Opinions on a bad year, please

[Noosner]

Thanks for that. I am a Real Seeds buff so will probably order some of those next time.

[Penellype]

I think this year the real challenge has been water - firstly some people had far, far too much of it, then more recently some of us have had almost none at all. Here in Yorkshire the few days when we have had rain (we had a little last night) have been followed by hot and breezy days which have simply ripped all the water out of the soil. I have carried more cans of water out to the back garden than I can count - often upwards of 10 a night, and some of my veg are still suffering from being too dry, notably the potatoes and rhubarb. That's all very well - its not too hard to water the back garden.

I'm also in charge of my friend's veg garden while she recovers from a badly broken leg. She has a greenhouse as well. I can get down there every evening, but often by the time I arrive most of the plants have wilted. I've already lost an aubergine and some of the tomatoes are permanently wilted at the top, although the bottoms are better. I probably should have used some shading, although my friend said it was not necessary as the greenhouse is in shade 3/4 of the day from trees. The plants outdoors there are doing ok, the main problem being slugs (which also invade the greenhouse).