Feeling fed up

[rary]

Annie my greenhouse has a concrete floor also and I grow my tomatoes in a raised bed made with decking planks 2 high

Correction Annie the bed is 3 decking boards high this was to give me some depth for planting

Please don't tell VC or I will never hear the end of it you know how women go on if they find you have made a mistake

[SarrissUK]

Aww Annie, big hugs to ya This year has been odd, because like you say, the weather was warm in the winter, cold in the spring, then a bit of warmth, then arctic again. It's no wonder the veg don't know whether they're coming or going.

I'm in Lincolnshire, so kind of in between Bikermike and yourself, and I've only just got the first red tomato in my greenhouse. Huge growth, and lots of tomatoes, but they're all solidly green and seem to want to stay that way for now. Try to be patient If they're still on the plant, they will eventually turn red What I have learnt this year about tomatoes is that the Morrisons flower buckets are too small for me - I simply can't keep them watered fast enough on a hot day. My experiment to plant four plants in each Bag for life with compost up to nearly the top of them (and I used a variety of supermarket bags too!) has paid off massively - not once have the toms sulked because they're dry, and not a single tomato with blossom end rot.

I've had a rubbish year for potatoes - the ones that I had come up and grow seem to have vanished completely in the last couple of weeks. I will have a dig around for them, but I'm not expecting much.

My squashes and courgettes have all been absolutely miserable this year and I have not harvested even one courgette yet. That's not because they're not big enough - it's because there aren't any! But they are showing signs of finally starting to grow at least in size, so there's hope yet

I'm planning on chucking more peas in the ground this weekend coming, as they've done quite well, and if I don't get full size peas, I'll use them as mange tout.

I'm also sowing more carrots, beetroot, winter cabbage and more, to fill the gaps of what's nearing finishing. It's not too late for a second wind.

Learn from it - write down what you did and when, what you planted where and in what. Just try something different next year, and I promise you you will find out what works best in your garden and your weather. Hang in there

[Scarlet]

Ok...here my list.

Sprouting Broccoli...still in the seed packet.
Spuds not even bought
/ bed covered over with black plastic due to back issues.

Garlic/onions/leeks - I cant grow due to white onion rot.
Small amounts of giant garlic and a few bulbs in my flower borders....but that isn't quite the same.

Chard..:::still in pots
Kale ....still in pots
Bed full of nettles - back issues

Gooseberries - 25ft row.... birds ate every one
Blackcurrants - birds are 90%
Redcurrants - birds are 100-%
White Vurrants - similar.

Raspberries theta a fight ongoing
Tay berries similar

Greenhouse crops have been fabulous as I've not got the other stuff to look after.
Tomatoes, cues and chilies looking fab. ( SPs giant white hab will grace my dining room at Xmas )
Except for that mouse I see dodging my hose pipe! And a few of my big toms eaten I am happy with the greenhouse stuff.

Beans - I've a 40ft row. The birds have managed to eat the flowers on the top third. We have been enjoying the rest for once

My flowers and borders are looking fabulous. (Rary's lillies, flowers from the seed circle, far endwomans peony tree all look fab, selkirkalex peony seeds all tucked up with my fingers crossed. )

Actually when I look back there's not that much success for the work I put in. BUT i love the garden, I can be in it all day. I love taking photos of what I've grown, the bees, butterflies and most of all my reward is sitting out there in the evening. The greenery and flowers are fabulous

[Mark_Riga]

Well a more mixed year than last so far.
Early/2nd Early potatoes good main crop too early but potential for a lot oof slug damage.
Onions, biggest crop ever as over planted due to poor crop last year - must be about 50 to 100kg though but might not keep well as thicish necks.
peas good despite mice and pigeons
tomatoes picked some but disease may reduce final yield a lot. One variety I notice doing well so far is marmande which, even though large seems to ripen quite quickly, did the same last year. Dwarf french beans good. Broad beans good. Climbing french for drying too early to say.
rasperries/red and black currants good.
Not looking good - squash and sweetcorn. Courgettes only had a few but should be steady now till frosts.

What else did well? Well the squirrel that sits on a post eating strawberries and is starting on the hazels though nowhere near ready. Mice quite liked the strawberries too. The blackbirds did well on the red currants and the wasps liked the blackcurrrants and now some raspberries. Slugs (big ones this year) were doing very well on a lot of crops, particularly cabbage and caulis and the courgettes. So a good time is being had by all in mid Cheshire. Oh and I think some rats may be digging for maincrop potatoes.

[Nicos]

Looks like most of us are in the same boat.
I have 14 various large fruit trees and having done a closer inspection seem to have one apple developing. Late frosts did those in.
Yes, so far I've got no sign of a glut of anything. We try to preserve our veg to see us through the winter with a few additional purchases. Deffo not going to happen this year.
Just glad we don't live in the Middle Ages and that's all we'd have to live off.
Spuds haven't had blight (yet) so we should have a decent crop of those. Thing is...I'm on a low carb diet for the foreseeable future!

[ESBkevin]

Part of the 'joy' of gardening these days is that every year is different to the last. The 'golden rules' don't always apply, and you have to be prepared for some losses.
Think of it as some of your crops are successful rather than some have failed, and it seems better. We can help mother nature, but we can't control it absolutely (unless you have a large lab for growing).
Take on board the lessons these wild fluctuations throw at us and if we all share our stories we can all safeguard somewhat against those same conditions IF they recur next year, or the year after, or the year after that.
For example, my front garden is now quite established and a no dig are, it's south facing and gets no shade, but I'm having the best display year ever and so far I've only had to water 3 times.
As a precaution against further drought conditions, I'm establishing a new bed in the back garden to hid the water but in front of the new shed. This will be palms and grasses etc. that are able to sustain themselves better in what I suspect will be a drier future.
I'm not suggesting I know all the answers, far from it. But I try and learn and adapt. Of course sometimes it's just a bad year for X crop or Y crop for reasons we can't do much about. I can't water all my potatoes enough, so I take care of the first earlies and the main crop have to fend for themselves with just a mulch.
Next year will be better for some things and worse for others, chin up.

