We have had an odd spring weather pattern too. Cooler and rainier than usual. Most of the snow cover didn't finally melted until the end of April, but then we had 11" of snow drop on May 2nd so there was no early planting year!

Most of my veg garden went in May 28-June 1st, but then we had a few nights in the 40's which made my cukes and beans very unhappy, they are surviving but not thriving. With so much rain and cloudy weather, on the few days that we have had where it was high 70's low 80's and sunny, the plants are drooping and complaining as if I hadnt hardened them off at all.

Lettuce, broccoli and peas have been looking great, but I may just re-start the beans. Luckily I didnt put out the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants until after the cold weather passed, and with so few sunny days they are not growing fast, but they mostly look healthy so far.

My Dahlias I started inside under lights and they were all 8" - 14" tall when I planted them June 7th - they seem to be loving all the rain.

My weather has been hot and dry. We did get 2 rain storms, one Friday and one Sunday. Each gave me one tenth of an inch. It has absolutely affected the garden most noticeably by increased pressure from insects (flea beatles, grasshoppers, and spider mites) and animals which have absolutely nothing else to eat. Some things are doing okay but I am not sure how much of myself I can invest this year, it is too depressing. We also had a series of extreme fluctuations in temperature in the spring. Late frosts are not uncommon here but it would do things like go from the 70s-80s during the day and then drop to a low of 17. That did a number on many of the perennials and I think some of them just decided to stay dead.

We had a late frost, and I wasn't paying attention, and it killed all my peppers and tomatoes. I had given away all my extras already, because it was mid freaking May already!

So luckily some people gave things back, making me feel like a fool. . .Then it has been very cold, everything is going slow. I actually had cherry tomatoes ripe this time last year. (Which was unusual I will admit)

It has been rather wet here for most of the spring. Usually it turns more dry after June 16th here. My gardens have not been negatively affected as I have raised and amended most of the beds, and where not so much amended, I learned to pre-ridge rows for higher and dryer soil.

CHICAGO weather sucks for growing peppers, ESP this year. It has been raining constantly and raining as I type this, not so good of a start for anything except a few tomatoes, and herbs. One coke looks really good.

Will see what happens.

Goodluck to whoever is in the sane boat.

We have had absolutely no rain this month and temps in the upper eighties to low nineties. So far the plants seem to be doing okay, but lettuce and spinach growing is long over as is cilantro and other herbs that are bolting.

I didn't know hot weather would ruin cilantro. I'll have to remember that. I planted a few varieties of lettuce from a mixed variety Burpee pack 2 years ago in May, and the temps hit the 90's in late May, at the very time I was just about to start picking the first leaves, but they were really bitter.

We ended up getting yet another inch of rain earlier tonight when a thunderstorm cell literally stalled right over top of us for 45 minutes to an hour! That storm cell was only about 5-7 miles wide, so it should have blown over in less than 10-15 minutes but right as it got here, the cold front must have run up against the warm front because it just stopped moving and dumped some serious rain right over us!
Just what we friggin needed, more rain...

Supposedly you can seed cilantro every few weeks and have young cilantro all summer.I haven't remembered to do that, so I haven't had much luck with it! It's a cool loving plant! Funny, cause it is used in so many warn weather dishes!
I did let it bolt in my school garden and we had cilantro up the wazoo, AND ended up with about a GALLON of seed all from a 3x8' bed!
Our weather has been pretty decent this year. A couple of spikes of high 90s, but managable. One freak thunder/lightning storm! We usually don't get more than 1/2 inch from about April til November! We do have to have a watering schedule! Nancy

AND MORE RAIN......

Though the last couple of days have been relatively dry with only a few sprinkles here and there. It's threatening again for this afternoon.

Beans, toms, lettuce, Japanese eggplant and celery seem to be coping pretty well so far.

Regarding the peppers, not so........

All of them, regardless of variety, still have a few leaves left and I'm hoping that's enough to get by before the soil dries out enough for them to rebound back to normalcy, if even possible. Don't know if it's actually a fungal problem at this point or just too much water.

Are the issues in these excess water cases, below the soil or on the surface?

Good luck all and be well,
elliot

Not a great year for east-central Wisconsin. The heavy snows came late, and stayed late, with frequent late frosts. Once the snow finally let up, the rain started, and it has been pretty much non-stop... hardly ever more than 3-4 days without another soaking. It looks like the theme for my "summer" is an unending Spring.

The plots around my home were planted late, and most of the plants are languishing, waiting for more warmth & sunlight... but at least they are in the ground. Many more plants - destined for my rural garden - may die waiting to be transplanted.

