Well, here’s my verdict on the growing season so far, on June 12th 2025. It’s a slow one!
My potato plants have been doing well, and spinach, chard, beetroot and carrots are all doing well. But beyond that, growth has been exceptionally slow. Why? Because it’s just not warm enough.
Without the warmth, some of my favourite crops to grow are just being incredibly slow to get going – sweetcorn, beans, tomatoes, squash, courgettes (although the courgettes are actually beginning to speed up a bit now, in the past 3-4 days) and the peas are all fruiting but have not grown very tall at all – barely 20cm off the ground where they should be more like 50cm by now.
Word has it that temperatures are going to be a little higher again next week, so hopefully they’ll suddenly shoot up.
I have, for good measure, given everything a liquid feed this week, and I trust that that will help them to catch up as and when this strange, almost autumnal weather switches into summer mode.
The unpredictability of the British growing season seems to become more unpredictable with every passing year. I feel that it is a good reminder that we can only work WITH the weather, and that we, as gardeners, need to be prepared to cut our losses sometimes, and to be pleasantly surprised at others. We don’t get the luxury of knowing that our crops will succeed, or exactly when we’ll be able to harvest… we just get to grow with the flow.
If you’ve been wondering if your veg garden is a little behind, then don’t panic yet – there is still good time for plants to catch up, and what I tend to find is that, even during these slightly below-average temperatures, the plants are busy putting down strong roots and will soon thrive once warmer days arrive.