Last of the summer whines

A bunch of gremlins came together this year to stymie growth in the kitchen garden, but there are ways to cope with some of them, writes FIONNUALA FALLON

THERE ARE YEARS when everything seems to go swimmingly in the summer garden – when beans are produced in profusion, potatoes crop with abundance and fruit trees are so heavily laden, it seems a miracle they remain upright. This summer is not one of them. High rainfall, low temperatures, poor light-levels and late frosts have conspired to make it the summer that never came. Most plants have suffered accordingly, but none more so than those in the kitchen garden. Here’s a guide to dealing with a few of the problems that beleaguered kitchen gardeners faced this summer.

Waterlogged ground

Plants need oxygen to grow and will struggle badly in very wet soils, while the risk of fungal and bacterial diseases also increases.

Tip: This autumn, improve the soil with the addition of garden grit and plenty of organic matter. If the site is prone to flooding/ waterlogging, consider building raised beds.

Weeds, weeds, weeds

It’s a strange conundrum for most gardeners that weeds are never affected by a poor growing season. In the kitchen garden/allotment, these can usually be managed with a regular hoeing routine, but the summer’s damp weather has made this less effective, while also increasing the germination rate of weed seeds.

Tip: Try not to let weeds set seed. If possible, hoe on a dry day, which is better for the soil and will encourage any recently hoed weeds to shrivel up before they can re-root. If that’s not possible, use a spring-tined rake to gather up the hoed weeds. Rather than dumping them on the compost heap, put them in black bags to rot down into compost. When beds are not in use, cover them with black plastic.

Slugs, slugs, slugs, and snails

As mentioned here last week, slugs and snails have devastated gardens this summer, but kitchen gardens have probably fared worst of all. Surface-feeders such as the grey field slug (Deroceras reticulatum) have damaged leafy crops, the common garden slug (Arion hortensis) has severed the stems of beans and courgettes and burrowed below ground level to damage root crops, while potato tubers are being hit by the Budapest slug, another tunnelling specialist that’s hard to catch above ground.

Tip: Grow plants hard (don’t overfeed them), hand-collect molluscular offenders at night and give them a quick death, spread organically acceptable slug pellets such as Ferramol, use nematodes, practise good garden hygiene and use sharp grit, ash, coffee grinds, sheep’s-wool pellets and plastic cloches.

Onions bolting/not ripening

Just like last year, red onions have bolted (produced flower heads) in many gardens this summer, mainly as a result of those late frosts following after milder weather. Meanwhile, white onions, although less prone to bolting, have been slow to ripen to any size.

Tip: Once bolting begins, there’s no stopping it, so forget about nipping off the emerging flower heads. Next year, avoid planting sets too early, protect recently planted sets with garden fleece where frost is threatened, and consider avoiding growing red onions altogether to concentrate on white types. Problems with ripening are as a result of low levels of sunlight, as well as summer downpours that have damaged foliage and caused the plants to stop growing.

Small crops of potatoes

Late spring/early summer frosts badly damaged the emerging foliage of potatoes in many gardens, burning growth right back to ground level. While plants eventually recovered, yields were low. Heavy rainfall throughout the summer also affected crops badly, reducing yields and increasing the incidence of blight. Tip: Keep the threat of late frosts in mind next spring by protecting emerging crops with layers of garden fleece. If blight is a constant problem and you don't like using fungicidal sprays such as Dithane, grow varieties that offer some blight resistance. Try Orla, Setanta and Lady Balfour, and in particular look out for the Sárpo range (see sarvari-trust.orgfor more details).

Rotting courgettes

Incomplete pollination of the flowers results in small fruit that rot before they swell to any reasonable size.

Tip: Nip out any courgettes that fail to develop, which will encourage the plant to produce new flowers. If the problem continues, try hand pollinating by selecting a male flower (the one without a tiny embryonic fruit at the base of the petals) and stripping off its petals before gently inserting it into a female flower.

Hothouse flowers

Heat lovers such as French beans, sweet corn, squash, tomatoes, peppers and chilli peppers have given up the ghost.

Tip: Get a greenhouse or better still, a polytunnel ( cwp.ie). In a wet summer, it will transform your experience of growing your own food.

This week in the garden

“Stop” tomato plants by nipping out the tip of the main growing shoot, which will encourage the fruit to ripen. Take semi-hardwood cuttings of evergreen/semi-evergreen plants