2009 is turning out to be a very hard year on the plot. We have planted three runs of carrots on three different occasions and in two different locations, and none of them has taken.

Same with the parsnips.

Things aren’t much better in the greenhouse. The tomatoes, which should be putting out generous foliage by now, are thin and stalk-like and would never support any fruit unless they start bulking up.

And while out first batch of lettuce looks great and we’re eating it leaf-by-leaf in the sandwiches we take to work, the second batch has failed to take at all. Where there should be little green leaves, we have only bare soil.

I don’t understand it. We’re not doing anything different this year to last; we’re using good compost on the greenhouse plants, and we’re keeping everything properly watered.

The high point at the moment seems to be the potatoes, which are going great guns, and the strawberries, for which we were holding out no hope at all. We had a bowl of them for dessert last night. It’s the first year we’ve been able to do that.

All very strange. Let’s hope it’s just us that are having problems this year, and this isn’t a sign of more serious problems being repeated around the world.

Related posts:

1. A year on the plot: five highlights
2. The plot in 2008
3. Summer summary