Leigh Gardening

August 6, 2012

Summer is rushing along into autumn, so who are the horticultural winners and losers this year?  I think the main winners are the wild flowers.  I have never seen such exuberant growth, so much so that some of the paths I take have become impassable for the first time. Areas which by now are usually a brown mass of dry vegetation are still flourishing and when the sun decides to come out are buzzing with insects.  Well done to a company at the bottom of Progress Road who have managed to grow a small wild flower meadow in front of their premises, it looks wonderful.

In our gardens the Hydrangeas are having a good year as are Fuchsias, and of course all the shrubs are relishing the rainfall, they usually have to look after themselves, coming bottom of the watering can list.  Winners in the vegetable garden are the beans, so I have heard, and even my few on the roof have set better than ever before.  My potatoes up there aren’t bad either but I know the allotment holders are a bit worried about blight.  That brings me on to the losers, - tomatoes.  Blight seems to be taking them over on the allotments and whilst mine in the greenhouse look very healthy there are fewer flowers than usual, we shall have to see how the other vegetables fair as the “summer” progresses.

In the flower garden it seems that all the bedding plants except begonias have succumbed to the wet weather either directly or because of the omnipresent slugs and snails.  By this time they are usually sleeping out the dry weather not still gorging themselves.  I wonder why they don’t like begonias?  With their fleshy leaves I would have thought our garden gastropods would relish them.

Those annuals that have survived seem reluctant to flower, my cosmos, for example are at least a third taller than other years but with very few flowers, and why are their leaves turning white?  Does anyone know?

Shall we remember the winners and losers and take heed for next year and if we do and not rely on this year’s losers but plant more of the winners will the weather catch us out again?  I, for one won’t mind if it does, if that means blue skies and warm sunshine from May through to September with an occasional thunderstorm to freshen things up and showers at night to save on the watering.

It will soon be time to think about what to plant for winter and spring colour, can I remember which were the winners and losers last time?

Happy gardening   

Julia Tetley
Chair of The Leigh-on-Sea Horticultural Society