Awful British weather ruinng plants …

Absolutely normal weather at this time of year for this part of the world @KathM, apart from being milder

 

Meanwhile in Dubai...
Desert city of Dubai floods as UAE hit by heaviest rainfall in 75 years

 

I am near Southampton and it is another freezing day. My sweet peas are now very leggy in our heated summerhouse and still unable to plant out. Same with my tomatoes plants.

 

The spring weather's been fairly normal here It's only mid-April - far too early to be thinking about planting out tomatoes and other tender plants even in a good year.

Sweet peas are fairly hardy and can be autumn-sown and kept in a cold frame or cold greenhouse over winter, so it's likely the warmth in the summerhouse that's made them leggy (too warm for the available day length). Tomatoes can also get leggy if sown too early when there aren't enough daylight hours, particularly in locations like windowsills where they don't get light from all sides and from directly overhead.

 

If you haven't planted sweet peas yet I think you should at least be hardening them off, outside during the day and back in at night for a week or two.

 

Well I haven't sown any seeds yet, I usually sow them in early-mid April but the way the weather's looking I won't be doing it next week either, it's too cold.
I have things to move also but those will have to wait too, it's colder than usual here.

 

My nephew in Dubai is mopping up his ground floor apartment, after water flooded the whole place. While he was filming the mess for me, he slipped over and let out a few expletives.
But he's grateful he doesn't have carpets.

Apparently they had over 250mm in 24 hours, when they normally get around 80mm per year.

 

Yeah, but at least it was warm.

 

And some claim the climate isn't changing @RowlandsCastle the Saudis will just throw money at it.

 

I read an item where they thought it could be an example of cloud seeding. There are claims that quite a few countries engage in it. I don't know much about it all though.
There was a case donkey's years ago about a Paul McCartney [?] concert where they reckoned there was some human interference to ensure it stayed dry, but whether that was an urban myth or not is anyone's guess.

 

There is a theory that that well known flood in Cornwall, I think in the 50s, was due to experimenting with cloud seeding.
It's so well known that at the moment I can't recall the name of the place.
Edit, I think it was Lynmouth.

 

Spot on @pete. I had a relative who nearly lost their life in the flood. I have been told that the sewage systems in Dubai leave a lot to be desired, therefore it might not only be rain water that has flooded some of the mega expensive cars! I can see the sales of luxury vehicles going through the roof!

 

My nephew thankfully sold his car - but got a motorbike instead!!

 

I've just seen another article which claims it wasn't cloud seeding @pete, so who knows.

 

Yeah, there will always be speculation regarding these kinds of thing, who knows.