[Chestnut]

Chatting to plot neighbours who have been doing this for 50+ years, the phrase ‘it’s not been a good year for (name a crop)’ comes up very regularly. Gardening is definitely one of those ‘win some, lose some’ things.
I am slowly getting used to that, and starting to enjoy the idea of things being ‘good enough’ - a delightful contrast to work where 99.9% isn’t enough ;-)
If it’s got me out in the fresh air, eaten some home grown veg and I have enjoyed doing it, that is enough for me.
If I have used 75% of my plot for growing edibles, and kept it from getting too overgrown, that’s good enough for the council. It doesn’t matter to them that 3 packets of pea seeds and 7 of carrot seeds haven’t grown- I bunged some beetroot and spare courgettes and pumpkins in the gap and pretended that’s what I had planned all along... .
;-)

[Stan79]

I was feeling fed up in the spring as I felt behind the curve with my planting but sure enough within a couple of weeks the weather had turned and I was in full flow. I think it’s really easy to feel frustrated in this game!

I have the privilege to report that I have one carrot growing having planted three packets of seeds... so that’s something like 0.0003% success rate. It must be a record.

Onions look ok.

Spuds are bigger than I was expecting and a reasonable number but I regularly watered them when I could.

Sweetcorn is looking like a very mixed bag. Some a very short, some are giants.

No leeks or parsnips this year which is a shame.

Beans need water and haven’t really taken off yet.

Tomatoes in the rainforest, sorry - I mean greenhouse are laden with fruit but only had about 4 red cherry Toms so far. Hoping the rest start to ripen soon!

Lettuce in a wooden box did well but then went to seed.

Squash have just started developing fruit. Two so far. No idea what variety they are though!

All in all, I’ve stuck to growing what I like and have had success with in the past and that seems to have paid off. I will need to look at rotating things next year which due to the size of the plot will be tricky but that’s all part of the fun!!!

[muckdiva]

Feel your pain Annie, I’ve had a good year for lettuce and French beans but brassicas, radish and anything related has been completely massacred by flea beetle and cabbage whites combined, even under fleece! Something weird has happened to courgettes in the ground as well... they start off well, then stop producing new shoots, leaves go brown and dry and eventually the plant dies. I’ve put a couple in pots but they are late down so not sure if I’ll get a crop.

Guess it’s a numbers game, the more varieties you plant. The more chance you have that a percentage of it will do ok. The ground is perfect for some autumn crops tho, try fennel, kholrabi, winter radish and turnips, I’ve had some good success with those sown about now as they are quick cropping. Fingers crossed things look up soon

[robbra]

My apples and pears are fabulous, much better than last year, even the grapes are swelling. As for the rest of it, loads of green tomatoes no sign of any turning yellow, no beans, peas and only just getting flowers on the chillies. Nasturtiums wrecked with the wind Saturday so not entirely pleased but nothing I can do so hope it all comes together shortly.

[annie8]

Am feeling a bit more accepting of it but still disappointed. Weather last few days have been appalling again. A few very hot hours then torrential rain and thunder storms. Tried to take my tatties out the ground in a dry spell yesterday but even then ground was a bit claggy.

[The Pepper Man]

I feel your pain Annie. I have just lost a bunch of my heirloom tomatoes in the ground to botrytis. My own fault though for not pruning properly and allowing everything to grow out of control. Combined with the cool, wet, humid summer we have had, that was a recipe for disaster.

My cucumbers as well have been very slow to produce this year and I am way down on the numbers harvested, compared to this time last year. I am picking quite a few cucumbers now, but they are nowhere near as prolific, or as good quality, as last year's ones.

I also lost all of my lettuce in the spring. It dried out during the drought in April/May and I was left with nothing. Out of 100 or so lettuces, I didn't even get to harvest one. So frustrating.

Then of course we had that terrible storm about a week ago. It uprooted my 3 largest sunflowers, which had been staked as well as possible. It was extremely frustrating to find the sunflowers snapped on the ground still! I can't even remember us having a storm like that in early August. Mid September maybe, at the earliest, but never at the beginning of August!

My only saving grace this year has been the peppers, which are doing very well. But still not as good as last year. So on the whole, it looks like this will be a season to forget. Hopefully next year will be better for us...

Regards

[Penellype]

It can be stormy in August, but its rare. The most famous August storm was in 1979 when it caused absolute havoc to the Fastnet yacht race, killing 19 people. That storm arrived in Ireland on 14th August. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Fastnet_race

The problem with summer storms is that a lot of the summer plants are tall and relatively soft so they are easily damaged by wind. Trees are in full leaf which makes branches much more likely to break if they are thrashing about, and other top-heavy structures like bean supports are also vulnerable. Fruit is also likely to be ripped from trees in a summer gale. Like everything weather related, there is nothing you can do but pick up the pieces afterwards.

[veggiechicken]

The weather is affecting everyone's crops - including the farmers.
Cauliflower shortage reported - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49330210

[Penellype]

Yes, one of the weathermen I follow on Twitter who is also a farmer said that the storm had knocked a lot of the grain onto the ground where it can't be harvested.