t already has the feel of autumn. Everything looks tired, and leaves are beginning to litter the ground.
The allotment certainly looks autumnal, and our thoughts are turning to next year. It seems to me that the seasons are shifting.
Another week has passed with no rainfall, and another week has passed with no improvement to our water supply. At least now, with many beds having been cleared, there is less watering to be done.
What a year!
It started off with beds too wet to dig. There was a very short window when the soil was workable. Then the window slammed shut, and it became too dry to dig or even do any planting.
We had not one but two late frosts that killed off the newly emerging potato growth.
The dry spell morphed into a full-blown drought, which meant much of our time was spent lugging a watering can around the plot rather than doing more interesting things. The task was made harder by the fact that our water supply was at times a mere trickle.
A few hot days and windy weather did a good job of thwarting our efforts to keep plants well watered.
Then last week, storm Floris gave everything a battering,
There's lots of weeding to tackle, but this has to be neglected. If we stop watering now all the previous work will have been pointless.
It's not the driest year that we have experienced - 2011 takes that accolade. July's short spell of heavy rain means this July has ended up being the fourth wettest July since Martyn started recording weather fifteen years ago. The problem is that the rain that fell this July fell on parched ground and made little impact.
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