Cool weather: bad and good

After a promising start to May, summer has rather fizzled out, turning cool and wet again.  It was cold and wet in spring, and my plants are still behind schedule because of this--the cold meant everything got a later start than usual. 

It doesn't look so good for my corn, squash and zuc;  and my tomatoes look a bit iffy as well, though these I've been growing and saving seed from these for years so I think they might still pull through for me (being somewhat adapted to a cooler summer).  My cucumbers are also doing their best and putting out some tiny flowers but the vines are still very short.  Last year (hot but not excessively dry) I got a bumper crop of all of these, greatly increasing my year's grand total of veg--it looks like it will not be repeated this year. (Note: at least half of 2023's squash were eaten in 2024, and will go on the record for this year's grand total.)

Conversely, my cool weather crops are loving it: including my lettuce, sugar snap peas, beets, kohlrabi and other brassicas.  The pea plants were so small and spindly when I first put them in--I didn't have much hopes for them actually--and now they are cranking out about two pounds of peas per week with no sign of stopping.  Maybe they'll keep it up all summer.  The beets and kohlrabi are bulbing up much more quickly than last year, and the lettuce just keeps on coming no matter how much I pick--we're eating a salad pretty much every day.

My perennials produce whatever the weather;  whether hot or not, the raspberries, currants, rhubarb, artichokes, figs and herbs are pretty reliable.  The other fruit trees are affected but obliquely, such as if the bees are out when they flower, or if the cherries get sufficient rain in spring before the fruit matures. 

I'm used to a washout summer though--it happens frequently on this soggy island.  I've learned to plant for both scenarios:  hot and dry or cool and wet.  This way I'll at least get something!  My preference?  I like both kinds of crops really, but when it comes me personally I'm not good with heat.  I'm more of a sugar snap pea than an ear of corn.