Is it just Me or is this a funny year re weather .Firstly we had a baddish frost on 6th june. Now Dwarf broad beans set in late Sept-early oct for spring harvesting are full of flowers..Spring hero cabbage planted out early oct for spring use have grown and hearted up We ate 2 last week..Pear tree pruned late summer as we always have done before decided to blossom again 2 weeks ago..Sprouts which should be ready for christmas and in to jan feb are all ready and need picking. thes will blow if weather stays this mild We look like feezing them.Plot which had outdoor tomatoes on which were picked and plot dug over have got tomatoe plants growing some starting to flower,these from fallen tomatoes this season..Runners shooting again from bottom some flowering...Dahlias still in flower petunias geraniums too .Have had 3 sowings of peas picked and eaten could have had 4 ..Lots of trees re elderberry hawthorne aple etc stil got their leaves on and this is 4th of november
Been at this lotty game for quite a number of years but cannot remember a year like this.Bring on the winter lets know where we are..cheers Jim.
I agree with you Jim!
Cannas still flowering, and dahlias, and all the usual tenders that should be tucked up in my greenhouse, but haven't had the heart to oik them out yet. My acers are budding up, and the leaves on the local trees are still hanging on. Even got a frog in my pond who thinks it is spring, he is desperately making amorous calls to the ladies in the area.
On the plot it looks like the end of summer still, not Autum, lettuces growing, beans were, till the slugs got them. Still have a couple of sweet peas!
Oh and of course, my weeds are growing spectacularly!!! Feel I should be sowing not covering up! :) DP
Whatever the result, check out the 'actuals' on the met Office's monthly summaries?
I thought this October had been strangely warm - until I looked in my diary and saw I'd been working in my T-shirt 30/10/04. I think we associate shorter days with colder days - but winter doesn't really start until New Year in my (recent) experience.
I agree the weather has been very strange this year. The temperatures especially this autumn seem particularly high. The weeds are still growing really strongly and my hollyhocks at the allotment are just starting flower. Â I have just been over and picked the rest of my lollo rossos, which were still looking good. busy_lizzie
My broad beans are well on there way up I think they might get a surprise when the weather changes
Was just thinking the same thing! Planted a Cup and saucer (Cobea Scandens?) vine to go over an arch, it has just produced it's first flower, onions and garlic romping away, augergines still going for it, broad beans up, Arum lilly sprouting, and the roses I pruned back a bit are now in full flower again!! Ooo and a self seeded nasturtiam is now flowering..... ;D
Lottie
It may be warm but I am fed up with this rain.
I am trying to put a greenhouse up and we are ankle deep in mud. We have got all the sides made but have had to leave it as it was getting ridiculous. I hope nobody pinches it.
Rosemary
Same as you growmore , I planted loads of duncan spring cabbage out beginning of september for next spring time but am already eating them, think I will set a few seeds in the greenhouse as backup, because if the same thing is happening all over the country greens are going to be well short next spring and very pricey. Mind you thought the weather was going to pot until the other day when we had the hottest October day for over one hundred years, excuse be for being thick but was global warming to blame one hundred years ago for the warm spell then?
:-\
I seem to remember from various readings on diverse subjects, over the years, that Mother Nature allways produces food in abundance before a particulary harsh winter.   {:¬)#
My first sowing of spring cabbage got completely devoured by slugs and snails. So I sowed again and I now have loads of cabbages at about just the right size. Got lucky with that one.
Still got plenty of veggies from the allotment to pick,so it is also very mild on the other side of the channel.An other question do you allotmenteers over there have also a snail explosion,in the shed in the greenhouse on the windows,everywhere you look are snails.This is also related with the wetter,i am sure that it is this mild temp.
I have courgettes in flower and small fruits on the plant. Some of them have gone rotten though due to excessive rain, but others are coming on OK. I also have a runner bean in flower. My petunias and other annuals are still flowering. We had a bit of a frost in late September but since then it has been vey mild in Wiltshire. My unheated greenhouse has flourishing chillies and aubergines. I have also planted some spare runner bean seeds in there in the hope that we have a mild winter! They are about a foot tall now.
I have a second crop of aubergines coming through, and more flowers and fruit on my peppers, jalapenos and cape gooseberries. The only problem I've had is with the recent winds blowing the pots over.
I also recall the strange weather in late April/May, when there was no sunshine at all - just cloudy overcast skies for weeks...global dulling?
My allotment is producing better now than it did mid summer! Thanks to no piped water, spring sowings of some things bolt long before they can really get going, but my late summer sowings of things like kale, chard and spinach are now huge and glossy and gorgeous! The spuds that I missed when clearing have resprouted, shall I leave them and see if there is anything there come christmas or get them out of the ground?? The weeping willow in the garden is still in full leaf, but the dogwoods are now naked. I have carrots still in the ground and aubergines, toms and chillis in the greenhouse still cropping! Tis crazy, but I fear we are going to get caught out soon - has been very clear these last few nights and I wouldn't be at all suprised if we don't have a frost in these parts of Essex! Planning to wrap up my outdoor banana plants tomorrow.
I just harvested the last of the sweet corn today, and my spuds are sprouting as well. Some days the bees have been really busy on the ivy.
Some of my strawberries have set fruit.
Weird.
Hmmmm maybe GW should have done a 10 year lottie watch rather than mucking about with a rather dull tulip variety for thier Spring Watch? :-\
Rose.mary can sympathise with the greenhouse situation we were putting up new greenhouse second week in June - it was cold, windy and very wet - not an enjoyable job!!
colleenemp - I really love the Spring Green tulip but like the idea of a lottie watch!!
I wish they had chosen something a little less blah...I know everyone has colour scheme issues but still.... Lottie watch would be far better...guess it would be last harvest catagories?
I kid you not! I picked 2lbs. of field mushrooms today!!
any pictures?
At last - we have just had the first frost in the Chilterns. -1.5C and lots of lovely glittering leaves in the early morning sun.
Last year the first real frost was this date, too!
moonbells
Fantastic frost in Devon last night.
Everything glistening white this morning, now feeling very smug as I picked the last of my Butternuts yesterday.
Down the plot yesterday, the missus pointed out that a couple of the strawberry plants were producing fruit; not red obviously but they were a good size, but still, that can't be right surely. It's the middle of November!! ???
We noticed fruits on strawberry yesterday too - but lasts nights frost will soon put a stop to that !
No frost here (in the centre of Birmingham) but frost this morning on the way to school.
Frost in south Derbyshire yesterday am.....v cold on bicycle.... ::)