(Very) Down in the Dumps

[yvette]

I've not exactly taken comfort from all your bad experiences, but I do feel a bit better knowing its not just me that's having a bad year - tomatoes hanging on so far, but everything else eaten by slugs and snails or rotted, and the weeds running riot. I only have little plastic greenhouses,but some snails got in there and ate all my parsley and coriander plants in one night! I lost all my peppers, cucumbers, aubergines, peas, spring onions, lettuce - hasn't made any difference if they were in pots, raised beds or open ground. To add insult to injury a couple of foxes have been digging holes all over the garden and have dug up the raspberries.
Moan, moan, moan

[sleepyowl]

My tomatoes are actually doing quite well, though most of my other veg & flowers have been eaten by slugs. One advantage of having bad whether has meant I have not been confined to the house as much so therefore my mental health problems haven't been as bad this year.

[gregorach]

Looks like my luck's run out - I was at the allotment last night, and there are definite blight spots starting to show on my tatties now... Boo.

[boboff]

Have you tried a Dettol Bath, good for removing spots on your Tatties.....

[Millymollymandy]

I've sprayed several times with B. Mix but finally had to cut the haulms off my maincrop spuds. I dug a few up and I'm glad to see they are a good size so no worries there.

Checking the toms every day and picking off the odd blighted leaf, but B. Mix does halt the spread of the disease and usually make it controllable so the toms can carry on growing. I did have to cut the top off one that had blight in the stem though, and another had to be pulled completely as it had blight in the lower stem.

Fingers crossed.

Oh, and I had one Colorado beetle!

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Sorry - briefly lost the will to live there! Practically everyone I know around here has been touched. Bordeaux mixture seems to have slowed things down a bit and I'm getting some fruit ripening normally. The weather down here his been pretty fair overall, but we got two very warm and humid incidents (not usual at all) and that was enough. Oh well, there will be other years

[citizentwiglet]

Glad things seem to be looking up a bit, Jon. Fortunately, we've not had blight and this is the first year in three that I haven't lost all my tomato plants to botrytis (she says with fingers crossed). It is, in a way, comforting to know that pretty much everyone is having a rotten year - and I thought last year was bad!

Of course, this dreadful weather is having serious implications for farmers; so not only will we not have our own crops to eat, but we'll be charged more to buy food too. I have noticed one major supermarket is already taking great advantage of this 'British fresh produce will cost more' talk, and they have helpfully put all their prices up early to help us get used to it. Bless them.

[123sologne]

Well I have stopped being upset about my poor potatoes. Nothing is stopping the disease, so I have cut most plants right to the ground and will start pulling my crop very soon... My only issue, they were only planted in May, so I am not expecting to eat many chips this year... maybe more salad type spuds instead. As for the toms, well I have again pulled lots of leaves off and will do another round of the blue stuff if it does not rain tomorrow. On a high, my carrots, beetroots, parsnips and turnips are doing okay for now... I just keep my fingers crossed!

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Yeah - I'd heard that price rises were coming. Not surprised, really.

I'm concentrating on the positive: most other things did well - peppers, aubergines, cogettes, melons, cucumbers and squash all good. And the extra rain helped get all my new fruit bushes established. Not all bad.

[Millymollymandy]

Nothing should be rising in France (at least Brittany), as what a bumper year for soft fruit and veg and the crops are amazing. Never seen the maize so tall and it's only July. Normally we are battling drought every year and this time last year the maize was about a foot high. Now it's about 6 foot tall.

However it's all dried out again so back to irrigating. I have had one red tom now and it was lovely!

[Odsox]

it's only July

Umm, take a look at the date stamp on your last message MMM.
Talk about living in the past.

[Millymollymandy]

Oh shurrup. Wait till you get to my age!

[oldfella]

Toms coming out our ears, Onions, Shallots, Garlic, dried and hanging in the cellar, French beans, bottled, and still producing, Aubergines doing well, as are the Peppers, Carrots, Spring onions and I am sick of Strawberries, and did well for Early Spuds.
Now for the failures, no PSB, bugger all fruit, and the battle against the bugs continues.
On the wine side, good year for Vin Du NOIX , 24 bottles worth after November, plenty of Sloes in the hedge, loads of Grapes on the Vine.

Oh by the way, Sorry to hear that some of you folk are having a few problems,

[citizentwiglet]

I need to move to France. Anyone need a servant girl?

We had a temporary panic at the polytunnel at the community garden today when a member told us she thought the tomatoes had blight, but it looks more like mottled older leaves caused by a lack of magnesium. My heart did very nearly stop for a moment though.

But the pigeons have had most of my sprouts and my broccoli. Grrrr.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I need to move to France. Anyone need a servant girl?

I'll ask around. Times have moved on and you no longer have to wear a short maid's outfit that shows your stocking tops every time you bend down to flick the feather duster over something. You are, however, expected to smoke and swear continually.

Lower leaves do die back. If it is magnesium deficiency a pinch of Epsom salts will be very beneficial and will improve fruit quality.