Lessons learned 2014

oh i forgot @Sheal who i find totally lovely and everyone else sorry too many to mention but please know i appreciate all help and advise x

 

Let's face it Maria, is there a sane gardener? Who in their right mind would be out there digging, pruning, planting etc. in the worst of British weather!

 

A lesson I'm still trying to learn.......

I'm house hunting because I need to down size my plot and have had my eye on a place that needs 'work' for a few months. So why am I bewitched by this place that goes against everything I should be looking for! I've spent seven years and plenty of cash refurbishing the one I've been living in for nine years, it's still not quite finished. The plot is bigger than I have now and is in a coastal position, so much so it would be difficult to get anything to grow there because of the exposure. You might ask why I would even consider it......because it has space, is amongst farmland and it's a shouting distance from the neighbours. Oh yes, and the price tag is very inviting. I wish the agents would sell it and get it out of my mind!

 

I do sometimes you know ... clearly at the wrong flipping times though!

 

For several years now, I've successfully grown butternut squash and pumpkins in amongst sweet corn as companion crops, with good results from both.

I usually space the sweet corn in staggered rows at 2ft(600mm) apart, underplanted with the squashes and pumpkins. However this year as a result of my trying to cram in as many vegetable crops as possible, space was limited so I reduced the sweet corn spacing to 1½ft(450mm). Result - a good crop of sweet corn but total failure of the squashes and pumpkins.

Lesson learned; I now know that 2ft is the minimum sweet corn spacing which will allow adequate light for the squashes and pumpkins to succeed.

 

Didn't you send me that one?

 

One lesson: leave space for plants you don't know you want yet, but almost certainly will when you go to visit an RHS show in spring. I have a few spaces left because I know I won't walk away empty handed!

 

In my garden this is called grass.
Finally decided to get rid of the two grapevines that have taken over one end of the vegetable plot every year for the past ten years.
I will get a new variety, earlier ripening, and site it somewhere where it is easier to manage and interferes with other crops less.

 

Good post, lesson learned..

Dont plant Ricinus in front of a window, I grow them every years and normally reach 5ftish. However, this year, they must have like the weather or maybe the seeds were from a strong gene pool, they ended up just under 8 foot, blocking out my view of the garden. I did start them later too which may be a part of it. I have found that later sowings often produce more vigourous plants, particularly with courgettes and pumpkins.

Dont do too much too soon, got carried away late april/early May and had most jobs done!

 

Reminds of having to take water to the plot in pouring rain to water the plants growing in polytunnels.

I tried growing Cape Gooseberries this year in a polytunnel, for the first time since I was in my teens, the plants grew to about 7 feet tall, massively bushy and we only got enough fruits ripen for a small bowl each. Wont bother again.