Trev62 wrote: ↑ 14 Mar 2023, 20:00 we found a recipe for pea pod soup so tried it out, the recipe never made our recipe file and no words could describe how bad it tasted

Pea Pod Wine perhaps? This recipe includes 4 bananas so they might add flavour that the pea pods don't. I've never made the wine so can't say how it will turn out. Sometimes wine can taste very different from the original ingredients - such as the rose hip syrup I made which I didn't like but just diluting it and adding wine yeast to ferment, what a difference in taste.

Now is about the time (mid-March to early April) to sow celery and celeriac seeds indoors. The seed of both celery and celeriac are very small (like pepper dust) so are very difficult to handle individually. And because the seeds are small, they should be lightly sprinkled on to the surface of (already dampened) compost. Do not cover with compost but do put the container in a propagator (or place a plastic bag over) to retain warmth and humidity, and place on a sunny windowsill - the seeds exposed to light will trigger germination. To water any drying compost, try using a spray and lightly mist to avoid dislodging the seeds or seedlings (or place the pot in a tray of water so that dry compost will take up the water - remove when damp and allow to drain. Celery and celeriac plants have short roots and require plenty of water during growth so do not let the soil go dry (wild celery grows in marshes) but avoid waterlogging by growing in well drained soil.
To ensure a supply of celery over several months, try successional sowing (that is, a few seeds every other week) The seedlings are very tiny at first (mere green dots on the soil surface when they appear unlike the first leaves you normally see from larger seeds) so you will need to let them develop their first proper leaves before the seedlings can be transplanted individually to pots to grow on. Avoid disturbing the roots too much if possible as this can stunt their growth. Ensure the compost never dries out. Avoid leaving the seedlings out on a cold windowsill as the drop in temperature after germination can encourage the plants to bolt (that is, run to seed) much sooner than they should when planted out. Harden off gradually and ready to plant in their final bed by the end of May / early June when risk of frost is low.
Growing celeriac is very similar to celery but with the exception of successional sowing. Celeriac can be left in the ground throughout winter and harvested when required (or remove the leaves and store in compost somewhere cool such as a shed). As the plants mature, remove the lower leaves and any side shoot to expose the developing stem (which forms the familiar vegetable) Celeriac should be ready to start harvesting from about October.
There are 2 types of celery available to grow - the traditional celery that you find in the shops or self-blanching. Traditional celery need to be earthed up to encourage the stems to grow and at the same "blanch" them (that is, excluding light so the green chlorophyll will fade) Self-blanching do not require earthing up but the plants do need to planted close to each other so that their leaves shade the stems and neighbours. From experience, I didn't find them to self-blanch all that much and I found them to have a much stronger flavour. As I only use celery to flavour cooked dishes, I would just chop the stems into small slices, pat dried and then put them into bags straight into the freezer (no other preparation required) - I just removed what I needed for cooking straight from the bag.
If the plants do bolt and go to seed, you could harvest the seed and use as flavouring (either whole or ground) instead.
Apart from the slugs and snails eating seedlings, once the plants become established, I rarely had any pest problem. Except for the swollen celeriac - however, I am not sure if the problem was rot and the slugs had moved in or if they were the cause. That year we had had exceptional rain and it is possible the plants had got waterlogged and encouraged fungus rot.
More about how to grow Celeriac or Celery from the RHS website

