My plot arrrrgghhhhh

[darcyvuqua]

Ok so just went up to water and my chard has bolted! As has my lettuce and my broad beans look dead had about 10 beans off about 100 plants and my courgettes 2 have fallen off the plant I mean come on seriously!!

What am i doing wrong? What's happening!! I need to start sowing again

On a plus I have millions of chilli flowers dropping off leaving fruit and tomatoes and cucumbers are weeks if not days from harvest

[alldigging]

Slugs eating the sunflowers and I found some very horrid very fast caterpillars on my globe artichokes this morning. They are dead now. Suspect I didn't get them all though.
But the runner beans look fab at the moment.

[veggiechicken]

Such are the trials and tribulations of growing veg in an unpredictable climate
Don't be disheartened,

[binley100]

Slugs eating the sunflowers and I found some very horrid very fast caterpillars on my globe artichokes this morning. They are dead now. Suspect I didn't get them all though.
But the runner beans look fab at the moment.

My runners are crawling along snails pace ... and my frenchies keep getting slugged ....... but on the bright side the peas and broadies are doing well and after last years snug fiasco I picked two courgettes today

[chris]

You'd be surprised how much water they need during such hot weather.. A bloke on my site has lost half of his runner flowers, the plants aborted them due to water stress. He normally has picked at least a sackful by now (much to everyone's envy - bar mine, as I like my stuff to grow naturally ).

[alldigging]

I know the runners should be watered but the energy involved is outweighing the incentive at the moment.

[Mikey]

How much are you watering Darcy?

Do you have a limit at your plots, ours is 30 mins hose use a day, in this weather I'm using every minute of that.

[Samurailord]

Do you have a limit at your plots, ours is 30 mins hose use a day, in this weather I'm using every minute of that.

You have a hose pipe?

<Following on with VC's Monty Python reference> 'I used to lie awake at night, dreamimg of having a hose pipe on my plot'

We have buckets and nearly empty IBC's that some people are taking from to water everything on their plot every night whether it needs it or not, or using it to fill up their own personal water butts and then watering their plots from the communal IBC's as well.

I had been trying to conserve water and only watering when absolutely necessary, but it seems that those of us who were conserving were simply conserving it for those who didn't care.

I can't wait to get my own water butts set up so I can store some water of my own - we get plenty of it during the 'rainy season' around here so it should be easy to get them filled

Andy

[chris]

TBH, the only thing I'm currently watering is my squash and asparagus (new crowns - lost a lot though due to lack of water ). Everything else is doing really well - I *soaked* them in when planted, and then mulched. Everytime I go down the plot, I check to see if it's damp underneath the mulch (straw) and so far, it still is.

[darcyvuqua]

I'm on an exposed hill side so drys out very quick when you mix the breezy and the super hot sun we have no limits as our water is harvested from the mountains above us and fills a tank so its not a problems been watering every day in this heat my runner beans and peas are awesome but my broad beans in the same bed were shocking so there now in the compost heap

[chris]

Give 'aquadulce' broadies a go - sow them this november on your plot - you'll get a much earlier crop and they're hardy so will overwinter fine You do need to support them though, as they really do get tall once spring comes around - then they can be taken out earlier, and something else put in their place sooner!

[darcyvuqua]

Give 'aquadulce' broadies a go - sow them this november on your plot - you'll get a much earlier crop and they're hardy so will overwinter fine You do need to support them though, as they really do get tall once spring comes around - then they can be taken out earlier, and something else put in their place sooner!

That what I did sow will try again next year should not moan as my peas are amazing

[Chippy Minton]

Badgers! Lovely potato plants I had, and carrots galore, all netted up to dissuade the local wildlife, now I have numerous holes, those pesky stripey fellas. Ah well, at least they get their 5 a day and some grubs as well, if it's not the weather, the normal pests and diseases, it's the locals

Next year Rodney, next year.....

[Snadger]

I've been growing white currants and red currants for years now..............never tasted one yet!

I should really net them but what would the poor birds eat then? They don't even wait until they are ripe but eat them green!

[Mikey]

I sat and watched some the other day Snadger, plucked a few dropped them on the ground and went and tested their firmness, then flew off. Smart cookies birds