growing veg wrt the weather

[Deleted User]

I stopped burying my head in the sand several years ago and have since subscribed to piers corbyn`s site. We are at the start of a little ice age and our climate is changing to overall cool and wet with sudden hot spells, reverting back again suddenly to cool weather. Very difficult for plants to cope with and especially difficult for plants that have been brought in from exotic warm locations. Personally, I have gone back to basic (plain) veg, the ones that will cope with this changing weather

My allotment (8 x 100`) includes the utility area and is 1/3 fruit but last year provided enough for two of us for the whole year, not including salad stuff in winter. I dehydrated and preserved lots of foods in several different ways and still have lots in the freezer and lots of dried goodies and also stuff in jars, either preserved with vinegar, salt or sugar

This year I only planted one variety of potato, a first early potato as I wanted it up and out before the blight horror emerges. Only 3 beds 8 x 4` but they will preserve nicely, the ones that we don`t eat fresh. I am planting accordingly ie wrt having a much shorter growing season. eg Climbing beans are big and strong now having been grown in root trainers, ready to put out but not quite yet because of the weather, however the ground has been well prepared and they will take off when I put them out, in 6 days time. Courgettes and squash are my most exotic and are strong plants but sheltered at home in my back garden for a while longer but they will take off too. Brassicas, several more good tight headed red cabbages than normal, as they cook and freeze so well and don`t really get bothered by hungry caterpillars. I still grow sprouts and autumn/winter cabbage and a few summer cabbage and nemo caulies but have given all of them far more space than normal as they could well be struggling in our very short summer. They went in yesterday to enjoy the cool and wet before the next hot dry spell. I only see a couple of short hot spells during may. I started tomatoes that are now strong plants and that are good in or out, some are going into cold poly greenhouses in a few days. I made sure that I fed everything so that every plant gets the best nutrition for growth

Quite honestly that is really it apart from various root veggies. Even the neighbouring farmer has turned away from sweetcorn and has put grass down. The cider orchard behind is weeks away from flowering, although my trees on the allotment are in bloom as are a few others in the village. The winter wheat nearby didn`t get sown so he turned to barley but that is still only a thin filmy haze, I don`t think there is much chance of it ripening by august

Well it is just me, putting my thoughts out there, not wanting to keep it to myself. Imo, sh will hit the fan wrt crops and grown food but we can do our bit re surviving but we have to do a bit of forward thinking

D&DD

Thats an interesting post Kittie.

I've been experimenting a bit more the last few years with heirloom seeds and new to me varieties to find which ones grow best here.It's the last year hopefully of the great tomato experiment so I can then settle on 2 varieties each of hanging,bush,cordons and paste toms to give me a selection for all uses.

I'll still be growing most stuff as here in the south east we generally get the best of the weather so are lucky enough to be able to have a bit more choice.

My garden is challenging at the best of times for fruit and veg growing (down a ditch,no sun and galeforce winds lol) but we save so much cash by using what we grow I'd hate to stop now.

The greenhouse has helped a lot with stretching the seasons and crop protection so I'm hoping we'll be able to keep going and just adapt our methods/crops accordingly

floss2

Kittie, whereabouts are you? I always had it in my head it was Scotland, but the bit about the cider orchard has thrown me a little!

I'm later than last year with most of my planting - we're on the Lancashire coast and my allotment is about 1.25 miles inland and can get quite windy, although we do seem to have a bit of a micro-climate over the Fylde!

[Deleted User]

sw and the allotment is up a hill and very windy. lol, I am trying my best to get dd and her dh `educated` but it is a crash course and they have a new house with allotment area that is massively overgrown. I don`t say too much all at once as it can be overwhelming but her dh said that he thought you just bunged veg in the ground and they grow, not so, unfortunately. At the very least, feed and give enough space. It really is a very scary scenario and I am shocked that there aren`t any good progs about down to earth veg growing, not the airy fairy fancy stuff

By the way, preserving works brilliantly. My brined beans are still as green as when I made them, my sauerkraut is in good as new condition and my dehydrated goodies are absolutely amazing. I did a lot of experimenting over the past couple of years (old threads) and tbh it is something that also should be taught. Another bugbear is the fact that the likes of bocking 14 comfrey is very easy to grow and puts far more back than can be got from animal manure or fertilisers. The way things are going, there won`t be much animal manure anyway

welovemarmite

Kittie, lovely to hear about your preserving antics.. I would love to do more. So far its jams, pickles, wines and cordials. May try dehydrating this year.

