Here endeth another year!

With all of my various interests, I take a little time out at this time of year to bask in the glory of my successes and chastise myself for all those things that I've cocked up.  As ever, the first list is short and I shan't bore you with it again.  However, the cock ups I will list in the forlorn hope that I won't make the same mistakes again.

• Sow tomato seeds a couple of weeks later.  This year, despite the shite weather through the summer, most of my tomatoes ripened in mid August, so that by the time of my local village show in mid-September, I was struggling to find fruits that weren't over ripe. 
• Thin out heavy trusses of tomatoes, particularly Dometica.  For some reason, judges prefer tomatoes without flat sides.
• Soak all onion beds with Armillatox during the winter in an attempt to kill off any nasties that cause rots of various types.
• Protect onions from wind.  This does not entail leaving curry out of my diet, rather it simply means putting a bit of windbreak netting round each bed to protect the foliage.  Hardly rocket science!
• Treat leaks against thrips much earlier.  Learn that shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted is crass!
• Sow marrows later - see 'tomatoes' above.
• Treat marrows for mildew early - another stable door/horse scenario.
• Label everything properly.  I have absolutely no idea what shallots, or onions for that matter, made up my winning show entries.  It's more than likely that they were a mixture of 2 or more varieties!
• Cover all brassicas with Enviromesh before the Cabbage Whites lay their eggs.  Don't ask!
• Nobody needs to grow that many chillies!

I'm sure there are loads more that I've missed, but I reckon if I get that lot right, Ill be doing OK.

Thanks for another 12 months of reading my diatribe. 

Have a great New Year.