My scallions, snow peas and watermelon crops were all a total flop. And it was due to my neglect, we had thunderstorms every afternoon. We had more rain in the first two weeks of August than we do all year and I let the weeds get way ahead of me. What peas there were I mashed up and fed to my fish.
Philippa I forget the name of the cucumber seeds, but I grew them in the cold GH. They were the short, fat variety, which wouldn't have won any prizes but were quite tasty. We had just 5 or 6 on each of 3 plants. I will probably try a different type next year - perhaps Burpless!
I know we were distracted with house moving but it was a dreadful season for us in Belgium. Long cold wet dark spring after a dry start to the year so most babies eaten by slugs and then the survivors took forever to get going.
Broccoli, cabbages, kohlrabi, fennel and beets munched by slugs.
Courgettes very slow to start and then bolted to marrows during a 5 day absence in September.
One pumpkin plant with no fruits at all and the other managed to ripen one.
Tomatoes and cucs flowered too late to produce fruit and then suffered from drought anyway.
Oak leaf lettuce fine, cos lettuce munched.
Good strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries, damsons and rhubarb but the birds got the blueberries.
Drought here too in the Vendée but that's not a problem for us as we haven't started the new veg patch yet. There are some good looking veggie plots around and about so there's hope. Going to discuss siting of compost bins and bean trenches and other beds later today so OH doesn't go off half-cocked. Then I need to go and buy pots for sowing some broad beans and sweet peas.
Last edited: 11 October 2016 09:47:41
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
all was growing well until I went away on honeymoon in September, came back to find that my untrained colleague had followed my directions that I had left, and then taken it upon themselves to do some that I hadn't asked,
they'd pulled up the dwarf French and dwarf runner beans (I'd told them to harvest them) removed all the flowers and buds from the dahlias (I'd told them to dead head and left a guide on how to tell the difference between flower bud and dead head) pulled all the carrots on site (even the ones I was overwintering in my polytunnel) 'weeded' the entire polytunnel, including my overwintering lettuce and beetroots. They'd also cut back my black currents and summer raspberries - to the floor.
I had to resist the urge to a) swear at them, b) shout very loudly at them c) hit them with something sturdy!
Crikey, that sounds far worse than the trouble I had with house sitters who didn't water the pots properly. If you didn't swear, shout or hit them, what did you do? If nothing, then you must be a very kind and gentle person!
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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My scallions, snow peas and watermelon crops were all a total flop. And it was due to my neglect, we had thunderstorms every afternoon. We had more rain in the first two weeks of August than we do all year and I let the weeds get way ahead of me. What peas there were I mashed up and fed to my fish.
Aym280,i didn't have the caterpillars this year,which is unusual. I still got my parsnips to harvest, last year they bolted this year looks better.
Philippa I forget the name of the cucumber seeds, but I grew them in the cold GH. They were the short, fat variety, which wouldn't have won any prizes but were quite tasty. We had just 5 or 6 on each of 3 plants. I will probably try a different type next year - perhaps Burpless!
Runner & French beans poor
Strawberrys Gooseberrys & Rasberrys did very well
Broculi OK
Pleased with Cauliflowers not very big thou
Green house tomatoes , only small yellow ones did well
Out door cucumbers at allotment did better than those in g/h
Potatoes , earlies where poor but second earlies and main excellent
Shallots , garlic & onions done well
Overall not a bad year and still lots going strong
Now I know where our usual summer thunderstorms were! They went to Alberta to water Johnny Canoe's garden!
My main gardening problems this year were caused by drought in SW France.
I know we were distracted with house moving but it was a dreadful season for us in Belgium. Long cold wet dark spring after a dry start to the year so most babies eaten by slugs and then the survivors took forever to get going.
Broccoli, cabbages, kohlrabi, fennel and beets munched by slugs.
Courgettes very slow to start and then bolted to marrows during a 5 day absence in September.
One pumpkin plant with no fruits at all and the other managed to ripen one.
Tomatoes and cucs flowered too late to produce fruit and then suffered from drought anyway.
Oak leaf lettuce fine, cos lettuce munched.
Good strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries, damsons and rhubarb but the birds got the blueberries.
Drought here too in the Vendée but that's not a problem for us as we haven't started the new veg patch yet. There are some good looking veggie plots around and about so there's hope. Going to discuss siting of compost bins and bean trenches and other beds later today so OH doesn't go off half-cocked. Then I need to go and buy pots for sowing some broad beans and sweet peas.
Last edited: 11 October 2016 09:47:41
all was growing well until I went away on honeymoon in September, came back to find that my untrained colleague had followed my directions that I had left, and then taken it upon themselves to do some that I hadn't asked,
they'd pulled up the dwarf French and dwarf runner beans (I'd told them to harvest them) removed all the flowers and buds from the dahlias (I'd told them to dead head and left a guide on how to tell the difference between flower bud and dead head) pulled all the carrots on site (even the ones I was overwintering in my polytunnel) 'weeded' the entire polytunnel, including my overwintering lettuce and beetroots. They'd also cut back my black currents and summer raspberries - to the floor.
I had to resist the urge to a) swear at them, b) shout very loudly at them c) hit them with something sturdy!
That sort of help you can do without. Sounds like some serious training is needed.
Crikey, that sounds far worse than the trouble I had with house sitters who didn't water the pots properly. If you didn't swear, shout or hit them, what did you do? If nothing, then you must be a very kind and gentle person!
Treehuger , you would have best to just leave everything , when we go away we just get some one to water , hope you had a nice Honeymoon