"Sue da Nimm" wrote
I am really struggling to understand the effects of the weather on crops.

For some reason we are still picking runner beans and the plants are lush
and showing little sign of stopping.
There are still plenty of new flowers, although not too many bees in
evidence so they are unlikely to end up on the dinner plate or in the
freezers..Normally they'd be on the compost heap and the sticks in
storage,
but this year we've still got at least another couple of weeks of picking
to
do.
The strawberries have put on a second crop of fruit which have made a
decent
size but aren't going to ripen off.
The butternut squash crop has simply been absurd. We always plant these on
old compost heaps, and currently the surrounding willows and fence are
full
of ripe fruit waiting to be picked and stored. We've probably had around
20
from each plant, and many have been "whoppers" because I left them longer
than normal.
We're still picking tomatoes which are ripening quite nicely in the
greenhouses.
The last of the sweetcorn were munched yesterday.
The raspberry canes are going bananas and, despite cutting back, are still
pushing through the fruit cage roof. (7 foot)

This is not a typical year at all - the brilliant sunny spring and
saturated
summer seem to have suited the garden well.
Certainly the most productive year (by far) that we've ever had.

Unusual I agree.
But not everything is good in the garden.
I've noticed quite a few onions going bad in storage already.
Our tomatoes (grown outside) were very late to start cropping, although they
have eventually produced a good crop without spraying with Bordeaux Mixture
so it looks like "Ferline" truly is resistant to blight.
Swedes are rotting in the ground.
Lettuce and broccoli seemed to "bolt" very quickly this season.
Spuds attacked by slugs as usual despite growing resistant varieties,
Kestrel, Romano, Golden Wonder (yes, some say it is Rod) We will grow the
first two again though.
Chillies took ages to start growing and there was only one red fruit on 9
plants when we pulled them up yesterday.
Winter cabbages/Savoy's are rather strange looking, tiny hearts amongst huge
flat leaves, goodness knows if they will come to anything.
The saving grace was that we have our biggest pumpkin ever by far and I
didn't water it daily.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London