[ruffmesiter_69]

well, we are trying to decide if crop wise this year is worse than last, because certain crops seem to be doing better and others are worse.

for instance our onions are doing much better than last year, however the carrots and parnsips are not doing so well.

do you think it is a case that some things prefer this weather to what we had last year, or is this year better or just worse than last. Or even what us as growers are doing?

whats your thoughts?

[Ice]

Best crop of spuds ever, though I have tried different varieties this year.  The salad bed is good, spinach too, though my runners, peas and broad beans have been disappointing so far.  Also, my tomatoes are all leaf and no fruit, though toms are the one thing I do know what I'm doing.  Won't buy Seeds of Italy again. :cry:

[richyrich7]

Outdside : Good year for salad leaves, and raspberries just lifted some very muddy but nice spuds, runners are off to a good start, this years sowing of strawberries are coming into flower and producing masses of runners. plenty of leeks to go in when the early spuds have come out.

But everything else has been lost or doing badly with the weather conditions expecting  a bumper crop of couch and thistle  :roll:

Inside : everything is going fine, 1st time of growing melons and they have suddenly gone mad growing and flowering.  

So all in all a strange year with lots of mould and rots about.

[Aidy]

so far I would say this year is far better than last, with all the sunshine last year our sandy soil dried out to about 7 inch down and we lost a lot of crops, this year the soil has coped very well with the rain and we are having a good year but keeping a eyeout for moulds etc.

[ruffmesiter_69]

definitley think some things are better and some are worse, but thats the joys of gardening huh?

[diggerjoe]

I'm with ice on seeds of italy - the beans have been very poor  the courgettes are strugging perhaps they need the italian sun! and as for the lettuce turn your back and it bolts there's something to be said for good old fashioned varieties - back to home grown seed compaines for me  next year.

[corndolly]

This year no shortage of water !!! but the colder temperatures and the wind has not helped the climbing french and runner beans.

Courgettes too have been slow to take off but are producing a crop now,onions should be a good size unlike last year , but will they store as well and what hope of drying them well prior to storing.

Raspberries , great crop ! Strawberries going mouldy on plants very quickly.

Parsnips and Carrots not growing well , but the ground has been waterlogged !

Thinking of pulling the garlic this week, the plants have nt dried off but are looking very brown , presume the bulbs wont develop any more, they do seem bigger than last years though.

A mix of last year and this years weather is ideal , we need more warmth hopefully we will get some before the frosts arrive.

Loads of Toms set in the greenhouse but very few are ripening, picked a few today, last year at this time we'd been eating them for weeks.

[crowndale]

Well, last year I dug up and ate every spud I planted, if it keeps tipping it down I may well lose every maincrop spud this year.  Dug up my firends at her allotment this morning and every single one was rotton.  The strawberries started out ok but are now rotting on their stalks, the raspberries are doing ok and the peas are thriving.  The french beans though are extremely slow.  Given that I have heavy clay soil I'd far prefer drought to wet!  at least I can still add water to dry crops but nowt to be done with the soil I have at the moment, it just isn't drying out.  I think I might even be developing SAD, was almost in tears just now when the heavens opened and it tipped it down again.  Of course having PMT and having just had a row with my youngest son probably didn't help.  I hate teenage mood swings, give me a tantrumming toddler any day!

[Annie]

So far worse.The beds looked full this time last year and we were eating the first toms and courgettes.There seems to be less pollinators around too since my broard beans athough they are good plants,no blackfly and flowering well some have only 1 or two pods on.The courgettes have burst into life with this sunshine but I think it is comming too late for the squash.As for potatoes...and I chose to grow sarpo last year and rejected them because of scab! :roll:

[splodger]

i think that us southern softies have had a better time of it - although we have had alot of rain here - we are on chalk so we don't flood.

because i laid out my plot with wind breaks and protected pockets - my less robust crops have been fine - already had a massive pick of runner beans and quite a few dwarf beans.

my first lot of carrots were quite short - but that was my fault (too stoney) can't blame the weather :oops:

cucumbers are going great as are the toms - no blight (yet) on spuds either - and greens are coming along nicely too - had first lot of calebrese today.

even had a few parsnips already - only thing i've got to do soon is start earthing up my celery coz it's going mad with all this wet.

only slow thing has been the scallions - but i always find them really slow.

