4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Cinnamon]

I have spent a happy afternoon making a speadsheet of what was planted in which bed, & planning what to plant where for next year.

 

I have decided, no more Brassicas for me.I can't grow them & the only one to benefit are the caterpillars

 

I am planting the sweetcorn amongst the courgettes again, as that we really successful, & will concentrate on roots, which grow really well for me.

 

Only salad potatoes in bags next year, & just Desiree apart from them, as they are our favourites.

 

I only grew one each of Cucumber & Butternut Squash, so I will be wabteing 2-3 of each of those next year too.

 

Hubby is on a promise to build me a new Greenhouse soon, so hopefully I can do more in there too.

 

The onions were brill this year, so I will be doing those again, likewise the salads & Pak Choi.

 

MIGHT get rid of the Strawberry bed, as we had very little fruit & it was jolly hard work.

 

My garlic has arrived for overwintering, so I am preparing that bed this weekend - its really quite exciting!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've decided that I'm going to start everything a LOT earlier. I've got some things that just won't have time to fruit .

 

I'm ditching the broccoli too - I removed a hundredweight of caterpillars today (and now they're all escaping from the brown wheeliebin ). I'll leave the plants in to see if anything comes of them next year but they just take up too much room and are a pain .

 

I'm going to be more selective too - I grew things this year just because I had free seed packets. I'm going to stick to things that I know we'll actually eat .

[craftyhunnypie]

Yes..a lot more carrots in lots of tubtrugs next year. They did brilliantly & tasted delicious. Never grow spuds in the ground, buy some potato bags for next year.

Don't bother with tumbling toms - just grow money maker & gardeners delight tomatoes, they've done brilliantly up against the South facing wall.

 

I'm also going to grow more Dahlias - such lovely flowers & they did soooo well.

 

Oh & I want to grow runner beans next year & build a proper frame for them to grow up - goodness knows where though.

 

Emma.x

[redhotchick]

Oh Yes!

My garlic has arrived, it is all going to be planted in October. So it should be ready in June/July ready for something else to go in. (Beans? Courgettes?)

I'm planning what bee/butterfly flowers I can plant next year to give me a good range of nectar/pollen as much of the year as possible.

I'm not giving up on Brassicas. More Enviromesh next year

Otherwise what do I grow over the winter?

I've been growing veg for about 3 years now and I accept that it is going to be a learning process. I've got the hang of summer veg (well some of it anyway!)

I'm working on diversification and maximising use of my available space year on year.

I agree strawberries can be a bit disappointing, but not as much as my tomato crop! I'm not giving up on either! On the other hand, my Autumn Fruiting Raspberry (2nd year) is delighting me with a cup full of raspberries every few days at the moment. Lovely.

[Cinnamon]

I like the idea of Raspberries, & prefer them to Strawbs anyhow..........

 

Might get a few to bung in in place if the Strawbs for next year

[redhotchick]

Sarah, (re raspberries) you can probably get bare root stock fairly cheaply over the winter, but if can work out how to send you some suckers, you would be most welcome.

I don't know the variety, but they are yummy!

They were unlabelled (from Netto or Aldi) over time and with a bit of detective work I worked out that they are an Autumn fruiting type.

[Alis girls]

Er no. I am still trying to cope with this years glut of tomatoes, pumpkins and marrows. You are all so organised - please tell me there are some other disorganised Omleters out there.

[Cinnamon]

Thanks for the offer Redhotchick, but Hubby says he wants to keep the Strawberries for another year

I would MUCH rather have Raspberries,myself.

 

Got one bed,reserved for the Garlic,rotovated & ready to go.

Just got to keep it weed free now

[Lesley]

Er no. I am still trying to cope with this years glut of tomatoes, pumpkins and marrows. You are all so organised - please tell me there are some other disorganised Omleters out there.

 

Well.....I'll go half way I'm still trying to cope with this years glut but I do have next years plan in my head and the garlic is on its way.

