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Talkback: Wet weather on the veg plot

YewJayYewJay Posts: 27
in Talkback
Luckily, all my vege crops are either in a polytunnel or in raised beds. I mean RAISED beds 28" high and with a special mix which is water retaining but free draining so the vegies are fine. The courgettes are in the tunnel and are producing profusely: broad beans just big enough to pick - also in tunnel, and the runners were raised in roottrainers and are happy and healthy at 2foot plus high. They have a 2foot 6 fleece protection about 2foot 6 away and it helps!!

Outside veges are grown using 'square foot gardening' with a mix of one third each - compost, peat and Insulation Grade vermiculite (very thick pieces)plus fertiliser which is topped up each season. This has been working well for the last 5 years. Square foot gardening is great!!
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  • the tidy gardenerthe tidy gardener Posts: 591
    I agree with all of this.I went to leicester market today,bought 2 large baskets of strawberries for £1;7 peaches for £1,peas,potatoes,all cheap and delicious.And my poor vegetables are either drowning or sulking in mud.Why do we do it?!!I'm afraid its an addiction.

    My father got me into this gardening lark and now Im hooked.Oh well;better get the wellies on!
  • rena05rena05 Posts: 5
    The sweet peas are standing still. The weeds love the rain and are hiding the onions.

    When I come in from the garden I can hardly lift my feet because of the mud on the soles of my boots.



    Catherine Moore

    Falkirk
  • Graham MorganGraham Morgan Posts: 3
    Don't get me started on the weather, me taters are rotting under 2" of water, onions just started to grow and stair rod rain just bounced em out of the ground, me strimmer packed in so while it went for repair the weeds just ran amok and the grass on't lotment is the home for all kinds of fierce creatures, shed has sprung a leak and I can't even sit on the chsair it is soaking wet, Still look on the bright side just when everthing is growing nicely it will be winter and the ruddy frosts will kill everything off, and don't get me started on mud and clay. I blame the Weather men on telly they are all warlocks and witches predicting rain/floods/drought, gail force winds etc etc etc, get rid of the lot and return to looking out of the window to see if the crows are flying backwards, AHHH good old fasioned weather, I am old enough to remember when we had seasons.

    Mr Grumpy

    York
  • Sandie3Sandie3 Posts: 1
    what can I say about the weather - polytunnel blew away in the high winds in May, a small apple tree the only thing that kept it from completely blowing away. 50% of small plants it covered killed by frost week before, and the rest transferred into the conservatory were eaten the next night by slugs. Other plants if not slowed down by cold weather keep thinking they are 'water lillies', my begonias that always give great display of summer colour and would normally be pushing up flower buds now are looking drowned and new bulbs put into pots over a month ago are just starting to push through the soil. The only good thing don't have to worry about plants drying out due to the summer sun.
  • JonusJonus Posts: 8

    I went to dig up some spuds two days ago and from 4 plants I had approx 12 pidddling little pots.   Fed up.   Broad beans doing nearly quite well. Haven't been to my allotment yet this week hope I can make it tomorrow.  Garden looking quite lush with all the green leave with two lillies struggling to make themselves seen.  The geraniums are just romping away with blues and pinks.  But no really bright colours around yet.

  • EdentoyEdentoy Posts: 61

    WET WET WETimage Never witnessed my allotment with so many bare spaces at this time of yearimage. Has anybody some info on how to grow rice?????

  • bigteebigtee Posts: 3
    Thank god for the newly built rasied bed i did this year it's 2 foot off the ground with excellent drainage with gaps should it need to drain away.



    Lettuce, peas,carrots,onions,strawberries,are doing well some more sun would be an advantage.



    The potatoes in bags have shot up with this rain is it just magic?
  • Peat BPeat B Posts: 441
    The wet weather has been so extreme so far this year, that I have just about given up on any successful crops. I should have gone for either a rice paddy or water cress ! I thought it was gunna be a good year during one warm patch a couple of months ago, but then it rained and turned cold enough for a virtual 2nd winter. Sweet peas under a frame, with fleece covering them, failed miserably, dwarf beans disappeared as soon as they poked the surface. Blueberry bushes have thinned out alarmingly. Peach and cherry leaf curl hit as usual, and leaves have dropped off from heavy rain. A zero crop of apples is expected. What a calamitous year !
  • Zoomer44Zoomer44 Posts: 3,267

    I grow small scale in three small raised beds, pots and bags and found it's not been alot different from last year (could be famous last words) it's looking like there will be some failures but also successes.

    Seem to remember it was dryer and there was more sun this time last year and stuff in the GH did well. GH veg isn't doing as well this year me thinks due to the poor light and less heat in there.

    Sweetcorn did well last year but so glad I didn't grow it this as it probably wouldn't have liked the wet and cold. Mouli didn't like the heat last spring but I've have had good results this spring and just finished picking it. Spuds in bags haven't needed watering as much this year and are looking good but I've yet to harvest so don't know whats grown in the bags yet and we've had a number of full smith alerts so the spuds in the ground may not fare so well with possible blight in the air.

    Beans have been most disappointing to date some of them are looking a little yellow possibly due to all the rain, some varieties have reached the top of their canes whilst other varieties have yet to find a cane to run up and are only a ft tall.

    Slugs have been a problem this year were as last I hardly had any slug damage.

  • OllydogOllydog Posts: 1

    Everything is late even here in the South of England. The ground was saturated for so long and is still very moist, I sat outside on a chair today and the legs sunk in grass. My runners have a couple of flowers but have been so battered by the high winds and torrents of rain that they are bit hit and miss in growth height. I think the tips have actually been torn off on some of them. Potatoes have been slow to grow as have my other veg but although my tomatoes germinated very late as it was so cool, they seem to be making up for this and have been romping away although I think that I will be harvesting them very late this year. Happy growing everyone.

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