Is it just me or has it been a weird growing year. Very hot and no rain
meant 6.30 am visits to the allotment to water (watering cans only
allowed) yet despite that all ripe tomatoes so far have had blossom end
rot and especially Indigo Rose. That and Tom Brooks are supposed to be
early tomatoes so they miss the blight, not had one ripe fruit off
them yet.
Last year most of our chillis went red, this year, although
the plants have grown huge and are covered in chillis, not one red
fruit.
Brassicas have done well and Tenderstem Broccoli is worth a
recommendation even if it's difficult to find the seeds.
Of course the peas Early Onward and beans were hit by the heat so about
a half crop.
Potatoes have grown well and the earlies were excellent, we did water
them by throwing buckets of water between the rows.

Now at home I notice that the Muscari are growing leaves, obviously
confused, unless I've got some that flower twice.



--
Regards
Bob Hobden

On 31/08/2018 15:43, Bob Hobden wrote:
Is it just me or has it been a weird growing year. Very hot and no rain
meant 6.30 am visits to the allotment to water (watering cans only
allowed) yet despite that all ripe tomatoes so far have had blossom end
rot and especially Indigo Rose. That and Tom Brooks are supposed to be
early tomatoes so they miss the blight, not had one ripe fruit off
them yet.

My outdoor tomatoes for once have done unexpectedly well. In a normal
year it really doesn't get hot enough for them. But this year it did!

Last year most of our chillis went red, this year, although
the plants have grown huge and are covered in chillis, not one red
fruit.

Chillis are also monster plants but mine are ripening OK. Courgettes on
the other hand are barely hanging on - in a normal year we would be
heartily sick of them by now but this year we have yet to get a first
fruit that grows to an edible size before it drops off.

Brassicas have done well and Tenderstem Broccoli is worth a
recommendation even if it's difficult to find the seeds.

Brassicas were massacred by the cabbage white - the only butterflies in
garden until last weeks hot spell. BTW saw a hummingbird hawkmoth last
night so things are looking up in the fun butterfly department.

Of course the peas Early Onward and beans were hit by the heat so about
a half crop.

Peas and beans never really got going here. Blackcurrants were OK if a
bit small. Raspberries useless and blackberries also pretty hopeless.

Potatoes have grown well and the earlies were excellent, we did water
them by throwing buckets of water between the rows.

Spuds are still in the ground. I should dig some up soon.

Apples and pears have branch breaking levels of fruit on them.

Now at home I notice that the Muscari are growing leaves, obviously
confused, unless I've got some that flower twice.

Chaenomeles is back in flower so it is very confused. Other spring
flowering things look like they might come back into flower too.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article ,
says...

Is it just me or has it been a weird growing year.

Certainly a strange one for blackberries (wild ones). We've
been picking them here now for a month, and they are just
coming o an end in the local fields. In Oxfordshire a couple of
weeks ago they were only just starting, as they were on the
Gower last week. - Now I know that no doubt there are differing
varieties that fruit at different times, but in all my many
years of picking, I've never picked in August before, usually
Sept/Oct and I even remember one year picking into November, at
which my mother threw a wobbly, because it was after Halloween!

Also got a second crop of peas coming, I did not get round to
clearing them after we picked them all, then noticed new shoots
coming out with flowers and now pods on them. Slightly similar
with the broad beans. I cut them down when finished and leave a
short stalk and the roots in the ground until I dig in the
Autumn, but again this year shoots have appeared and flowered -
not sure if they will ripen though.

There seems to be plenty of berries/rose hips etc around, which
according to the old wives tale shows we are in for a bad
winter


--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

---
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On 31/08/2018 15:58, Martin Brown wrote:

Chaenomeles is back in flower so it is very confused. Other spring
flowering things look like they might come back into flower too.

I've got Kerria japonica and Berberis x stenophylla flowering at the moment.

The other thing this year has done is cancel my autumn raspberry crop.
They're now forming flowers, but I expect the frosts will get them
before the fruits mature.

--
SRH

In article , {$news$}
@meden.demon.co.uk says...

The other thing this year has done is cancel my autumn raspberry crop.
They're now forming flowers, but I expect the frosts will get them
before the fruits mature.

My rapsberries are fruiting noow, not got many canes as they
were new last year, but the fruit is qite large and juicy.

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

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On 14/09/2018 22:51, Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
On 31/08/2018 15:58, Martin Brown wrote:

Chaenomeles is back in flower so it is very confused. Other spring
flowering things look like they might come back into flower too.

I've got Kerria japonica and Berberis x stenophylla flowering at the
moment.

The other thing this year has done is cancel my autumn raspberry crop.
They're now forming flowers, but I expect the frosts will get them
before the fruits mature.

I have a well established hypericum against a north facing fence. It
usualy flowers spectascularly in late spring. This yearb it began to
flower as usual, butv then stopped. I n the last week or so it has just
begun to flower. Peculiar behaviour

Malcolm, on the south coast close to Portsmouth

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On 03/09/2018 09:42, Roger Tonkin wrote:
In article ,
says...

Is it just me or has it been a weird growing year.

Certainly a strange one for blackberries (wild ones). We've
been picking them here now for a month, and they are just
coming o an end in the local fields. In Oxfordshire a couple of
weeks ago they were only just starting, as they were on the
Gower last week. - Now I know that no doubt there are differing
varieties that fruit at different times, but in all my many
years of picking, I've never picked in August before, usually
Sept/Oct and I even remember one year picking into November, at
which my mother threw a wobbly, because it was after Halloween!

Also got a second crop of peas coming, I did not get round to
clearing them after we picked them all, then noticed new shoots
coming out with flowers and now pods on them. Slightly similar
with the broad beans. I cut them down when finished and leave a
short stalk and the roots in the ground until I dig in the
Autumn, but again this year shoots have appeared and flowered -
not sure if they will ripen though.

There seems to be plenty of berries/rose hips etc around, which
according to the old wives tale shows we are in for a bad
winter


Yesterday I noticed that 2 of my Rhododendrons are in flower, the heads
are only carying around 6 flowers each but both shrubs have around 15 to
20 heads in flower.