The rural garden (on a friend's property) is my main garden for both food & seed production. It is in a low-laying area, with a shallow wash running through the lower corner. The good part about that location is silt loam soil of exceptionally high fertility. The bad part is that it is one of the last gardens in the county to dry out, even in a normal year. This year it has been so waterlogged that not even the surface has dried yet, and I can't even get in to knock the weeds down.

At this point, seed production from my rural plot will be impossible. Provided that I am ever able to till, I will plant more than usual of crops that are harvested immature... zucchini, snap beans, sweet corn, snap peas.

The only silver lining I see is that I may get more of a Fall garden this year, something I rarely do when I grow plants to seed. Maybe put in a late crop of peas, kale, turnips, beets, and try some Fall broccoli.

Four more days of thunderstorms in the forecast for the next week, and this year, everything the weather gurus forecast comes true. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever dry out.

After the late spring, June has been wonderfully average. Some sun, some rain, temps in the high 70s up to high 80s. Our rainfall is only 1/2" above average. The biggest effect has been that a lot of things went out late this year. Hopefully they will all catch up. The lettuce are great this year and it seems to have pushed a bumper crop of berries. It beats the pants off of the previous 3-4 summers. Those it got HOT early and stayed relentlessly hot through October.

So, does hot weather cause cilantro to turn bitter or cause its taste to suffer in some way like with lettuce in hot weather?

Well, I spoke of the stalled t storm that dumped yet more rain on us last evening, not to mention the 20 minute t storm soaking we got the day before yesterday, but now as I'd planned on going to work at my outdoor business, I saw they are calling for a 60% chance of t storms today. So I looked at the regional radar map, and whats really heading this way is a large rain mass the size of Pennsylvania, and its just one solid mass of rain, not the patches of thunderstorms the weather channel is predicting. It seems that our meteorologists not only are getting worse at weather predictions, but apparently they don't fully understand how percentages work. If there is a large, state-sized mass of dark green, yellow and some red on the radar heading directly for an area, then the appropriate percentage to use would be 100%, not 50 or 60%!

Some of the plants don't mind the flooding rain much at all, others do. My cabbage and broccoli were started from seed at the same time, planted out at the same time, but the cabbage is huge and gorgeous despite a bit of purpling of the bottom leaves. The broccoli has lost leaves and looks stunted, though it's recovering some with supplemental liquid fertilizer. The heads are just starting, and I'm not expecting much from them.

Likewise, the cucumbers are looking good, big heathy leaves starting to vine. But the melons are just sitting there with one tiny true leaf, both transplants and direct-seeded, going nowhere.

With cilantro hot temps cause it to bolt and go to seed. I plan on letting them seed my tiny herb bed and see what happens.

We were having frost warnings right into the first week of June, then all of a sudden it was summer. We missed spring entirely. Things were still seeded and transplanted, but we had to cover the garden twice, which is no mean feat when it's rather large. The rain has been all around us, but just missing us most of the time. I've been watching a storm approach us dead on on radar, even watched the black clouds approaching, then all of a sudden it dissipates or turns north. It's weird. We finally got two inches dumped on us all at once this weekend, so everything is saturated now.

Most of the garden is doing well, but it's behind because of the extended winter and various delays getting it all in (stupid day jobs). The thistles are ahead of me in places, as usual.

I sympathize with all of you who are finished with the rain. We were completely flooded in 2010. Almost everything that was direct seeded rotted. We got some potatoes and some of the things that were transplanted still produced, as well as the perennial stuff like asparagus and rhubarb, but nothing like they should have. I hated having to buy so much from the grocery store that winter. Once you've had the best, it's so hard to go back.

I don't know how anyone can expect a good crop of the truly summer vegetables in Michigan. By my count we have had 3 days above 80 so far, one of which was followed by a near frost a few days later. But lots of days above 70, plenty of rain, so for the traditional vegetables it is going to be a good year.

80 *is* summer for us, lol! Of course, I live where people are pulling out their shorts as soon as the mercury cracks 0ÃÂC.

Given the conditions some of you have had to deal with, ours is not bad by comparison. Yes, too much rain and cool weather for the beans and peppers' liking, and that awful wind storm last week, but still, I'll take it as opposed to snow in May! In a drought year I might be cursing the hillside that we put our new garden on, but this year it's been a blessing; most of our garden is actually doing pretty well. All the excess water runs off quickly so nothing stands with its little feet too wet for too long. I hope for everyone's sake that your weather straightens out soon so you can salvage something out of the year!