It should be no surprise that parsnips are closely related to carrots and also celery (including several familiar herbs such as fennel and parsley, as well as the toxic hogweed and hemlock) This group of plants were originally known as being in the Umbelliferous family (I imagine the flower head looking like an upside down umbrella) which has been renamed the Apiaceae family. All of these plants produce aromatic organic compounds (that is, they have distinctive aromas and flavours) Some like the parsnip and more especially the giant hogweed produce phototoxic substances which can sensitise the skin and in sunlight cause skin inflammation (contact with giant hogweed can cause severe burns)
And at this time of year (mid-March to early April) seeds from many of the cultivated plants in this family (that is, carrots, celery, fennel, parsley, angelica, anise, asafoetida, caraway, chervil, coriander, cumin, dill and lovage) can be sown. They have very similar growing conditions and pests including the Carrot fly (though as its name implies, carrots are more susceptible to this pest and others less so). Parsnip seeds do look slightly different from the others by having a paper wing round the seed. And they do tend to take a lot longer to germinate (at least 3 weeks in optimum conditions) but the seed also age quicker (that is, a large percentage of unused seed are unlikely to germinate the following year - many seasoned gardeners tend not to bother and buy fresh seed every year)
Sowing: ideally the seed should be sown where they are going to grow (to avoid disturbing the root - just like the carrot, if the seedling root is disturbed, it will not grow in the familiar shape but become twisted and possibly throw out multiple roots making food preparation difficult in the kitchen) However, at this time of year when the weather can oscillate from cold to mild to cold quite frequently, the change in temperature especially to cooler conditions, can impact how long it will take to germinate outdoors, and seeds end up being at risk of rotting in cold damp soil conditions. Just when you think they are never going to germinate or presume the slugs and snails have had a tasty meal, you sow a fresh row and that's when some of the earlier sowing then start to appear. It really is a waiting game with parsnips and then when the no-show is looking inevitable, wondering if you have left it too late to sow fresh. Early sowings are not necessary despite the seed sowing guide on seed packets - you can sow anytime during April and well into early May and the seed germination rate is much better in the warmer spring weather. Personally, my early indoor sowings usually ended up being oversized (the equivalent to 3-4 "normal sized" parsnips in one) by the time I'd dug some up in winter)
There are 2 things you can do which might give you an edge over outdoor sowing but be warned that both methods may disturb the root ... First, chitting! (Every time I type chitting, it sounds like "cheating", as in, having one over nature) You will need a lunch box or similar container with a lid and some paper towel. Fold the paper towel so that it is thick enough to absorb water and remain damp, and place it in the lunch box container. Add enough water to wet the paper, then tip the container to drain off excess water (we need it more damp than waterlogged) Now place your parsnip seeds on the surface of the paper - spread them apart so that if germination is earlier than expected, you may be able to rescue them before the roots have had time to entangle themselves with neighbouring seedlings. Place the lid on the container and put somewhere warm (preferably 10-12oC) Fresh seed is more likely to germinate earlier than older seed so do check for the first signs - as soon as the root appears, they need to be removed and planted.
Which takes you to tip no. 2. Obviously if you plant the seed and root directly into cold soil outside, the shock from the temperature difference is likely to kill the seedling off before it has had chance to complete the germination process. Parsnip seedlings produce a deep root long which can catch a lot of people out when sowing the seed in pots to plant out later - the roots are already dangling out the bottom of the pot before the first leaves appear. The cardboard inserts of toilet rolls (or even better, the much longer cardboard inserts of paper towel) make good temporary "plant pots" (though you will need to put paper or something to contain the compost inside the cardboard insert from falling out. It should be something which will later quickly rot and not prevent the root from growing beyond the length of the tube) Fill the tubes with compost, then gently tap the upright tube down so that the compost will compact down naturally (don't push it down with your fingers) Ideally you should have about a 1/4 inch depth from the top. Next water the compost in the tube so that it is damp (this will also compact the compost down - hopefully about a 1/2 inch from the top) Using a pair of tweezers, gently lift the germinating seed from the chitting container and place the seed with the emerging root on top of the compost and then fill the rest of the tube to the top with more compost. Trying to get the maximum amount of compost at this stage is key because it has a habit of compacting down later and this leaves even less growing room for the root. You might be better standing the tubes upright inside a deep tray (I often used empty ice cream tubs for this) and pack it so that the tubes don't fall over. Ideally the compost and water have been left at room temperature before sowing the seeds so that the germination is not interrupted by a sudden change in temperature.
In an ideal world, after germination is complete and the first true leaves appear, you should be hardening off the seedlings and planting out. In the real world, the root may already have gone beyond the length of the cardboard loo roll so keep an eye out and then plant the entire cardboard tube and contents into the bed. The cardboard will naturally rot down in the soil (don't worry about the mouldy patches appearing on the cardboard - they will have no effect on the seedling) and the plant will grow on. Try to bury the top of the cardboard under soil if possible (but avoid the seedling ending up below the soil level in the bed) - during hot sunny dry weather, the cardboard sticking out of the soil surface can start to act like a wick and draw moisture up from the soil. You can always tear the cardboard at the top while at the same time as planting (the cardboard should be soft from absorbing water from the compost and can be easily torn without disturbing the seedling)
When planting out, the recommendation is about 6 inches apart but the foliage can grow quite big so I preferred 8-9 inches apart, rows about a foot apart) I never used any Carrot Fly deterrent for my parsnips and don't recall having any problems - unlike carrots when foliage are damaged when thinning out or harvesting (releasing volatile aromatics into the air which attract the flies), parsnips stay in the ground until about late autumn (depending on whichever variety you have grown) I never bothered with harvesting parsnips until after the first frosts as this triggers a response in parsnips to convert starches to sugars (it is a strategy to prevent the roots from being damaged by freezing) which are so much nicer in whatever cooking method (I used to love parsnip chips, that is, thinly sliced / shavings and in the deep fat fryer though I can see the air fryer being a healthier alternative method ...)
White Gem and Tender and True are popular open pollinated varieties. I always grew White Gem because it was a shorter parsnip and wedged shaped, that is broad shoulders and tapered end which was ideal for my heavy clay soil. Long thin varieties are perhaps better for sandy soil - there's nothing like trying to dig out your parsnip from heavy clay soil in the middle of winter and you hear that audible crack and you are holding up half a parsnip in your hand. My first parsnip harvest tended to be on Christmas day (and I wasn't the only one daft enough to be on the allotment early digging up parsnips for the Christmas dinner) BUT, do watch the weather forecast and if it is a hard frost, it might be an idea to dig the parsnips up earlier. It can be quite an ordeal trying to dig your Christmas dinner from frozen ground and everyone at home is relying on you! Other popular varieties include Countess F1 , Gladiator F1 and Javelin F1 .
A lot of the F1 varieties tend to have varying levels of canker resistance. I can't say I had this problem but I did notice that the "shoulders" of the parsnip root that were proud of the soil surface tended to have some mild rot which rarely damaged the entire plant - on lifting up, I would cut it off and the rest of the root was fine. This kind of rot could be due to damage (being a bit too vigorous when hoeing the weeds, or maybe some pest or slug / snail trying to test the skin for weakness which then causes a wound for bacteria or fungus to enter) Parsnips can be left in the ground over winter and harvested as and when.
When new foliage appears in late winter / early spring, then it is time to lift up all the parsnips right away and take home to prepare them for freezing to use later - when leaves start growing, all the sweet sugars are being used up by the roots to grow so they won't taste as nice. If the parsnips are left in the ground in spring, all the energy stored in the roots will go to flower and seed production.

