What I learned this year

[tiggy]

Sparrows may be entertaining but they eat runner bean flowers and arent scared of anything , not me not my and they laugh at bird scarers. give them birds an ASBO and send them on a scheme {in next doors garden ]

[kiwirach]

after my first few months on the allotment.....

43). learn to successional plant....gonna have way to many spuds!.
44). earth up said spuds more....altho it helps deal with the way to many spuds dilema!(lots of green ones!)
45). agree with second poster.....keep the grass down around the beds....its been pointed out to me that i have provided a slug friendly evironment!.(and the little have had all my peas and french beans)
46) cloche(hope thats spelt right!) small peas and bean plants to protect from slugs!.

i could go on.....

[mrsflibble]

47) slugs and snails can and will divebomb off a taller plant to get into a planter which is externally protected with copper wire
48) snails acan survive in salt water, but not a bucket containing water and a little asda economy shower gel
49) rosemary gets big
50) the small chillis are probably the lethal ones
51) chillis like tomato food
52) slugs can't get into hanging baskets
53) rats/mice/birds like carrot sprouts
54) guinea pigs eat lavendar in the same way that cabbage white butterfly catterpillars will decimate a cabbage.
55) snails eat tomato fruit
56) don't buy the bushy variety of tomatoes
57) container gardening does work for some veg, but not others
58) growbags are ever so versatile.

[Rosendula]

59. Never again use growbags (sorry, Mrs Flibble, but they've been a pain - the compost compacts, they are difficult to water and once planted you can't move them so you're stuck with them in the same awkward place all season.)
60. the 'space between rows' information on the back of pea seed packets is a lie. They can and should be much closer than that.
61. remember that just because I'm harvesting doesn't mean I shouldn't be sowing
62. remember to plant half of tomatoes and potatoes at home and the other half at the allotment, so if one place gets attacked with blight, there's a chance I'll still have the goodies from the other place.
63. don't put off the weeding for tomorrow, I might be ill for an entire week and be faced with a jungle by the time I get back to it
64. keep food in the shed at the allotment
65. Five corn plants isn't nearly enough. Five rows would be nearer the mark
66. sweet potatoes are not ready to harvest in mid-September
67. kick the compost bins as often as I can - the rat hasn't been back since I started doing that
68. it's not a good idea to go to the allotment with a dodgy stomach

[Flo]

69. I love making compost heaps and HATE shifting the boodly things when they have to be moved.

[Peggy Sue]

Actaully flo I'm just the same!

[invisiblepiper]

[quote="StripyPixieSocks"]10. Herbs grow alot better if you remember to water them and not think because they're on the window ledge outside they will get rained on
Sames for lettuces!

[prison break fan]

I have just learned that I am not the only one with all the problems! pbf

[happy place]

70-find out about different veg
71- its my garden not my dads
72-dont crowd toms or they get bight

[Rod in Japan]

Wolfberry bushes grow like billy-ho. Their flowers attract a wide variety of insects, and they look to produce a great deal of highly nutritious berries.

My wife really, really isn't interested in potatoes.

When there are supermarkets nearby selling fresh, locally produced veg, it may be a wiser use of one's land to grow unusual varieties of fruit rather than veg. Maybe.

[contadino]

When water's tight, 100 tomato plants can yield way more then 300.

Chard is actually edible and quite easy to grow.

Everything does better with manure.

I haven't got the hang of getting all the ingredients for ratatouille to crop at the same time.

[Thurston Garden]

It is virtually impossible to generate a living organically on two acres of heavy clay soil in a wet climate, regardless of how big a market there may be for your produce......

[Flo]

Well Thurston Garden - you need lots of compost. I learned that last year in the same situation. And I seem to spend more time composting than I ever do gardening. It's not really true but that's what it feels like.

[eccentric_emma]

60. the 'space between rows' information on the back of pea seed packets is a lie. They can and should be much closer than that.

i am glad to hear about that! otherwise i would have to give over my entire allotment and next doors to my broadbeans! now i like them, but not that much.

i think we're on number 81. so

81. dont go on holiday and rely on rain to water your plants. because there will be a heatwave and everything will die. (everything was fried to a crisp!)

82. weed tea fertiliser stinks. and mosquitoes lay eggs in it. but the plants love it so its worthwhile making some.

[LBR]

83. Plant as early as possible in the season.

84. Plant in the ground and not in containers.

85. Use the herbs, instead of just admiring them.

86. Find crops to plant in the fall. Have got to get on this.

Ecc. Em., it's true, even a neighbor won't water the way you'd do it yourself. I've got some bushes that need a lot of TLC now, in order to come back.