Thankyou

I've just joined the forum and would like to say how much I'm enjoying the interaction here. I am daily learning something new - can't be bad! This difficult gardening year has given me much pause for thought. In Edinburgh, to date (17th) we have had 140% of our average rainfall and our July sunshine has amounted to 4 hours. My gardening hours and hours have been reduced to minutes! My strawberries are still green. I have given over the redcurrants to the birds as this has been a far more difficult and life threatening year for them than it has been for me. The planned re-siting of my veggie patch during this season hasn't even started yet, BUT ..... my flower garden has saved my sanity. The delphiniums have been sheltered by my Purple Acer, which has sacrificed its wellbeing and taken the brunt of the weather. The always reliable Alchemilla Mollis and Nepeta survive everything thrown at it. My 15 year old Rosa Alba has never flowered so well, every 2-3 days I'm removing 100+ dead heads with plenty more still to come.Despite the deluges and lack of sunshine the growth has been sumptuous, the greenery is SO lush and some plants and rose bushes, though being late to start flowering, are really going for gold now and lift the heart! In short - this year has crystallised what I have long known .... I need my garden far more than my garden needs me!

Welcome Sue, I'm fairly new too and agree about the banter. Definitely agree about gardening therapy, keeps me sane and reduces the stress levels.

Hello Sue, have seen the weather forecast for tomorrow and you are due another storm, your plants get flattened and washed out but we gardeners are optimists so keep planning for the next month or year.
Never lose heart is the way to go, my garden has had two days of the big clean up and at the moment looks very squared away. We are told we are due some fine weather so I will start filling pots again, even sow some seed, we can get a few more salad items up and running before the Autumn.
My granddaughter was here for tea and had her photo taken with her Sun Flower, the class sowed them and it came to me for recuperation it is now taller than her, she will take the photo in to school tomorrow and boast, she did say she will tell them granddad did it?

Frank.

Sue Higham wrote (see)

... My strawberries are still green. .

I've had some strawberries (in the Midlands) which have been green for literally weeks. We've had just half-a-dozen hours of sunshine here, in the past two days, and they've rippened! So don't give up hope.

Evidence of mice eating my green strawberries ... maybe I should leave some Rennies out for them, too!

Hi Sue. I am fairly new myself and really enjoy reading all the posts. I have learnt a few things here myself and love hearing what other gardeners are up too. I especially enjoy seeing their photos. Wish I was clever enough to put some on myself. Will have to ask my grandaughter to help !! Roll on the weekend and the start of some better weather.

Yes, we need some sunshine down here in Cornwall too. I love chatting about gardens and gardening so will be a regular visitor to Talkback