What will you do differently next year?

[chilli_grower]

I wont be growing anything in hanging baskets, they need to much watering!

I will grow far less in my garden, and a lot more at allotment.

I will grow less chillies!

[Kristen]

Must fluff up the parsnip bed as although it was 50% compost 50% sand, it was too compact & caused them to fork

Could you make planting-holes with, say, a bulb planter, fill with something nice, and then station-sow a few seeds and thin later?

I think trying to get a whole bed into shape for roots is difficult. I've tried for carrots (way too much faff for me to do individually for that many, relatively small, roots) ... going to try again next year, but I think I will elevate a frame and fill with a mostly-sand mix and sow in that. After the season that will be mixed in and improve my clay. (I reserve the end-bit of the crop rotation "zone" for Carrots, so they will be back in that same bit in a few year's time, so hopefully successive "sand frames" will improve all the end-zones over time.

About 50% of the carrots have managed to at least look like possibilities from the foliage - have not lifted any yet (too scared), half expect a green tuft and nothing else.

Might be worth just running your finger around the base of the foliage - you might be surprised at the girth of the carrot underneath OTOH if not then leave it a bit longer

Will try again at sowing every few weeks, tried this year, but things like Mange Tout, caught up with each other.

I sow successional crops on 1st and 15th of the month - I find that easier to remember than having a schedule of some sort, dunno if that would suit others though.

next year I will grow carrots under scaffold netting right from the start

If its for Carrot Fly? then scaffolders debris netting is not a fine enough mesh Needs to be enviromesh or one of those type of expensive ones Unless you have some very fine-mesh net curtains?

[arpoet]

After another mediocre season for climbing French beans, use the space for more summer cabbages , but grow dwarf beans in pots in my cold greenhouse for an earlier crop.

[Martin H]

If its for Carrot Fly? then scaffolders debris netting is not a fine enough mesh Needs to be enviromesh or one of those type of expensive ones Unless you have some very fine-mesh net curtains?

This year I switched from fleece to debris netting at the beginning of June and had fly-free crops, which is why I wanted to try the full season next year. The adult flies have 12mm wingspan, are you sure they can get through debris mesh? (apart from those big holes, obviously).

[Kristen]

The adult flies have 12mm wingspan, are you sure they can get through debris mesh? (apart from those big holes, obviously).

That's what I have read. Personally I find that if we harvest our carrots early, rather than leave them into the ground until well into Winter, that we don't have a problem ... but maybe that just means that we haven't got/had any fly to worry about anyway?

My thinking is that I read that you have to be careful when harvesting, perhaps particularly when thinning. So if the fly only lays eggs when you harvest, then if you harvest all the rest quickly (how quickly?) after that then the larva won't have done the damage?

I expect I'm kidding myself though!

[Kristen]

I had a Google, which wasn't much help

Carrot fly is 4-6 mm long and 10 mm wingspread. I assume, like Cabbage Whites, it will fold up its wings to get through a small gap when it can smell the Carrots.

Maybe Scaffolders debris netting would do? might be touch-and-go though, and Enviromesh, Veggimesh or Wondermesh would be a better guarantee.

[chilli_grower]

I grew all my carrots under a net curtain this year.

THe curtain was literally just laid gently on top of the carrot leaves, and it lifted up as the leaves grew.

I weighed it down loosely with a few logs around the edges.

Worked perfectly, and does not rot away like horticultural fleece.

[skeggijon]

I'll be growing more carrots, trying 2 or 3 varieties. My method of growing them uncovered in a dolav has seemed to work well this year - no carrot fly cos they were too high off the ground for them to reach and lots of room for long roots.
I'll also be growing more chilli varieties and definitely more peppers.
I'll try to keep on top of the tomatoes, pinching them out more regularly and give each plant a bit more space.
Oh and plant fewer courgette plants - by special request from relatives, neighbours, friends, friends neighbours and friends neighbours relatives xxx


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[Kristen]

no carrot fly cos they were too high off the ground for them to reach

That isn't a given as carrot fly can be swept up on updraughts, and it only takes one or two to wreck the roots ... but ... its unlikely that they will get up there, depends on whether you are happy with the gamble. If it were me I'd be happy for years - until some made it up there and spoiled my roots

Oh and plant fewer courgette plants - by special request from relatives, neighbours, friends, friends neighbours and friends neighbours relatives

[sparrow100]

Next year I will have all but finished my plot reorganising/doubledigging and will have more space than ever before. Yippeee!!! I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to that being done.

Maincrop spuds will only be grown in bags, and 2 bags of spuds will be early sown first earlies to get something tasty a good while before the ones in the ground. I need many more padron peppers, and no tomatillos/cape gooseberries. And I will get on top of my tomato sideshoots and they will ONLY be grown in the new shiny greenhouse.

And I will chill out a lot more about the whole thing - I don't have to rely on it for food, so I should stop behaving as if I do. I've had a really good year really - tomatoes, sweetcorn and maincrop spuds are the only things that haven't done ok. This is as long as no evil furry starts eating my precious winter squashes.

[poly]

This year I switched from fleece to debris netting at the beginning of June and had fly-free crops, which is why I wanted to try the full season next year. The adult flies have 12mm wingspan, are you sure they can get through debris mesh? (apart from those big holes, obviously).

Sorry not quite on topic - We get a lot of problem with Carrot root fly here if carrots and parsnips are left uncovered. Debris netting has worked well for me, but you need to be quick when weeding, thinning or harvesting to get them covered back up as soon as possible. Also the bed you are covering needs to be free of them as they overwinter on a previous crops roots and pupate in the spring. I'm sure some could get through the big holes, but so far it doesn't seem to be an issue.

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

- No tomatillos in greenhouse
- No tomatoes outside
- At least 50% less tomato varieties (20+ this year :/)
- Potatoes in bags only (on account of the voles et moles)
- Water the bagged potatoes profusely
- Mainly climbing beans as opposed to Dwarf
- More squash, less courgette
- Better spacing (don't cram too much in)
- More melons (and look after them)
- Less parsnips, more carrots
- Enjoy the garden more

[meteor]

Hopefully next season at this stage I will have.

Cleared the last section of my garden to create an orchard.
Planted the last boggy section with blueberries and cranberries ( more research needed on my cranberries)
Moved all my soft fruit from pots to a dedicated section of my plot.
Made a permanent bed for perennials; asparagus, artichokes etc.
The same for herbs.
Started keeping chickens and ducks
restored the old decorative cottage garden out front

Changes
Sow green manure over winter
more garlic
sow less onion sets and more from seed, the quality from seed was much better this year.
less potatoes
less courgettes
more flowers

[BUFFS]

I will make more raised beds(24ins) for carrots and parsnips, grow dwarf French beans not climbers(I would never be able to reach them), totally scrap any thought of growing shallots, useless, grow onions starting boxing day, get a good supply of seaweed to put under tatties and get the apricot tree fruiting as it is now ready and see if I can cross the indigo rose toms with my olympe/black Russian crosses to make totally black beefsteak toms, and finally , cover the blueberries with netting as birds ate the lot this year..but it was good watching them....ps we got some more garlic today, marco, and at �2.99 for 3 big bulbs, planted 42 large cloves for next years crop....

[Greenleaves]

^^^^^ And hopefully come first Buffs