It was a year of gains and losses which I think is par for the course when gardening, we enjoyed the fruits (and vegetables) of our labours and what we lost hopefully we can learn lessons from.

One of my grandchildren shelling our dwarf beans, some still in the freezer for the winter.Runner beans were a runaway success after a slow start. The first lot we lost to a late frost, the second lot either the birds or mice got to them and the third and final sowing were slow due to the adverse weather in early summer but once they started they were unstoppable! Lots of them in the freeezer also.

Potatoes got blight, plus attacked by wireworm and slugs. We cut back the stalks to within a couple of inches of the ground to mark their positions, we are still digging them so there was enough to go around between ourselves and the slugs! We had earlies and second earlies which escaped any damage and were wonderfull. The British Queens, and Kerr’s Pinks have some slug damage  but otherwise gave a good crop, Golden Wonders the last to dig are still in the ground maybe a little too late?!

Sweetcorn went to seed, I think too long in pots before putting out , planting out was delayed due to the wind and rain and also affected it for some weeks after planting.They never grew very high so the few cobs that did form were just at rabbit height and got nibbled.

Courgettes went wild, we had courgettes with or in everything and anything.

Salad crops were slow again due to the weather.

Lots of onions, the winter onions we put in last year were not any bigger than the later planted ones, in fact the last lot we put in in February were the best.Garlic got garlic rust probably due to a wet winter.

Carrots were a disappointment, our first year putting them in the ground instead of the bins.Weird and wonderful shapes and tasty but small for the most part.

We had beetroot,swiss chard, spinach,rhubarb,white turnips (again a great cropper)cauliflower, red cabbage and summer cabbage, broccoli ( just finished now),Peas ,herbs,tomatoes were another disappointment this year, few and far between!

We had a great return from the fruit bed with raspberries and blackcurrants, a few blueberries in their second year and strawberries. We have extended the fruit bed to over double its size in the last few weeks to make room for autumn fruiting raspberries for next year and more blackcurrant  and gooseberry bushes.

We are still cropping potatoes, brussel Sprouts and leeks and have left the parsnips until after the first frost which may not be long now.

Most of the beds have now been dug over, covered with manure and black membrane and left to rest until next Spring when they will be ready for immediate planting once the ground warms up a little.