Kitchen Garden Forum

Are we turning into a nation of Grumpy 'ole gardeners?
Usually a very happy crowd on the whole. I put it down to the weather. It can't get any worse can it!!!!
Cheer up folkes there is always next year.

Anyone else noticed or it is just our lot down here.

Beryl.

They said "Smile, things could be worse". So I smiled and Yep things got worse !

Cheers, Tony.

Just saw this on the news:
"April to June this year has been the wettest second quarter in the UK since records began in 1910."
OH can probably remember this far back!
Things just starting to improve a bit here over the last few days but it is certainly one of the worst seasons so far that I can remember.

John

Dear Beryl, all grumpy down here, not sure what's the matter with everyone. Not everything is a failure this year, the potatoes are coming up just lovely.

Shame about the onions, shallots, all the fruit, beans, marrows, courgettes, beetroot, the list is endless....

Radish like it too OH, and the broad beans are cropping well my first tomatoes are red now, and it looks like the kiwi are going to produce fruit this year at last! No pears though, and very few apples, the courgettes got eaten by the snails. Slugs and snails are cropping well due to the incesssant rain. The first few cucumbers were eaten too but 5 now have mini cues forming so not all is lost! We are eating the strawberries, all gold raspberries are ripening, and the loganberries are turning red, just the prime end ones on the clusters. Keeping fingers crossed, as we have had 2 or 3 sunny days. I am going to try some late quick cropping cherry tomatoes, last year a few gave me a nice late crop, depends if we get a mild sunny autumn - or not

Beryl we are quite close location wise, and I think we are grumpier than most as we don't get challenged by the weather quite as much normally, so it is a steep learning curve for us!

I am just just glad this is not my first growing year as I would be so dispondent might even give up - Keep Calm & Carry On is the motto of the moment - and the odd little prayer for some warmth & sunshine!

Westi

Well said Westie. I think in all my years of gardening this has been one of the most difficult. Each year is a challenge, some more than most. Keep smiling as they say.

Beryl.

Agree with you Westi, without experience it must be quite enough to put you off gardening forever! I've had some spectacular failures this year, but because I have 'backed up' and not lost heart I've managed to produce overwintered onions (many bolted), garlic (rusty, but better than feared), strawberries (reasonable amount, but could have been better with some sunshine). Broad beans are looking very hopeful despite major weevil attack at first, luckily I had spares in reserve. Parsnips are about the only thing that have been a real problem, I may end up with about 20 if I'm lucky and that's taken 4 attempts and a new packet of seeds of a different variety. Noticed today that I have baby courgettes. Very proud mum!

I must admit, although the weather has been wet and windy, things are not too bad here. The only vegetables suffering on the allotment are the French beans and runner beans because they are being constantly battered by wind and/or rain. In the garden at home, which is considerably more sheltered, the peas are filling and the broad beans have set.

The overwintered onions (Radar) and garlic (Solent Wight and Edenrose) are doing very well as are the spring sown and planted shallots and the leeks have taken off like rockets! The root vegetables (we grow carrots, parsnips, celeriac, beetroot and lots of potatoes) are growing well and all the brassicas seem to love the wet and cool weather. So, as I said, no real complaints.

I think because we have gardened here for more than 30 years (including 27 on the same allotment), we know the limitations and choose and time our vegetables accordingly. Sweetcorn, squash, say, or outdoor tomatoes or peppers are all no-nos - plants have to be tough to survive!

I agree. The basic stuff is all OK while the softer things that we have only perhaps been growing for a generation are suffering a bit, I think that tells us things are not so strange. "Since records began" is only a blink of the eye.

The last few days of humid weather has really produced a spurt in both gardens,: We have:

Mangetout, baby runners, baby french beans, baby courgettes and plentiful strawberries (home garden);

The carrots, parsnips, onions and leeks are growing well (both gardens);

The potoatoes are a mass of lovely green foliage topped with flowers which are open (both);

The purple podded peas are doing amazingly well, with and abundance of pods which are swelling nicely (school);

The pumpkins and squashes have put on a fair amount of growth and we even have open flowers on some (both); and

The sweetcorns, min corns, salads are all growing nicely and the tomatoes are in full flower, although yet to set fruit (both).

So all is not lost.

VPM
x

July has dawned cold, dark and wet,
There'll be a lot more moaning yet.

Exactly 10 inches of rain here in Carmarthenshire and mean temperature for the year so far 46F - which just about says it all. I keep looking at the 'lawn' and can't remember when I last cut it! 2nd lot of Mangetout going the same way as the first - which I composted the other day. Runner beans less than 2ft up the poles, Squashkin going backwards and Crown Prince struggling despite some protection. But the Parsnips seem to be loving it and the Blackcurrants completely unfazed - had the first this morning for breakfast.

But dug up one of my Charlotte potatoes - reckon they need another month, or more if this weather continues. Haulm fine but very little underneath even after 13 weeks.

I think we are missing the feel good factor that getting out in the garden gives us. Today, I've been trying to pick the strawberries but every time I get started I've had to come back indoors again after a few minutes due to the thundery rain, it is so frustrating.

Colin Miles wrote: I keep looking at the 'lawn' and can't remember when I last cut it!

Thats interesting and something else I need to learn, regardless of the lower temperatures most of my grass has been rampant. The slowest growing parts have still needed cutting weekly.

The most fertile areas of my paddock grow six inches every week. I don't pick-up on most of my grass, the parts I do pick up on get regular nitrogen from my dog though it is patchy.

If the trick to slowing down growth is to pick-up, I tried that for the first year. Much to-much hard work getting rid of all those grass-cuttings.

Today, it's raining and the mist is so thick I can just about see 100 metres. Or yards.

Got my dusting done though.