What will you never grow again?

Sunflowers. Mine just didn’t last long

MaizieD

Teacheranne

Wild garlic! Not planted by me but it flourishes in one bed under the bushes and is appearing in the lawn now! I don’t like the smell when I try to dig them out and due to my mobility problems I can’t reach the back of the bed so just have to try to keep the front part free of them.

Perhaps you could sell it to a local restaurant. It's terribly fashionable now apparently. ?. Sell it as a 'pick your own' ...

I did not know that! I might consider selling it to friends who like cooking. Which part do you eat, the leaves or the little bulb or both?

brown hair.

Teacheranne

Wild garlic! Not planted by me but it flourishes in one bed under the bushes and is appearing in the lawn now! I don’t like the smell when I try to dig them out and due to my mobility problems I can’t reach the back of the bed so just have to try to keep the front part free of them.

Perhaps you could sell it to a local restaurant. It's terribly fashionable now apparently. ?. Sell it as a 'pick your own' ...

Callistemon21

muse I grew sweetcorn a few years ago and the results were good although not as large as those you can buy in a shop. They need to be planted in a square, not a row.

However, it perhaps hasn't been a good year for them, far too dry.

Thank you so much Callistemon21 and I wish that was the answer but I did it in square 3 x 3 both years. First year in the polytunnel with irrigation sprinklers every day. This year I tried them outside in a new raised bed. Apart from when our stream (water supply) dried up for 4 days and I had to half the amount of water, they got loads each day. They have formed but loads of kernels missing.

I’m also going to try to get rid of a huge fern as it looks a mess for most of the year and is too big for the area it is in. I bought a couple of unusual flowering grasses at RHS Bridgewater which I want to plant instead.

I’ve no idea how I’m going to get the roots out though, once the leaves die back there is a huge dried up brown stump left!

Wild garlic! Not planted by me but it flourishes in one bed under the bushes and is appearing in the lawn now! I don’t like the smell when I try to dig them out and due to my mobility problems I can’t reach the back of the bed so just have to try to keep the front part free of them.

MayBee ?

We planted passionflower and honeysuckle against a wall but it grew and strangled our neighbours' plants.

We got rid of it and I planted variegated ivies instead. Mistake! It did the same thing.

Now we have a bare wall.

muse I grew sweetcorn a few years ago and the results were good although not as large as those you can buy in a shop. They need to be planted in a square, not a row.

However, it perhaps hasn't been a good year for them, far too dry.

Passion flower. Had one in a pot and it did nothing. Planted it in the garden and it still did nothing for years. Then, a couple of years ago I went away for a few weeks and when I returned it had taken over half of the garden, including the washing line. It was a nightmare to eradicate as well as it had tendril like things growing under the soil. I honestly think that, if I hadn’t killed it it would have strangled me in my sleep.

Sweetcorn. Second year of trying. The plant itself looks fantastic but it's all show and no substance. A total waste of space.

First year of growing squash (two varieties) and loving what's being produced?.

Thanks. I should be grateful because he's a lovely old fellow but I thought oh no, last time it took me ages to get rid of it.

It's not going in the rockery though.

Callistemon21

^Japanese Anemones^
I'll keep mine in a pot then.

What about Ajuga? When I planted some years ago in a rockery it spread everywhere but, planted in a shady, dry spot, it failed completely.

I pulled it all out but have just been given another Ajuga plant by a very kind old gentleman. Help!

Ajuga is usually quite obliging. Don't put it anywhere too shady and it should be fine. I find it spreads very easily but as it's shallow rooted it's easy to pull up.

Unlike those pesky Japanese anemones, that I also suffer from.. they're lovely at this time of year but I wish they'd stay put ?

This year I struggled to buy and germinate my usual sweetcorn seeds.
In the end I got about 75 plants from three different varieties.

I put them all out on the allotment, watering and feeding as usual, having now eaten a few and found them strange in that some kernels were over ripe and some just right and others under ripe. I now realise they have hybridised, and are almost inedible!

Witzend

*Purpledaffodil*, I invariably get black fly on nasturtiums. Not that I’ve planted any for a few years, but the self sown ones keep popping up. They do provide colour until the first frosts, but blackfly spray is def. needed.

One year I put nasturtiums seeds in with my hanging baskets. They grew and looked lovely, then I noticed all the caterpillars amongst them.

Cauliflowers.

Purpledaffodil, I invariably get black fly on nasturtiums. Not that I’ve planted any for a few years, but the self sown ones keep popping up. They do provide colour until the first frosts, but blackfly spray is def. needed.

Figs. We are in the north west and the summer isn't long enough for them to mature.

Japanese Anemones
I'll keep mine in a pot then.

What about Ajuga? When I planted some years ago in a rockery it spread everywhere but, planted in a shady, dry spot, it failed completely.

I pulled it all out but have just been given another Ajuga plant by a very kind old gentleman. Help!

Thugs I have in my garden:-
Japanese Anemones
St.John's Wort
Grape Hyacinth
Stinking Iris ( just dug up

Bears breeches, not too bad at the moment
Alchemilla Mollis. Hoping it will spread just a bit
Nasturtiums, pathetic
Russian Sage. OK

Kale. It gets full of tiny moths which don't harm it but I'm a softie and can't bear washing them all away. I'm really good at growing echiums though (but then who isn't, they grow like weeds, ginormous weeds).

Wondering if runner beans worth the effort as tiny crop so far. Thought that about tomatoes last year though and they’ve done really well.
Monty Don suggested planting nasturtium seeds in pots for late summer colour. Ha! Who knew they were brassicas and I have few flowers and thousands of cabbage white caterpillars on them. And the birds aren’t interested in them even. No more nasturtiums for me. ?

Brussel sprouts - covered in little grey flies.
Montbretia - dread invasive plant!
Garlic -simply not worth the effort!
Purple sprouting broccoli - simply not worth the effort!
Luffah - too much like hard work!
Peppers - prone to infestation by some sort of bug!

I've enjoyed reading this post. I must admit I don't bother with garden veg now. As others have said the bugs and beasties get to them too easily and I remember once a friend finding a wee caterpillar in her cauliflower at dinner. So embarrassing... I have grown some potatoes in containers this year and I do have strawberries and blueberries in my raised beds. There's nothing like popping out at breakfast and filling your bowl with berries.
I do grow my own tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse. The home grown taste is so worth it but I'd love to be able to get finer skins. Apparently it's the heat and even tho I've ventilation and open the doors I still get some with chewy skins. Melons and cucumbers just not been a success and the supermarket ones are just fine.
For the Gran who can't grow Ladies Mantle, I wish you stayed near me, I'm forever digging up self seeded seedlings. The same with the Alpine variety. Alstromeria doesn't like my garden yet my 2 sisters have huge clumps of the same plant.

J52, during the next month or so we’ll be taking some pretty savage action against our Japanese anemones - they’re encroaching well into the grass.