Reflections

Watching the new BBC version of the triffids last night while reading a great garden book which was a Christmas Present led me to thinking about what to grow this year. I thought I would do a recap of the varieties I planted up and how we got on with what must have been one of the dryest summers for a while. 2008 we had far too many courgettes and beans, this year we had one small courgette and enough beans for one meal! We did very well with potatoes, onions, shallots, tomatoes and carrots which had all been inadequate the year before (2008), so here is a recap of what we planted and wether it worked.
 
Potatoes
- Early Crop - Charlotte's - Blooming marvelous, tasty and had we watered more regularly i suspect we would have had an even better crop. We used potato growbags/trug with hole drilled in and overall very successful. This year we will make a heavier mix of compost/soil which we hope will retain water more effeciently.
- Main Crop - Rooster - rubbish - we got the dreaded scab and the slug problem finished them off. Again this was due to sporadic watering and also down to us just not knowing how to treat the new stams. Massive crop - just inedible sadly.
Peas
- Kelvedon Wonder - they grew & something ate them! One day they were there and the next they were gone. This year i am going to build a plot within my plot for broccoli/carrots/salad and line with fine mesh to keep away caterpillar/mice and the bloody great pigeons we have round here.
Beans
- Runner - Celebration - I went with Painted Lady instead and although the seedlings grew quickly they became very susceptible to slug damage and under watering. This year I will be creating a wigwam and the 7sisters technique to retain moisture.
- Broad - Masterpiece - I went with Aquadulche and they started very promisingly but these were a very early victim to my over enthusiastic planting up of the plat and a salutory lesson that by squashing in more crops they get mould and rot. This year I have planted up at the correct spacing in a different section of the plot!
Sweetcorn
- Sunrise - Great fun to grow - need to be planted in a grid not a line which i did and i prepared the bad but the water issue was a real problem, the cobs did well but overnight went from being edible to dry and i just didn't have the experience to judge when to pick.
Onions
- Red Baron - These did really well and then one day just stopped growing so we started to use them and even though they were little they were fiery! Wow they have heat - will be growing these next year as well.
Shallots
- Jermor - One of the best crops & pretty to have in the bed as well - we companion planted with the Chantenay carrots and both did exceptionally well.
Carrots
- Atlas - These didn't in all honesty get a fair chance as they were used as a sacrificial plant to protect our Red Barons (which they did brilliantly). I will try these again but probably under protection.
- Chantenay - Again - one of our very best crops - planted with the shallots these cropped for months. We will definately grow these again this year.
Leeks
- Edison - Like the atlas these didn't get a fair chance - the wedding was around the time these fellow should have gone in the ground and they held on for a while and then one day i realised they were only going to be good for the compost so on they went.
Courgettes
- Black Forest - a small compact bush! - RUBBISH! We didn't get even one courgette! And all 8 plants germinted but nothing happend which after the glut of last year was just crazy. We did try them in tubs and i suspect that their roots need much more space so don't try these in containers!
- Midnight - Tub based climber - RUBBISH AGAIN! And this one was really purchased as a pot plants and yet although we got fruit they grew to about 3 inches then the ends tunred brown and dropped off. This year I will be trying something more robust.
Butternut Squash - in a pot this year! We didn't in fact grow butternut - somewhere a sensible voice inside my head suggested space might be an issue! We did try a pumpkin but it got attacked by aphids and died over many weeks which was heartbreaking.
Tomatoes
- Growbag & Greenhouse - Gardeners Delight - In fact we grew Harlequin which took a while to get started in the greenhouse and just like my neighbours they took ages to go red this year but my god we were harvesting them for months and months - we had the last lot in a salad for 10 people on Christmas Day so we will 100% grow these next year. The ones outside suffered from a lack of water as i tried an organic growbag which just didn't hold any water at all - but the bees liked the flowers so we did well in that respect.
- Hanging Baskets - Garden Pearl -  Again I changed my mind and grew 'tumbling toms' which were a vine like tomato and we grew them with marigolds in hanging baskets around our pergola. It was so successful that we will be doing exactly the same thing again this year.
Cucumber
- MarketMore  Not hugely successful, I think that again the lack of water was an issue as both the plants were grown in the organic grow bag which simply refused to hold onto water.
Lettuces
- Cos & Salad Mix - Never got round to these!
Spring Onions
- Guardsman - I can't remember what we grew but I think it was white lisbon, I'll check but they were damn hot little onions!
Peppers
- variety tbc depending on greenhouse - we got some free yellow peppers - only 5 of teh 8 germinated but all gave us a pepper which sadly failed to turn yellow but i think this was feeding incorrectly!



I did plant for bees in a big way this year, the spectacular mistake was BORAGE - it actually took over my entire veg patch and used many of the nutrients that the beans could really have done with - my neighrs borage grows to about 18 inches - mine was topping 6 foot. The bees it did have to be said absolutely loved it. I successfully grew honesty (Lunaria), Limnanthes (Egg Plant) and Marigolds from seed which i was pleased with. I also grew Sweet Williams (though only 3 of the 12 germinated), Aqualigia which was vaguely successful and managed not to kill the geraniums.


The factor which increased productivity was the greenhouse which was totally brilliant although the November gales have left it a bit holey and I will have to upgrade to much stiffer polycarbonate sheeting this year when the weather warms up. The wood needs attention in places and one of the structs needs bracketing. The tomatoes totally took over causing the damage to the wood, this year i will be stricter and nip the sideshooots but i just wanted to see what would happen if i didn't snip them. The aubergine I bought failed to do anything other than becaue haute cuisine for the local slug population who devoured it. 


The factor which we hadn't considered was a dry start to the year and I think that most of our plants suffered from a total lack of water. This year we are going to put in another cheaper butt. I also intend to grow hardier crops and mulch. Watch this space for a proper herb garden as herbs might like to be dry but in pots they simply need so much water they become more expensive than shop bought herbs!