Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: PeterVV on July 01, 2012, 19:00:53
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I have heavy clay soil, and as we have had so much wet weather this summer, things are hardly growing, rotting, or getting eaten by slugs and snails. My squash plants and courgettes got eaten before they had a chance to grow, half of my postatoes have rotted away, despite me digging emergency trenches to try to save them for drainage, my sweetcorn and beans are hardly moving, the only thing that is growing is my strawberries and blackcurrants, had loads of them.....
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It's almost certainly been the worst year for many people. Not surprising as it was the wettest April to June on record -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9365467/Wettest-April-to-June-since-records-began-and-more-unsettled-weather-to-come.html
and the coldest, dullest and wettest June -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9368041/June-was-wettest-since-1860-and-dullest-for-20-years.html
Hopefully it'll be better next year!
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I'm with you there!
The only thing working for me so far...new potatoes! had my first ones at the weekend. ;D
I had hopes for the onions, but I found one rotted off at the weekend so I'm not sure what the others will do with all the wet weather forcast!
I've resorted to chemical warfare with slug pellets...I hate doing it, but it's my only chance of getting anything off the allotment this year.
very, very bad year.
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I'm not doing too well either, but the main problem is me :(
I've just lost interest this year- I feel that I am going through the motions and I've never felt this disheartened before.
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I'm not doing too well either, but the main problem is me :(
I've just lost interest this year- I feel that I am going through the motions and I've never felt this disheartened before.
+1 :(
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I'm sure that many of us have lost interest this year.
Even my heart hasn't really been in it much lately which is most unusual. :(
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Oh dear I am very sorry that many of you feel discouraged. Here it has been very wet too, but not so much as to completely ruin everything. I am sure that the risk of blight on the tomatoes is quite high, but I am persisting with them anyway, and they are already tall and have flowers and even some first fruit.
However for the most of it, the crop is very good. I have the biggest potatoes I have ever had! The maincrop plants are about a metre high! I have also been able to have the "green" ploants work for the first time in summer: this year we have been able to keep having lettuce and radish and other salads which never usually work for me. I have even managed to germinate some spring onions!!!
Which teaches me that in the past I have not been watering enough!
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I am feeling the same, its actually not raining here yet today, I have a day off, but it looks like rain is threatening, and the wind is chilly, and the thought of dragging myself up to my overly weedy plot where everything is hibernating, is not on the cards. I feel like hibernating myself!
But on the plus side, for the first time since I got my plot 15+ years ago, my house was actually tidy in June ;D, and it looks like it could be the same in July at this rate ::)
DP
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No last year was the worst ever for me. More or less no rain for five months was quite a challenge.
Oh yes and the year we had a rabbit which ate almost everything.
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Each year brings it's challenges - we've also had rabbit problems from the nearby cemetery but that's got better. Last years long dry spell was a challenge and then there is this years rain plus the pigeon population has exploded.
Still the successes make it worthwhile and Mrs Stick was very content picking her "little jewels" the other day as they sparkled in a rare spell of sunshine - Redcurrants
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I'm having a dreadful year too, even my French beans are non existant yet last year I had them coming out of my ears!!
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It's a relief to know that I am not alone, but this year it is the fifth miserable summer.
Personally I hate HOT weather and watering, but just a bit of sun and enough time to get the weeds up and still some planting to do would be nice. It's especially bad when it is your day off and it is raining :-[
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On the plus side I am hoping to get on top of the persistent weeds ( couch grass, mares-tails and bind weed)
re-plumb my waterbuts, sort out the fruit patch and put up some shelves in the shed..
...ready for next year ;D
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I've had my plot five years but since I don't like summer much, especially the humidity and poor air quality, I generally do little more than water and weed only when needed through June, July and August.
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I've still got plastic cloches over my cornichons, my courgettes aren't even flowering yet, last year I was harvesting them by now.
However the spuds are looking fantastic at the moment; lifted one root of Charlots yesterday and got 1.7kg!
Desperately need warmth and sun for peppers, runners, courgettes and cornichons though.
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I'm new to my allotment still and haven't (yet) lost my enthusiasm. Plus I don't have previous years to compare to. I expect I would have found that long dry spell last year bad. Locally we had a quarter of an inch of rain from February to June.
That said, I'm mildly optimistic. I've already lifted 11 lb of new potatoes and I have plenty more fattening up (Casablanca and Foremost). I've brought back another bag of lettuce leaves and herbs like rocket, dill and flat leaf parsley and picked our first strawberries. The runner beans have their first flowers and a couple of globe courgettes are almost cutable.
The broad beans are slow and one sowing had poor results, the climbing French beans haven't learnt to climb yet, they've hardly shifted, slugs ate my outdoor cucumbers- a gift from a friend and pigeons ate my mizuna and leaf radish (bless 'em - I didn't think much of them as fodder) and I hoed off the remnants this morning. The only thing I'm a bit worried about is blight on the potatoes but have to keep my fingers crossed on that one.
All in all from a start in mid April, I'm quite pleased - so far.
(I'm on the Suffolk coast on lightish soil that is still damp from the rains though the surface is starting to dry out now)
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I'm glad it's not just me. It never stops raining; the grass is permanently knee-high, however often I strim it; if the cold and wind don't get the plants, then the pigeons, slugs and snails do, and on and on and on. I've been so disheartened, which is why I haven't been on A4A as much as usual. Added to which, we've had family problems, and a row with some of the Committee led to OH and I resigning as Chairman and Secretary.
BUT: I've got the best gooseberry crop for years, the early spuds are doing well - even though they're late - and I lifted the garlic yesterday and it's fantastic. So - perhaps all isn't lost after all. I've made Gooseberry Jam and Rhubarb & Ginger Jam.
All we need now is some sun!!!!
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I think we need a group hug!!
(http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-hug008.gif) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)
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Had to put canes up and plant in the rain this morning.
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very poor year for me can't even get my beetroot to grow, sweetcorn looks very poor and had to resort to growing a squash plant in the polytunnel or i won't be getting any squash.
my potatoes have grown well, to well for my earlies :)
it's not getting me down though i recently decided to do away with all my raised beds so i'm in the process of digging my paths up so plenty to do ;D
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It's not been good for me.... The rats/mice had the strawberries, garlic rotted, pigeons found half the peas and lettuce, and the slugs have thrived eating pretty much everything except the bindweed which seems to love the rain - but I still enjoy it and just plan for how much better it will be next year. Broad beans, greenhouse cucumbers, mange tout, potatoes and raspberries are currently fine. If anyone can breed a GM bindweed only eating slug I'd be very happy - I've been manually killing 50+ a day (not pleasant).
Maybe we should all start growing watercress?
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Only had plot for three years, but this year has been incredibly bad ???
First, no rain, now too much?! My bindweed and couch grass is growing beautifully tho! ::)
As for being downhearted? yes of course, but thats gardening! lol
Im certain things will catch up when our ahem, summer (?) finally comes tho, and maybe we'll all get a bumper crop! Fingers crossed!
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I agree with the op, this really is the worst year ever for me. I have been veggie/fruit gardening for 30+ years and had the allotment for two. I went up there at 5pm and killed 18 slugs just in one bed. I threw scores of strawberries away, picked 6 puny courgettes, saw more and more bindweed taking hold, reflected on my poor kestrel potato haulm. I dug one plant up to see what was what and the ground is absolutely sodden, so I think that the roots cannot `breathe`. My squash are completely static and it will take a miracle this year. This time last year I had so much good produce that I spent day after day de-hydrating, bottling and freezing
My brassicas are actually too big already, too much leaf too quickly. I slipped and slid all over the place today so winter boots will be back on this week as I need the tread to stay safe on my patch
On the positive side, I am getting enough produce every day and am happy to have preserved my radar winter onions when I did and I have to reflect on the fact that I must not put so many brassicas into my beds. I`ll be hedging my bets each spring from now on and sowing squash and celery, as one of those will do well
I have a lot of tomatoes and half are under cover, I had my fourth blight smith period so have my fingers crossed but blight is going to be widespread in a few weeks. I have been following a weather guru who says that we are at the beginning of a mini ice age so this weather is going to be the norm for a long time to come. I won`t give up and will try to go with the flow
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When you see a toad SWIMMING past your cabbage and sprout plants you know the weather has been a little poor.
I went down the allotment after those storms last Thursday to check that everything was ok and found my plot completely flooded :o :o :o It has drained now but it is just total MUD!
I have completely lost faith in this year and am looking/planning for next years crops and also thinking about winter onions and garlic etc.
Never known a year like it so far.
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Things have been mostly dormant than anything else... except the weeds of course, which come in abundance. I have tried to keep the plot weed free when it stops raining and by the time the weeding is done it starts raining again. So not leaving much time to get the actual gardening done. Plus with all the jobs the missus gives when the weather does let up ain't helping too much neither...... 8) 8)
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Yes, it's the worst ever for things like courgettes and squash but it has to be the best ever for globe artichokes :)
We've picked about 40 this week and there are still loads left.
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Certainly is pretty dispiriting this year - potatoes going down heavily with blight even Cara which is supposed to be quite resistant, garlic tiny, beans/leeks/squash way behind, much stuff decimated by slugs and snails. On the plus side fruit is doing well, broad beans were fine and greenhouse plants hanging in there just waiting for the sunshine - it's got to come sometime, surely.
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I noticed a flower one one of my squash yesterday. Just hoping theres a bee with a sowester on to pollinate it ;D
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Its getting bit too much doom and gloom 'atmosphere' here..so...
-loads of slugs and snails about..which is 'good'..my chickens love they daily 'bucket full' of protein.. ;D
-plenty of rain means I haven't needed to put my new hose in place..it is still wrapped up and I don't have to mess about with it for ages.. ;D
-plenty of rain means I don't have to spend hours with watering can..like last summer... ;D
-weeds..well..my girls have plenty of greens to eat... ;D
-my new gift carnivorous plant is thriving in its new wet home... ;D
-no peaches, plums and cherries this year cuts amount of time for picking and handling the crops and wondering what to do with it all too.. ;D..oh and no trouble with after effects when stuffing myself with too many plums neither.. :-X
- very few stinking bonfires is been burning 'recently'... ;D
- neighbourhood is extremely quiet..no garden parties or youngsters loitering about on street..no allotment breaking's.. ;D
I'm sure I could find more some positive about this wet weather we are having..but I feel better already.. ;D
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And I do goodlife ;D
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We just weed instead of water.....
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Goodlife, it makes our forthcoming holiday to Tenerifi more attractive and welcome
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nice one goodlife. This is the only year I have had good lettuce, radish etc and the peas are very good too. Usually here it's very dry at this time and as I can't go down every day to water sometimes the result is not great. The squash is slow but as I planted late I am hoping to avoid the mildew :)
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so what plants are doing well for us?
It is useful to know what grows well in these conditions, then next year I can make sure I plant some of that stuff as well as the things that like warm/sunny conditions.
My potatoes and onions are doing well ( as long as blight and neck rot says away!!! )......erm that's about it.
oh and leeks...once I addressed the slug problem ::)
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Well as usual you are cheering me up on this thread as well.
I do not know why it has got to me so much this year, maybe because it is the fifth bad year, but as I said before I hate hot weather and watering.
MESSAGE TO SELf - stop moaning and get on with it!!!
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<< so what plants are doing well for us? >>
Best peas, lettuce, overwintering onions and shallots ever. Broad beans (overwintering and small patch of spring sown) are not bad. Potatoes look all right and have had a few. Garlic rusted but OK underground and am gradually harvesting.
The most tragic failures are all my many courgettes and squashes - have a second wave coming on in pots. Corn static.
I do have "self watering pots" (why????) which are bulging with mixed salad leaves and rocket and ground cress and even watercress (!)
The watercress was a bought bunch with roots, placed in the self watering pots and picked over gently but regularly.
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On the theme of looking on the bright side.
::)
Brassica's (those that survived the unexpected rabbit popn explosion in our village) are doing well. I think the decimation of 48 plants that I had potted into 3" pots ready to get a bit bigger before planting out, has really spurred the rest of them on. Perhaps they now realise how lucky they are.
Rabbit proof fencing is now being erected! I will beat the little tinkers next year.
Strawberries as long as I try and pick them under-ripe before the mould sets in are okay. I gave them a good layer of straw which i think they have appreciated and are trying their best to do well for me. The mice which also seem to be doing their best also appreciate the straw........
Beans going slowly, but the runners are deffo out competing the french and USA pole beans this year. The broad beans did well and now wait hopefully for the pollinators to arrive, or at least to accompany the blackfly which seem to have found a nice bit of shelter under the large top leaves. Pinching out springs to mind...must do that
Squash and courgettes are looking very sorry for themselves. I have tried perking them up by talking nicely to them and sending positive sunny thoughts - but to no avail. Next I will try showing them a picture of the sun and playing carribean music in the background. You never know.
The family of partidge that seem to like my plot found the sweetcorn when it was young - but I have now protected it and it is attempting to go again. You have to admire perseverence where-ever you find it.
So looking forward to planting out some of my oriental veg later on and here's to next year
;D
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Some more positives from me too.
