Garden: Review of the Year

Rubbish!

Well, that was easy ...

Maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but 2013 has been far and and away the most difficult growing season we've had.  It started to rain and snow in January and pretty much kept going through until the middle of June, bringing devastating floods to the Pyrenees.  So although we did have an epic ski season, we missed days because there was just so much snow that the roads or resort had to be closed due to the risk of avalanches.

But an epic gardening year, it was not.

Leeks under the snow in February 2013

New Season Garlic

The last of the 2012 vintage.  And a little soft!

Nearly three week later than last year because of the endless rain, but just in the nick of time as we have but a single head left, we have completed the annual garlic harvest.

Growing garlic is a doddle.  Put on woolly hat and coat in December, venture outside, poke cloves into the ground and retreat back into the warmth.  The next day, return back outside and carefully replant the ones pulled out by the birds.  And repeat.  In a week or so the shoots will appear and, defying the cold temperatures which it will adore, it'll continue to grow slowly throughout the winter.  All you need to do is gently weed as garlic sulks if it has to compete.  But let's face it, your average dandelion and creeping buttercup has headed (further) south for the winter so weeding is simplicity itself.

Has Anyone Had Spring?

Prompted by checking back on my garden diary for last year and noting that it was a very pleasant 25 degrees on the 24th of May when I planted Charentaise and Sweetheart melons out into the garden, I thought I’d see just how bad this year has been so far.  It certainly feels as though it has been continuously cold and wet with very little sunshine.

Putting together some very rough statistics for the months of March, April and May, or Spring as it used to be called, revealed the following:  In 2011 we had 21 days of rain and 66 days of sunshine over those three months.  In 2012 the figures were 20 wet days and 41 sunny ones.  This year – up to 25^th May we’ve had 60 wet days.  That’s sixty days when it has rained or snowed for at least half the day and night.  Sunny days have been a mere 24.