We got off to quite a promising start this year with plenty of sunshine and warmth. Then in June it just seemed to be deluge after deluge followed by north winds and a decided drop in temperatures.
The fruit has loved all the rain - the gooseberry branches were all weighed down to the ground with huge gooseberries and have had to be tied up. Not yet ripe - looking forward to some sunshine w.
Beetroots, leeks, peas and all the brassicas were quite well established when the rain came and also have grown well. The beetroots have been thinned and are just about ready to start pulling some baby beets.
Parsnips didn't really germinate this year. Four parsnip seedlings have been counted and of them it looks like there might be one parsnip for the Christmas dinner. I did hear someone else had exactly the same result this year so maybe there is a problem with the seed.
The crops which were still at the small seedling stage when they got waterlogged are either still at the small seedling stage or have disappeared. The carrots have grown about half an inch in the last month but alot of the turnips have disappeared.
If growing veggies is a new venture, waterlogged areas or patches of poor infertile soil will be showing up in these less than ideal conditions. Adding organic matter will improve the soil structure so it stays aerated and keeps nutrients available for roots; this should be an ongoing process from year to year. Although mulching can be done throughout the year, autumn is probably the best time and homemade compost, leaf mould, seaweed, and well-rotted manure are all excellent. The soil may need feeding now with a quick dressing of fertilizer. Vitax Q4 or Blood Fish & Bone will give a well balanced supply of nutrients, or Growmore for fast acting NPK. Growing in raised beds will also help overcome some problems of poor drainage.
During the summer, mulching the bare surface between rows will help to feed the vegetables, keep the weeds down and stop the soil drying out (although that has not been a problem recently) and grass clippings from the lawn work like magic. They give a boost of nitrogen, provide a warm microclimate for plants, get the worms working to produce a fine tilth, keep the weeds from growing and also avoids soil splashing onto strawberries, courgettes or french beans. The one thing to bear in mind is that if you have used lawn weed or moss killer it might not be a good idea using the clippings on the vegetable patch.