[Stratts]

Just wondering if this years weather is the norm for britains allotmenteers or is it exceptionally tough and the subsequent years should be a doddle? 

My plot looks pretty good at the moment but some stuff just aint growing very quickly and it's hard to get jobs done with all the rain!

My idea of being 75% self sufficient isn't going well coz we can't just live off lettuce and raddish!!! 

[Thrift]

It certainly is a very discouraging year. The weather has swung between summer and winter so often that the plants are totally confused.

My early potatoes are ok, the chard is good but the beans are struggling, carrots slow, parsnips non existent! Don't be deterred Stratts, something good will emerge and there's always next year. 

[shokkyy]

My only squash and courgette plants that are looking happy right now are the ones I planted on top of compost bins. I don't know if it's because they're a bit more sheltered or because they're getting some warmth to their roots, but they look way stronger than the ones planted in beds.

[Stratts]

Don't get me wrong I'm not bothered by it I quite like a challenge tbh but I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling to grow stuff!

Dunno why but I seem to struggle the most getting spring onions to grow!! 

[Willow_Warren]

It's my first year too... I don't know what I expected but nothing seems to be growing fast and it's had rain on it all day!  Everythink looked so good a little seedlings in the conservatory!

There is still time for some summer... fingers crossd!

Hannah

[simonwatson]

From my point of view this year has just had a lot of growing's little lessons all thrown together. Warm spells in spring. Summer wind and rain. Dry spells. Late frost. If you're a recently new fruit and veg grower like me you've been given a good deal of your example lessons in one go.

[surbie100]

My first year too - my potatoes have rotted, the first wave of cossetted seedlings were sacrificed to slugs and the second lot don't like the cold...

Am also seeing it as more of a lesson - which beds get waterlogged, how bad is the wind now I've cut down the blackthorn & bramble wilderness, weed recognition, what are my worst pests...

On the plus side I ate my first strawberry on Saturday, sitting in the brief sunshine on an upturned bucket and watching the birds soaring overhead. It couldn't have been a better reminder of why I am doing this!

[yorkiegal]

It's certainly been a steep learning experience for me.
So far I've learnt that my peas and beans need a lot more protection from the wind, that seed packets lie, and that slugs can jump over pellets. I've also discovered that cucumbers don't like the way I look at them.

[Stratts]

Ha ha some great replies and at the moment I have some happy cukes that don't need councilling, but then it is over 24hrs since I saw them last!!!

I also didn't realise peas and beans where as bad as me standing up after a couple of ciders!!

[gremlin]

If I had to feed myself, let alone my family, on what I expect to grow this summer..........I'd starve.   

Makes you think, and be grateful for Tescos [other supermarkets are available]

[sunshineband]

Every year seems to bring different challenges really!!

Just a tip for stratts re spring onions -- I grow these in modules an inch across, with a small pinch of seed in each. They get planted out as clumps after about six weeks, or when there are enough roots to hold the soil together in the module.

Werks fer me - hope this helps 

[LilacSandy]

A real bad year for outdoor tomatoes and peppers as no sunshine.  My autumn sown onions are bolting but the spring ones seem to love the rain.  Broad beans are doing great but only because I started them off in pots or they would have rotted in the wet, same with peas.  Some squashes seem to like the weather, others are sulking.  Cucumbers are comitting suicide again.  Rhubarb loves the weather but so do the slugs. Every year is different but there is always a few crops that love the weather whatever it is.

[flitwickone]

working as intended  (nature that is)

[ozziebob]

It's certainly been a steep learning curve as a noob this year. When the hosepipe ban was announced I did wonder how I was going to water 1350 square feet of allotment with a watering can! Obviously, I needn't have worried. Most crops are doing ok, including 45 sweetcorn, 1st, 2nd and maincrop spuds, onions, parsnips, beetroot and leeks.  My new asparagus bed has been dissapointing so far with only 3 ferns out of 10 crowns. Also, only 6 out of 10 Tulameen raspberries sprouted. Was great serving the wife some lottie grown strawberries and vanilla ice cream the other day!

[angelavdavis]

Baptism by fire aka character building for allotment holders 

Just imagine, in a few year's time when you are talking to newbies at your site, you will be able to say, "oh, it's not a bad year for tomatoes, now 2012 was a really bad year for tomatoes...."

I start everything off in pots or modules, including spring onions planted in the same way as sunshineband describes as I have evil ninja slugs and their fellow warrior snails who eat everything and anything under an inch tall

The first year with our allotment, we got allium rust on our garlic, white rot on the onions, choc spot and blackfly on our broad beans, blight on our potatoes, flea beetle on our salads, greenfly on the chilis, peach leaf curl, blight on our tomatoes, wireworm on the early potatoes that didn't succumb to blight, woodlice in our beetroots and turnips, badgers attacking our ripe sweetcorn, mice eating our strawbs, halo virus on runner beans, pigeons eating our pak choi, slugs and snails eating everything else.

We laugh in the face of adversity    Exits in hysterical maniacal laughter.......