Nightmare.
We've just got back from two and a half weeks on holiday in France. The weather here, while we've been away, has been pretty much constant rain. We left the Teenager in charge of cropping what ripened - the courgettes were going great guns when we went, cherry tomatoes within a week of ripe, dwarf beans looking pretty good - though not amazing, and lots of strawberries due within a week or two.
We've come back to...
Courgettes - none picked, about 7 have grown to marrow size, plus another four or five which were comprehensively mauled by slugs. "I couldn't see any".
Dwarf Beans - left to rot. A real shame, because it looked like the crop really expanded while we were away. "You didn't tell me to pick beans"
Tomatoes - the Ailsa Craigs haven't ripened, probably because of the lack of sunshine. The cherry tomatoes are rotting on the vines, most of them split and well past ripe. "Oh, I couldn't see any ripe ones"
Strawbs - grew and ripened to the point that the tresses dangled down to the ground, whereupon the slugs got to them, climbed up the stems and are now infesting the pot. "I didn't know you wanted me to pick them"
Rocket - gone to seed, and slug-infested. "*embarrassed silence*"
Basil - likewise.
It's sad enough that the weather has been so awful that the crops are clearly not what they could have been, but I'm struggling not to be really, really grumpy that so much lovely food has gone to waste. If I'd known they weren't going to be picked, I'd have invited the neighbour to come round and help themselves - it's a shame it's all gone.
And as for the slugs...I thought I was doing a pretty good job of beating the Slug Menace before I went away. I've cleared away loads of the places they customarily lurk, and been free with the beer traps and slug pellets. But I came back to what I can only describe as an infestation - hundreds of enormous slugs of every hue (not the white ones, though), in every remotely damp corner of the garden. One application of pellets later - despite the rain - and the patio bit out the back has become a slug mausoleum.
On the good news side, the courgettes (well, marrows) I did rescue are excellent, though we've given 3 away as we're never going to get through them quickly enough, And, if we get any sun, there's a possibility (I hope) that the Ailsa Craigs will ripen and be usable. No danger of our having to freeze tons for passata, or oven-dry them for storage, though!
So now, I'm pondering my options as far as winter crops are concerned...
Spuds still flowering although one of the plants has some of those tomato things* growing on it (like in t'other thread). Going to try some more garlic a bit later on in a less cat-attractive tub and have more spuds to put in at some point.
