These growing season summaries attempt to reflect the general experiences of plot holders across the Sunningdale site.

2009

Weather. The winter of 2008-9 was much more like a typical British winter with a reasonable number of cold spells and several snowfalls, the most noticeable occuring in early February. The thaw which followed this last snowfall was accompanied by over 24 hours of very heavy rain which resulted in a significant amount of surface water on the majority of plots, leaving them unworkable for the best part of two weeks. In spring the last air frost occurred on March 30th and the last ground frost on April 29th.

April's weather was good for germination - mainly dry and sunny (but with adequate rainfall) and above average temperatures. May was cool and quite breezy which most noticeably slowed early outdoor sowings of beans. June was mixed but was mainly characterised by a very hot spell late in the month. When the hot spell came to an end in early July the remainder of the month was unsettled but not cold at all. August was generally warm with modest amounts of rain. September and early October saw something of an indian summer, dry, sunny and warm for the time of year. The first signs of autumnal weather appeared on October 5th with the first ground frost on October 18th. However, it was the morning of December 1st before an air frost was experienced.

Problems. The colder winter did not appear to have any effect on the aphids. The black fly arrived in their usual numbers in mid-May and the white fly, from August onwards, was as bad as the previous year.

Blight appeared around August 20th, later than many other parts of the country. However, many plot holders managed to nurse their tomatoes through the problem and got good crops - it is difficult to know if we are getting better at living with blight or that we got off lightly this year. Potatoes seem to be unaffected.

Onion problems were significantly less noticeable this year. Downy mildew was negligible and white rot less of a problem.

Re the wildlife, we have continued to manage to keep the deer out. Birds were the main problem this year although the parakeets did not show up in any great numbers until well into August. Some damage was caused by squirrels (sweet corn and strawberries) although slugs were less of a problem than they have been in the previous two wetter summers.

Harvest. With one or two exceptions crops were generally two weeks earlier than usual. Initial feedback is as follows (all crops grown outdoors unless stated):

• celery reasonable and celeriac very good
• pea and mangetout very good
• asparagus good early on (late April) but it did not appear to like the May weather
• cabbage very good; spinach very good although the genuine stuff (as opposed to Perpetual Spinach) readily went to seed in the hot spell
• beetroot excellent and carrots very good
• courgettes and summer squashes very good; sweet corn was good; pumpkins and winter squashes (mainly butternuts) were prolific
• french beans were generally prolific. While runner beans were fine initially many seemed to give up quite early (end August / early September). Broad beans good
• early potatoes very good; maincrops ok although they suffered from the lack of rain and scab seemed to be a bigger problem than usual
• outdoor tomato crops generally very good - with many managing to keep the blight at bay
• garlic reasonable; onions excellent (for us!); spring onions ok
• salad crops were very good; cucumbers and gherkins prolific; herbs very good - basil being particularly prolific
• aubergines were modest, only starting to crop in September; chillies were ok but melons (partly under cloches) were disappointing - they did not appreciate the July weather; sweet peppers very good
• currants very good, particularly blackcurrants
• gooseberries good; strawberries good; raspberries ok; blackberries prolific
• winter crops such as leek, kale, cabbage, sprouts, jerusalem artichokes and parsnips all seem to be satisfactory at the time of writing (beginning of October).

Overall, it was a very good growing year, the best since 2006.

Last updated on 1st December 2009.

2008

Weather. Although the amount of winter rain exceeded the long term average (1971-2000) it did not prevent plot holders from working on their plots. In spring the last air frost occurred on April 15th and the last ground frost on May 23rd. This final ground frost was very marginal, mainly just sufficient to check some growth slightly, i.e. there was no significant damage.

The first half of May was warm and dry while the second half was unsettled. June was mainly dry and sunny but also relatively cool and breezy; July was unsettled initially, followed by a warm dry spell later in the month; August was generally cool and unsettled with significant rainfall and very little sunshine; and September continued this theme at the beginning of the month but this soon gave way to dry, mild and sunny weather until the 30th when the first signs of autumnal weather appeared. The first autumnal ground frost occurred on October 4th although it was very brief and light. The first serious ground frost was on the morning of October 22nd while the first air frost (complete with snow!) was on the morning of October 29th.

Problems. The warm conditions in early May led to heavy black fly infestations in the second half of May and early June. White fly was quite bad on brassicas, particularly from August onwards although they tend not to damage the crops very much.

Blight affected many outdoor tomatoes around mid-August. Several plot holders also thought that they had blight on maincrop potatoes but the blight-like appearance of the leaves appeared to be due to the erratic weather conditions in May and early June, not to blight.

Re the wildlife, deer were kept out this year by erecting deer netting along one side of the site last winter. Birds were the main problem this year. They caught many plot holders unawares by eating unripe fruit, mainly gooseberries in early June, before they had been netted. Eating unripe fruit is new, at least it is on this site. Parakeets appeared around July time, helping themselves to sunflower seeds later in the season. Unprotected sweet corn was eaten by them, and also by magpies and squirrels. Slugs were also a significant problem to many plot holders, particularly from August when we had the heavy rains. Conversely, mice and rats were much less of a problem than they had been in 2007.