And the title for this post doesn't contain the words fodder beet (for animal feed) or sugar beet (for table sugar) which come in the same category.
All of the above are from the same species Beta vulgaris and generally, all cultivated beets are descended from the sea beet (which conveniently means they can all tolerate higher than usual salt levels in soil)
Chard (or Swiss Chard) and Perpetual Spinach are one and same thing - Chard tend to have large glossy dark green leaves with brightly coloured veins (white, yellow, orange, salmon, pink or red) and stalks making them unusually ornamental enough to grow in the flower bed as can be seen in this link to a seed supplier . Perpetual spinach in my opinion, have a "weedy" look about them and as the name suggests, can be used as an alternative to spinach. Nearly all seedlings ( baby beet leaves ) of both beetroot or chard can be used as microgreens but Beetroot Bulls Blood is one which is cultivated specifically for salad leaves and is sweeter.
Most people will think of Beetroot as a dark red swollen root (with juices that stains everything) and associate it with either pickled beetroot or an ingredient for Borscht. It will be of no surprise to learn that beetroot (like Chard) come in different colours, there are different root shapes and as well as pickling, cooking can include boiling (and mashing), roasting, deep fried (or air fried!) crisps, and as an ingredient in soups, curries and cakes (you can even cook the leaves of beetroot as well) Beetroot (and beetroot juice) are packed with fibre, vitamins and minerals which all have health benefits (particularly for those with high blood pressure)
There are different types of beetroot seeds which I haven't found too much of a problem (to be honest, I just presumed I had sowed too many seeds which had clustered together and proceeded to thin them out):

Beetroot seeds have two main types: monogerm and multigerm varieties. Multigerm varieties produce more than one seedling per seed and therefore will need thinning out, so that only the strongest plant from each seed remains.

