Something new

I'd love to say that the 'something new' was that we had been treated to a real downpour and we were no longer having to carry watering cans about. I'd love to tell you that - but I can't. Any 'rain' that has fallen has been measured in fractions of a millimetre or on one exciting occasion three millimetres.

It did rain during our weekly walk around the parkland at Nostell. It was enough to have us donning our raincoats but as we drove nearer to home, only eight miles away, it became obvious that no rain had fallen where we needed it. 

At least now we don't have as much watering to do on the allotment as many crops have either been harvested or are coming to the end of their productive life.

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

Rain - what rain?

Storms are regularly being mentioned in weather forecasts and I read reports of thunderstorms and heavy rain. So far none have headed our way. Still, the most that the weather gods will offer us is light drizzle or, as I have heard it referred to, nuisance rain.

Early in the week, in preparation for the downpour, I decided to lift one lot of onions. The tops had dried and I didn't want to risk the onions being soaked.

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

A topsy turvy week

We had quite a change of routine last week.

Work on the allotment has been confined to watering - lots of watering - and harvesting. A hosepipe ban is planned for the end of the month which could actually benefit us. We water our plants using watering cans as we like to know just how much water we are giving the plants. As I've mentioned before, water pressure on our site is abysmal. If two people are filling a can at the same time it takes ages. If someone is using a hosepipe, the flow of water can reduce to a trickle and in some parts of the site not even a trickle is delivered. Hopefully if use of a hosepipe is banned it should mean filling watering cans will be easier.

We usually go to the allotment in the afternoon but we decided that afternoon temperatures, last week, were just too high to be working outside .

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

Better than expected

Well isn't it a difficult year for gardeners and farmers? Any rain that is falling just wets any bare earth as it isn't heavy enough to penetrate any plant top-growth. To deliver moisture to plant roots we have to rely on the watering can.

One crop being prioritised is a couple of rows of peas. Pods have set and I want to give them every chance that I can to swell. I gave the bed at least ten cans of water. This was delivered without the rose directly to the roots.

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

July in Pictures

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

Drizzly

We only managed a couple of visits to the allotment last week. We had a couple of appointments and the drizzly rain was enough to make gardening a less attractive proposition.

Most mornings we have pulled back the curtains to evidence that it has rained during the night but unfortunately this has been drizzly rather than the much needed heavier rain. Overnight our rain gauge has only collected millimetres or even fractions of a millimetre. During the day, it has felt more like that we were surrounded by low clouds rather than actual rain. Our couple of days of heat was certainly a blip and it certainly hasn't felt summery.

The wetness, I can't bring myself to call it rain, has been enough to encourage the weeds and the grass to grow. During our couple of visits there was little time to deal with weeds of cut grass as our priority was to harvest. A tidy plot isn't much good if you allow your crops to spoil.

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