Courgettes just coming into action (only a few weeks late.) Had two delicious ones for lunch. Great broadbeans, and the biggest parsnip plants I have ever seen. Never before had to thin so many out.
Mrs Lewis's beans seem to be going great guns and are starting to produce flowers. Potato plants huge and those I have already dug are producing good crops. Mangetout seem to like it huge plants with thick stems.
Raspberries very large and loads of redcurrants. Rain keeping blackcurrant cuttings nice and green. Autumn raspberries looking very promising.
Compost bin full with weeds, seems to please the grass snakes.
Seem to have attracted a cat, so hope it deals with the voles before so I can save pea seed for next year.
Sun flowers getting ready for action.
The toadlets have arrived.
(Pity about the strawberries, brassicas, carrots.)
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celery. Never grown it before and each and every plant is doing amazingly well
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Tall peas, best we've ever had, brassicas going mad, we've had 3 slightly slugged cauli already, lots of calabrese, lettuce are amazing. spring onions great, potatoes going great guns, just watching them closely, strawberries, a bit watery but I've been making lots of coulis and freezing it ;D
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Peas are nearly ready
Spuds are a plenty
Best Winter onions ever
Summer ones are coming along
Strawberrys are slow but steady
Finally got some carrots to germinate
Sweetcorn slow but a few of the plants are taking off
Parsnips are really healthy
So its not all bad
Just can't wait for Wimbledon to end so the Sun can come out. 8)
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Thanks, Kev, I forgot the enormous long red florence onions ;D
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Don't have an allotment, but huge patio with loads of pots and large tubs. My first year growing things and admittedly I had these wonderful visions of me sitting in a comfy chair, watching the vegies bursting with vigour and teasing tastiness while the summer sun cast dancing shadows and bees happily bounded around spreading sexy delight to all my flowers!
So yes...the weather has been a real downer. And, with the jet stream well and truly stuck over the UK, it is probably going to be one of those summers...hark back to 2008 and 2009 both of which were the same I believe.
However...my rocket, lettuces, radishes, spinach and.....wait for it......cress is doing great!! Also the herbs are doing very well. So its not all doom and gloom. Sure the runner beans, peas and courgettes are most put off by the weather, but I have learnt a lot this year and already thinking about next year, where if the jet stream doesn't move north of the UK just before June, I might well hire a balloon and go up and kick it up there myself...
Onwards and upwards!!
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Yes I totally agree that this year has been a complete disaster.
Lost most of the early potatoes due to blight. Rust on the garlic, and the onions are going that way, and the peas and beans have been a disaster ::)
The only positives have been raspberries, red currants, gooseberries, plums and damsons.
I think most of the newbie allotment holders on our site have already given up, which is a shame. Lets hope the sun shines soon and brings them back.
Lets hope we have better weather next year
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It's rubbish here as well, I'll be giving up half my plot later this year due to a new job but with no waiting list on our site and overgrown plots next to me I'm only staying for the chickens really. If they get stolen again I'll be off.
Jon
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For me a mixed bag...
Ye - lots of disaters. Blight on a couple of Toms, massive slug damage to spuds and cabbages, white rot and rust of garlic, onions have given up etc ...
But last night I picked sugar snaps, beetroot, chives, little gem, basil, cucumber for a great meal...
There is always good in every season.
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Mixed for me too...some things I have never had a problem with have been awful (shallots, brassicas, dwarf french beans and unbelievably courgettes and sunflowers), garlic was only middling after three fab years, but I've had the best strawberries ever (though they are starting to go mouldy fast now), sweetcorn is doing well, potatoes are OK after a slow start, spring onions and banana shallots are fine, climbing french beans are getting there.....
