how have you gardeners fared this year ?

I've had a very sad year, I'm harvesting my tomatoes but, Its a very poor crop compared with other years, I did well with peas and strawberries but my Sunflowers failed , out of dozens seeded only 3 plants grew and they would not have won any prizes, hanging baskets failed to develop and I've not had as many bees in the garden , The weeds won hands down, I've spent more time weeding than cutting grass,

I've never been any good at gardening. A plant only has to look at me and it shrieks in horror and dies. Dunno why.

Maybe it's because there hasn't been enough sunshine; not as warm for time of year; too much rain for outdoor plants?

That is my opinion too Mollie, Plants need sunshine and rain in the right proportions, We've had too little sun and Too much rain, photo sin fer size is the technical name, without this, plants can't grow, It means, energy from the sun and food from the roots but, for some reason, weeds don't know the rules, they can grow anywhere

Tell me about it. I had my front garden strimmed in June and the weeds are way up again. My back garden looks like the far corner of the Amazon rain forest and there is probably a tribe of as yet unknown pygmy cannibals taking residence. Will have to wait till it all dies down now when the gardener will be able to see over the tops of the weeds! Mind you, some of the flowering weeds are quite pretty.

Phew, you had me worried there Mollie , I thought you was going to mention the pigmy tribe called the' wheretheferkarewe ' who jump up in the long grass looking for the way out,,,

Me? Would I be so norty?

Tom repost this on Hobbies where there is a gardening thread which lately I have been propping up The post needs new members posting it has been viewed nearly 5000 times but only a hand full of posters

gardening this year> mainly I chopped down 3 bushes that grow too tall and so make life easier. My biggest battle this year has been slugs, they have totally destroyed lots of new plants. I've been out each damp morning with the salt. one morning counted over a 100 and the next day it was just as bad. After months I think I am finally winning the war. lots of brown patches on the grass from the salt but you can't have everything. Yes I know hedgehogs eat them ut this year they have been a real problem

Kathpressey, I too have herds of slugs and snails and with them damage to the plants, One night on my cameras I saw one in the hedgehogs dish and though to myself, " you're going get eaten there matie" But the hedgehog did't eat the slug, he tolerated it even though it was eating his food ( mealworms} I was surprised at that,,

Peter, I never thought to post this over in hobbies, Perhaps Ron will move it over for us, Meanwhile, I'll start a couple in there later of modeling,

There are loads of slugs around here on the pavements, most of them have been squashed, but it must have been the perfect weather for them to breed this year, i.e. a cool wet summer.

My garden has never had such a bad performance as this summer. Thankfully very little sign of slugs and snails, the big problem has been the rate of growth of hedges, a mixture of beech and conifer. The fellow I use to do the hedges is very busy saying many people are experiencing the same. Earliest he can come is end of this month.

tomplum I suppose mealworms taste better than slugs. be careful not to give too many to hedgehogs. Although they love them, the experts advise against it .

yea I know that Kathy, Its like chips to them, good but unhealthy so' I have 2 dishes, one has mealworm in and the other has cat food, The meal worm is always gone first by the little hedgehog who, never touches the catfood and the big one goes straight for the cat food and only eats the meal worm after the cat food is gone, So the mealworm eater is a slim hog and the cat food eater is a fat bugger so, go figure, I think the ' expert' is the one wearing the prickly coat,