It's official - June in Northern Ireland has had double the amount of rainfall than normal for this time of year making it the wettest June since records (dating back to 1910). It's also been the second dullest June on record with very little sunshine recorded. Every year in Ireland I hear people say, 'this is the worst summer we've ever had.' But this year (so far) it's true! Hopefully we'll have more sunshine and less rain in July and August!
The weather has played havoc on some plants. I've had early bolters and of course the slugs are multiplying and feeding like crazy! I've killed three slugs the size of small fish and slug eggs have been found nestled into the sides of my potato grow bags (seriously!).
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| Courgettes are yellowing. I blame it on the cold and rain. |
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| Of course the slugs are having nightly feasts. |
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Above: Radish, planted from seed in March, never developed properly and is now bolting.
Below: Spinach Bloomsdale, planted from seed in May, is now flowering as well. |
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I wanted lots of turnip this year as I adore the flavour. Turnip, planted from seed in March, never developed properly and has bolted. I keep breaking the flowers off as I insist on turnips!
Better news... |
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| Turnip 'Purple Top Milan' sown from seed in May is looking healthy! I've got carrots and spinach growing there as well. |
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| Bag grown potatoes are flowering. |
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| And of course some of the flowers enjoy the rain. Snapdragon with Silverdust. The Silverdust is starting to flower too! These are both annuals in their second year as they refused to die down over Winter. The Silverdust is over a foot tall and looks to soon be full of yellow flowers. Quite a surprise really! |
Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.
Hi, Love your garden. Your Courgettes are yellowing because of cold, my everything is yellowing because of heat. We so need balance in our gardens!
ReplyDeleteYou sure know how to grow a decent slug! I'm impressed. Sorry to hear of your torrentials in the north country, however, I'm elated today to finally have rain in Michigan! woot.
ReplyDeleteSmoke is so thick in the air I can't even see the mountains. We're surrounded by wildfires in this deadly dry season. So.... can you please send some of that blessed rain our way? We'll take every spot you can spare! :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics, as always. ~ kate
Gardening certainly is not for the faint of heart, is it? So far pestilence has not invaded the garden here, but certainly some hail, no rain, horrid heat. The tomatoes, though, seem to be relishing the heat. Too bad we can't trade a bit of rain for a bit of sunshine. The potatoes look awesome. I am curious about bag grown potatoes.
ReplyDeleteWhile you have too much rain, we're hot and dry. Your snapdragons are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYou can store rainfall in a reservoir, but how can you store sunshine??
ReplyDeleteIt's depressing, isn't it? Day after day of rain and low temps. Ever feel like investing in a poly-tunnel?
It certainly is awful and the slugs and snails are everywhere. Maybe if we all blow hard at a certain time we can move the rain clouds to where they are needed.
ReplyDeleteI'm just thankful for any successes this year. I had the same problem with my radishes, I haven't bothered sowing again.
ReplyDeleteSounds like we are all in the same boat with rain and slugs - nothing seems to be performing as it should - dare I say, there's always next year.
ReplyDeleteIt seems no matter where you live, there are many obstacles to overcome if one has a successful garden. Gardening really isn't for the faint hearted!! We will just all keep trying, though. Your bag potatoes look really good, as do the turnips and spinach. Hopefully the sun with come out this week!
ReplyDeleteWell, at least I know where all the rain has gone! We have been dry since May and had extreme heat with 40C+ temperatures. Miserable really. My silverdust is blooming too and gotten very large. The snapdragons reseeded themselves from last year but won't be around long in this heat. They are winter annuals for me. Hope you get a reprieve from the rain soon.
ReplyDeleteThe potato flowers are gorgeous! I had no idea! I will definitely be trying that this coming spring.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the weather. It has been a very odd year for growing. Cannot help but make you wonder if Global warning is not just a fad.