Catastrophe this Winter?

My friend on the Western Isles grows vegetables in a large polycrub. These are very popular as they protect from the wind and icy cold. My friends have water butts to collect rainwater too.

Well, this summer's weather has already led to the destruction of my cabbages, and the Brussels look unlikely to survive long enough to provide us with a winter crop this year either.

The heat itself hasn't killed them, but it has led to a plague of flea beetles, the likes of which I haven't seen for years, which had done enormous damage. Neither my enviromesh netting nor companion planting could keep them at bay!

Plus my beetroot have grown so much quicker than normal that they are going to have to be eaten (or processed) quite soon, instead of being left in the ground to harvest fresh over winter, which is what I normally do.

I haven't been able to transplant the leeks yet because the earth is so hot and dry, so unless the weather changes they might be another winter veg that doesn't make it.

But so far the carrots and parsnips look OK- above ground level, anyway - so I've got my fingers firmly crossed that they at least dont succumb to the extreme weather.

I've grown my own veg long enough to know that even in a 'good' year, there will almost always always be something that doesnt grow as well as usual.
BUT, with the type of weather extremes that are becoming ever-more frequent (not just hot and / or dry summers - heavy rain all winter is bad too), I fear it might not be possible for us to grow/harvest as much from our gardens or allotments as people could in the past.

nanna8

Maybe not build on arable land and grow things instead ? Stop increasing the population until enough food is produced locally ? This applies to my country , it makes me so sick that they build on lovely arable land nonstop when they should be encouraging people to live in non arable areas which comprise most of my country . I expect it is similar in the UK. At this stage my country does actually produce enough food but it is a bit of a ticking time bomb and they just don’t consider the future at all because politicians have very short times in office now and they think short term, always.
OK Rant over.

"they build on lovely arable land nonstop when they should be encouraging people to live in non arable areas which comprise most of my country . I expect it is similar in the UK."

It's nothing like that in UK because our iskand is so small, crowded and our history is so different from yours. In UK there IS no land that hasn't already been used. We have to keep re-using exhausted post -industrial land whose previous use ( coalmining, heavy industry) make it unsuitable for building homes or growing food. . Climate change, erosion and contamination makes previously habitable areas too dangerous to build homes, factories.
The demands of farming have barely changed; crops need to be grown where the water is, where people and machines have access to tend and harvest them.

We tried pushing people to the very edge of land and sustainable survival in order to put animals on it to make more meat/wool/ money; the Clearances . We tried crowding all the workers into cities and tiny spaces right next door to their industry, until the industries died.

Unlike Australia, we don't have some a huge empty untouched area of virgin land out the back, that's never been used before, just waiting for a new idea...

More than half our garden in the 1950s was used for growing fruit and vegetables and we ate what was in season. Most of our neighbours did the same.
It may be time to use our gardens for practical purposes than for show.

We did, you’re right. Substantial inroads were made into becoming more self sufficient than before the war though, when 70% of food was imported. There’s no doubt that we could become much more self sufficient than we are now as a nation, and for many people, through their individual efforts in gardens and allotments. We waste so much.

In WW2 we also had rationing and a much smaller population (about 45million as opposed to nearly 70million. We still imported food.

I think that food in the future is going to be a problem if our current experience of global warming is a foretaste of what is to come. It's not just the UK, it is the regions of the world where it will be virtually impossible to grow any food. It will all have a knock on effect.

We eat more fish than meat. We are fortunate that we know a lot of people who go sea fishing.
We have in years past gone muscle and oyster picking.
These oyster beds arnt private.
I know where there is a lot of samphire but don’t fancy picking that now 😩

Grammaretto

We must HelterSkelter & Oreo. No choice really. Keep doing our best and be mindful of our activities including holidays and travel.
I was surprised to be asked where I had managed to park yesterday. I arrived at the Botanic gardens by bus. I haven't driven into the city centre for years.

A bit of carrot and stick to encourage sensible behaviour. Free transport for over 60s helps.