 

Less potatoes next year I think - we have about 15 sacks of potatoes stored! - we usually buy 3 sacks over a winter

[C&T]

Def planning!

 

No sweetcorn next year - takes up too much space in my little bit of garden... Although did taste nice!

 

Courgette is a definite, as are the carrots. Lettuce - of course. Cabbages I will give another go, and the runner beans up the fence is another definite, along with the tomatoes and spinach. Might try peas up the fence as well, and see what happens...

 

Going to try Leeks next year too (I did sow some this year, but I forgot about them, the courgette smothered them, and the slugs I suspect finished them off... I found the labels the other day!!). Also going to try spring onions, Pak Choi and beetroot I think!

 

No Broccolli - unless I can grown them in the chicken run, but train the chickens to only eat the catterpillars !!

[Couperman]

Next year I will be mainly growing...............

 

Peas, Broad Beans, Onions, Garlic, Kohl Rabi, Carrots, Parnips, Calabrese, Sweetcorn, Turnips, Swede, Beetroot, Strawberries, Spring Cabbage, Summer Cabbage, Red Cabbage, Pumpkins. Earlly spuds only and Preans! Not to mention all the inherited fruit bushes and Rhubarb.

 

All of these did exceptionally well this year but i got the numbers a bit wrong and I gave hundreds of plants away!

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first season 'from seed', probably haven't saved a mountain of cash but we have eaten a lot of delicious veg that couldn't be matched by any shop. . It should work out cheaper next year as I don't have twenty raised beds to pay for.

 

And I have lost about a stone into the bargain without any dieting or lard avoidance strategies.

 

Kev.

[Olly]

No brassicas for me either, waste of time. Tomatoes: Gardeners' Delight have produced huge amounts, but I'd like some bigger ones too - I grew Tigerella this year and they were very good. Cucumbers again, but not aubergines - I'll try sweet peppers instead - all these in the greenhouse.

 

Outside - potatoes, and I'll have another go with leeks but did very badly this year. Sweetcorn was disappointing, I won't bother again, but I will grow runner beans even though they were also bad this year, because I've grown them in the past ok. Next year I'd like to try spring onions because I eat a lot of those, and maybe ordinary onions too.

As you say, ANH, best to grow things you know you will eat!

 

I will give butternut squash a try, I didn't get a single fruit this year but the plants grew quite well. Courgettes definitely, as they did well. And I'd like to try rainbow chard, I had the seeds this year but never got round to it. I think that's enough - I have doubled the size of my veg beds for next year, but there's a limit to how much I can look after.

 

I've already sowed some sweet peas to overwinter, and next year I'm going to try primulas from seed - candelabra and drumstick ones. I also want to take more cuttings next year to expand my plant stocks, it's something I've not really done before.

 

And I'm planning a bog garden .... my winter will be spent reading gardening books and dreaming!

[chickenanne]

Ooh, yes!

 

Will definitely be growing beetroot again, and carrots (despite my heavy clay soil) as tehy've done well and are great. Potatoes in tubs again. But courgettes in the ground, not in containers: I tried them for first time in containers this year and they've been rubbish!

In terms of brassica's, defintiely kale, which I grew last year but not this. Not going to bother with cauli's or broccoli, and I don't like sprouts.

Garlic over the winter in part of the bed, but don't see the point in growing onions given how little space I have.

I love my hanging basket toms, they've produced loads and taste amazing. Think the variety was called "hundreds and thousands" and would really recommend them.

My strawberry bed is GOING. It's rubbish: takes up a fair amount of space and time for relatively little reward. Am tempted to repalce it with an asparagus bed: any comments or advice on that? I love asparagus, and I know it'll take a couple years before I can get a decent crop.... but am sorely tempted.

Lots of salad leaves to intercrop between everything else, but think will also devote a sparate patch to salad leaves next year.

