2023 - August Review

2023 - what do you think of it so far? 

I've seen a few comments about the weather and how its affected our gardens and crops. Tell us how your year has gone, what's been a success or a failure. Maybe we'll feel better when we hear that others have had similar experiences..............or maybe not!

As a start - this is my year.........

Good - strawberries & peaches
Bad - hardly any raspberries -they dried up. Virtually no soft fruit -no cherries, gooseberries or currants - birds ate them. Beans - outdoor beans a failure, GH DFBs good.

Indifferent - Could do better - tomatoes very slow to ripen - still waiting. Courgettes also slow to develop but they're OK now. Beth Alpha the best of the cucumbers - still waiting for the others apart from Mini Munch which is too mini to grow again.

The OK to bad:

French beans - started very well but have already stopped producing, probably didn't like the cold winds in July

Peas - finished very early

Peppers - two jalapeno plants kept wilting so I pulled them out and they had some sort of stem rot. Slugs and caterpillars have been attacking other sweet pepper plants and fruit. Lots of flower drop early on in the year.

Tomatoes - In the greenhouse a very mixed bag: Longhorn, True Colours and Daniel Burson have basically stopped growing after a few trusses whereas Mat-Su Express, Girl Girl's Weird Thing and Polaris are already at the top of the greenhouse. Fruit set has been poor in general, the hot spell in June meant the greenhouse got too hot and the humidity too low (probably need to invest in some shading).

Doing/have done well: cucumbers, squash, sweetcorn, outdoor tomatoes and potatoes (pre-blight), lettuce, chard, carrots, beetroot, kohl rabi, broccoli, onions, garlic (except one very rusty bed), blueberries, blackcurrants, raspberries, rhubarb

Apple trees are loaded with fruit but it will probably be a bad year for scab unless the weather gets better.

I have one melon fruit on each of my Emir plants in the greenhouse so hopefully I will get to taste a home grown melon.

RE: raspberries.

My Joan J are looking the healthiest they ever have and are producing super fat berries.

Tomato taste has also been a bit ho hum..no sun means no sugar so a lot of them have been a bit bland or too acidic.

The bad-
Hardly any strawberries, my peas finished very early, mooli has nearly all gone to seed.
The good-
In the GH toms, basil and Beth Alpha have easily made up for their slow start.
Autumn bliss Raspberries producing lovely big tasty berries, there’s plenty of both spring onions and lettuce.
Courgettes have finally woke up.

I've got a feeling this is going to be a miserable weather thread!

Nonetheless, even with all the bad weather my broad beans, onions, elephant garlic, strawberries and brassicas have done well, so I can't really complain!

......................Oh, go on then, the wasps got my goosers and the weeds are taking over!

The year so far. I’m growing things again so it’s all good.
In more detail kale, broccoli, turnips, lettuce, courgette all very average.
DFB not Dwarf
Chillies 3 varieties good, jalapeños stunted.
Pumpkin awesome.
Moving house. 1 down 1 to go.
Knackered vehicle
Very possible broken foot
Building on go slow due to moving.
Weather cr@p for everything (June was good).

This year so far.
Probably the first vegetables were early caulis in the polytunnel, sown early Feb. and planted out April. A dozen All-Year-Round variety that developed well and matured in our mini heat wave. I was a bit worried they would just bolt and produce very small heads.
Then another good crop from the Poly is beetroot (which reminds me I need to pick some ).
The Autumn planted onions did well and the maincrop are looking good and need harvesting. The carrots, sown late April in the poly, are also giving a very good yield. I find that they are rarely got by carrot flies in there, especially as I put up environmesh over the door when the nectarines start smelling and attracting wasps. The only poor vegetable this year has been garlic which were very affected by rust. So much so I have ordered bulbs for the autumn for the first time in probably 20 years.
Courgettes have been prolific, as has the solitary cucumber, probably as well the other one died.
The pea crop was good. I harvested what i wanted for the freezer (8kg) and left the rest to dry. Same with dfb, froze what I wanted and then leaving rest for drying. Climbing beans are looking good an well, unless we get an early frost.
Tomatoes are giving a good harvest at the moment but have leaf mould disease again so will likely finish early. The aubergines have quite  few fruit on now as do the sweet peppers.

Early/2nd early potatoes need harvesting now. 1 row dug so far gave a good yield of 1kg/foot.

The freezer is well stocked with soft fruit for pies, puddings and porridge: red/black currants, gooseberries, raspberries even though autumn varieties I've had over 5kg on last years canes. The autumn canes will be a bit later (flowering now) and less prolific but I wanted 6kg in total and don't mind the time of year. A good crop of plums, Czar and Victoria, and Nectarines. The Victoria is about 20 years old and was moved 2 years ago by a JCB when we had some work done on our septic tank. It seems to be recovering quite well now.

Apples: the bramley, lord derby, katy and ellisons orange are well covered. None on James Grieve and few on Jonagold. Both the James Grieve and Ellisons seem to be going biennial, alternate years. Pears are being eaten by something, Pigeons, squirrels, crow? One small tree has be broken by whatever it is.

Great review, Mark. Sounds like a good year for you.
The crows have been pinching the pears here. I've been bagging some pears in the hope of saving them.

Mark you sound so organised, it puts me to shame. I have no idea what weight of produce I've picked or need. All I know is that the freezer's full and I have a load of beans and tomatoes to do something with. Your results this season sound really good.