Strange year

One would think that if one vine crop is doing awesome that they all would. Well, my squash is very healthy and blooming and making babies. The melons are another story. The plants are less lush and the fruits are sparse. All are on trellis - not the same one. Same amount of water, etc.

Then we get to the corn and I must say I could have been further ahead to plant something else in those squares. I think for next year I will devote an entire box to corn and only plant 2 per square instead of 4. I spoke with an organic farmer yesterday and he suggested that anytime there is a corn plant in a square that is spindly and the rest are normal - yank that one out - consider it a weed. I think he has a point.

Oh well, we live and learn and this year is an exception to the rule for many of us.

It most certainly is a weird year weatherwise GG .
I wonder if it is all to do with the sunspot activity and the gravitational changed due to the planets coming into a rough line on my birthday 21 Dec when the Mayans calender stoped being written down ( or did they run out of ink and paper ).
If it is any of these we may be infor several years of strange weather and difficult crop growing. it is as though we are nerly two and a half month behind in the calender.

It is unheard of to have glasshouse tomatoes barely formed this time of the year in the UK. I only have five that are little bigger than a pea .Though there are twenty odd flowers on my olants that have been there for over two weeks that have not set yet , despite me trying to assist pollenating them every other day .

The strawberries in the barrel in the garden have been producing strawbs for over two months now and only one has even bothered to partially colour up enough to say it's nearly ripe, the rest are solid lumps of bright greenish yellow.

We could be in for a humdinger of a winter as well if the ice reports from the USA are anything to go by for they seem to indicate much colder artic conditions and more ice formation much earlier than usual for this time of the year.

plantoid wrote:It most certainly is a weird year weatherwise GG .
I wonder if it is all to do with the sunspot activity and the gravitational changed due to the planets coming into a rough line on my birthday 21 Dec when the Mayans calender stoped being written down ( or did they run out of ink and paper ).
If it is any of these we may be infor several years of strange weather and difficult crop growing. it is as though we are nerly two and a half month behind in the calender.

It is unheard of to have glasshouse tomatoes barely formed this time of the year in the UK. I only have five that are little bigger than a pea .Though there are twenty odd flowers on my olants that have been there for over two weeks that have not set yet , despite me trying to assist pollenating them every other day .

The strawberries in the barrel in the garden have been producing strawbs for over two months now and only one has even bothered to partially colour up enough to say it's nearly ripe, the rest are solid lumps of bright greenish yellow.

We could be in for a humdinger of a winter as well if the ice reports from the USA are anything to go by for they seem to indicate much colder artic conditions and more ice formation much earlier than usual for this time of the year.

I believe that none of us is in control of the weather or growing things - I'm a control freak so that is hard for me to admit sometimes. The good Lord is the one who makes the sun to shine and rain to fall... This year He is blessing me with lots of broccoli and green beans for my freezer. I will remember the summer of 2012 when I eat it this winter. I figure any food we get is a blessing. Learning how to use the leftover parts of plants, yard refuse, etc. and putting it back into the soil is a picture of what all of nature is doing without our awareness. That is a miracle.

I so appreciate what Mel's Foundation is doing for those who live in areas where they are either oppressed or have no way to farm other than with primitive tools.