Poor Year So Far

[Cider Boys]

I thought that last year was an extremeley poor year for vegetable gardening and also I learn for beekeepers. For my part this year so far has also been poor we have yet to get all our potatoes in due to the wet state of the ground and most of the early sowings of parsnips, carrots and leeks have failed.
On the positive side my autumn sown broad beans are superb with a good set of flowers but I wonder how many bees are about to be attracted by the flowers.


I wonder how other forum members are fairing?

Barney

[Monika]

We certainly haven't seen many bees around but plenty of bumble bees! The one thing which has struck me is the absence of butterflies, just a few small tortoiseshell, one peacock and one small white. There should be comma, green-veined white and orange tip about now. Last year was bad for butterflies, so I am hoping they have survived locally.
As far as vegetable growth is concerned, thing seem to be doing ok here, but then, we don't really start sowing until well into April and I have only just sown our carrots (Nantes, Chantenay red-cored and Autumn King). The main crop potatoes still need planting but if we plant them too early, late frost might kill off the foliage.

[Lurganspade]

Hi !!!

I thought it was just me, flowers and bulbs have flowered well so far, but veggies, they are just sitting there !

Must be waiting for better days!

cheers !!!

[richard p]

we have had a lot of rain and very few really warm days , the soil outside is still wet and cold, it really shows the advantage of permenant paths and 4ft beds, i can actually get on planting out without making a muddy mess. i dont think our soil has been dry enough to rotavate at all this spring.
in the tunnels the soil is moist at half a fork depth so i havnt actually started general watering in them yet, just sploshing a bit on transplants with a watering can. usually by now the sprinkler is on for half an hour or so once a week. the odd one or two strawberries were ripe before the end of april perhaps a week or so earlier than normal.

[Colin Miles]

I have only just sown outdoor Carrots and Parsnips. Even in a warm year the germination of both is so slow in March and even April that it doesn't seem worth it. Sown at the right time and they romp away and catch up or even overtake earlier sowings.

I did manage to get my outdoor potatoes out and the Heritage ones have been up and away for a couple of weeks now - others only just appearing (more about that later).

Purple and White Sprouting Broccoli doing superbly well - Aquadulce Claudia well in flower and much appreciated by the Bumble bees which also seem be doing well. Butterflies only just appearing, but that is only to be expected given the temperatures when you compare with last year

From my weather station, the Mean max temp for April 2007 was 66.4F whilst the Absolute maximum for April 2008 was 66.5F! This year was a more 'normal' year and if the latest global cooling data is to be believed, something we will have to live with for the next 10 or 15 years.

[Mike Vogel]

We complain of dry weather in Bedfordshire, but it hasn't been too bad. In the last week of April we had 12 mm of rain, including some heavy penetrating showers, but that was only just under half the rainfall for the whole of the month.

The soil has been workable for a couple of months now, and I've put all my spuds in and have made 2 sowings of root veg [3 of Amsterdam Forcing carrots]. You'll find me complaining in high summer, as everything starts to dry up and the water pump on the allotment braeaks again.

mike

[Johnboy]

For once we had an April of yesteryear. Typically, April is a month of showers of not only rain but sleet and snow. According to the doom and gloom merchants who were predicting, only last year, that Aprils will never be the same again, because of global warming and changing weather patterns, well this was nature sticking up two fingers to these mainly self appointed self opinionated experts!
I thought April this year was wonderful!
JB.

[Chantal]

I've been thinking exactly the same thing JB; April showers, that's what it's all about.

What's more, this year has been very good for growing, so far, but I must admit that I generally grow in modules and plant out. It's all very different on Barney's scale.

[alan refail]

I agree; it has been a more "typical" March and April. I have no complaints. Now it looks like it's taking us into a splendid May.

Johnboy

these mainly self appointed self opinionated experts

[Johnboy]

Hi Alan,
I agree that climate change is occurring but it is the people that I hear on the BBC who's credentials, which are at least dubious, who deal in theory and if its a hot period its global warming kicking in and then when its cold period its global warming kicking in. This world of ours has been changing for millions of years and the disasters they forecast are not going to happen overnight as you might gather from some commentators. Even yesterday Burma had a cyclone, which has been prone to them for centuries, yet on the world service it was introduce as further evidence of global warming.
This is all very alarmist and some people are actually scared of what is going to happen.
But for all their theories none of them can explain why from the early 1940's until 1975 we were actually getting colder and at that time it was mooted that we might be going back to another ice age
and then all of a sudden in 1975 it started going back the other way. For all the talk of CO2 and the Carbon Taxes will not stop this old world of ours, in conjunction with the Sun, from doing exactly what they want to do.
JB.

[Primrose]

Having been away for three days I've returned to the best crop of weeds ever. I simply cannot believe that I left a perfectly weeded vegetable patch behind and returned to this ! The vegetable seeds are all lagging far behind. So far my indoor germinated parsnips are the only seeds to be growing. Even the good old faithful Swiss Chard hasn't appeared yet.

[oldherbaceous]

I never can hardly believe what a difference a lovely warm day can make to the way plants and seedlings grow.
Everything has grown more in the last three days than in the last fortnight.

As for my Runner Beans, French Beans And Tomato plants, they have gone that lovely dark green that i love to see.
They really are a sight to behold.

Theres things popping up everywhere, how exciting.

Hope everone else has had a pleasant day on their land.

[Lurganspade]

.24 hours.

You got there before me "O H" !!!

Same here, every thing,flowers and veggies have seemed to change colour and perk up.

Everything in the garden is lovely today.

Warm, wet and humid, ideal conditions for blight, me thinks!!!

Cheers

[Colin_M]

Try it again now Barney.

We're up the road from you in South Glos and it's been warm for the last few days and the sun is promisingly up again this morning!

Most things are at last starting to thrive in the allotment. If things go on like this, I'll be needing a draft of cider at the end of an evenings work soon

[Monika]

It's been a gorgeous day, hasn't it? And there is more to come according to the forecasters and the web. Will have to start watering the allotment soon! We bought a new garden seat today (the last one, 20+ years old, collapsed under husband's weight!), so we'll sit out tonight and watch the bats swooping overhead.
It's just after 7pm now and the automatic opener in the greenhouse is still wide open. You sure it's only May?