I dunno, my plot looks really messy because of the weeds on the woodchipped paths, despite hoeing its just been too wet for it to work as a weed suppressing technique so it makes both plots look messy. I tried hand weeding the carrot bed yesterday in the rain and just gave up! ::)
The new bit of plot I covered in cardboard and mushroom compost is so wet a small river was running down the middle of it, and the squash I planted are doing backstroke rather than growing like they usually do, what is left of them after the slimies have been at them.........I just wish it didn't rain so much.....I'm not asking for sunshine, just no rain for a bit would do.. ::)
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Well lost 4 pumpkin plants as they got gummy stem rot
Its the effort you put in the despair that you cant do anything about it
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Peas are nearly ready
Spuds are a plenty
Best Winter onions ever
Summer ones are coming along
Strawberrys are slow but steady
Finally got some carrots to germinate
Sweetcorn slow but a few of the plants are taking off
Parsnips are really healthy
So its not all bad
Just can't wait for Wimbledon to end so the Sun can come out. 8)
over winter broad bean had a excellant crop...now cleared and cabbages in
over winter pea produced more than I can use..now cleared and climbing bean in
runners are 8 feet tall and beans are forming
french bean are 6 feet tall with top nipped off with lots flowers
cabbage's head is rounding up with a few are ready for use
dwarf kale grow nicely with NO white fly
parsnip growing like tiny forest
strawberry had a very good harvest for nearly a month now
black currants also full of fruits
rasberry is getting red and produced too many shots
planted too many khol rabi and some now had gone woody
lettuce-iceburg oe little gem all doing very good indeed
cougettes has produced 5 or 6
lots of squash are crawling on the field
potatos are a bit slow but forming nicely apart from one blackleg
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tomatos...nothing shown yet, with only 3 small tomatos forming
bought thornless blackberry is still producing thorns in its second year
cucumbers are tiny and lazy at climbing up
new experience on red russian kale has now flowered and they too chewy any way
generally, french bean has some difficulties germinating this year and wet has caused prob for peach leaf and 1st year gooseberry...and potatos
and generally, everything is a bit slow than last year
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Bing where do you live, you have been very lucky with all your crops. I bet you don't live in the north of England, we have had such bad weather everything in my plot is struggling, I was unable to plant early so every thing is late. My raspberries are rotting and I can't pick them fast enough.
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Bing where do you live, you have been very lucky with all your crops. I bet you don't live in the north of England, we have had such bad weather everything in my plot is struggling, I was unable to plant early so every thing is late. My raspberries are rotting and I can't pick them fast enough.
Do you mean the plant or the fruit?
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Our Lotty is looking good, onions are very big, cabbages ,cawli,and spuds looking great,and to top it we got a second prize in the Lotty competition,yee-haa ;D
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Well things have been bad this year but have been up the lotty today and managed to harvest all the white/red over wintering onions. Some had bolted, most a good size, some rotten stems with slugs and snails hanging of them. Shallots much the same state, all brought home for her indoors to sort out. Peas, lettuce all had by the slugs/pigeons. Managed to harvest some new pots, last of the asparagus and some courgettes. BUT managed to harvest a wheelie bin of weeds and 55 slugs/snails. They were dispatched by drowning in a bucket then released, snails crushed and the slugs cut in half with the spade for the birds.
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The sun shined today and I just harvested 4lb of strawberries before it got dark - jam tomorrow.........literally!
;D
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The sun shined today and I just harvested 4lb of strawberries before it got dark - jam tomorrow.........literally!
;D
Yes has been lovely in the sun!!!
picked a load of raspberries :)
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Hi I am a new member..Been to my allotment today . First time for two weeks as we have been on holiday. Am so disappointed. Weed rampant and my onions seem to be roting in the ground. :'(
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Bing where do you live, you have been very lucky with all your crops. I bet you don't live in the north of England, we have had such bad weather everything in my plot is struggling, I was unable to plant early so every thing is late. My raspberries are rotting and I can't pick them fast enough.
I am in south next to Thames River in Essex. maybe we had a lot of wtaer but still much less than your area. and windy + low temperatures.
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Hi I am a new member..Been to my allotment today . First time for two weeks as we have been on holiday. Am so disappointed. Weed rampant and my onions seem to be roting in the ground. :'(
Welcome to the forum :) Sorry you are having a bad time :'(
Dont loose heart in your allotment. There are a lot of plot holders that are like yourself. All I can say is there is plenty of time to grow other things like lettuce, beetroot, radish etc also look forward to planting winter onion sets in september/october also garlic.
I have had my plot now for 17 years and I have never seen it completely flooded but it was last week and I am expecting the same after all the rain today :'( More weeds than crops, soil is just plain mud. This has to be the worst year EVER!!
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The last 5 years have been bad but this year it is the worse, My spuds are drowned and are now rotting Parsnips after 3 sowings just didn't appear even those I sowed in T rolls died a death. Salsify not appeared. Swedes Beetroot carrot all failed Just a complete wast of effort tome and money French dwarf beans have grown about 2 inches and stopped and are now going yellow (Too much water) peas standing still. The only things I have are Broad Beans (A real glut this year) Black currants. and up to now I have harvested 27 lbs of Gooseberries. The rest of the stuff I am thinkin of digging in. I am so fed up I am begining to think of packing it it on the allotment. Having said that the veg in my home garden is "wow" masses of stuff Runner beans in full flower Cabbages hearting up and the couple of new spuds that I planted are looking and tasting great. So this year my harvest will be far better from my garden than my allotment.