Aim to sow seeds direct in the bed where they will grow rather than transplanting seedlings from indoor sowing. When sowing beetroot and chard seeds, try to avoid sowing them too early as they are prone to "bolting" (a term used when a plant is triggered into flower and seed production. For chard, leaves can become bitter and with beetroot, all the food and energy during growth goes straight into producing flowers instead of storing it in the roots) Sowing too early, unpredictable spring weather (mild, cold, mild) and lack of water during growth are typical triggers for bolting. Grow in fertile soil in full sun, and harvest when the beetroot are cricket ball size or less - if they are left to grow too big, the flesh becomes tough and the flavour loses its sweetness. Sow seeds from about mid-late April and for prolonged harvest, successional sowings every 2 weeks right through to July. Later harvests can be lifted and stored for winter use or left in the ground and lifted when needed. However, severe cold weather (hard frost and snow) can damage the roots so cover the bed with a thick layer of straw or cardboard as insulation.
Detroit 2 Crimson Globe and Boltardy are old favourite types. Boltardy as its name suggests is more resistant to bolting. For something different, Chioggia have rings of pink and white, Albino White is an all white root, and a yellow variety includes Burpee's Golden beet . I'm not fond of pickles (I may have mentioned it in an earlier post) but when I grew a golden beet, I simply boiled and mashed it with some butter and pepper and thought it made a lovely alternative to mashed potato.
Cylindrical or tubular shaped beetroot are good for slicing - Cylindra and Alto F1 are a couple of examples.
A Mangelwurzel (or Mangel / Mangold for short) are usually grown for animal feed but are edible to eat (personally I have not tried it myself) Mangel Yellow Eckendorf can be used in home made wine.
More information from the RHS about how to grow Beetroot and Chard

Plug plants are "baby plants" for growing on and should not be confused with "potted plants" for sale such as shrubs and trees that are ready to be planted out in their permanent place (such as fruit bushes and trees)
Plug plants (veg as well as flowers) are sold by many seed suppliers and garden centres as a quick and easy way for gardeners to grow on - all the hard work of sowing and nurturing seedlings or growing from cuttings has already been done and they just need to be planted out in their flower or veg bed.
Some plants will produce fruit (chillies, tomatoes, aubergines) or flower (Broccoli) so if you work out the price of the fruit / vegetable at the supermarket and compare it to the anticipated harvest, some plug plants will have better value than say vegetables where one plug plant = one single vegetable (for example, 1x cabbage), bearing in mind also that the onus is on you to grow it to maturity (keeping it pest free, weed free and providing good growing conditions) for harvesting. And if you have ordered the plugs online, then there will be postage & packing costs as well, not to mention the possibility of being lost in the post, damage or delay during transit (or the courier arrived when you were out and tossed the package over the back gate and forgot to let you know ... just speaking from personal experience ...) So in this case, growing your own to lower food costs can work out more expensive than the fresh produce in the shops!
I'm probably painting a negative picture where I think plug plants are a waste of money and not worth it. For first or non-gardeners, the experience of growing your own (whether you used plug plants or onion sets or from sowing seed) and the thrill of harvesting and eating your own grown food for the first time where you can say "I grew that " cannot be underestimated. Plug plants can be convenient if you do not have the space for starting off seed (which might be a good thing - I tended to sow far more than I actually needed and struggled to find space for everything until they were ready to plant out. Or there is limited growing space in the garden so you only just need one or two plants of different veg rather than spend money buying lots of packs of seed) Or you are not feeling confident of successful germination (it is true to say that some seeds are easier to start off than others but don't let that stop you from trying) And occasionally there is a bad timing issue (it happens to a lot of people, even experienced gardeners) - you meant to sow the seeds but for one reason (you remember buying the seeds but now you can't find them) or other, had forgotten or you did remember but then the cat decided to knock everything over or the snails had a good munch and now you think it is too late to sow more to replace them.
Some varieties may actually only be available as plug plants and not as seed. Normally these have some special quality which makes them more appealing to some gardeners - for example, perhaps they have proven good resistance to blight (particularly if your area has been prone to blight year after year and you have lost crops to it far too often) or have above average yield and the seller has the advantage of being the only one who can supply them (for example, a new F1 hybrid that they developed can be sold as plug plants knowing full well that the gardeners may grow on and save the seed, the seeds will not however, have the same properties as the parent plant). Some plug plants are cuttings from a plant which then go on to mature much earlier than those grown from seed.
If buying plug plants is going to be your introduction to growing your own, some tips to help you :
- if possible, try to see and select your own plants on site. If you are very particular about what you want then a visit to a garden centre (or have a look at the racking outside of some shops and supermarkets which have got into selling plants during the growing season) Some gardeners will offer surplus seedlings to friends and neighbours though you are then limited to whatever was sown but hey, they may know what grows best in your area and even better if the plants were offered for free. Or plants can be bought from charity events, car boot sales or market stall.
- look carefully at the leaves (do they look nice and healthy or are they wilted and yellowing?) Even a wilted and yellowing plant can be rescued if planted in fresh compost (and a little seaweed extract solution * in the watering can gives them a boost) but remember that you are paying for a plant that should be ready to grow on, not to be nursed back to health first (on the other hand, if you are offered it at bargain basement price, it may be worth it) You may find the oldest leaves looking a bit tired as these could even be the seed leaves which die off anyway, but new leaves should be healthy and a good shade of green.
- don't select plants that look "weedy" (that is, they are tall and thin and ready to collapse) Many tomato plants for sale in shops where it is warm but lighting is poor, start to grow to "reach the light". The stems grow tall and thin, becoming weakened and easily damaged when transporting them home. Then again, if the tomato plants were a bargain, you can always cut the main stem to about half its length and then let the side shoot (located at the base of the leaf stalk on the main stem) grow on instead.
- tip the pot / tray up to see if you can see roots coming out of the draining hole. A plant that has been kept far too long in a small amount of compost may look small like a seedling but if the roots hanging out of the drainage hole look long, threaded and tangled up, it is not ideal. Young plants do send out roots - it is part of the growing stage of all seedlings to grow up (stem and leaves) as well as down (roots) so yes, some roots may be seen hanging out of the drainage hole but they should be short, fat and white.
- avoid buying (some) root vegetables sold as plug plants. Swede can be planted a little deeper than their original soil surface and will tolerate root disturbance better than most other crops, so that one should be fine. However, please don't buy carrot or parsnip as plant plugs or you will be terribly disappointed.
- finally, * Seaweed extract . It is usually sold as a brown concentrated solution (Liquid Seaweed) and contains natural hormones to enhance stress tolerance as well as improve nutrient uptake and encourage growth. When repotting or transplanting your plug plants and seedlings into their final growing bed, watering them in with a little seaweed extract added helps the plants to recover faster.

