Topic: This year's problems

[lezelle]

Hi Everyone,
                 I have found this year the worst I can think off. We have had dry periods before, but this year has been awful. I have managed to get a few bits off the plot but nowhere like what I'm used to. Everyone has the same problems. My runners were rubbish, and it was down to water missing. What didn't help was a hip replacement that gave me a week in hospital and then all my water butts. 22 of them being emptied which means a 100 yard walk to get water from the dip tanks which I am not keen using anyway having seen people using cans they have used weed killer in to get water. Walking was a problem, and I am still having to take care now. Next year will be great hopefully he say's as I will get some big 25ltr water drums to use if needed. When the rain came the weeds took off and even worse than ever before. Hoeing seems to of spread them. We needed the rain but not the downpour we get a nice steady fall over night would of been good.  Still, I'm up for the challenge and next year will be better. I have considered all the problems this year has produced but my sweetcorn enjoyed it. We are on a sandy soil as well and in spite of putting loads of compost down it still got very dry. Lessons learnt. Good luck all and I wonder what problems the weather gave you all. Take care and good luck.
             

[small]

My worst year ever, I'm on the verge of stopping veg gardening apart from new potatoes, tomatoes and herbs. My potatoes, peas, lettuce, radish, were rubbish because of the weather conditions, though it didn't help that health problems prevented me from earthing up the potatoes with this year's compost as I usually do. That compost heap is now just a mass of nettles. I didn't even manage to sow carrots and parsnips this year, Covid and family stuff got in the way... I'm really down about it, though I did have a flicker when the seed catalogues popped through the door. I've never experienced quite such a prolonged dry spell right through winter, spring and summer.
That isn't a very cheerful post, is it? Hope everyone else has done better!

[Obelixx]

We moved to this house and garden on October 1st 2016.   14 months of drought followed with hardly any rain but, thankfully, none of the extreme heatwaves of this year.

This year we had a hot, dry spring followed by a heatwave in June, another in July and another in August - 51C in the sun, 44C in the shade on the north side of the house.   I had a prosthetic knee on the 4th of July so not much gardening before then and none from 2/7 till now apart from a little watering and a little potting on.

The other knee wil be done in early July 2023 but this time I will be better prepared before I go into hospital - weeding as before but loads more mulching, loads more chipped bark for weed suppressing and more seep hoses so I don't have to rely on OH's interpretation of my watering rotation.

[Deb P]

Well funnily enough it’s been quite a good year down the plot for me, partly due to having a very late start to the season which saw me sowing all my seeds on 30th April which has made me realise three things; one I normally start seeds off and plant out too early, two I can get away with not heating the greenhouse at all if I leave it late enough and lastly I probably don’t water crops enough in a ‘normal’ year when we don’t usually have ridiculous heatwaves which saw me watering the plot 2-3 times a week at 6am!

Never had such good outdoor tomatoes (no blight) , French and runner beans. Not so good squash even though they did go out at the usual time, but probably due to picking the wrong varieties than anything else. Onions slow but just about ok. Charlotte potatoes smaller than usual but that meant we ate the lot before they died back. Really good strawberries because I netted then right from the start and realised how many I’d been losing to birds!  Flowers on the plot all fantastic! I did make more of an effort with succession showings plugging gaps with saladings as they arose so overall my inadvertent delay in getting things going and planted out turned out to be an advantage. Next year of course is bound to be completely different!

[picman]

Looking back it was a bit of a roller coaster , my poly tunnel got too hot, the strawberries had strange brown skins , runners old before they were young.French ok. , blueberries were amazing. tomatoes half and half , potatoes pretty good , sprouts doing well, raspberries good crop. salad stuff , cue, radish,lettuce etc  not bad, so cannot complain as we have a freezer full of fruit for jam and pies.seems a lot of tidying up now ,   

[tricia]