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Don't despair; the fact that everyone's saying this is the worst year ever implies that you mustn't use it as a guide to normal experience! It can't get worse, so it can only get better.
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If anything, the soil in the raised beds is coping best and they are draining fine, trouble is that slugs are hiding all along the sides. We are still getting enough veg and strawberries to be 100% self sufficient (8 x 100 total plot) and I am thankful for no whitefly or white butterflies. Cabbages are coming on a bit quick but we like cabbage. Courgettes are very small but nice in salads
I am mentally writing off the squashes but have lots of good celery instead. Had two dry days to today so did a hoeing session and very satisfying too. No point despairing as best to go with the flow
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Courgettes are very small but nice in salads
Never thought of putting small raw courgettes in salads...do you just slice them or do you grate them?
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Courgettes are lovely in salads just sliced - also nice as a courgette salad - sliced using a potato peeler then dressed with vinagrette, or cooked with carrots (potato peeler strips again) and sliced spring onions as a vegetable tagliatelle, served with salmon.
Sorry this should have been on the recipe page.
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Thin slices and they are lovely. I spiralize big courgettes for salads
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I never seem to lose my enthusiasm, what didn't grow last year is growing this year and vice-versa. The only sad thing is that no-one on our plot has any pears, me included. They are my favourite fruit and there's not one. And the cherries had black aphid attack and I hate squirting so just accept it. Very slow on the squash / courgettes but hope there is still time.
On the other hand, my broad beans are brilliant, aphids too but I squished them or sprayed with wash up liquid. Strawberries ... a punnet a day and enough to make many different jams, including a mix of gooseberries, redcurrants and strawberries which is delicious... and for some reason my goosegogs are the largest ever and most prolific.
Potatoes good too and turnips ... and I am growing oca for the first time so that should be interesting to see whether they are affected. I have had my plot for 12 years now and always get enough to feed me and keep me from having to visit a gym for fitness... there is a positive side here in wet Manchester! Lin
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Not a lot from my lotty this year except weeds, weeds and more weeds. Planted a couple of sharks fins squash yesterday in the garden on the compost heap, surrounded it with slug pellets. Could have cried this evening, bl***y slugs had left all the pellets and eaten through stem. Seriously thinking of giving up.
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I put milk cartons around every baby celery plant. The cartons are silver coloured inside and waxy outside. Not one celery plant has been touched by a slug or snail. I may well do this to lots of baby plants in future, keeps the wind off as well and gives them a heads start
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Glad you're flipping it on the upside, Robert! ;)
I've not been too pleased with the lack of expected crops this year and this is the total opp. to last year's first foray in lotti gardening, where i was eating gluts of -
Little Gems, Broad Beans and Mange Tout.
A week later would be the first crop of pots, tho' as most of them are flowering by now. It was only 2 weeks ago when I mistakenly dug a massive potato, it prompted to dig a haulm up and found to my dismay how tiny the tubers were. I'm not so sure whether it's worth my while to dig mine up now as I do think they're not ready yet, despite how big and tall the stems are (CBA to earth them up again when the soil's so wet!)
The Raspberries I've plenty of (new last year, so had v. little) and have had a handful to eat, tho' they're not as sweet as expected (lack of sun :-\) I'm still waiting for the rest to ripen when the sun can stay present for long enough. Foolishly, I'd direct sown most of the salad stuff in March, but they failed due to the extreme heat, and since then, I've had about 3 further sowings but only the last lot have germinated (lettuce only).
Onions have been appalling this year as they're still disappointingly small. At least half have gone to seed, tho' last year's very few of them did, and that was later on in the summer towards cropping time. Has anyone's gone like that as I don't know whether it's the rain that's done that, or fluctuations in temp.?
Beans have all been v. bad. I was particularly pleased with the Broad Beans last year, that I deliberately sown 3 x the amount. The first batch was done in Feb. and grown to a decent height, but they most of them got munched on, and the subsequent batches grew about a 15" tall and flowered profusely, but not really podding up properly. The Mange Tout Golden Sweet I did last year was one of the first successful gluts I've ever achieved where they grew and grew and I couldn't manage them on my own and had to give them away per picking... The first French Bean were spotted 10 days ago, but I think that's got slain by the slugs or something (not noticed them on the plot. and didn't have any probs last year. And I don't use pellets) but it only reached a max. of 8" tall. I've since re direct sown, and replanted a few to fill the gaps and they're still only 4" tall.
