what a terrible year.

How bad was that.

Because of all the rain and other poor weather the only decent veg I got this year was broad beans, carrots and runner beans which still going strong.

Cauliflowers didnt do much and then sun come out and they all blew. cabbages just rotted. Pulled potatoes out of pots today and there wernt many of them.

Sweet potato still growing in bags and parsnips still in ground. Pulled one the other day and they didnt seem a lot either.

BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR

 

Same here - pull your pull your finger out mother nature

 

I thought i did quite well this year with my harvest. It is the first year i've had a garden to grow vegetables in the ground, rather than pots. I grew, potatoes, peas, broad beans, onions, garlic, lettuce, beetroot, turnips and green beans. I've been harvesting since June and have been really pleased with my produce, even had enough to give to my parents. I'm still eating green beans, broad beans, turnips and carrots (forgot about them) from the garden and stored onions, garlic and potatoes.

The only thing that really failed this year was my fruit trees. Only had 2 apples, no plums or cherries, but the trees are too young, so perhaps next year.

 

First year of growing veg for me. Had a few courgettes, mange tout and sugar snap peas done well, sugar snap peas still giving me a few each week. Beetroot did well, carrots in pots not good only had about 5. Cabbage was doing well along with lettuce, but when we went away for a few days the slugs had them. 2nd batch of cabbage going well, but 2nd batch of lettuce didn't germinate. I've really enjoyed what I have had this year and I am extending the plot for next year so I can grow more in raised beds rather than pots.

Rusty

 

Maybe I feel blessed because this is the first season I have had the time to turn my attention to the garden?

I planted some broad beans last Autumn and they did well. I planted some spring onions last year too; not only did they do well, but, as an experiement, I transplanted them when they became too big and they have multiplied and done really well!

I had "volunteer" tomatoes this year (probably from the chicken compost I'd spread on my garden) and no blight for me.

I planted some carrots and dwarf beans than those have done extremely well; sadly, the cabbage white butterfly lavae made a mess of my calibrese, but, I've learned where I went wrong with those.

We had dreadful waterlogged ground in the early summer and it has been very hot and dry since. Any slugs/snails were hoovered up by my chooks and ducks, so they haven't been as big a problem for me as many other gardeners.

Maybe, it's the "ignorance is bliss" approach which makes me feel I've had some successes this year which would have disheartened those with more experience?

 

We went on the train to Southport on Friday , right across the Ormskirk plain ( now known as the West lancs plain ?) This is a very large , very flat and very fertile area . The fields seemed to be fully waterlogged and you could see areas of rotting crops . So its not just us gardeners having trouble ! I am sure these problems will show as higher prices soon .

 

Down here in Sussex, there should be plenty of this season's potatoes available in supermarkets and private greengrocers but they are just not there.

 

In this respect the loss of a small veg producer like could be you or me, is frustating but still meneageable by ultimately buying the produce at the market/supermarket.
It is the farmers that produce on a high scale that right now must be really feel like they are losing everything.

With such changeable and impredictable weather it is much less risky to be self sufficient or at least try to be. It is much easier to implement changes and make experiments with the crops when only a few squares metres are concerned as opposed to vaste areas. I see the use of tunnels and greenhouses as highly convenient in this scenario...

 

EU

 

I think I recall that they were going to lessen the restrictions when the credit crunch hit
As for how they arrrived at that decision in the first instance, no idea; I can only assume it was to make everything "uniform" and look pretty, to have a "standard"?

 

I bought some Greek grapes from Tesco that were actually labled something like odd sizes but taste just as good.