Quite a few positives for me this year  -  no losses due to slugs or snails (probably due to the drought), still no blight and apart from having a no apples year everything else has done pretty well. My shed freezer is full of strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, Cobra and Moonlight beans, sweet corn and tomato soffrito. There are a dozen squashes curing in front of the patio windows and 10 more on the staging in my mini greenhouse and I'm still picking Moonlight beans and courgettes. For all this bounty I have John, my trusty helper, to thank! Without his hard work I would have nothing. He prepared the raised beds and planted out the seedlings I had nurtured from seed. No longer having access to farmyard manure (my go to farmer retired) John fetched sacks of commercial horse manure from a local garden centre which he mixed with my home made compost. Half a bucketful was used for each hole as he planted out the squashes, tomatoes, sweet corn and courgettes. I think the soil preparation certainly made a difference because despite the drought and watering only once a week it's been a good year all in all.

Tricia 

[pumkinlover]

My year was variable but not a disaster. Great crop of potatoes, benefit from a lot of compost last year. Squash good despite not getting huge amounts of water- compost again.
Tomates great flavour but late, French beans went too quickly in the heat. Carrots never germinated.
It looked like a huge crop of plums and damsons but they didn't ripen then fell off and went quickly rotten. Freezer still full though.

[Paulh]

Like others it's been mixed and watering has generally been a key factor. I've certainly learnt more about that, plus soil preparation and mulching.

Runner beans were the big disappointment. They began cropping properly only from the end of August but with smaller pods and while still going, they now have blackfly badly, so that will be the end. They grew OK but were slow to flower and even when the bees were busy on them, the flowers did not set. Just too hot.

I had two small marrows from my plant. Last year I had a record 15!

The positives were definitely very few pests and no blight.

[ACE]

Win some, loose some. but still good exercise, crops down this year but it will all level out eventually. Planning on a small crop of warm country crops next year to hedge my bets. Along with all the usual stuff I grow. What a good year for squash though and still growing. All season spring cabbage which have also come back into life.

[Obelixx]

Cabbages coming back to life here too now but very slowly.  Need more rain but none due for at least 10 days.

Pumpkins and squashes have been small and les snumerous this year.   I have space on my maturing rack but there are a couple of small ones I left on the plant to see if they'll grow a bit more.

If I can find any, I'll plant some shallots and onions to over-winter and get a head start before the droughts set in again next year and I'll be sowing brassicas such as PSB to plant out as soon as they're big enough.  They should be fine.  frosts ussually don't come till after Xmas here - she said, touching wood.

[Beersmith]

For me it was a bad year overall, but not a complete disaster.  Yields were below average mainly as a result of the drought conditions. But there were a few compensations.  My onions and shallots though small had no rot at all,  The spuds were small also but without slug damage and no signs of blight at all.  The beans were worst - simply unable to cope with the heat.  But the soft fruit yields were acceptable if nothing spectacular.  There was enough rain in September for some things to recover a bit. Some cabbages are small but with firm heads.

It was certainly the worst for many a year.  Here's hoping for next season.

[Tiny Clanger]

Our runners were odd. Grew and produced beans on the first 2.5 feet of growth, then no beans for next two feet, then beans all the way to the top. Peas - we grew earliest and they did OK. We're  inexperienced in growing  peas. Broadest did well. Beets, sweetcorn and parsnips looking fair. Leeks? er.... wait and see. Tomatoes good. Indoor cucumbers (in the tunnel) good. Outdoor cakes rubbish! Spuds - earliest We're very good. Main crop average. Sweetcorn shorter growth but two cobs per plant min. Pumpkins/large squash - rubbish. Acorns quite good. Not so bad a year for us but hard work fetching water. Organising seed for next season now. Hope we all have an easier year 

[pumkinlover]

But on the other hand -Apples!!

[newspud9]

Even before the rubbish weather, I decided this was the year not to grow anything but to really try to get the plot in the best condition for next season.  Typically I'm behind and too much of each season is spent weeding, clearing paths, and trying to improve the soil, and the crops never get the attention they need.  So given all the difficulties this year, I'm glad to have "taken a year out".   Other than for garlic and onion sets, everything is now covered over for hopefully minimal weeding and better sowing next spring.  Good luck to everyone.