The only successes on the plot are my ornamentals (inc. Sweet Pea Cupani - first bunch this week!), Blueberries, Jerusalem Artichokes (5' tall!) and my Parsnips (modular sown)
Oh yeah, if you guys remember my request for some seeds which included winter squashes? Well, I was so fired up for lots of squashes growing merrily along my hedge (about 5 varieties) well, I was so disheartened by their lack of growth and colour that I've had to sow again for insurance. This was my new obsession for this year, but it looks like I failed from the word Go when they got planted out... :'( :'( :'(
As some of you have been feeling so glum about not doing much on the lottis, it has made me feel so much better about mine where I've lacked the will to weed.
One good thing about mine is that I have now in possession of a new brassica frame that's 7m x 1.5m long (thanks to Shirlton for her reccomendation of Veggiemesh!! ;D ;D ;D ;D and Buster's advice ;D ;D ;D). Makes me so proud to see that when I go down there!
ps. got lots of goosegogs atm but they're still not softened enough to pick. when can you tell when they're ready. Should they be a lttle less hard than previously, and the taste more ripe like?
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Well so far, given everything, it could be worse.I think the fact that in the Midlands (Birmingham with clay soil) we had a drought last year and the water table was very low helped to absorb a fair bit of the rain. However now it is saturated. The main problem to date is that while I have had a fantastic yield of strawberries many of them have simply rotted with mildew becasue of the damp conditions.
I planted out my squashes/pumkins last week before we had an inch and a half of rain in 3 hours and to my surprise they are still there!
The worse year was 2007 - the potaoes just rotted in the ground as the water table was an inch below it!
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Toms and cues in the greenhouse slooooooooooooooooow
Blight on the potatoes,the OH cut all the tops off but don't know if we'll crop much.
Had a handfull of tiny courgettes.
About 6 marble sized beetroots.
Lettuce fab,that is the ones that germinated :( 'have sown so many seed....
A few hispi protected from pigeons now being ravaged by slugs.
strawbs 1 in 3 either "wet" or slug damaged.
Rasps mildew.
i'm thinking of taking up painting next year,this gardening lark is sad :( :( :'( :'( :'(
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. got lots of goosegogs atm but they're still not softened enough to pick. when can you tell when they're ready. Should they be a lttle less hard than previously, and the taste more ripe like?
Mine are still green and hard, but I'm using them already..and thoroughly enjoying them too. I actually think they taste better for cooking when still green.
i'm thinking of taking up painting next year,this gardening lark is sad Hmm...maybe Dan could start new forum.....painting 4all... ::) ;)
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Well be careful if you are thinking of painting the outside of your house - took OH and his men 4 weeks to do a three day job
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Hells bells, why can't I get this "quote" thing right
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Been a mixed year for us. First earlies came up and then the Swift disappeared. Not sure if we drown them with straw when a frost was forecast. Smothered them in stable straw. Perhaps there was too much pee on the straw and it burnt the tops? :'(Courgettes have been the best ever. Healthy looking green leaves and bushing nicely. Harvesting some each day. Pumpkins all forming. Squashes growing well up a ladder construction, marrows- one almost ready to pick. Runner beans have flowered well and the first beans are forming. Brassicas look great. On the down side the raspberries that gave us such a good crop last year are slow. Could be down to my enthusiastic prunning last year. No blackcurrants- same reasons as raspberries. Limited strawberries but we did move 100 plants this year, so taking that into account, was to be expected. little or no gooseberries even tho' plants are at least 4 years old but could be my prunning again. Slugs and snails in their thousands. Had to use the blue pellets as I can't stand on the slugs like I do the sanils. All in all a reasonable year so far.
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gardening on sand in East Anglia meant that last year was a killer while this year has pros and cons. On the plus side, the best ever broad beans in 10 years. Fantastic, no blackfly, huge tasty crops.
Potatoes looking great too (although have been out with the bordeaux)
Squashes are very variable - the bob-bon and autumn crown look iffy while the kuris are massive - rampaging around the plot like it was september.