When I used to keep chickens, I would occasionally treat them to some fresh spinach which they absolutely loved. Personally, I wasn't all that keen on it (one of those veg where "I wouldn't hesitate to eat it if that's all there was left in the world to eat, but I wouldn't go out of my way otherwise") I do know that some of my friends (in different parts of the UK) have had issues growing spinach.
First, like a lot of leafy crops sown about this time of year, they do not tolerate big swings in temperature (mild, then arctic cold, then mild, then cold) and secondly, when the soil gets too dry. Spinach also don't like strong sunlight (midsummer) or too much heat (heatwaves) . They go from being harvestable crops to suddenly developing flower heads and all the energy goes into seed production, making leaves taste bitter. Strong sunlight and heat probably act like a trigger similar to dry soil - as it gets very warm (and sunny), plants take up water through their roots to the leaves but often water loss is greater than it can take up from the soil so the leaves become limp and may even scorch.
Spinach should be sown in small batches over the growing season (successional sowing) Avoid sowing when it is too cold or too hot (that is, sow mid-spring to early summer, or from late summer to early autumn) They are quick growing and can be used as a cut and cum again plant so after picking the outer leaves, new leaves will grow - along with successional sowings, there will be plenty of spinach to harvest. As the plants are grown for their tender leaves, you will find they do have a lot of common pests (aphids, caterpillars, slugs & snails and so on) You could grow them spinach plants inside cages covered in fine mesh netting or horticultural fleece, but also don't forget to put measures in place against slugs and snails as well.
As well as watering regularly, the soil needs to be fertile so dig in lots of compost or manure to assist in that moisture retention, particularly if you have sandy soil. Also consider growing near to taller plants (for example, sweetcorn or runner beans growing up poles) which can provide some shade, preferably at midday when the sun is at its strongest.
A popular spinach variety Medania is awarded the RHS Award of Gardening Merit (AGM). I'm afraid that's the limit of my "expertise" but an alternate to spinach is of course Perpetual Spinach (which belongs to the beet family) which is much more tolerant of growing conditions in its first year (like beetroot, it will go into seed production in the second year)

Trev62 wrote: ↑ 03 Apr 2023, 19:35 Spinach, one thing we tend to grow a lot of here mainly for all the animals as they all enjoy munching on it however we do dehydrate a portion of it to add too our stock powders and to sprinkle on certain dishes.

