This year's gluts and failures

[Flo]

So what has done well and what has disappointed?

Courgettes have been from small to marrow trying to keep up with them.

Beans generally have been as much slug food as success. Broad beans not bad and peas not bad at all.

First year greenhouse and plenty of tomatoes. Bell peppers too.

[Odsox]

One thing is becoming increasingly obvious, I grew too many tomato plants this year. Our larder shelves are groaning with the weight of bottles of passata, thick puree, thin puree, bottled cherry toms (to have on toast with winter fry-up breakfasts) and litre bottles of soup made with garlic and smoked bacon.
And they still keep coming and will do for at least another 2 months.

One semi failure, I'm growing a new variety of supposedly self fertile runner beans in the tunnel, but they're not. They didn't set a single bean pod until I took the mesh door off the tunnel and let the bees in.

The only total failure I had is my seed grown onions. Usually they produce well where onion sets bolt or sulk, but this year it was the sets that grew well and the seed ones didn't grow at all. Not one onion, not even pickle size from them.

[diggernotdreamer]

I have this idea in my head, that everything I did this year has been a complete failure, but that can't be the truth because we have stuff to eat. I think my big failure is my vegetable garden, in fact I have, after a lot of soul searching and agonising and because I am emotionally attached to all the work that has gone into it, decided to completely ditch it and start a new vegetable garden. The old garden seems to attract flood water and has spent three winters under water, I have spent hours clearing out mud washed down the paths, which in turn grew weeds into my lovely woodchip paths, the paths have slipped and are now water sumps and very slippery under the landscape fabric. So a new garden will be under way over the winter months, which may even be drier than this years excuse for summer.

[Flo]

So what are you going to do with the old vegetable garden digger? Pond? Water feature? Bog garden?

[Green Aura]

Chillies and courgettes are pretty much our only successes. We've had beans but not nearly enough for the space they've taken up. The turmeric plants are lovely - at this point we have no idea when to harvest the roots but we're just enjoying how pretty they are.

The tomatoes were a disaster - some serious rethinking is needed before next year. I think we've pretty much decided to grow them indoors.

[diggernotdreamer]

So what are you going to do with the old vegetable garden digger? Pond? Water feature? Bog garden?

Nothing that exotic, it will be returning to being part of the field again, I have ornamental gardens under construction round the house

[Brewtrog]

Our chillies have been fantastic so far, and they've still got a lot on them. The first carrot we pulled up was rather dumpy (then again my dad put weed proof membrane down under the soil, ) hopefully that isn't a reflection on the liquorice which is due to dig up this year. Parent's toms seem to have done well (I don't like toms, so haven't paid attention). The cucumbers have been a bit sparse compared to last year, but the ones we've had were good.

[becks77]

Failures most things, I have discovered cats and veggies do not mix also the chucks got in there and had a good old dig too
And who knew slugs were so intelligent as to climb the netting away from the pellets and drop onto the veggies from the top, cunning so and so's
Plums failed due to flowering in December
I will be investing in better safety for the veggies next year

[Flo]

Oh dear becks77 - but you had a glut of slugs from the sounds of it the same as the rest of us this year. A warm winter is good for the beggars to overwinter and then reproduce very efficiently.

[Thomzo]

Failures this year were mulberry, quince and plums. Other soft fruit didn't do too well either. I blame the weather in the spring. Another failure was the cucumber I bought as a young plant at a charity sale only for it to turn out as a courgette.

Pumpkins have done well, potatoes were ok, beetroot glut, carrots, best ever (which isn't saying much as last year was the first time I'd grown them). Onions, tomatoes, beans, parsnips, cabbage, all good enough. Garlic glut, but they're all quite small so going to replant the smallest. Most expensive aubergine I've ever owned 1 fruit on a plant that cost me £2.50.

All in all, not bad for year 2 of my new vegetable garden

[ina]

Only glut red currants - even the blackbirds, which got most of them in previous years, weren't interested... Total failure broad and runner beans. Rest not too great, either.

[Odsox]

Garlic glut, but they're all quite small so going to replant the smallest

That's interesting as I do the exact opposite.
In the possibly misguided theory that natural selection will grow bigger plants from big seed, I always select the biggest garlic bulb to replant, and the same goes for sweetcorn where I leave the biggest cob on the plant with most ears to save seed from. I also do that for tomatoes, broad beans and shallots, but with peas it's the pods that I missed picking that gets to grow next year.
It will be interesting to see what your garlic is like next year as I could well be misguided and wasting the best of each crop every year.

[diggernotdreamer]

I watched a programme some time ago about Colemans mustard, they have a library of all the seeds down the years and they noticed that the strength of the mustard had weakened and they couldn't figure out why. It turned out that in more recent times, the best of the crop had been selected and they rogued out any small or off types and this was where the problem was, they had lost genetic diversity and had to start again, so with that in mind, I save small and large of everything in the misguided theory that this will lead to better genetic diversity

[bonniethomas06]

I am going to ask a very stupid question, so be prepared!

I am assuming that you cannot save seed from f1 hybrids, because they won't come true?

If so, do you just grow non-hybrid veg, and do you think it is worth it to have less of a yield (if that is the case) than to buy the f1 seeds each year? I automatically go for hybrids on the assumption they are the best, but I haven't ever saved a single seed and it does seem a bit wasteful.

[Green Aura]

replant the smallest

I'd have replanted the best ones too. I await next years results with interest.

Bonnie, I've replanted saved seeds from F1 hybrids, while there's no guarantee they'll come true it doesn't mean they won't be good though. We've had some lovely tomatoes from supermarket toms (which I always assume to be F1s).

I try to not buy F1s these days, apart from any other reason they rarely live up to the promises they make and I'm more interested in keeping hold of older varieties - seed companies are happy to see a lot of non-hybrids disappear so you have to buy new each year.

Plants are hybridised for all sorts of reasons, not just yield - size, taste, ease of harvesting (especially good for commercial growers not so much for us). Those are the ones I'd be less interested in. Disease resistance might be worth considering though (as long as not GM of course).