What have you learnt this summer?

tru

That I'm rubbish with cabbage, but great with sprouts.

That I NEED a massive greenhouse (I have two 6' x 8' at the mo), turns out I'm great with tomatoes, peppers, cucs and lettuce, but not so great with the veg patch. Mr tru is the veg patch expert, but not so good in the greenhouse.

That a poinsettia will thrive really well in a greenhouse.

That chickens will eat every single flower petal then dig up the plant for good measure, leaving empty pots and holes in borders :rolleyes: :rotfl:

Jack's_mummy wrote: »

That I just cannot grown spring onions

I grew loads but only 4 were edible. I'll be buying them next year

ALIBOBSY

Gosh where to start, last year we only had 2 small rasied beds and a little plastic GH. This year we turned the back fully over to beds and stuck in a 6 by 8 GH lol. So learnt loads.
1)Need to do more successional sowing.
2)I found with carrots if I sowed carefully and thinly I could avoid thining out and pick them young and tasty instead. Got lots of small and middle size carrots which is what we like. So rather than one "thining" session we picked some small and those left got a bit bigger and so on each time without wasting any seedlings.
3) Companion planting does seem to help, no carrot root fly because of onions next door.
4) nasturtiums grow like crazy and spread, but are lovely and bring in the good beasties.
5) Prefer ever bearing varieties of strawberries so going to get some more.
6) agree about the courgettes had hardly any from in the greenhouse, despite doing some hand pollination, going to put some outside next year.
7) pumpkins are easy to grow but get MASSIVE.
8) don't plant sweetcorn too early.
9) on the same subject as above try not to rush into planting everything at the first sign of sun ie easter lol.
10) agree about microclimates and knowing your own garden. Despite being north west facing beacuse we are not overlooked at all on one side the sun shines on most of the garden all day and on and off through the day on other parts, alot hotter than I thought and had problems with plants bolting.
11) agree about brocolli, didn't get alot,but what we had was nice. Going to try sprouting this year.
12) Rosemary and lavender are easy peasy to propagate and grow quickly.
13)Fruit trees are an investment for the future, not instant fruit bowls :rolleyes:
14) You can never plant enough pea plants lol
15) little ones like picking things even green tomatos lol


and finally, you never lose the joy of seeing little seedlings sprout, I am truly hooked

ali x

rhiwfield

Where to begin?

1. To get succesful brassicas you have to net them
2. Botrytis on green house toms is a killer, crop ruined
3. Outdoor cucumbers grow even better in the greenhouse
4. A fleece barrier around the carrots kept off the fly
5. I still dont know how to stop ants farming aphids on the apple trees
6. Its a mistake to use cheap compost for sowings
7. Pumpkins can grow huge but the smiles on the the gds faces are priceless
8. Always net soft fruit before it ripens
9. Sow peas in guttering on windowsills until germinated, grow on to 4" high under cover, then plant out in compost rich soil.
10. Try tastier tomato varieties

katelu

1. That I can grow tomatoes after all but only in hanging baskets.

2. That you can get almost any seedling on freecycle and that if you have a few from one particular person they will take your number and phone you with all sorts of exciting (and appreciated) garden stuff (including advice).

3. That if you grow sugar snap peas with kids in the house you will never have any for a meal as they will all be eaten off the plant (and called the garden sweeties).

4. That picking strawberries first thing is necessary to avoid pest eating them (pests being the kids!):p

5. That planting my strawberries under the bird house wasn't the cleverest idea.

I'm moving in 3 days so will have a whole new (bigger) garden to play with then!

PhilCCFC

That Roma tomatoes are brilliant, my first year of growing anything since I was a kid messing about in my Dad's allotment all those years ago and I had 6 Roma plants grown from seed which have given me about 8Kg's of tomatoes. The freezer is now creaking under the strain of passata, chopped tomatoes, tomato and chilli pasta sauces etc. Well worth it.

4thfrog

I've learnt that aubergines are extremely tasty to slugs

Primrose

1. That I will not sow my tomatoes & climbing beans too early. I gain nothing but leggy plants if they grow too quickly to be put out in cold conditions.
2. I will grow Ferline variety blight resistant tomatoes again. They were amazingly successful.
3. I will do a daily brown slug hunt. They devasted my lettuces and kohl rabi seedlings.
4. I have made all these good resolutions for next year, when I will have to relearn all these lessons again because in my gardening enthusiasm, I just can't wait to get out there and get on with things!

irishwexford

That I will grow less of everything. Far too much stuff especially cabbages
Plant winter veg later as some matured too early
Buy carrot tapes as I hate thinning out so this will be my treat
Take more time planting everything
Grow spring onions from seed in mini greenhouse before planting out, no success two years running putting seed into ground
Put a barrier of fleece around carrots again as this did work

Melonade

It's my first year growing anything in my garden so I've had some ups and downs

The main thing I've learnt is not to worry so much about everything!! I've even managed to forget about a whole raised bed of spuds until yesterday They've turned out lovely!!

The strawberries weren't as easy as I thought they'd be to grow... maybe try hanging baskets next year.

Theres always family members willing to take some free veg if you've grown too much :T

That the big whopping huge massive frog/toad is my best friend in the garden... I even love him a little bit :rotfl: he's so cute!!

Jnelhams

That I hate Pigeons, especiallly when the devils pulled off the blossom on the Cherry trees.

That planting Carrots in buckets about 2ft above the ground, meant NO Carrot fly! and also that Carrots are powerful little blighters after breaking the sides of the bucket.

Not to plant so many tomatoes, and plant more Runner beans, but a little further away from my neighbours trees, we shared the beans but only when we could get a ladder up there :rotfl::rotfl: