[hubballi]

Every years it's the same. I start out with good, healthy plants and end up with them either being decimated by slugs, leaf miner and other weird things that happen. This last few days of rain have just about done it for bringing out slugs.

Courgettes: Ends of fruit rot.

Healthy Italian and curly kale. Stripped by slugs. Also starting to wilt.

Broccoli: Stripped leaves.

Broad Beans: Sparse crop. Twisted, distorted beans. Leaves with small holes in. Rusty colored. Black ends to beans.

Onions: Onion maggots.

French Raddish: despite sowing in compost, ground, shade etc they NEVER EVER swell. Just produce thin stems. Hardly grow at all.

Spring Onions: never getting any bigger after months. Then finally wilting and going rotten on top of compost.

Greenhouse:white fly and aphids.

Rocket: Small wispy, wimpy  leaves that wilt.

Chard: bolting and distorted leaves.

Carrots: foliage as small and as whispy as they were 3 months ago.

I have a small walled garden. I have tried soot, organic pellets for slugs. Feed and water all plants appropriately. Other plants in the soil doing well are peas, beans, raspberry, so it isn't a soil issue.

Perhaps I should give up :-(

[tosca100]

Oh dear, how disheartening. But I think most people are having problems this year, as they did last year. The seasons are all topsy-turvey. But still the things that do do well are still worth the bother. And you never know, next year...............................

[Kleftiwallah]

Have you thought about photography as a hobby ! ! !        Cheers,   Tony.

[hubballi]

I studied Photography at college over 20 years ago.

[daisy1990]

I think we all have seasons like that and it is very disappointing, last year it was melons and carrots for me, this year it is french beans, bortolli beans, beetroot (all of which I have grown well for years).  If you read all the advice and are doing all you can you just have to put it down to the weather and enjoy what has grown  (and freeze/ dry lots in case next year crops fail!)

[Christine]

Remember that it happens to farmers and growers too when the weather is odd. They are dependent for their total income on good crops. We gardeners just do the best we can.

I've had more salad leaves and rocket bolt this year than in the last four - and frozen any number of peas (but not as many as last year because the kids have been taking them home to eat). Carrots were bad last year and good this year. Onions this year are not as good as last year but good enough. Garlic is better than last year. Swings and roundabouts.

I've lost the summer cauliflowers to a gale buy grown romanesco for the first time ever, the calabrese started out brilliantly but the hot and dry weather sent it straight to seeds whilst we ate plenty of it last year. However, spring onions and radish have been better this year than last.

There's no accounting for the weather - this year we had summer in spring, March gales in June and for the last week we have had the early spring rains. Hey ho, I should have planted rice I think.

[sonnycbr]

I don't think there's anyone who has a perfect season, I've been gardening for years and still find myself at the mercy of the weather and pests, as we all are. as someone has said, enjoy the crops that do well and, who knows, next year could be the one.

[TerryB]

Are you sure its not a soil issue?
Given the time, effort and money you are putting in, don't you think it would be worth having the soil analysed. It could be somthing that was in the soil before you got the house.

[hubballi]

It isn't soil because other things are growing well.

[Lardman]

Any chance of a some pictures of the crops / situation / soil profile ?

Everything you've listed as doing well likes it wet/damp including your plague of slugs.

It isn't soil because other things are growing well.

Certain plants can be more tolerant than others, it could also be very localised 'pollution'.  Have you done the basic checks for ph & soil structure ? Other than slugs is there any life in the soil?

[Aunt Sally]

It isn't soil because other things are growing well.

Hubballi,  we have offered to get an experienced gardener to come and look at your many problems but you have not taken up the offer.  We have plenty of members who don't live too far away from you.

[sunshineband]

A generous offer 

[hubballi]

Just had a look at the courgettes that were doing well in pots with new fruit a a few days ago only to have the ends now rotten. That's 8 courgette plants and yet not one single successful fruit except the yellow shop bought one and now the leaves are going yellow and mildewy.

The broad beans are terrible. hardly a bean, the Suttons are tiny, compacted together and black and  wispy. One of the tall variety has gone a funny colour altogether.

Never done a PH test I must admit. Any advice from a local would be appreciated.

[sarajane]

Hi. You mention that you have a walled garden and it would seem that the crops that are struggling are the lower growing ones, radish, sp. onions, courgettes etc whilst the taller runners and raspberries are doing ok.

I think we are all struggling somewhat this year  -  I know I am - but do you think your crops are getting enough sunlight, given they are surrounded by a wall.

[Salmo]

It appears that most of your problem is slugs. Nemaslug is by all accounts a good product.

http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/product/Best+Sellers/GPC-265.htm