[Peter S]

Have already got white (Radar) and red (Electric Red) onions in the ground for next year, and have some garlic and shallots (can't remember the variety) due to go in sometime in October. I'll also be sowing some broad beans to catch an early crop - Aquadulce, I think. Also recently planted a load of caulies, cabbages, calabrese and purple sprouting that should be ready for next year.

 

And, given that my leeks are unlikely to be ready this year, I shall pretend that I was super-organised and that they were always meant for next year...

 

Have also just received a load of seeds from the Organic Gardening Catalogue - mainly squash/pumpkins and various beans, with the potatoes on order to make sure I get my favourites!

 

My lesson from this year is that I need to start things off much, much earlier, hence the reason I've already bought most of my seeds. I've even put them into a little box, in order of sowing, so I know what to sow when!

 

I won't be bothering with tomatoes, as we got an abysmal yield, or aubergines, as they have still not set fruit despite being covered in flowers. And I think I shall limit the number of courgette plants to one yellow and two green, to avoid the plague - sorry, glut - that we have suffered - sorry, enjoyed - this year

[C&T]

Agree with the timing thing....

 

I have a small tin with all my seeds squished up in - no idea what I have, or when to plant it!

 

Perhaps I should buy next years callendar now, and put things like "sow Lettuce" in on the appropriate month...

 

Mind you, I forget the birthdays that are plainly written on the callendar, so not sure how this would work either...

[Old Speckled Hen]

I'm growing rice

[redhotchick]

Next year I'd like to try spring onions because I eat a lot of those, and maybe ordinary onions too.

 

Spring onions, most garlic and some onions can go in now (well October), for a nice early crop , and free up some space by end of June

[Olly]

ooh, thanks for that tip, Redhotchick - it would be good to get something in to overwinter.

[bluekarin]

I saw this years try at growing my own veg as a trial year (ie we didn't get very much ). Anyway, I sat down in the sunshine yesterday morning and went through all my seed packets to find out when to sow, plant out if necessary, and harvest. Its quite anoraky but I now have chart on my fridge so I know when to get out there to start growing. I have also made a note of what to plant in pots and what didn't do so well in the pots (sweetcorn, peas, broadbeans, cucumber to name a few). I'd like to eventually get an allotment and my sister has said she'd share one with me.

 

But next years veggies will be

potatoes some earlies and some late

broad beans

peas

runner beans

cucumber

sweetcorn

beetroot

lettuce

tomatoes

onions (red, white and spring)

leeks

parsnips

carrots

radishes

courgette

butternut squash

raspberries

strawberries (for the chickens really)

rhubarb

blackcurrants (will it fruit next year? who knows)

 

so just a few things

[chickencam]

We have found after about 10 seasons, that each year has it's succeses and failures. If you feed and mulch the soil each year, it gradually gets better and your crops become more succesful.

 

I would like to have another go with sweet potatoes next year. I haven't tried them for the past couple of years and the eather hasn't been good enough. Next summer will be sunny and hot

 

I want to grow some fennel and more spinach next year and to sow my carrots a bit more thinly.

[chickenanne]

Chickencam: I so agree with you re; taking care of the soil each year. It really does pay off over time.

[Valkyrie]

I'm definitely not going to bother with cauliflowers next year (shame, because last year they were good), mainly if it is another poor year with regard to the curds, the girls don't like the green stuff - they happily wolf down spent calabrese stalks though. So sticking with the calabrese and the sprouts have got huge, so will try those again. Oops methinks the girls want brekkers!

[missuscluck]

I have had a real pest problem this year and Im planning on growing nothing next year just weeding for me in the garden.

 

However.....

 

We have this large plot up the road now by the beehives and the chooks and we are going to start sorting that in the next few weeks. First job will be bringing in large amounts of 'poo' via tractor and trailer and then rotorvating as the soil looks a bit poor at the mo.

 

Think ill get on to ordering some garlic though. Thankyou for the reminder

Mot sure yet what else we will be growing but I will enjoy being able to grow things that take up lots of space rather than worrying about the lack of it.