Mollymoonlight

Hi kittie, you're a couple of years ahead of me I think. I've spent this spring banging my head off the wall, today in particular. The past couple of years I've been annoyed at myself for being so disorganised and sowing everything so late, but I can see that being early has its challenges too. I live in Scotland, and despite it being the most blessed scottish area for growers (south west coast) it's a constant battle with the ever shortening seasons. I will battle on with my tommys, and continue to grow my peppers and chillies in a south facing window as these are a very large part of our diet, but we may have to adapt our eating habits if the poor summers continue. I do agree with D&DD with regard to a greenhouse, it does wonders for extending the season and helping with the more tender crops. I have in the past grown in a polytunnel and was able to achieve things that shouldn't be possible in my location, so undercover definitely works. Still have the tunnel but no longer have the land to put it on...working on that, but for now I have a back garden which is around 25 square meters and try desperately to cram as much as I can in to feed us, quite successfully so far, but the closest we can get to a greenhouse for now is a little grow house and some plastic covers.

[Deleted User]

preserving is such fun and so easy and reliable. I forgot the onions, garlic and shallots. They all went in last oct/nov and are doing very well with swelling bulbs, now that is what I mean about thinking ahead. I know the onions don`t store as long but most will be dehydrated. The garlic will definitely store, last years cloves are still good and the shallots will store for several months with freezing a very good option. I have been recycling my garlic cloves ie replanting the fattest ones, I think this enables the garlic to adapt well to our local conditions. Other allotment holders alliums are very small and I know they were spring sown or tbh they go mad with horse manure, which I don`t use as I prefer the bocking 14 and my compost

Tomorrow I will plant out the first 9 modules of beetroot, they all contain 2 seeds ie now several plants in each one. The beets push each other apart so are good via modules. The leaves are thick and glossy and about 3 inches high so they have had a very nice start. Also sowing a few swede seeds, plus I have 4 swedes growing in modules and they will be planted out in 2 weeks and that is an experiment. I want a good start as slugs devastate a lot of small plants

I would love a polytunnel but no chance so am managing with 3` high polycarb greenhouses and root trainers on a stand that I protect with netting

more very bad wet weather coming lasting for 10 days starting in about 9 days, so you see we will have a very very small window of hot this month. My squashes are an absolute gamble, they may not even get to ripen, I don`t know

tori.k

Im going the polytunnel route the downpours we keep having is just washing the goodness out the soil without the cold to contend with, im as far southwest as you can pretty much get and still got the woodstove going it crazy.

[Deleted User]

tori.k wrote: »

Im going the polytunnel route the downpours we keep having is just washing the goodness out the soil without the cold to contend with, im as far southwest as you can pretty much get and still got the woodstove going it crazy.

agree with you. I just put my stove on and I would def get a polytunnel if I could. Its a real battle to get stuff growing well this year and I mean growing to maturity. I planted the module sown swedes this morning, they were in good sized polythene pots and full of roots, not bad at all after only 4 weeks. Fingers crossed that flea beetle and slugs don`t attack them now. They looked that good I have sown more in modules.

Parsnips are up, after only 2 weeks and I have drawn soil over the potatoes. I also made a tentative plan for next year as I`ll be thinking about the spring cabbages for planting out in autumn. I discovered the garden planner by dt brown, it is incredibly good to use, I have drawn all my beds and it has helped my spacing so much, free for 30 days but it was so good that I bought a 2 year sub
http://gardenplanner.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/

The lack of bees is scaring the daylights out of me, so very odd. I have seen a couple but the apple trees in my garden should be buzzing. Too cold and windy for them

D&DD

Spacing,wot's that then lol I tend to use the shoehorn gardening technique

We've had droughts,deluges and stupidly strong winds here for the last few years so I've deployed extra netting for the winds,mulching everywhere to help with the drought issues and we use a lot of raised beds which drain well when it's wet and don't dry out when it's dry as we left lots of clay and rubble at the bottom of them when we redid the garden.

Foxes are an issue here too as are cats so everything has to be barricaded with netting and sticks,even my bags of potatoes..

I must just love a challenge as it'd be far easier to just grow flowers

Rummer

These are issues that have really been on my mind over the last few years and I have thought long and hard about them with varying results and ideas.

Currently we are trying to steadily build our veg/fruit growing space while keeping it manageable and productive. This we have three 1.2m x1.2m raised beds and two long beds for annual growing as well as a large area for soft fruit. We have our names down for an allotment on which I plan to grow all my onions, shallots, potatoes and other veg that needs less care.

This year I planted things far later than usual, in fact only a few weeks ago, and I have done what I can to prep the ground however I get the feeling that the weather is going to wash all my efforts away.

We have a greenhouse which helps to give our seeds a good start but the lack of light and the almost endless rain means even with the greenhouse things are struggling.

I would really like a polytunnel and more raised beds but the OH is keen for us to get the most from what we have before we add more, which is a sensible (yet frustrating) plan!