Sweet corn doing surprisingly well too (good old Kelvedon Wonder - hardly ever lets me down)
Not bothering with peas but daughter nagged me about mange-toute (pas) - useless but pretty. Vigorous and apparently pigeon proof too.
Onions - the whole site has white rot so I grow mine in my old cold frame, as though it was a bulb frame. Works too but only enough room for 80 onions and 40 garlic (which has not split and has galloping rust - still well edible though)
Tomatoes - the less said the better - a disaster - germination poor, then the cotyledons rotted off while tru leaves refused to form so no hope there - the shame of it - I had to (ahem) buy some in to make up the numbers to 44. Still looking pathetic but Cherokee purple and Ferline doing OK, Worst are matina - feeble small and leaf-curly
most of the allotments are down to fruit and flowers and that has been variable too. Had no raspberries for 5 years now (slacker neighbours with virused plants) but finally have hope for next year. strawbs - millions but not exactly mind-blowing - so jamming then.
Currants - always ambivalent about these as there are 20 blackcurrants and redcurrants and frankly, the picking and jamming is a bloody nightmare.....but we live off jam and toast so it must be done....but not just yet.
Plums - bloody leaf curling aphids - trees look awful
peaches - curl again
cherries - the worst disaster on the plot - I have 2 trees and they are usually my best fruit - huge delicious, longlasting, NO jamming - this year, bloody pigeons eviscerated the entire trees - leaves and all - am still in shock. I usually net before the blackbirds get in but the little fruits had barely formed before the trees were left bald. I am going for full-on netting next year, no matter the cost or nuisance
blackberry - the sodding council strimmed! my bushes - livid with rage - they said it was blocking their path. Their path! on my plot! the furious e.mails and letters are still flying.
The rest, a shamefully large amount of space is flowers and roses so its good and bad but generally better than the veggies and heaps better than last year.
Sorry to come back after a long flower-loving absence (veggies mean chips, I am northern/irish), only to whinge and whine.
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Sorry to come back after a long flower-loving absence (veggies mean chips, I am northern/irish), only to whinge and whine.
Ah..aren't we all doing same..whinge, whinge and whine.. ;D Anyway..plenty of room for more..and welcome back ;)
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Whinge, whinge. I'm way behind with everything, and nothing's growing. My climbing beans are exactly the same size they were when I planted them out, the sweet corn and squashes aren't growing, but the weeds are going mad.
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So I am not alone then? there are plots around mine where people have given up and the grass & weeds are nearly chest high, paths the same , get soaked just getting to my plot, most of my broad beans got snapped or uprooted in storms ( my fault for not staking and pinching the tips out ), the sweetcorn is literally half the size at least that it normlly is this time of year. worried about my spuds, so going down tomorrow to uproot a plant that has survived ( not many, half rotted away underground ).
I would imagine the same story with other heavy clay plots. Beans too are half the size they should be , nothing is as green as it should be either. Sigh
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If nothing else it has made me feel better to know it's not just me having a mare! :)
- No carrots have germinated at all, despite 2 sowings...
Only a few lettuces and they are usually my fail-safe crop
Tomatoes, courgettes/squash and sweetcorn really struggling
No plums, cherries, pears or damsons at all due to late frost getting all the blossom
One of my gooseberry bushes has died
Marestail is popping up everywhere
Red ants have eaten all the strawberries (didn't even know they did this)
BUT on the other hand
- Spuds looking good
Onions getting bigger (slowly)
Spring onions, radishes, dwarf beans and beetroot racing away
7 courgette/squash plants have managed not to rot, so I may get a crop eventually
Celeriac looks really healthy - I've never grown it before so no idea if it's doing well or not but it looks as though it's enjoying itself
Lots of fat blackcurrants
PSB seems to be on steroids
Remaining gooseberry bush has a good crop
So although it has been a terrible year so far, it's not a total disaster...and 2007 was worse...and if we can still manage to grow things in weather like this, we must be doing something right ;)
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Last time I was speaking to him, early last month, a mate of mine down in Chesterfield said hasn't grown anything. The only thing he's got, he says, are the onions in his garden. He was totally flooded out. Makes me feel a bit better (for me anyway). Still he had a laugh and told me at least this year I was doing better than an experienced gardener! ;D
I don't know whether this is beginners luck or not, but I've had no failures, OK a bit of rotting on the strawbs, a few onions that rotted off, a couple of lettuces that rotted and a few beetroot seedlings that damped off in the soil, but nothing disasterous.
I do feel sorry for the folk who's hard work has gone to waste though.