[paintedlady]

This time last year I had such an abundance of courgette/marrows, I was giving them away to friends.  This year I wait in eagerness for that first courgette which is nearly ready for picking!
 :?  :?
The tomatoes and peppers had definitely set fruit, but this year hardly anything. :cry:
However, I'm well chuffed with the earlies and 2nd early potatoes, my over wintered onions, shallots and garlic are not that bad despite looking a tad soggy at first, and I've got peas galore.
     
Most other things are not doing too badly and I can't guess how they'll harvest just yet.
 :o
Overall, last year's season was definitely much better than this year.

[GrannieAnnie]

Swings and roundabouts in Lincolnshire too!!!

Dug up all my early spuds because they were looking very droopy, but better crop than last year.  My maincrop wree looking better, til they started to go yellow and brown, so didn't think it was blight, but went out there yesterday, and it definately was, so I've now cutt all the tops off and waiting til next week to dig them and see what I've got!

Broad beans, lots of growth dand flower, but not so many beans, peas and runner beans not as bushy as last year, tomatoes starting to fruit, but not ripening yet, and chillies and peppers what I had germinate are still small (plants that is, not fruits!)

However, my cabbages are doing better because the rain has kept the butterflies down until now, but spraying with rhubarb water. Pigeons got a lot of my caulis, but I've sown some more which need to go out soonest, to see if I can get ome late ones.

At the moment, carrots and parsnips lot better than last year, because the earliest ones I sowed in the old bath and put fleece round, but there's a lot of top growth.  The parsnips look HUGE from the foliage, but still on about 4-5 inches long as yet, but then they won't be ready for months!!

Some of the courgettes are rotting, but others are doing fine (even the Seeds of Italy ones!!)
so like most of you, some things are better in the rain, some are better in the dry!!

Oh and my sweetcorn isn't looking too bad, but are between one and 2 foot high, one pumpkin appeared so far, indoor cucumbers looking good, but the outdoor ones look a bit droopy with all the wet, and celery a bit yellowish.

[brucesgirl]

Though I didn't have a lottie last year I lost all my runner beans in July last year with the heat, the tomatoes and strawberries all arrested in the heat and the garden plants just got frazzled. We had temperatures in the high 30's last year and no rain.
So from my point of view this year is better, though I'm in the south where we haven't had floods.

[yummy]

This is our first year so I can't really compare.

Our onions are pretty rubbish. Many are barely any bigger than they were when we stuck em in late Feb.

Broad beans have been good. We have had many pickings from them the past 3 weeks and there are more on the way.

Garlic went yellow and died.

Parsnips are looking good.

Carrots got eaten by something even though they were under some fleece.

Strawberries were very good. Got several large bowls from them over about 3 weeks.

Currants very poor with only a handful on each. We inherited the bushes though and have no idea how old they are.

Sweetcorn is looking good at about 18 inches tall now.

Pumpkins have just set.

Beetroots are poor. Few germinated. Those that did are very small.

Lost 4 lots of runner beans since beginning of June. First to random rogue frost. Second just died - didn't see why. Third and fourth were waterlogged and went yellow.

Waverex peas were eaten even though planted out at 8 inches high.
Onward peas were eaten even though planted out at same height.
Oregon sugar pod may be hanging in there just about.

Potatoes are looking a bit funny. They are flowering but they are not supposed to be ready for weeks yet. Is that normal? They have yellow bits on em. Blight has been reported elsewhere on the site.

Tomatoes are here at home (because of blight) First two fruits set today.

Salad leaves have grown well but I think they have been munched by flea beetle?

Spring onions are good both red and white.

Leeks first lot have grown well. Second lot were transplanted last weekend. When I checked on them yesterday they didn't look too happy about it.

[splodger]

Garlic went yellow and died.

just leave the garlic in the ground - it will come back next year - either as a much bigger bulb or as ofsets which you can transplant