Anyone having worked in the garden during March will definitely feel the strength of the sun in April - many spring flowers are all out, buds on bare trees and shrubs are getting bigger and ready to burst into flowers or leaves at any moment. Winter is starting to become an almost distant memory though technically, snow into early May is still a possibility (I remember walking the dog in the 1980s and looking up at the streetlights in amazement as heavy snow flurries came down one night in mid-June. It soon turned to rain but was still quite a sight to see)
If you had seeds planned for a March sow and still haven't done it, now is a very good time to get these done - you'll probably find they'll germinate much quicker at this time of year as the soil temperature rises, and catch up with any earlier sowings. The UK weather in April is like a double edged sword though - during the day, the increased warmth of the sun particularly in sheltered areas can feel like spring is well on its way and many outdoor plants respond and start to grow in earnest (particularly unwanted plants like weeds!), but those same clear blue skies can bring overnight frosts. Most early spring sowings (broad beans, cabbage family) and established plants can usually tolerate light frosts, but their tender new growth aren't as hardy so a little protection especially at night would be beneficial. Cloches, mini tunnels and horticultural fleece, even straw are probably a good idea. These structures can however, also be lovely hiding places for pests too, in particular, slugs and snails which munch on the tender new foliage and seedlings. Even if you have put measures on the soil surface to prevent them from reaching the plants, they can also climb up the structures and reach the top growth from above if the plants are tall enough.
You might also want to consider sowing the seeds of warmth loving plants like runner beans, French beans, sweetcorn and squashes indoors about now. Personally I would leave the beans until much later and would prefer to sow them direct outdoors in late April to mid-May when the risk of a frost is lower. The main reason is that their growth can be rapid as the growing tip reaches to scramble up posts so they really need to be planted outdoors as soon as possible otherwise they turn into triffids overnight. Many a gardener has learned the hard way however, that Mother Nature never plays fair and just when you are admiring your plants taking off, along comes an unexpected harsh frost. On the other hand, there has been a general warming trend where spring seasons are starting earlier and autumn weather is milder ... those who live near coastal regions or further south may be able to get away with sowing outside direct, but those further inland really should still watch out for late spring frosts.
Warmth loving plants need warm soil/compost for germination so for an "early" start, they should be sown indoors about 4-6 weeks before the last anticipated frost for your area (from experience, my area is about 25th May) when the young plants can then be hardened off and planted outdoors in their final bed. My ideal sowing of warmth loving plant seeds indoors would be from about the 3rd week in April (and trying to coincide it with a warm spell of weather - this is where watching the long weather forecast can become an obsession. My "cut off" date for last sowings would be about the 2nd week of May - any later, and fruit from late sowings may not develop or ripen in time in my area before autumn) I also discovered that cars parked in the sun in April / May make great "propagators" as the interior quickly warms up ... a few seed trays in the boot of the car (well, rear hatch) and germination would be very quick providing I remembered to bring the trays indoors in the evenings. Many of my warmth loving plants didn't actually get planted out until after mid-June ... not because I had timed it that way but mainly because I was probably still very busy catching up with the earlier sowings to plant out, sowing direct, digging, earthing up, weeding, watering (particularly if it was a dry spring) and all the usual hectic gardening activities on an allotment plot at this time of year.

Trev62 wrote: ↑ 06 Apr 2023, 20:01 I agree that April is a busy time or rather "should" be a busy time, in between the deluges of rain, the odd sleet/snow and night temperatures dropping below zero again we are treading water (or should that be in treading in water) until things improve.

Oh don't get me wrong about how changeable the weather is ... in the UK, the spring weather in recent years has been fairly stable but there have been years when it has done nothing but rain most of April and well into May and June - I remember 2007 was bad. It was when I had decided to take on a second allotment plot which was covered hip high in tall grass and brambles and I just couldn't get anything done because of the heavy deluges - I couldn't cut it down and every time I tried to put weed killer down, the clouds swept in and another deluge washed it off. At one point, I was walking ankle deep in water and wondering if taking on the plot was such a good idea after all (that's when I opted for raised beds) 2012 was particularly bad which miraculously changed just in time for the London Olympics. I'm not sure if this is a new trend as a result of climate change or just happens to be part of a cycle, usually influenced by other factors including the El Nino / La Nina effect which has a global affect on drought and rainfall patterns, or a combination of both giving more extreme events (last year's record heatwave temperature and all those wild fires in Europe and North America (worse than usual) is about as extreme as it could get, not to mention seeing the news of dry river beds including the River Danube so low)