Edie

Funny here in AZ we throw on our coats if it drops below 80. Temps have been highs 105+ for a few solid weeks, and no rain for the past few months. Daily or twice daily watering just to keep everything alive.

summer or not, this is no weather for peppers, eggplants, okra, melon, yardlong beans. Even the tomatoes will be so-so.

I should say that my sweet corn is really nice. The first planting is beginning to tassel, and #5 planting is up. Tomatoes are lush, peppers are growing, and I pollinated a couple watermelons today. Fruit is lush too....but I have about 7 decades of experience in gardening.

I'm just glad I have kneehigh rubber boots.

I don't even remember the last time it rained here in Boise, Idaho... Maybe sometime in March?

It has been HOT and DRY here. We've had a lot of mid to high 90s, but mostly high 80s, which is too hot for June.

Of course, we also had a good freeze 10 days after the last average frost date, so this spring has been unseasonably cold as well unseasonably hot. And this past winter was SO COLD.

Dry all last year and the beginning of this year (except for a 2ft snowstorm in Feb) until the last week of May when we got a month's worth of rain in 1 week. Alternating cold(30's) then hot (90) then cold (40's) temps in May and June, finally got tomatoes out the beginning of June and MORE rain! Poured for about 20 minutes at dinner last night, weather.com is showing 0 inches but I'm guessing 1/4". More gentle rain overnight, clear this morning and then this afternoon another T-storm. So I'm saying 7.5 -8" this month plus the 3.5" last week of May.

Tomatoes are looking sad - I started replacing some yesterday and also planted 6 I'd been holding back. Haven't checked today to see how they've held up in the driving rain (had a couple broken last week). Peppers are still in 6-packs, I guess I can say they're hardened off though they may sunburn when I can get them out, 1 is blooming. Squash looks like it's loving this weather, cukes OK (seeded before squash and they're smaller), spinach is bolting and the kale and Asian greens are just OK. I guess I'll try to harvest mustard greens, tatsoi and bok choy for stirfry mix rather than salad greens since lettuce is so far behind.

Carrots are disappearing, lettuce is barely coming in after seeding twice (every time I seed we have a downpour) but the arugula in the mix is getting tall (not bolting yet). Radish bulbs are finally starting to show above the ground 3 weeks after seeding and I don't know what's happened to my chard and beets that I've seeded twice. Beans are doing OK, but I lost 2/3 of my edamame.

The only thing I'm harvesting right now that is doing really well is strawberries and they're coming to an end just as market season is beginning. Blueberries and brambles are coming along though.

Just woke up to the sound of "Partly Cloudy" coming down the downspout near my window. I'm about ready to build an ark!

dismal in the UK - a long delayed spring - the pick-your-own season usually starts on June but nothing so far. I always have a couple of pots of midsummer jam made up....again, not a sniff - everything still green. Last year was a washout too - tomatoes were a disaster although the potatoes were great (but needed copper spray for the blight). Curcubits rubbish - have barely bothered with squash this tear but the broad beans, salads and chard OK. Leeks going in this week but not bothering with sweetcorn. The tomatoes were really good when they were transplanted 3 June but have sat, sulking a bit since. Cut down from 60 to 40 after the epic fails of last year.....and I am growing a lot more potato leaf earlies (Matina).
Reading about Atlantic cycles with predictions of a wet and cool trend (summer) with very cold dry winters for the next decade.
Sheesh - depressed already.

On the upside, I had a fantastic spring bulb show which went on and on.

Dusted the peppers with fungicide last night to hopefully save them from the yellowing/spotting/falling leaf progression. Should have a dry spell which should help even more.

best of luck people.....elliot

It was 90 on Sunday and 60 and rainy yesterday here in NE Washington. I'd say unusual spring weather, but I say that every year. It was very hot in early May, then temps bounced around. My spinach when from germinating to bolting, never did harvest any. Even little 2" high plants have flowers on them. But the lettuce is doing wonderfully. I'm ready to harvest some green beans from the greenhouse. Outdoor green beans are up and appear good. Zukes are just forming baby squash. I'm trying a few tomatoes outside this year. They look pitifully small and I may put a row cover over them. Here in my territory, a greenhouse is a must for tomatoes and peppers. My corn is doing surprisingly well this year (at least for here). Cabbage is getting big, but the broccoli is small - no idea why. And the potatoes are very happy this year. They're in a wood frame lined with heavy hardware cloth to keep the moles/pocket gophers away.