Mad weather...and what it means where you are!

[yewberry]

Unlike most of the rest of the continental US, my corner of the country is unseasonably cool and (up until literally yesterday) extremely rainy.  Our local raspberry farm lost its entire crop to rot.  I lost my own plants to some kind of nasty, fast-moving blight.  It looks like we might luck out with the blackberries (both our natives and the nasty-but-tasty Himalayans).  All of my veggies (save the cole crops) are behind schedule.  I don't think we'll see a green bean until mid-to-late August.  This is three genuinely weird springs in a row at my house.

So, how is the weather affecting your garden?

Brina

[Starglade]

 
We have no garden, but the lawn is mostly brown and our black raspberries, which usually produce quarts of delicious juicy fruit, bore--but berries are withering on the vine,  tiny little things barely the size of my pinky-tip. Even the birds are ticked off about that, I tell you.

We were supposedly due for a t-storm today, but I have yet to see the proper kinds of clouds in the sky for that. A friend in a town about 20 miles northeast of here posted a photo of her thermometer: 110 degrees F, and it was in the shade.

[Shine]

Unlike most of the rest of the continental US, my corner of the country is unseasonably cool and (up until literally yesterday) extremely rainy.  Our local raspberry farm lost its entire crop to rot.  I lost my own plants to some kind of nasty, fast-moving blight.  It looks like we might luck out with the blackberries (both our natives and the nasty-but-tasty Himalayans).  All of my veggies (save the cole crops) are behind schedule.  I don't think we'll see a green bean until mid-to-late August.  This is three genuinely weird springs in a row at my house.

So, how is the weather affecting your garden?

Brina

 
It's hot and dry where we live. In fact, it's always hot, but not always this dry. Our veggies are either stunted or withering. The strawberries gave up the ghost early on. The entire plant is just. . . bleh. Should get it out of the ground.

[Annie Roonie]

Unlike most of the rest of the continental US, my corner of the country is unseasonably cool and (up until literally yesterday) extremely rainy.  Our local raspberry farm lost its entire crop to rot.  I lost my own plants to some kind of nasty, fast-moving blight.  It looks like we might luck out with the blackberries (both our natives and the nasty-but-tasty Himalayans).  All of my veggies (save the cole crops) are behind schedule.  I don't think we'll see a green bean until mid-to-late August.  This is three genuinely weird springs in a row at my house.

So, how is the weather affecting your garden?

Brina

 
Bummer about the raspberries!

It's humid hot here. I'm in the northern part of the state and we missed the serious winds and just got some rain. Due for more tonight. It's like a greenhouse. I just picked and canned 4 jars of pickles July 2-3. And today there were already some to be picked again. The tomatoes are getting big, but I think it'll be a week or so before they start turning. A few peppers were ready to go. (I planted some spinach but the groundhogs and rabbits jumped the chicken wire to nab it.)

Took this today: [attach=CONFIG][/attach]

I would say we got lucky but a storm or two is still expected, so I'll hold off chicken counting.

Tomorrow is supposed to feel like 106, but with the ground this moist, it is ideal for tilling. I may wait for Sunday's temperature break though.

[RandallS]

It's much better here in Central Texas than it was last year. Temperatures aren't always over 100 (we had 90+ days of 100 degrees or higher temps last summer) and rainfall has been near normal this year as opposed to non-existent last year. Most of the yard is even still green -- we don't water the grass in the summer, water is too expensive and it is easier on the grass to just let it go dormant if it doesn't get enough water from rain. Our tomatoes have been producing like heck, but our bell peppers aren't doing well -- like last year, the sun is just too bright and any peppers not well hidden in the plant burn up.  Herbs are all doing fine -- we aren't struggling to keep them alive like we were last summer.

[DancesWithHorses]

It's hot and dry where we live. In fact, it's always hot, but not always this dry. Our veggies are either stunted or withering. The strawberries gave up the ghost early on. The entire plant is just. . . bleh. Should get it out of the ground.

 
Right now its the triple H, hot, humid and hazy.  The corn is at least 2 weeks ahead of schedule, worried that silage will all come in at the same time. Hay is iffy at best, our new crop didn't grow and had to be replanted. The alfalfa isn't growing due to the drought conditions, or it froze in the spring so there's fear of a forage shortage. We're in the process of taking the 2nd cut, haylage this time, hoping we get at least 100 bales. Soybeans are hit and miss, the neighbour's look great but ours are in awful shape.

This year has been weird, we got to go in the fields in March but then it froze again in April.  We had no rain until June.  The dust was impossible and the erosion so bad we took out the rollers which compacted the soil... now we have run-off when it does rain. Feed is going to either high quality or non-existent this year. On the plus side, for the first time in 4 years we got to bring in dry hay that didn't burn. I cleansed the barns and it seemed that it was willing.

Just praying with everything I have we get rain next week. We need this feed, got a couple hundred goats that will need feed this winter.  The garden at least looks great. No orchard crop this year, everything in the province froze so there will not be any apples, pears or other tree fruit.

[Dark Midnight]

So, how is the weather affecting your garden?

Brina

 
It's absolutely revolting over here. We are due a months' worth of rain over the next 2 days (again). My poor garden is getting stupidly soggy, even with 2 willow trees in it! The chickens are ok with it- all the worms and things are right near, or on, the surface, but my veggies are struggling a bit......

