Prolonged British summers. Do they exist?

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by Allan Hodgson, Jul 17, 2013.

  1. Allan Hodgson

    Allan Hodgson Gardener

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    In my 25 years on this earth, I've never known nice weather to last all summer long. I was just wondering if anyone can recall a summer where it has been nice all year long? Also how is this growing season measuring up to others, good? bad?
     
  2. clueless1

    clueless1 member... yep, that's what I am:)

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    Off to a late start because of one of the coldest springs on record or something, then the sun came out with a vengeance and put all the plants into survival mode, where they close all the pores in their leaves and effectively go to sleep in order to save water.
     
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    • Ellen

      Ellen Total Gardener

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      In my 33 years I can't recall a long summer, albeit when you're a kid you think summer lasts AGES, Wagon Wheels and Mars bars were bigger then they are now, and school holidays never lasted long enough ;) The growing season for me seems to be short a month
       
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      • wiseowl

        wiseowl FRIENDLY ADMIN Staff Member

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        Hi Allan if my memory is correct the we had four seasons in the 50's and the weather seemed more settled you could usually count on April to September/October being good,and Down Hopping was mostly fair weather,and the winters were very cold and icy,yes you could probably find exceptions to this,Winter 1963 /being one,that's when you could hear skylarks see Butterflies and Bees,all day long,everyone smiled and acknowledged each other,and you could leave your front doors open all day,and we all had the same which was nothing,we didn't have stress ,we were to busy manually working to think about anything else,Sorry about this you have just brought back some lovely memories my friend:old:;)

        Growing seasons are much shorter now:)
         
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        • merleworld

          merleworld Total Gardener

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          1976 springs to mind, but I was 11 then so maybe it just seemed longer :dunno:
           
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          • Allan Hodgson

            Allan Hodgson Gardener

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            no need to apologise wiseowl, sounds like some nice memories of a better time.
             
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            • JWK

              JWK Gardener Staff Member

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            • clueless1

              clueless1 member... yep, that's what I am:)

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              I'd just turned 2 year old by the summer of 1976 when my dad decided it would be a good idea to go on a long walk in the countryside with me in my push chair and not enough to drink. Apparently I became so dehydrated and poorly that my dad had to use water from a ditch first to try to cool me, and then for me to drink. Remember there were no mobile phones to call for help then, so if you were 5 miles from the nearest village payphone and there's no traffic about, you have to improvise. My mam still thinks my dad was grossly irresponsible (he was a young dad and made an erroneous judgement), but it must have been a very difficult decision. Give your 2 year old son potentially filthy water to drink, or do nothing knowing he is dehydrating. I don't envy him having to make that choice, but it seems it was the right one, I'm still here:)
               
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              • Ellen

                Ellen Total Gardener

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                Eek! It was the right decision, better a dicky tummy than anything worse than that!
                 
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                • JWK

                  JWK Gardener Staff Member

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                  1976 was a proper summer, I was working as a Farm Rep selling agrochems, for the first time I was welcomed by all the farmers because there was a plague of greenfly destroying their crops. I had a white car which was covered in aphids, that was a great selling point. After the greenfly we had an invasion of ladybirds, they covered the ground.

                  It all ended when the govt appointed a new "Minister of Drought", days later the heavens opened and we had bad flooding :snork:

                  Hmmm, recalling all this it doesn't sound that great :)
                   
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                  • Loofah

                    Loofah Admin Staff Member

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                    Where were you before? ;)

                    Born in '75 so don;t recall the 1976 hot summer although there was a standpipe situation I believe.
                    I can't remember any year that was good all the way through or indeed any prolonged spell of being settled.
                     
                  • clueless1

                    clueless1 member... yep, that's what I am:)

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                    Could have been in the same spaceship as my wife. I know my wife is new to this earth. I understand people, I don't understand my wife.
                     
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                    • HarryS

                      HarryS Eternally Optimistic Gardener

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                      1976 was a scorcher. I was 25 and working at British Leyland . It was so hot on a factory floor,so I went on regular night shift because it was cooler. And I didn't really like shift work !
                       
                    • nFrost

                      nFrost Head Gardener

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                      Never known a scorcher like this one in my 26 years! :snork:

                      If my old man was on here (and could use the internet proficiently) he'd regale you with many stories from the 70's, mentally I think he's still there. Blummin' hippy!

                      Everything sounds great back then, just walk in to a job, everything was cheaper and the law was a clip round the ear. What happened...?
                       
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                      • JWK

                        JWK Gardener Staff Member

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                        ... fish and chips were less than two bob enough change from half a crown for a pint of beer ...

                        Some idiot introduced lager into this country and it's been downhill ever since ...


                        :)
                         
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