You are not the first person I have heard say this, FW. In contrast my other half has had an excellent ripening of her tomatoes in pots in the garden. We have been enjoying them for weeks. She is growing "Tumbling Tom" - and locals with these in glasshouses echo your thoughts.

Yes, my greenhouse Tom's are rubbish this year, which is a shame as they're usually my most productive veg/fruit.

It was the May heatwave that stunted them initially, especially the plums which stopped growing entirely at that point and haven’t even set fruit. 

May is a crucial time for tomato's, its the period when they really set their roots and start their vegetative growth in earnest. That early heatwave really set us up for a totally rubbish year here in the South. 

Quite.

I think the ingrained memory of the dreadfully unpredictable blight filled damp summers of years past has skewed my view of tomato growing. Since 2018 i suspect I would have had just the same success outside, excepting 2024 perhaps. 

The ones I've got in grow bags are a disaster. I'll probably give up on grow bags because since going peat free they've been useless.

The ones directly in the ground are very successful, with an abundance of tomatoes already. They seem to think they're in France or Italy. 

I agree, and so does the coal face within the horticulture industry (which i work in). Peat free growing mediums are useless, they're simply pumped full of nitrates so the plants appear to do well at first but this tails off very quickly so you're constantly having to water, aerate and feed more in order to get the same results.

We initially went PF here on our holding nursery but after a couple of years we were forced to go back as it was having a notable effect on our stock. Nearly all of our growers still use peat, and in fact its very difficult to go PF when the starter stock from Europe is mostly grown in peat, so even so-called PF plants will likely have a small core of peat around the root from when they were grown as a liner in Holland or elsewhere. 

Its irritating as I’m a massive environmentalist, but I’m hugely conflicted on the use of peat. 

It's a fascinating article - almost mocking in tone with a bit of derision thrown in for good measure.

It shows just how much our climate, especially the South of the UK, has shifted in 30 years. Olives are very happy, Cannas don't need to be lifted over winter and we aren't far from Lemon trees over wintering outdoors in London. Certainly some of the hardier citrus trees now manage it.

I'd imagine that in about 20 years time Mandarins, pomegranates and the like will be a feature of many Urban gardens in the South.

Good old Anna Pavord. I'd have been disappointed to say the least, if she'd referred to bananas growing on 'trees'. She's too good for that of course.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Pavord 

The family lived in Sussex and then later, looking for somewhere wilder, bought The Old Rectory in Puncknowle, West Dorset, built for rector Thomas Seeley in 1702. The Georgian estate had one and a half acres of land, including a walled garden, a 13th-century dovecote and a neo-Gothic stone folly, built by Henry Etherington in 1846. It had been empty since the war, the house was dilapidated and collapsing the garden overgrown. They spent the first 18 months there, with young children, aged six and four with a third on the way, clearing the land back to the boundaries. They renovated and planted, staying for over thirty years, with no central heating for half that period. She grew peaches, apricots, nectarines, greengages and French pears along the warm garden walls. In 2002 the family moved to another home in Dorset with 18 acres of land and a garden already stocked with 130 species of plant.

Seems to be same here, although the comment applied to grow bag ones they are also in the greenhouse which has hit high 40's at times despite vent and doors fully open. Just got back from holiday to find some outdoor ones ripe and a yellow variety in the greenhouse with some ripe fruit but with blossom end rot! Maybe the neighbour didn't soak them enough. Best ones are outside in the ground, not pots, over the allotment.

In other news my first ripe figs of the season. I'm going to have to think of ways to deal with them so they don't waste.

Also had hedgehogs for the first time in years, much to the dog's annoyance. She prances around them barking so they roll up in a ball. I've had to move them to a more peaceful spot if she carries on too long. Their prickly armour is even uncomfortable through thick gardening gloves

A local beekeeper asked me about an apparent shortage of wasps this year. I've seen very few wasps this year too, and I suspect diet will be playing a big part, as in the dry weather there will have been shortages of insects and invertebrates and carbohydrate foods too. Buglife says:

"Diet: Adults predominately feed on nectar, but also look for sugar and carbohydrate food sources (i.e. honeydew, jam, crisps), whilst larvae are fed on proteins (i.e. other insects and invertebrates) collected by the adults."

I hadn't thought of this but you're right. I was very concerned about our sparrows this year as the flock was the largest its ever been in spring, then from July they all but disappeared. I'm pleased to say they are now back albeit not in such numbers, presumably natural selection has done its bit whilst others have moved on to new territories. 

More generally, the garden has finally perked up and September is looking settled from this weekend so I may actually be able to enjoy something resembling a garden rather than a parched savannah.

Lots of seedlings growing in the borders, although i suspect the first frosts will pick off the annuals (nasturtiums and the like). 

I'm going to focus my efforts now on getting some biannual seeds germinated in time for blooming next summer. Digitalis, verbascum, hollyhock and echium.   

The sparrows are using the feeders - about 12 of them, and a flock of 30+ starlings is about.

I too am going to tackle my front garden wildflower 'meadow' in the coming weeks (can 20m2 be a meadow?!). I'm probably a month late cutting it but with the prolonged heat and drought i thought it was best to leave it longer this year. In any case, every time i checked there were still a significant number of Orthoptera and other such things so i opted to give them a little more time to complete their life cycles. I'll be careful to investigate any new herbaceous perennial growth and report back my findings. More cowslips would certainly be a bonus!

In doing so they also got rid of the parking space for the adjacent house, which pissed off the resident 100%. No courtesy warning of work, just went ahead and did it. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crwyzvx93q0jo 

Once an important crop during times of food shortages...

Love the judging categories: - 

The Great Polden Hills Mangelwurzel Day will see vegetables judged in categories like 'Biggest Girth', 'Best Looking Legs', and looking 'Most like Donald Trump'. 😂

I'm tempted to go to Edington but I'm locked in tomorrow/cut off from the outside world because of an ironman race.

If Trump or one of his acolytes reads the story, what's the betting he'll try and serve an injunction for defamation or being thin-skinned?

Mangelwurzel "Most like Donald Trump" is a stroke of genius! 🤣🤣🤣

Dorset Is Beautiful (The Wurzels)