2011 was a good year in the garden and I really enjoyed growing edibles and trying some new veg I'd never grown before like celery, celeriac, kale, broccoli, cucumbers, and more. Here's a little summary of some of the ups and downs over the growing season (there was alot of learning this year!).
(All are grown from seed, except the apple tree :)).
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| Most Pinched - I pinched my pepper plants very early in their development and stunted their growth. Next year - no pinching! |
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| Most TLC - the self fertilising apple tree gets green worms on it that eat the blooms in early Spring. I hand checked the plant regularly and was rewarded by a bumper crop (circa 14 apples - my all time record). |
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| Least Harvested - I didn't manage many florets as my broccoli seemed to constantly be in flower! |
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| Best Taste - After a bitter start (the first cucumber I tried was horrible) the plant produced a lovely sweet cucumber (the best I've ever eaten). |
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| Most Surprising - that I managed to get a tiny harvest my first time growing cucumber. |
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| Most Reliable - potatoes always seem to do well. This year the foliage were eaten by pests but I still managed to get potatoes. |
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| Best Container Crop - the carrots were fab and so yummy. Next year I'm growing more! |
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| Worse Crop - the courgettes started out great but almost all of them developed blossom rot. |
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| Most Expensive Pest Control - slugs drowned happily in Guinness in June. |
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| Most Useful Edibles - Celery (front) and two varieties of kale. 1st time I've grown these and very happy with the results. |
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| Most Confusing - growing tomatoes for the first time proper (when to pinch, how much to feed, etc). It worked out in the end and I was happy with the small yield I managed to get throughout summer. |
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| Most Rewarding - I was so proud to grow a turnip for the first time ever! |
If you want to have a nosy
at the seeds I used over the year, they are listed at http
://kelliboylesgarden
.blogspot
.com/p/2011-grow-list.html
