BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?

Subject: BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 10:18 AM

I'd love to know what particular varieties of vegetables you grew this year, and how they fared?

Are there any specific seeds you'd recommend for a beginner?

Caveat: I'm in the South of the UK, so it's a temperate climate here. While we're marginally warmer than other regions of the UK, we still don't get the temperatures that much of the US and other parts of continental Europe can expect.

I grew a heritage 'deer's tongue' lettuce called 'Relic' this year, which has grown great, no trouble, no fuss, no problems.

Spring onions grew great, with no problem from pests. Can't recall the name.

All kinds of bean grew well, incliding dwarf, runner and broad beans. I discovered I love 'yellow wax' French dwarf beans.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 10:20 AM

I grew a tomato about the size of a golf ball!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 10:27 AM

I was moderately successful - plenty of cherry tomatoes, zucchini (courgette), some yellow squash, lots of peppers - green and jalopeño. I mistakenly bought Japanese egglplant seedlings but when they started coming in I was amazed - copious quantities and they were delicious. The cucumbers did yield but not very well, and the parsley and cilantro were disappointing. Now I have collards, kale and lettuce. Collards and kale always seem to grow abundantly, but I'm disappointed in the lettuce. I live in Virginia, USA BTW. The main problem is that I need to move my plot, but I haven't gotten around to it. I've used the same ground space for 4 or 5 years now and while I've put down fertilizer, I haven't put down mulch or topsoil.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?
From: Bobert
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 10:28 AM

I'm going to grade mine from A to F with A being excellent anf F being a complete failure:

Tomatoes................ C+
Bell peppers ........... A
Hot peppers............. B-
Okra.................... A
Yellow Squash........... C
Eggplant................ B
Lettuce................. B
Spinach................. F
Asparagus............... A
Acorn Squash............ C
Cucumber................ A
Arugala................. A (so far_
Beets................... B (1st planting) B (so far)


We'll do better next year...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?
From: GUEST, CS
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 10:52 AM

Ha! forgot to post my failures..

Spinach Beet.. I'd give that a C Enthusiastic, but could do better with some help.
Rainbow Chard: D Tried hard, but not in the best place.
Bok Choi: C- Needs some help.
Tomatoes D - Very poor.
Peppers C- Tried hard, but needed more support (feed properly next year)
Courgettes D - Had three or four fruits. Poorly placed.

Onions (red and white as well as spring) did well though, a solid B

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 23 Oct 12 - 10:55 AM

Oh..

Chives: B plus
Parsley: B plus
Dill: B plus
Sage: A
Thyme: A

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?
From: Essex Girl
Date: 24 Oct 12 - 06:52 AM

All beans great, plus the mange tout, (I will plant more next year) Potatoes, onions, beetroot, spinach and swiss chard were also good. My first try at growing cucumbers outdoors was moderately successful, and I have made stacks of green tomato chutney as although I had an excellent crop they failed to ripen.The Mizuna, rocket and black pepper grew in abundance and the mizuna is still flourishing.
Failures, the radishes went to seed, and most of the courgettes got eaten by slugs. I spent many evening going around the garden with beer traps and collecting them. I had no pears and no Cox apples, although the cooker did reasonably well. Raspberries and redcurrants were great but I only managed 1lb of gooseberries from my bush.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?
From: Penny S.
Date: 24 Oct 12 - 11:07 AM

Runner beans excellent until the last few weeks when the blackfly found them, but that only means I get black slime when picking - there's still a few more to come.
Courgettes not bad, I could keep up with the supply - at least one more to come.
Watercress OK, and would have been better if I hadn't eradicated some to make space for the
Celery which was dire and has, I think, succumbed to a blight.
Potatoes - some good, some blighted.
Tomatoes - blight again, but a few nice ones.
Ridge cucumber - a new veg for me, replacing the butternut squash which the mollusca devoured.
Lettuce -slugs & snails
Various other brassica things - slugs & snails
Carrots and parsnips, some OK, mostly gone to the mollusca
Beetroot - vanished.
Blackberries brilliant, first year of cropping in this garden, and I expect better next year.
Peaches - small but very sweet. Must spray for peach leaf curl.

Overall, not a good year with the damp but not bad for a southern UK small garden facing NW with a 6 foot fence and a three story terrace to the SE. The veggie bit gets the sun from 10 am in the summer.

I've a few kale, brussels, cabbage and swede which have survived the molluscs so far, though chewed, and I'm hoping that with the cold weather they'll be able to give me some leaves which aren't lacey.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?
From: Janie
Date: 24 Oct 12 - 08:38 PM

Little time or sun to garden these days, but what I did plant in terms of veggies and herbs in my small raised beds with marginal sun produced as well as I expected them to do, and supplied more than I had the time to make good use of.

Can't complain.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2012, Successes & Failures?
From: selby
Date: 25 Oct 12 - 04:05 AM

Parsnips absolutely huge
Sprouts fantastic
Cabbage fantastic
Beetroot huge
Pears absolutely bumper crop
Potatoes reasonable with some blight
Apples very poor about a dozen on a tree that usually is weighed down with apples
Runner beans moderate crop
Peas moderate crop
Spring onions ok
Carrots good
Sweet corn very poor
Squashes never formed
Radishes poor
Tomatoes mixed success but not overall good
Cucumbers bitter
Plums fair
Rhubarb excellant
We live in an area with clay soil, the garden has been water logged, the water table in our area is that high at the moment that a dozen spots of rain and our lawn is waterlogged so on balance, we feel, produce wise a good year
Keith