My garden has suffered this year as my attention has been on other projects (and lots of them). But mostly it's done pretty well as I gave it the right amount of love at the right time.
Not true in the greenhouse this year unfortunately.
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| This years plants |
They plants have limped along and there is a number of factors that are to blame (most could have been prevented by me).
- The nettles behind the greenhouse have formed a screen blocking out a load of light. This has had a massive impact and reduced their growing by loads. - Next year I will keep on top of them (not literary)
- I didn't feed them enough, last year I fed the plants every other day, for months. This year I kept forgetting and haven't done it so often. - I still think my homemade food is good, but I need to apply it more than I have.
- My soil mix was good but I don't think the cheap B&Q compost was up to much this year. Anything planted with it hasn't done as well as last year. - I need to find and stick to a more expensive brand of compost rather than just going for the cheapest and then being disappointed by the results.
- This summer isn't as sunny as last year. - Not much I can do about that one!
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| Last years a month earlier |
How has everyone else done with tomatoes? Hope you've had a better harvest than me!
I don't think you're on your own here Kev, my tomatoes (outdoor grown) were disappointing too, although they flowered early there was very little set fruit, and it took ages to ripen. And the courgettes, well, I only got one decent one out of three plants! Whenever I do courgettes I seem to get mainly male flowers, I don't know why that is, hence very little fruit. Potatoes were good, in a raised bed and as soon as they were out I planted carrot seed which has finally romped along, so all is not lost...here's to next year!
ReplyDeleteMy Courgettes have been great and as they've tailed off my patty pans have just kicked in to keep us going. Do you eat your courgette flowers?
DeleteI have had better years, lack of sunshine too many grey day's never mind there is always next year, what crop we have had has been delicious :-)
ReplyDeleteThey've tasted great but normally I don;t know what to do with them all, this year we've had to cherish each one!
DeleteOh Kev, it is so hard to be working on a wide front....you can only do your best, and something is bound to be not quite as successful as it might have been if you had had more time, and energy. I agree with you about cheap compost....we learnt that lesson as well this year. But I think, overall, one needs to concentrate on what one has done successfully this year, and be kind to one's self about what has not been so successful. And as Sue G says, 'here's to next year!'
ReplyDeleteA wide front is a good description of what I'm up to here! Next year I'll certainly concentrate more on the greenhouse crops - they're the highest value ones!
Deletekev - i find every year since we got here that we have some successes...and then some dismal failures! you have been working a lot so cut yourself some slack on the tomatoes.
ReplyDeletemy best advice is put powdered milk in the pots before planting/transplanting the tomatoes and make comfrey tea to water them every week or so. it won't matter how crappy your soil is if you use comfrey tea. how far are you from the ocean? do you have access to seaweed? seaweed is also a great fertilizer.
hope these suggestions help for next year! your friend,
kymber
kev - i just went back and looked at the pics and your tomatoes in the second pic look pretty good to me!
DeleteI used comfrey tea but not in the same amount that I did last year - every other day and they romped along!
DeleteThe second picture was was last years crop! A month before now!
Tomatoes and beans (eventually) plus fruit have been good, everything else pathetic even our usually good carrots!
ReplyDeleteMost of my other stuff has been good but just a few let downs. My winter squash aren't so good this year but the carrots, although they got off to a late start with bad seed, they are doing well now and we're having lots of meals from them.
DeleteYear to year you just never know. I have never had luck growing tomatoes in pots. My tomatoes this year were sad for sure and they were grown in the ground. My garden was sad this year. I am hope to not have the flooding next spring we did this last one. Where we surely needed all the rain we got to fill the lakes back up etc. it was just to much for the veggy gardens.
ReplyDeleteWe had so much sun last year I knew this one could never match it. I prefer to grow them in pots as it's quite wet under the greenhouse and I think the roots would rot.
DeleteI have yet to decide if I am going to plant my elephant garlic bulbettes since I let them dry out. You going to plant yours? I am planting elephant garlic in Oct. just not sure on those little bulbettes after reading I should have just stuck them back in the ground asap.
ReplyDeleteI haven't looked into the bulblets, maybe I need to, sounds like I missed the boat. Elephant garlic will go in oct like yours or the end of the month if I have a plot ready, I'm going to buy in a few new types of garlic as well to add to the one I already grow.
DeleteI've had a great year for tomatoes and all the other greenhouse crops. I've got a bigger greenhouse this year and one difference was I decided to grow direct in the soil rather than pots as I usually do for tomatoes (I know the pros and cons). Kev, can I take the liberty of referring you back to a post you made earlier in the summer about tidiness around your plot. Whilst suburban neatness is inappropriate your nettles are an example of the time and husbandry advantages of not letting matters get out of hand. Your garage and work tools is perhaps the thing to emulate.
ReplyDeletePhilip, I know you're right, you've hit the nail on the head. I should have kept up with the weeds on that area especially but as everything was growing all around me I started building the porch, got sheep, and then building a garden wall and some big jobs started. I'm terrible at spreading myself too thin but I could certainly do with organising my gardening like I do my work, I'll get there one day!
Deletea bad year for tomatoes here as well. now peppers...that is a whole other story. i have peppers coming out of my ears!
ReplyDeleteI never do well with peppers, chillis do well but sweet peppers never come to much and some plants seem to die for no reason!
DeleteI've given my tomatoes much, much more feed and water this year and it seems to have paid off.
ReplyDelete