Harvest. Initial feedback is as follows (all crops grown outdoors unless stated):

• celery and celeriac modest despite all the rain
• pea and mangetout crops were very good
• asparagus satisfactory
• cabbage excellent, spinach variable
• beetroot very good, carrots good
• courgettes, summer squashes, pumpkins and sweet corn were all very good, winter squashes (mainly butternuts) were reasonable
• all types of beans were generally prolific - bean rust appeared on runner beans and climbing french beans in mid-September
• early and maincrop potatoes generally satisfactory - no blight this year although slug damage was more noticeable in August with the heavy rainfall
• outdoor tomato crops good for those plot holders who managed to monitor the plants regularly, removing any unhealthy-looking foliage immediately and spraying with copper fungicide (or similar) when necessary to keep the blight in check; unfortunately others lost their crops to the blight
• garlic reasonable, onions better despite being affected by onion downy mildew at the end of June. Incidences of white onion rot were more noticeable this year. Spring onions generally poor
• salad crops were good; cucumbers and gherkins good; while herbs were generally satisfactory apart from basil
• aubergines were poor overall - modest at best, chillies were variable (better where a corrugated plastic surround provided some protection), melons (under cloches) were modest; sweet peppers generally good
• it was a bumper year for currants, particularly blackcurrants
• all berry crops good
• winter crops such as kale, cabbage, sprouts, jerusalem artichokes and parsnips all seem to be satisfactory at the time of writing (beginning of October). Leeks are variable - many plot holders suffering quite a lot of leek moth damage this year, particularly those that were sown later (hopefully they will recover). Two plot holders have suffered from significant bolting, one of his leeks and the other of parsnips. They both appear to be attributable to early sowings and the poor weather in August leading the plants to think that winter has now passed and we are now in Spring.

Overall, it was a much better year than 2007 despite the poor weather conditions at various points during the course of the growing season, particularly August.

Last updated on 26th November 2008.

2007

Weather. The very wet weather in late winter (second half of Feb and early March) was followed by a very dry spell through to the end of April with unseasonably warm temperatures. May, June and July were exceptionally wet with below average temperatures; late May was particularly cold while July 10th saw a heavy hail storm. August was drier but generally cool while September and the first half of October were mild and generally dry. The first frost occurred on the morning of the 18th of October.

Problems. Apart from the weather we suffered from deer, deer and deer. Did I mention the deer? Four were spotted one morning. They gorged themselves on our produce from late May onwards. Protecting one crop only encouraged them to widen their gastronomic horizons: beans, spinach, lettuce, tomato flowers, parsnip leaves ... and towards the end of the season even the leaves of chilli plants (which they had previously shunned) when the variety of product lines available at our free "supermarket" started to decline.

Blight was arguably the next major problem; it was first spotted on maincrop potatoes on 28th June - far earlier than in previous seasons. Needless to say it quickly spread to tomatoes.

Finally, the hail storm in July damaged plants, aubergines and squash that have thin papery leaves being worst affected. They survived, the winter squashes taking 3 weeks to recover.

Harvest. Initial feedback is as follows (all crops grown outdoors unless stated):

• Celery and celeriac, being bog plants, appreciated all the rain
• pea and mangetout crops were generally very good although mice seemed to be a greater problem this year
• Root crops were very good, particularly beetroot and carrots
• Courgettes, cucumbers, summer squashes and sweet corn were satisfactory
• beans (at least above deer head height) were very good although some late-sowings were affected by bean rust
• Early potatoes died off almost a month earlier than usual. There were fewer tubers but they were significantly larger than usual; some thought that flavour was affected. Main crop were mostly hit by blight with some plot holders cutting down the haulms around mid-July in an attempt to prevent the blight getting to the reduced crop of tubers
• Despite the blight one plot holder miraculously managed to crop around 66% of his normal yield of tomatoes (circa 50% of his plants are grown in a polytunnel); another got around 45% (helped by the mild autumn weather); but some lost them all
• garlic was a modest crop, particularly autumn-planted that were affected by the heavy winter rains; onions were also modest (most being affected by onion downy mildew)
• salad crops were satisfactory apart from a mid-season lull if the deer could be kept away from them; and herbs were generally satisfactory apart from parsley
• Aubergines were a disaster; melons (under cloches) poor; chillies poor; sweet peppers variable although Gypsy did very well; and winter squashes late and modest
• strawberries were excellent until heavy rains took the flavour away and encouraged slugs and mould; gooseberries very good; blackberries and autumn raspberries satisfactory
• Winter crops such as leeks, kale, sprouts and parsnips all seem to be satisfactory at the time of writing (mid-October).

Overall, it was not quite as poor a year as it threatened to be in early summer although some plot holders consider that it was the worst growing season in living memory.

Last updated 18th October 2007.