On Wed, 25 Jul 2012 mark wrote:

I don't know if it can be blamed on the weather but here's my report:

Pear trees (2): Hardly any pears

Ditto.

Plum trees (3): Hardly any plums

Ditto but the greengages are doing all right. And last year I missed the
crop through it ripening a good two to three weeks early.

Cherries: very little

Apples: Doing okay

A lot of my eating apples are rotting on the trees. Haven't checked the
cider apples yet.

Red currants: Much reduced crop

Ditto - and the birds have stripped what there was. Strange, because
they normally leave them alone in my garden.

Blackcurrants and gooseberries have done well even though the bushes are
young.

Strawberries: Disappointing, down by a half.

Alpines have done extremely well.

I have a twenty-year-old black mulberry. For the first time most of the
fruit withered instead of developing.

Slugs: bumper crop!

Ditto. Some VERY large ones seen! Which reminds me, we've seen thrushes
for the first time in a few years attacking the snails.

The above refer to my gardens in southern England and in Normandy where
the weather is very similar.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk