still raining...garden is catastrophic

[antipodes]

Hello! back again after a fairly long absence. Came back from two weeks holidays to find; it had still been raining here since I left :(
So I have three tomato plants still alive with a little bit of fruit on it. All the pumpkins, melons etc are dead, my courgette plants gives me one rotten fruit and one good one alternately, the strawberries are rotting on the plant as it is so wet. My garlic has not bulbed at all, so I will be harvesting and chucking it on the compost. I will try to plant some in autumn and over-winter it...
In good news, I picked about 2 kgs of beans which are delicious, I have lots of lettuce and the broccoli looks nearly ready to produce heads. I have nice fennel (still small but nice raw in salad), a few carrots, beetroots and the first parsnips!!! They smell gorgeous, about 30 cm long with a broad head (Guernesey demi-longs). the parsnips seeds I sowed about 3 weeks ago are sprouting nicely too.
So to sum up, the autumn plants seem promising but the summer ones, well, just forget it.
I have some questions:
- where should I plant green manure over the autumn? In the ill-fated tomato patch? or where the spuds were? (poor spud harvest too, by the way, but the ones there are taste nice)
- what can I still sow for an autumn-winter harvest?
Are there things I should sow, plant now in preparation for next year?
I guess I am disappointed by my first year but I now that the climate conditions are extraordinary so I don't want to remain pessimistic. AT least I know what I want to plant next year and what I will be leaving out :D

[antipodes]

[calendula]

I wouldn't compare this year to any other, strange that is has been for many. Grow what you like to eat and every year will still be different.

You can sow lot of chinese salads now, carrots (but will probably need cloching later), spring cabbages for next year, peas, caulis and broad beans for next year (although autumn sowing sometimes doesn't yield a better crop than spring sown, depends where you are located), spinach, turnips.

[tim]

Just been watching another belt of rain heading for France!

[calendula]

nearly 26 in saddleworth, beautiful - forgot to say about green manure - grow it where it needs it is the best advice and best to dig in early other wise it takes more nutrients than it gives

[artichoke]

I would be wary of sowing broad beans so early. I sowed them in September one year and the King of the Allotments laughed a bit and said it was too soon, and he was right. They were too tall and soft by the time it was winter, and flopped about and went black, while his later ones were firm little green rosettes of leaves close to the ground until they shot up in the spring.

It's true that mine must have developed a good root system as in the spring they each sent up several strong fresh shoots and gave me crops long before the spring sowers. But I wait until October now.

[calendula]

I agree but I did say 'autumn sowing' as it is still mid to late summer  ;)

[antipodes]

broad beans - hmm trouble is that I have never eaten those and i don't really know whether they are nice or not... how do you cook them?? Does that mean I should sow those in October?
I guess I could still put in carrots, and radishes and maybe beets? I should go look at the garden centre for some late spinach and some leafy things. Some of the stuff I grew from seed has been a success, like my broccoli, fennel and the root veg. I had some success with lettuce, especially the curly endive. I have had only one viable crop of radish though (that was when I changed its spot).
tim thanks for that optimistic news!!! I went for two weeks in Portugal and it was nice and hot, got back and my workmates tell me it has been raining since i left and it is still going!! how much rain is it possible to have?? I have not watered the garden once!! except when sowing. I must admit that I am really heartbroken about the squashes, I was hoping to have pumpkins and courgettes and melons and I won't have diddly squat. sigh. well, I guess I can't complain, I have the tallest sunflowers on the lot :D
I can't help but think that I haven't planned my winter garden very well!! I didn't think much past those lovely toms that I won't get this year!! WWAAAHHH!!!! :'(

[Robert_Brenchley]

Pick them young and they're lovely. If you're thinking of October planting, go for Aquadulce Claudia.