Selfsufficientish.com

George (green pea 2) and I went for a wander though the allotments next to our house yesterday to have a nosey at what people were growing and we came away rather disheartened. We thought we were doing SO well too! These people have monster veg, their leeks looked ready for pulling, their cabbages were huge, all their fruit bushes had tons and tons of fruit on and their broad beans were at least twice the size of ours.
Are we missing something?!

Years of experience, a heated greenhouse at home, etc. etc.

Actually, just about the moment I stopped looking at other people's plants and going green, my veggies grew better. Now I don't give a stuff as long as I get what I want out of growing my own.

Mike

Perhaps a little experience, timing and choice of varieties or perhaps just a load of chemical fertiliser. Don't worry big is not always beautiful to eat. However I know the feeling, despite having an allotment that is the envy of many others I saw some beetroot on another plot last week that were so big, perfect and healthy. They were outside and were bigger and better than mine that are in our polytunnel and compared with mine outside, well there was no comparison. So that's a challenge for next year. But this is how we learn, striving to do better each year.

Also don't forget that a lot of people did grow things early and plant out much earlier than is sensible - well they were lucky this year with the early warm spring and no frosts but last year those same people copped it in mid May when us well behind, sensible people had our tender plants still under cover.

It's only mid June after all so I'm not bothered that other people have already got courgette gluts when I've only had one male flower so far, and the other plant only has one true leaf!