[veggiewolf]

...

So, how is the weather affecting your garden?

Brina

 
Our black raspberries are holding their own - we have red berries popping up all over and are just waiting for them to turn dark before picking.  Of course, these are the berry canes that killed the monster bindweed so I don't expect them to falter unless it hails.  

Our other plants, well, let's just say it has been hot enough that I think all the thistles we missed when weeding have been solarized.  This does not bode well for any intentionally planted crops.

[Owl]

So, how is the weather affecting your garden?

Brina

*I'm about 30 miles North of Brina*

 Haven't started one at this house yet - I was planning on getting it going this fall and winter so I would be ready come spring.  Could you remay the berries to keep them warm enough to bear?  If I remember correctly, raspberries shut down if it is either too cold or too hot (picked for Cascadian Farms one year), so in a cold year could you keep them warm?  Or was it so bad the bees didn't do their thing?  i have noticed a dearth of yellow jackets!

This has certainly been what my mother calls a "cole crop year" up to now.  The SO was being friendly when I said we needed a source for used windows so we could put in a greenhouse for the starts, and for tomatoes and peppers.  Now he's totally on board!

[MoonCrone]

how is the weather affecting your garden?  Brina

All the wet we have been having seems to be upsetting things quite a bit, despite making extra drain holes in the raised beds now...   it's making lots of slugs and snails attack everything so much more than usual, even though I put crushed egg shells around everything, and vaserline on the legs of the greenhouse tables and so fourth..  I don't want to resort to using pellets or salt but I don't know what else to do... :confused:  I don't know if any of what I'm growing is going to be edible or not, it's all getting reduced to bare stalks before I get a chance to see anything growing on them  :mad:

[yewberry]

I don't want to resort to using pellets or salt but I don't know what else to do... :confused:  I don't know if any of what I'm growing is going to be edible or not, it's all getting reduced to bare stalks before I get a chance to see anything growing on them  :mad:

I assume they have iron phosphate bait (sold here under the name Sluggo and a few other brands) in the UK?  It works great and it's nontoxic.

Brina

[Altair]

 So, how is the weather affecting your garden?

Here in NYC, all the plants got going 2 to 3 weeks earlier than usual. I've had tomatoes from my garden for a week and a half now. Those are the only edibles I grow, besides herbs (chives, mint, basil, rosemary; also parsley, but only as a larval food plant to attract swallowtail butterflies).

So far my other plants, mostly native grasses and wildflowers, are weathering the intense heat pretty well, despite being on a roof (relentless sun and wind) in containers. I water constantly; in this heat, it's the only way. The fact that they're natives, adapted to drought conditions, helps too.

Some things have gone positively nuts. My Virginia creeper is trying to take over the world, I think.

[KomaKulshan]

I assume they have iron phosphate bait (sold here under the name Sluggo and a few other brands) in the UK?  It works great and it's nontoxic.

Brina

Beer in pie pans or Mason jars also works to distract them. I've been meaning to try Sluggo. I might pick some up tomorrow at the farmer's supply.

Most of my plants are doing well despite the weather, slugs, and cabbage loopers. My tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins have really perked up this past week with the warmer temperatures. The cherry tree is producing fantastic considering I haven't paid it any attention yet (just moved here a few months ago).

[Wickerman]

Unlike most of the rest of the continental US, my corner of the country is unseasonably cool and (up until literally yesterday) extremely rainy.  Our local raspberry farm lost its entire crop to rot.  I lost my own plants to some kind of nasty, fast-moving blight.  It looks like we might luck out with the blackberries (both our natives and the nasty-but-tasty Himalayans).  All of my veggies (save the cole crops) are behind schedule.  I don't think we'll see a green bean until mid-to-late August.  This is three genuinely weird springs in a row at my house.

So, how is the weather affecting your garden?

Brina

 It's the third hot dry year in a row here, the worst so far. The year before was so wet and sodden that we hardly had crops at all. This year we have hardly enough hay to get by, and my commercial seed operation is skimming by. Lotsa watering, and mesh sunshades are keeping things going, but not going well. I just wish for a normal year. Last winter we barely got below 20 degrees F, and I saw one or two snow flakes. We usually get a week or two of teens, and at least one decent snow. I am looking into Auqraponics for the seed operation, which is crazy because my family has farmed here for more generations than I can count.

[yewberry]

Beer in pie pans or Mason jars also works to distract them. I've been meaning to try Sluggo. I might pick some up tomorrow at the farmer's supply.

I've been gardening on the rainy side of the mountains for nearly two decades.  I've tried all the slug tips and tricks, but nothing's really worked except iron phosphate baits (I grow 100% organic, so I won't use the toxic metaldehyde baits).

Most of my plants are doing well despite the weather, slugs, and cabbage loopers. My tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins have really perked up this past week with the warmer temperatures. The cherry tree is producing fantastic considering I haven't paid it any attention yet (just moved here a few months ago).

It's actually, weirdly, a pretty good cherry year.  And not half bad for most berries, unless the bloom/ripening times coincided with the tail end of the cold and wet we just experienced.  The tomatoes and winter squash in my greenhouse are doing very well.  Not so much the cucumbers, though...

Brina