I want to cry!!

[glosterwomble]

I need to let off steam and stamp my feet very firmly so please ignore me whilst I do, I have just checked on my Outdoor toms and it appears that the whole Bl**dy lot has got blight!!  >:( >:( >:(

I'm SO GUTTED!!! :'( Isn't it crazy that we get so emotional about it, my partner has to bring me down to earth and remind me that no one has died and that life will carry on (which is true) but you feel so angry that the plant that you grew from a seed and nurtured has gone and snuffed it!

Last year I made some fab chutney with the huge glut of toms which we loved and had with everything, oh well.

Shall we pretend this summer never happened??  :-\ Roll on summer 2008!!  :)

[glosterwomble]

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

same thing happened to me as of yesterday. 70 plants, 15 varieties. So much for the Year of the Tomato. I knew it was going to happen weeks ago, so i'd got over the disappointment even before it happened. As Homer Simpson said -you learnt an important lesson today, Bart. You tried, and you failed,,,,,,,,and the lesson is, don't try

[Trixiebelle]

Know the feeling Womble  :-\

I am SOOOOOOO f***ing pissed off. Especially since I've been researching the whole phenomenon about rainfall and it would appear that it's to do with Global warming and 'man-made'
atmospheric conditions.

It makes me sad & mad:

I look at my 3 allotment sites and GET ANGRY.

[greenscrump]

poor thing Glosterwomble  :(,   so much effort and nurturing for nought.  As you say - roll on 2008  :)

[mellor]

fustrating yes very!

man made - doubt it.

its not the first time its been like this and it wont be the last, just probably the first time we've experienced it in our society with a growing need to have a theory or to be able to put a label on something.

All we can do is make sure that we adapt our plots to cope with such eventualities, although somethings we cant ......like blight etc.

for example runner beans were flooded out this year due to water running off the avenue into my plots so its off to wickes to get some boards and for next year i'll have two raised beds just for beans.

[wildthing]

I don't think it's Global Warming - man made or otherwise. It's Weather!
After all there was no industrial pollution at the time of the last Ice Age .
If Global Warming was man made, why didn't it happen during the Industrial Revolution with it's "dark satanic mills", smogs and so on?  In fact, rather than warming, the Thames froze over in London.
I can remember walking back from Merton to my parents' house when I young. It took us over 6 hours, taking it in turns to carry my little brother. The trains, buses and trolley buses all stopped running. We started walking in single file. My father leading, and mother at the back, holding on to the person in front. Other people joined on and left as they reached home.  After that came the Clean Air Act. I don't remember a Smog since then, so air pollution is much less now. This is just another band wagon the politicians have jumped on. I think it was 1949 that Windsor was badly flooded. There were much less cars and planes then. Carbon footprint be blowed.

[tim]

Whatever it is, it makes one a bit sad. All our remaining potatoes must be cut down. They looked so good. But at least we'll have potatoes. Not so our outdoor tomatoes.

[glosterwomble]

Thankyou for the comments, I'm feeling a bit better now!! I had only just found the blight when I posted the first comment so I've calmed down, I didn't lose as many as you though Rhubarb Thrasher 70 plants :o you have every right to feel gutted!

[SueSteve]

glosterwomble (hugs). Sorry to hear about your Toms, I felt exactly the same when I found it on my spuds, fortunately they were ok. I now have it on my Toms at teh lottie, but not at home.
Well I have to say that I believe that it is global warming enhanced by human activities that has caused the problems we are having. I have spent the last 4 years doing palaeoclimate research, and in my opinion GW would be happening anyway, but now it is happening a lot faster than I have identified as happening in the past. Too fast for life to adapt.

[Tee Gee]

One for the older end;

I seem to remember that around thirty - forty years ago Summers always seemed to be wet (perhaps not as wet as this) although I do remember the disaster in Lynmouth in the early sixties.

My point is;

........is this the same as what we used to call the normal British summer? i.e. as soon as you packed a case to set of for the seaside the rains came, then when you got back to work the sun came out, and does this mean we can expect blizzards & deep snow drifts this winter?

I must admit I am not 100% convinced that this is all man made, can it be a ploy so that the powers that be can install more stealth taxes upon us?

To my knowledge; the south pacific ocean is colder than normal, and this has affected the jet stream which in turn has affected our climate.

Should the question not be; what has cooled the south pacific?

edit; Sorry if I have gone off the forum subject i.e. edible plants!!

[Jeannine]

Hi Glosterwomble, also sending you hugs and yes I too am looking forward to 2008. We lost our crops to floods overnight so I can relate to how you feel.

Losing anything you care for is grieving, wether a loved one ,a pet or a plant and while they are all different  the loss is hard at first. I try to balance it by telling myself that I can grow the plant again,not so the loved one or pet.

Take care, and start working out your plans for next year, I have found that has helped me.

XX Hugs Jeannine

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

I don't mind about the tomatoes too much. I had a premonition. It's just a shame because a lot of them came from seed swaps with people here, and they all looked so interesting and exciting

just have to look forward to all the new beans i've got, again partly from people here. Or do beans get blight too?

[saddad]

No just slugs!
;D

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

what do you mean "just" slugs? Aren't those pesky molluscs enough?

we've got more to worry about. Last Monday I caught a girl of about 10 trying to steal some shallots from my plot (twice). She must have been sent round to get them. Good to see her Mum is encouraging a healthy diet.I had too pull them all up on the one day I didn't have the car.

On the Wednesday some kids were damaging a plot, one of the out of sight ones. I had to chase them out several times and got a reasonable amount of abuse

the fence has been cut with wire cutters this week

today i see that the same plot has had all their sweetcorn cut down. It's their first year and they've worked so hard

Chester police just now have a period of zero tolerance of anti-social behaviour, so of course all these problems will vanish in a day or two, and the natural order of peace and harmony will return for ever and ever, Amen

[quizzical1]

Chester police just now have a period of zero tolerance of anti-social behaviour, so of course all these problems will vanish in a day or two, and the natural order of peace and harmony will return for ever and ever, Amen

Yeah right!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eristic]

just slugs!

They must have escaped from my experimental farm where I hope to launch a new product to the Japanese market called slugshi.

Should the question not be; what has cooled the south pacific?

I thought the South Pacific was being cooled by the melting icebergs. The real question is, What is melting the icebergs?

Whether the weather is caused by mans activities I cannot say but the climate has noticeably changed over the past 30 years or so. Who remembers when you had to take geranium cuttings every year to keep your stock? What worries me is if the guilty jetstream stays where it is now, we are likely to get a severe storm about a week after each hurricane in the us crossing between London and the Midlands.

[glosterwomble]

Hi Glosterwomble, also sending you hugs

Thanks Jeanine, aren't people nice on here!  ;D

glosterwomble (hugs). Sorry to hear about your Toms, I felt exactly the same when I found it on my spuds, fortunately they were ok. I now have it on my Toms at teh lottie, but not at home.

And thank you to a fellow Gloucester resident/sufferer!!! Hope you're coping alright without water like us Suesteve. It's been so bad this last week that I haven't even got to the plot to discover if the potatoes are suffering aswell.....watch out folks another crying session imminent if they have blight!!  :'( ;D

[markfield rover]

In the process of loosing all ours at home in gh and plot, you cant get upset, just look for the positive, in my case huge
blousy dahlias .I am planning next years tommies  it is going to be a good year(official)

[glosterwomble]

I am planning next years tommies  it is going to be a good year(official)

Can we hold you to that one !!!  ;D

[markfield rover]

Like Wylie Coyote, if I do not look down,,,,,,,      !