I wish we had a reasonable bus service in our (rural) area.

Three times in the last week I have had to visit hospitals, and all in different directions.

The first of those was to our nearest big town 6 or 7 miles away, If I had taken our 'local' bus, I would have had to leave home so early that I would have got to town 2 hours before my appointment, before the shops were open, and as I hadnt to eat or drink, I couldn't have passed the time in a cafe.
Instead, OH drove me to a village 4 miles away, with a nuch better service (hourly), and I took a bus from there that got me to town only 45 mins before appt.
OH did come to pick me later, as they wouldn't have let me leave alone.

Next day, 8 miles in the other direction. I could have caught a bus at the halfway point, but for that particular route it would have not made any sense to do that.
OH still had to drive me as I might still have been within 24 hours of a sedative given the previous day.

Yesterday I had to go to a hospital further away in yet another direction - though as a visitor this time.
OH would have driven me, but firstly, he now gets quite stressed in certain situations, and secondly, he is increasingly struggling to walk any distance, and hospital parking can still require a longish walk.
I hate driving, and only do it if I absolutely have to, so I drove to the same town as we had been to on Friday and took a bus from there. An hour each way - plus the walk from the town centre to the hospital and back, of course.

At 65, I won't be eligible for a bus pass for nearly two years, so even when it is an option, it is not a cheap way to get around, even with the £3 cap.

It as much about what the UK produces because that meets demand I think MaizieD. Niche crops yield higher rewards, but obviously use land that could be used to provide staple foods. If you think about what happened in WW2, people also turned their gardens over to fruit and vegetable growing, and because much more self sufficient than we are now. It’s consumer choice that has led us down the road of eating what we fancy, rather than what is seasonal and home grown or local- it goes back hundreds, or thousands of years, we were importing spices even then.

Sorry, formatting failure. The percentages given for origins of imports comes from the same document,

Casdon

nanna8

Maybe not build on arable land and grow things instead ? Stop increasing the population until enough food is produced locally ? This applies to my country , it makes me so sick that they build on lovely arable land nonstop when they should be encouraging people to live in non arable areas which comprise most of my country . I expect it is similar in the UK. At this stage my country does actually produce enough food but it is a bit of a ticking time bomb and they just don’t consider the future at all because politicians have very short times in office now and they think short term, always.
OK Rant over.

It’s not that that’s the issue though, the UK is self sufficient for wheat, and main crop potatoes, and could be for other vegetables - if we ate seasonally and didn’t want out of season or exotic vegetables, and we didn’t have fruit like oranges and bananas.

You've sent me down a rabbit hole now, Casdon.

According to government statistics for production as a percentage of consumption (latest figures to 2025) the UK is self sufficient in very little.

Barley, oats, milk, lamb!

There are questions to be asked of the figures given, but every other foodstuff listed falls short of 100%

What we actually use of home produced food seems quite small

^ In 2025, 58% of domestic consumption came from UK production (based on unprocessed value at farmgate), 23% from the EU and the remaining 19% from the rest of the world^

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/agriculture-in-the-united-kingdom-2025/chapter-14-the-food-chain?

We must HelterSkelter & Oreo. No choice really. Keep doing our best and be mindful of our activities including holidays and travel.
I was surprised to be asked where I had managed to park yesterday. I arrived at the Botanic gardens by bus. I haven't driven into the city centre for years.

A bit of carrot and stick to encourage sensible behaviour. Free transport for over 60s helps.

As I get older, I think I am going the other way to lots of people.
Got ready for things that didnt happen[maybe the answer is yet].
And now lived through ups and downs of things.

Human beings are adaptable. I remember in the seventies we got used to the electricity being turned off for a few hours on a rota basis so that everyone had some.

Food can be managed too. We had very little money when the children were small so food had to be eked out and invented ways to make food go further.

Water too could be turned off for a short time so it doesn't run out completely if droughts get worse.
We have got used to having plenty of everything but we will need to expect less when supplies dwindle.

