What a week

Last week was certainly different. High temperatures were forecasted for the beginning of the week, so we decided to make morning visits to the allotment in order to make sure everything was well watered. We hoped that this would give crops a better chance of surviving the heat.

As well as watering we also managed to harvest a few things

19 July - Sweet peas, cauliflowers, blackberries, gooseberries, strawberries, blueberries, courgettes and peas

The predicted high temperatures materialised with Tuesday, our hottest day, reaching just over 40ºC or 104ºF. We spent the afternoons indoors to keep as cool as possible. It was a bit like going back into lockdown. It was eerily quiet with everyone doing the same as us and not venturing outside.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Still dry, dry, dry

We are still waiting for the elusive rain to turn up. We keep being promised thunderstorms but they magically disappear from the forecasts before they are due to arrive.

The grass everywhere is no longer green and I noticed hay bales in nearby fields. 

I remember a similar situation back in 1976 when the lack of summer rain was made all the worse as it followed a dry spring and winter. There was the threat that our water supply would be cut off and stand-pipes appeared in streets in preparation for this. Fortunately, the dry spell broke just before the stand-pipes were in use. We also had a prolonged heatwave which made matters worse. We didn't have an allotment back then so didn't have the problems that we are having now. I was teaching at the time, in a classroom that had floor to ceiling windows on two sides but we never thought of closing school.

 

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Battling on

The pantomime in London that dominated our news channels last week didn't depict the only battle that was going on.

We are still battling to keep our crops going on the allotment. We still haven't had any rain. Martyn, has a weather station in our garden and last week he told me that we hadn't had a day when the rainfall reached double figures in millimetres since February. Martyn has posted more details about our lack of rain here. We have also posted a video showing the state of our plot here.

We are trying our best to give plants enough water to keep them going but any watering that we manage can't penetrate far into the ground. The wind and latterly the heat soon dries the soil. Watering is made all the more difficult as when there is more than one person filling a watering can at any one time, the pressure drops and you can only fill it very slowly.  

Over the weekend it has been too hot to garden during the day and we have had to pop to the allotment to water in the evening when lots of people have had the same idea.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

June in pictures

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Tasty berries

It's been a very frustrating week weather-wise. We have had a little rain but only enough to dampen the top few millimetres of soil. Short showers tend to dry up before they do any good. Our frustration has been compounded by it seeming to rain everywhere but on us. We were driving home along the M1 the other evening when the heavens opened. Visibility was limited and water was standing on the carriageway. We were only three or four miles from home so thought that the rain must be reaching us. As we continued the sky began to brighten and when we arrived home the ground was merely a little damp. Then during the coverage of the British Grand Prix  they had rain on and off for most of Friday and Saturday.

Does anyone know of an effective rain dance?

We've been busy on the allotment weeding, watering and harvesting. The weeding and watering don't lend themselves to any worthwhile photo opportunities but our first lot of peas are beginning to flower and I thought that the flowers of the Kent Blue peas were really pretty.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett