How has this year affected next year?

Funny you should mention this. I've been a devout fan of nasturtium for about 10 to 15 years now, yet this year mine have done very poorly. About early July, it should have gone into 'phase 2', sending out tendrils everywhere. It hasn't done it yet. Then I was talking to my sister's chap tonight and quite by chance it was mentioned about the poor start to the year followed by the hot dry spell. So a cold start delaying things, followed by a heatwave putting plants into survival mode. This isn't a 'normal' year.

 

I see you are considering Goji berries, I had some & all they did was grow quickly & become a total mess, no berries in fact no flowers either, has anyone had sucess with them?

 

Another coincidence. Today I was talking to my sister's chap and he was saying the exact same about goji berries. Loads of scruffy green growth but no flowers or berries.

 

I can't say I've noticed. I haven't really looked that closely at them to be honest. Slugs and snails maybe, and what seems to be a record number of butterflies and moths frequent my garden this year, so they (or more specifically, their caterpillars) might be having a go, but nasturtium can normally take all that in my experience. I'm leaning towards it being the weather. Nasturtium is generally not fussy, but it does have two requirements that it insists on. Warmth and moisture. We had a cold start, and then the heat wave came, so they've had the warmth and they've had the moisture, but not really at the same time.

Mine have been picking up a bit over the last week or so, since I put great piles of seaweed all around the bed. I don't think its relevant that its seaweed, in that I doubt any nutrients have leached yet, but its keeping the sun and wind off the bare soil in between plants, so I guess more moisture is being retained. We'll see what happens over the next week or so.

 

Yesterday I spotted nasturtium seedlings. A further clue that the weather has set them back, because any seeds from last year that were going to germinate should really have done so by June and been quite established by now.

 

My nasturtiums have done really well oddly enough. Trailing like mad they are. Couple of blackfly but I've just been nipping the stem off and in the bin it goes. I'll be spending quite a bit on them next year I think. I would definately says in the weather.

Re the onions it's been my first year growing them (and veg in general) and they haven't been as good as I though they would be. Not a lot of growth and they've all fallen over pretty much apart from the bolted ones of course.

Yes Musselburgh looking good so far, might try a different variety again next year however. Honeybear squash look good and plenty of fruit, but not a lot on the Butternuts.

Tumbling Toms in the hanging basket are doing well, will do they same again next year.

Lupins - pah! That's all I'm saying.

Chili's - pah! Not enough room for them - binned.

 

Did you start them off indoors? When did you put them out? Are they in a warm spot?

That will have actually helped. Once nasturtium has built a good set of roots, chopping bit of top growth off just stimulates it to produce more.

How do you mean? If you mean on seeds, just collect them off this year's plants and store them for next year. I use envelopes for most seeds, but due to sheers numbers off nasturtium, I have in the past used a cardboard box, such as Roses come in. If you collect a lot, put a few in the box, then a couple of layers of kitchen towel, then another layer of seeds, then more kitchen towel and so on, just so that the dampness can escape and they don't rot. I usually choose just a few plants that I think have done best, and collect seeds off those.

 

Didn't start them off indoors, I think it was around June time just stuck them in the ground. I will say they are quite sheltered so no wind chill and I haven't watered them either. Just lucky I guess? By spend I mean cash, the ones I planted this year were from a 'Day-Glo' mix so I couldn't choose the colours I wanted. There's a couple of colours I'm after in particular - Moonlight, Empress etc.

 

Think *useless* is a bit harsh on the old blueberry They often won't berry for the first couple of years and probably not until after 3. Also, people forget they are an acid loving plant and care must be taken with that. Despite being labelled a "superfood", they are not "super quick" to production: that's all. But then, patience is a virtue and a gardeners second nature