HelterSkelter1

After a summer which has been a challenge, I think a challenging winter is ahead. There is not a lot individually we can do. Live within your means. Look out for others. Take care of yourself. Be sensible.
I see people in the hot sun without a hat, with very young children not shaded.
The reverse in the winter. Very young children not warmly dressed in biting winds. Sometimes I despair. But mostly I just crack on.

My philosophy too 😃

Calendargirl

Our regional weather man has predicted a wet, mild winter ahead.

I posted this.

I wasn’t implying that it meant more food or less shortages, it was just a comment about the type of weather we might get this winter.

🌧️

nanna8

Maybe not build on arable land and grow things instead ? Stop increasing the population until enough food is produced locally ? This applies to my country , it makes me so sick that they build on lovely arable land nonstop when they should be encouraging people to live in non arable areas which comprise most of my country . I expect it is similar in the UK. At this stage my country does actually produce enough food but it is a bit of a ticking time bomb and they just don’t consider the future at all because politicians have very short times in office now and they think short term, always.
OK Rant over.

It’s not that that’s the issue though, the UK is self sufficient for wheat, and main crop potatoes, and could be for other vegetables - if we ate seasonally and didn’t want out of season or exotic vegetables, and we didn’t have fruit like oranges and bananas.

Witzend

One positive aspect of diminished supplies of food - perhaps the obscene levels of food waste in the U.K. will decrease?

(Yes, wasting food is one of my pet fury-makers.).

I have to work close to home on this. My DH works v long hours & food-shopping seems to have developed as a hobby of his.
I buy what we need, then he goes & buys what he fancies fropm othe farm shop or Waitrose - never anything useful like milk, frequently something perishable I've already just bought from the supermarket.
We have a nice midday lunch out of his treats on the weekend, but then he's at work & won't take things for his lunch so I end up eating scotcheggs & porkpies which I'm not keen on, & expensive boughten quiches which I do make myself, just so as not to have to throw them away.
If food shortages kick in, & he keeps doing this, there's going to have to be a showdown here! He can't keep buying too much just cos he likes spending£££.

I'm with MawsRosie.

Gas storage is such an important strategic asset that the Tories should be ashamed they did nothing to preserve.

Maybe not build on arable land and grow things instead ? Stop increasing the population until enough food is produced locally ? This applies to my country , it makes me so sick that they build on lovely arable land nonstop when they should be encouraging people to live in non arable areas which comprise most of my country . I expect it is similar in the UK. At this stage my country does actually produce enough food but it is a bit of a ticking time bomb and they just don’t consider the future at all because politicians have very short times in office now and they think short term, always.
OK Rant over.

Perhaps when parliament is recalled time to set up a cross party committee on the winter as matters develop.

*I think it's possible some are counting on Trump backing down on the oil supply situation because of his mid terms coming up and popular feelings on prices in his own country)

Oh, and btw, I enjoyed the humour above. It's gallows humour. You have to laugh sometimes in adversity or possible adversity
Bring on the bikes and eclairs whist we have them, tho we might have to offer the second eclair elsewhere....😳

Lathyrus3

Well we’ll all have to learn to make do with less if the OPs worries come to fruition.

I expect we all can if it comes to it. People in the past did.

We often disagree a lot but on this one I too have given it much thought. Many - not all of course - are used to - much more than ever before...and lots of us when young, or our parents made do and mended. I know groups of 20 and 30 somethings who are doing just that (like food groups or clothes swaps or skill swaps).

But.......what we do have, needs to be shared out better. That, I do feel strongly about.

Calendargirl

Our regional weather man has predicted a wet, mild winter ahead.

A wet, mild winter won’t do anything to prevent food shortages and increased prices. We had a sopping wet winter last year (2025/26) but it’s been entirely counteracted by this summer’s drought. Farmers have been taking early harvests, because crops have ripened faster but with lower yields.

If this is going to be our weather pattern in the future we have to rethink our diets to take advantage of what can be produced.