Something that you will find as a gardener, is that other people’s plots have a very different level of maturity depending on their own unique microclimate. It helps to be aware of this…
Here in Cornwall, we had a dry-but-chilly May, then quite a wet-but-mild start to June. It took some outdoor plants a while to get going, and in mid-June, our Seasoned Grower observed that her plants were growing quite slowly compared to other years.
“Upcountry,” aka across the other side of the Tamar bridge and on up into the rest of the UK, the story may be very different.
We’ve seen some gardens that are a good month ahead, producing abundant courgettes already. We’ve seen plots in Wales, which is often colder than Cornwall, where climbing beans have already reached the top of their wigwams while ours are still winding up the first half. We’ve seen five foot tall sweetcorn plants where ours are only two foot.
The absolute key difference is the climate, and it can even differ from your own garden to your next door neighbour’s garden – a higher wall that traps the warmth, an extra hour of sunshine in the evenings or better shelter from the wind all make a massive difference. If your garden is exposed, and your neighbour’s garden is protected, you may notice that their veg garden is several weeks ahead of your own.
Soil also plays a big part – gardens with more fertile soil, with better moisture retention and nutrient levels will inevitably grow faster.
What this means for us, here at Rocket Gardens, is that it is not possible to produce spot-on and timely growing advice that will apply to all our growers across the UK. We try. But, you will find in our blog a huge number of articles produced over the past ten years that you can easily search through (just use the search box!) to find pretty much anything you need help with.