How has your growing season gone this year?

Mine?
Well the fruit has been slow, but we've had some, just not as much as in other years.
The blackberries returned this year, after clearing the bushes out last year, not as many but better in size.

Plums: Put in a new tree with supports (to stop the dog chewing it to pieces) was surprised that even though it was a young sapling, it still put out some fruit.
Fed with grass cuttings and rhubarb leaves, then left alone, it did well.

Pears: The well established pear tree (around 6 years) that had never given us any fruit was looked at.
When it was put in, the dog chewed it away, but the main stem seamed to survive.
We weren't sure if the chewing had gone below the grafting joint, but it appeared it had on closer inspection.
After a huge effort (and plenty of wood for the burner) we finally pulled it up.
A new sapling was put in with a protective cage around it, fed on grass cuttings and rhubarb leaves, watered in and left.
Late in August it flowered!
No fruit, but signs of growth followed, so we'll see next year once it's more established.

Apples: Another victim that when first put in, fell foul of the dog chewing the main stem, but has been left for three years now, spreading it's branches out.
Again fed on grass cuttings and rhubarb leaves, this year brought us three apples!
It's about time to cut it down a bit (more wood for burner or brown for compost) as it has spread out and is almost 8 foot tall and wide now.

Cherries: The cherry tree goes from strength to strength.
Plenty of fruit this year, which the birds loved heh.
Solid trunk and more growth, ready for pruning down. Main stump looks very solid and seems to like growing with strawberries around it.
A bit of black fly killed off one growth shoot, but overall has grown well.

Strawberries: Not many this year, in the bed that's been in place for 5 years.
I know, I know, it should be moved every three years or so, which is long overdue.
I've been concentrating on growing the off-shoots for new plants though, so a clear autumn day I will get to it.

To the front garden... 

We have real problems with local cats, forever digging up anything planted.
Chicken wire all around doesn't stop them, netting is a pain, it's on - it's off etc.
So when a friend moved out of an allotment and offered me their old greenhouse for free, I jumped at it.
Five days, a lot of pulling it down, then bricking the base and rebuilding it was worth the effort.

It's what I'd call a ground greenhouse, no pots, just a small short stone path and the rest is all natural ground to plant in.
Home made and potting compost put in on top of cardboard (no-dig method) then seed planting and watering with rain water.

Started with cucumbers, peas, tomatoes and two varieties of lettuce (little gem and the leafy normal)

Lettuce: These were first to show and set off like a rocket, every week we had both leafy and little gems to pick fresh and eat.
Money saving - £2 per week
This lasted for about 8 weeks, although I'd planted too many at once, lesson learned, next year - put them in a few at a time and stagger them over about 4 weeks.
After 8 weeks or so, they started going to seed.

Cucumbers: Should really set them off in the back greenhouse in pots, then put them in ground to grow.
They were slow to start, but once one or two came through, I had a jungle of them and they were HUGE!
Some were long and standard, others as wide as small marrows.
I learned that this maybe due to the soil being too acidic? (Need more brown in the compost next year)

Tomatoes: These did nothing planted in the ground from seed.
So I potted some more in the back green house and brought them on.
They flew after putting them in the ground in the front greenhouse, but the fruit was sparse and stayed green. They were also solid.
Again, this appears to be due to too much compost (acidic?) which meant they produce too much chlorophyll in their fruit (keeping them green)
Lesson learned for next time.
Tomatoes in the back greenhouse in pots didn't do much either, fruit wise, maybe it was the potting compost?
Normally they fly back there.

Peas: I've grown peapods for years, they grow anywhere, but I will grow them outdoors next year I think.

Outside the front greenhouse, I've a little side piece of soil adjacent to it.
I made a copper frame base, got some plastic tubing and covered it with netting for the external seed planting.
The copper base seems to keep the slugs and snails down (something to do with electric shocks?)
The netting to stop birds and cats.

Carrots: Grown really well from seed in the soil, but I planted too many in the rows, so many of them, while great in size, have split, some have still been usable though (saving money)

Brussel sprouts: Every Christmas we buy a brussel sprout stalk, so I thought I'd try growing them this year.
They've come up really well, some butterfly damage to leaves when I took the netting off, but they still look ok and seem to be growing, let's see if they manage to fruit when the temperature drops?

The compost heap!

This is a real up and down thing every year, each year I think I've learned something, the next year it changes again!
I have a basic heap covered by a piece of carpet and weighted down with some empty tubs.
Huge amount of worms, but always very wet and always short of brown compost.
I cut buddleia down each year, chop up the wood into tiny pieces and add that in, it takes about two years to start rotting away though.
I can get some cardboard and put that in plus ash from the burner, but it never seems enough.
I bought a mini dustbin type compost bin, only about two foot tall, so I can put in the fruit and veg waste, then I don't have to keep unpacking the compost heap everytime I have some waste to put in there.

It's temperature never seems to be high enough, but it is very acidic most of the time, so I suspect more brown and keeping it a bit drier will help.

Savings: I buy fresh fruit and veg from a market wholesaler every week, never from supermarkets.
My growing has helped me save the following this year;

Tomatoes - no saving
Carrots - £3 to £4
Cucumber - Around £15 (£1 a time from the market)
Lettuce - Easily over £20

Growing bonus... I also have seeds for next years planting out.

Hope you've had more success with your growing this year.