what are your disappointments this year?

[Gatekeeper]

mine are the Achillea 'Summer Berries' that i grew from seed; the colours are lovely but

1. it has grown loads taller than the 24 inches quoted (48 inches) and has all flopped over
   
2. it absolutely STINKS...of pungent smelly dog
   
3. yes if DOES attract pollinators , thank you Thompson & Morgan- unfortunatly , they all appear to be greenbottles and house flies - millions of the buggers
   
   it is coming out at the end of the season

[EauRouge]

I had some achillea until I smelt it- urgh! It stinks. I got rid of mine.

My biggest disappointment has been my chilli plants. I grew them from seed and they were doing really well, but the slugs just won't leave them alone. They've also munched right through the stem of one of my pepper plants, the bastards.

[ethelb]

Sweet basil and parsnips. Admittedly other plot holders near me have said in decades on the plot they can never get them to grow either!

Greek basil is fine though

[IScreamForIceCream]

Inca berries/physallis - they never really grew past 8 inches. In do danger of any berries I should think!

Blueberries - whole plant's leaves fell off suddenly one day, plat still alive but only barely.

Erm - all my fruit, really!

Chilli plants are oddly my most successful.

[startwig1982]

My lupins that I grew from last years seed. Doing great and then the slugs ate them.
Otherwise, fruit and vegetables are doing well. Except the apple tree which has had a bad year and has some sort of mould issue on the tips of its leaves.

[wowfudge]

Alyssum along the front edge of a raised stone border. It just hasn't filled out and given the effect I was looking for.

[Rhubarbgarden]

I am disappointed in myself, for not getting as much done as I'd hoped I would.

[CharlieSierra]

I've just found rodent droppings all over my greenhouse tomato plants, never had it before.

[LineRunner]

I grew patio / basket tomatoes from seeds. They look quite nice I suppose, but are completely tasteless.

[MairzyDoats]

What rhubarbgarden said. Still, my garden looking a bit rubbish now has given me the kick up the bum to start planning for next year.

Also, slugs - they've eaten most of my Walther Funke Achillea and I am this close to breaking out the slug pellets. Are they really that bad? So so sick of the plants I love most (lupin 'golden chandelier', achillea any variety, echinacea, delphs, and salvia) all being decimated.

[echt]

The lawn. As much as it was a PITA, I liked the contrast between the beds and the green. The native planting will be fab in time, but right now it's a lot of brown.

Rhubarb you're not allowed to beat yourself up. Post on AIBU and they'll do it for you.:o Gardening is a lifetime of let downs. I looked somewhere else and missed whatever was chomping on the orchid cactus to do it again. Second year running. Slack or what?

[tadpolefeet]

My sweetpeas... they are starting to dry up already... Probably because I didn't water them at some critical point. And despite my best efforts to cut them, I'm not getting as many flowers as I'd hoped.

[AGnu]

I planted lots of seeds that just never appeared this year & several things that I started inside died pretty much the minute they hit the soil outside! I've managed to keep 1 out of 4 sunflowers alive & 1 of 3 cucamelon plants is just about hanging on. The sage, rosemary, Lady's mantle, parsley & lemon balm I planted out have all done really well & I've got a couple of fennels growing. All but 3 of my cherries dropped before they were bigger than a pea & we're not going to have as many blackberries as last year but the strawberries & rhubarb have done well! I'm mostly disappointed that my calendula & chamomile didn't happen. I'm getting really into using herbs for non-edible purposes & really wanted to grow my own! There's always next year I guess!

[Rhubarbgarden]

Thanks echt. I am promising myself that it will all change in September when one will be at school and one will be at nursery two days a week. I will cut out and dig veg and fruit beds and I will mark out, clear, dig, and plant at least one of the re-jigged flower borders. I will, I will...

[funnyperson]

rhubarb you did that hedge at the crack of dawn for days, and the snowberries, and lots of garden outings with the children!

[funnyperson]

I am not so much disappointed as puzzled as to why my hostas/dahlias/canna/ every single plant in fact, do not have mahoosive leaves and masses of flowers like Monty. I have the option of going into a permanent depressive state about this but choose not to on the grounds that Monty clearly has something odd in his plant feed which is probably highly unnatural.
Occasionally the desire for Bishop of Llandaff dahlias does make me feel as though I might get depressed and then I loose my gardening mojo but then something will happen like 4 unexpected flowers on clematis Abundance and I cheer up no end.
The nice thing about the garden is it grows even if ignored, and I have stopped doing silly things like sowing seeds I know I wont plant out. Thus damping off has not occurred for a number of years. However successful sowings of cornflowers, sweet peas, and night scented stock have occurred.

[Wailywailywaily]

My potatoes - miserable, miserable let down.

Slugs ate my carrots and spinach before it got going. So disappointed in the allotment right now

[EmNetta]

For the first time in umpteen years, most of my seedlings seem to have dried off from the bottom (cotyledon) leaves and slowly perished. Have altered compost to (expensive!) JI No.1, bought new indoor watering can in case cleaning was inefficient and am presently using bottled water for the survivors.
Anyone have any ideas please?

(and sympathies to previous posters, particularly CS)

[Timeforabiscuit]

My fecking rose bushes, coated in saw fly caterpillars

[fackinell]

My Jasmine. In the garage over winter it grew like crazy and had a beautiful smell, now it's outside (year two) and its frazzled looking with very few flowers.

[LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance]

My raspberries. Bloody bloody raspberry beetles.

[NellVarnish]

Bloody bastard slugs have eaten ELEVEN sunflowers! I've got one left.

They've had a go at my sweet peas and courgettes and some little shit has munched on the nasturtiums too. And they are a doddle to grow.

My garden is doomed this year.

[PinkSquash]

All our berry fruits- last year we had tonnes of fruits, this year we've had 1lb blackcurrants, 3 raspberries and 4 strawberries. The Pine berries have been useless too.

The seeds have mainly been useless too, everything has needed 3 sewing to get going. Grass is looking like a poorly maintained cricket pitch too. bloody gardens

[Pico2]

My climbing beans - they mostly failed to germinate, so I ended up planting them 3 times and now they have failed to climb. How hard can it be? They were fine last year!

[EthelredOnAGoodDay]

That I've had to concentrate on trying to rid our new garden of ground elder! Arrggh! That slugs have devoured my hostas. That red beetles (not sure of proper name) have munched on my big lillies.

[pasbeaucoupdegendarme]

Tadpolefeet, I've heard a few people say their sweet peas are over already. Mine are, but largely because...

My biggest disappointment is that our garden was looking really lovely after a lot of work from dh (and me!) in it... And then our sodding git of a neighbour sprayed bleach or something on everything he could reach from his side that was in flower