort. Will buy my tomatoes as plants in the hope that they will ripen before October. But I will grow spring onions (even more) and that the best veg to grow in my garden is runner beans. They grow anywhere.

A._Badger

I'm trying to get to grips with raised beds for the first time and one thing I've learned is to consider the order of planting quite carefully. For example, I sowed onions in a row and they did very poorly because they were sheltered from the sun by taller plants. It needs a bit more thought than I'd realised!

That said, the raised beds have been quite a success.

SEE

gazza975526570 wrote: »

...........that i absolutely hate cabbage whites!!!!!

Plant hyssop next to them:TLast year my garden was quite literally swaying back and forth with caterpillars. Looking at the cabbage patch was like watching pale green ocean waves:eek:

SEE

A._Badger wrote: »

I'm trying to get to grips with raised beds for the first time and one thing I've learned is to consider the order of planting quite carefully. For example, I sowed onions in a row and they did very poorly because they were sheltered from the sun by taller plants. It needs a bit more thought than I'd realised!

That said, the raised beds have been quite a success.

I love my raised beds, but you're correct about getting plant positions right.

Jack's_mummy

That I just cannot grown spring onions, I don't like beetroot and I must grow more mange tout as DS loves them fresh from the plant.

DKLS

That the "small couple of weekends max" project of building raised veggie beds using railway sleepers would be so much hard work.
4 Tonnes of soil to fill each bed :eek:

Cant wait to plant my elephant garlic, purple srouting broccoli, mizuna and broad beans