Successes and Failures of 2011

[PossibleBoris]

Now we're coming towards the end of the growing season for the majority of crops, I'd be interested to know how people got on (apologies if this has been done somewhere else!). I consider this year to be my first proper growing year where I planned everything in advance and tried to sow successionally to ensure a constant supply. Here's mine (I've also added a 'meh' category, where I've been underwhelmed either on quantity or taste!) -

Successes - celery, brocolli, spinach, leeks, rocket, onions, garlic, new potato's, indoor cherry toms, most herbs and salad mixes.
Failures - tomato's (outdoors), courgette, main crop spuds, chilli's, peppers.
Meh - carrots, beetroot, swiss chard, pak choi, runner beans.

[Green Aura]

We didn't do much this year (again) due to being tied up with other things and nothing excelled.

However,

partial success - beetroot, kale, carrots, nasturtiums and other salad leaves, onions, broad beans

cr4p - caulis, cabbages, broccoli, squashes (of all varieties)

can't make my mind up - tomatoes (none ripened but we had loads on which are now maturing in the pantry in the guise of Christmas Chutney)

Oh and on the non-gardening front I butchered half a pig myself, made brawn and chorizo, rendered lard and have lots of joints etc to do lovely things with - I'm counting that as a major success!

[kit-e-kate]

Successes; Carrots, parsnips, peas, onions, shallots, pak choi, lamb's lettuce, celery (not huge, but present and healthy; which is more than i expected), radishes, garlic, Allington Pippin apples.

Failures; Beans (weak plants got eaten after flowering),
Black Russian Tomatoes (blighted!)
Cucumbers (wouldn't grow bigger than 4-leaves!),
Potatoes (in bags, first time i've tried them like that, earthing up didn't encourage more tubers?!), Scrumptious apples (the tree got badly aphided last year, its only three years oold, and this year it didn't blossom. It did put on some good growth though, so i'll wait and see for next year...).

Meh; Beetroot, Alicante tomatoes, strawberries (nice but not many), courgettes, rocket, romaine, scorzonera (first time i've tried it, wasn't all that impressed by it, but i have kept some in to try after the first frost have been).

Don't think I'll be troubling the local show regulars anytime soon!

[grahamhobbs]

Mostly successes including bumper crop of peaches for the first time and good quantity of cherries before the squirrels and birds got to them. Loads of apples. I thought the climbing borlotti beans weren't going to be very productive but now the leaves have fallen away there is a fair crop. Butter beans did quite well also. We liked the yellow beetroot, grown in the polytunnel away from the birds, that seem to go for it although they don't touch the usual red varieties. Missus loves beetroot leaves better than spinach she says, neither do much for me. Nice succession of calabrese and cauliflower throughout the year.

Not so good this year were pumpkins, no summer so small. Also mucked up on many winter lettuces either by being away and the seedlings drying out or getting eaten by a mouse. Had no space to transplant my leeks, so didn't happen until they were too big, this has caused some to bolt I think, but still plenty. Over-wintering broad beans got a bit hit by last winters severe weather, so not such a big crop as usual.

Failure, well celeriac, completely messed up on the seedlings, so no crop at all this year. Melons, missed the summer sunshine this year and butternut squash, I tried an Italian variety, produced lots of fruit that only managed to grow about 3" long.

[fifi folle]

after last year moving house mid summer, this year we had a baby at the end of summer, this meant early stuff was looked after well and harvested regularly but after c-section I didn't manage to tend the veg well

successes: mangetout, salads, strawberries, kale, broccoli, chard, carrots
failures: beetroot, psb, peas, radishes, courgettes????, cucumber, butternut squash
meh: toms, chiilies

Next year we are NOT going to move or have a baby!

