Dalbeattie Community Allotments Association growers are feeling the chill of an unseasonably cold spring.
Record frost in April killed tender plants while a cool May has left vegetable crops weeks behind.
The unusual weather has also seen seeds fail to germinate because soil temperatures are too low.
DCAA chairperson Sandra McWhirter noticed a big difference from 2020 – and now hopes for a flaming June.
She said: “It definitely has not been a normal year.
“Last year it was the pandemic and this year it’s been the cold weather. I think things are a month behind normal,
“Normally folk would be lifting early tatties by the end of June but they’re only just coming through the ground.
“A lot of people have put in courgettes which don’t like frost and they have been totally decimated.
“Also a lot of seeds like peas and beans have not germinated because of a lack of heat in the soil.
“The seasons have all changed – it was a heatwave at this time last year.”
Inland at Corsock Automatic Weather Station April’s figures tell their own story.
Three of the station’s 30-year historical records were shattered because the month was so cold and dry.
Average temperature for the month was a measly 4.4C, almost 3C below normal.
Hardly any rain fell – just 10mm – while the mean daily minimum temperature of -2.4C was a staggering 5.2C lower than average.
Sandra was not surprised by the exceptional readings.
“One plot holder told me one day last month the temperature inside his greenhouse one morning was -3C,” she said.
“I could not believe it.
“I had courgettes in mine but I managed to save them because I had them half covered.
“Even then the outer leaves were all shrivelled up but they’re coming away now.”
Sandra added: “Last week I was planting leeks and the hail was hammering down.
“It was that cold and felt more like winter than late May.”