[wabbit955]

successes: mangetout, salads, strawberries, kale, parnips, chard, garlic , chillies, runner beans, tomatoes,raspberries,huckleberries, beetroot
failures: peas, radishes, carrots cucumber, butternut squash, salard leaf, onions
meh: red brussels, broccilli, cabbage, pak choi

[Thomzo]

I didn't plant much in the way of veg this year due to work but I did plant some purple tee-pee beans which were great. Another great success was the quinoa which grew really well even though I hadn't actually planted any!

On the fruit bushes, the quinces and medlars have done really well. The gooseberries were great but the birds got to the lot before I did. Same with the purple grapes.

Indoors, the lemon tree has yielded four or five full sized fruit and the cape gooseberries have worked well, although they're now taking over the house. The orange trees weren't such a success and I managed to kill my rosemary.

Planning what to plant next year now.

Zoe

Zoe

[Millymollymandy]

Failures were

Cucumbers - got diseased very quickly; that's not to say we didn't get a fair few, only the seasons was even shorter than usual (several weeks only).

Sweetcorn - 3 varieties, none grew well, all tasted meh. I don't think I'll bother again.

Spinach beet - I always grow this but this year only one plant germinated and it's not old seed!!!!!!!

Rhubarb - too dry to early so it's all gonna go down the tip to make way for gooseberries instead!

Meh is

Choggia beetroot - oh it grew well - but pinky beige beetroot is just not my cup of tea.
Plums - brown rot yet again - but still a fair few edible ones
Peaches - brown rot/scab but still a fair few edible ones
Lettuce as it went to seed so quickly but again still had just enough to eat
Rocket which I can only grown in autumn cos of flea beetle but which is now completely covered in caterpillars!

Everything else seems to be a mega success especially tomatoes, of which I'm about to sauce and bottle about 1000 frozen ones today, and raspberries (probably the most successful of all) which I've been picking since the end of May non stop, even next year's summer canes are now producing (Boboff take note ). Oh, and apples and Conference pears. Giving them away left, right and centre.

Oh and 88 Jack Be Little mini pumpkins from 2 plants, which I am cursing as they now have taken over all 3 sunny windowsills.

All in all it's been too good a year and I am overwhelmed and it's too much like hard work, so am going to cut right back on the veg next year and concentrate on my flower garden and the soft fruit which is always reliable.

[PossibleBoris]

Thanks for the replies, interesting reading. I'll expand on my post seeing as though you've all gone into detail.

Failures -
Outdoor tomato's - hundreds of flowers, not a single fruit;
Courgette - 4 plants rotted as seedlings, 3 more rotted when transplanted, and the one that survived has 3 fingernail sized fruits at present. Last year I couldn't move for courgettes;
Main crop spuds - blight, got about a handfull of Maris Pipers which went in a celery soup last week;
Chillis and peppers went the same way as tomato's, but I've brought them inside now and will leave to overwinter.

Meh -

Swiss chard - grown very well and looks pretty, very nice as young salad leaves but I find the mature leaves bland and too earthy and I've tried cooking several ways;
Pak choi - grows extremely well but early sowings bolted immediately giving rubbery leaves, and it appears they are irresistable to wildlife as they're full of holes;
Carrot - first sowing of three rows produced once carrot. Second sowing has produced around 10-15 which taste great but I'd hoped for better;
Beetroot - similar to carrots.
Runner beans - grew very well, nice flowers but the taste is not great, either as young pods or beans.

[gregorach]

Successes: Tatties, maincrop yellow onions, caulis, dwarf french beans, greenhouse tomatoes, peppers, chillies
Failures: Overwintered onions, garlic (both badly affected by white rot), sweetcorn (too late), carrots (poor growth and fly attack, despite them being supposedly fly-resistant), parsnips (poor germination), courgettes (rotted), pumpkins (just didn't get going), red onions (bolted)
Self-inflicted wounds: just too bloody slow / lazy on using or preserving a lot that went quite well. I've lost track of how many kilos of tomatoes I've let rot in the fridge...

In many ways, it's been a rubbish year up here. Everyone's had trouble.