Topic: Anyone else suffering from a drought ?

[Digeroo]

Last time we had real rain that went down deep was 7th June and before that Easter though a shower last week greened up the grass.  

Some idiot left the tap running so there was no water at the lottie this morning.  We certainly have not had any rain which has not been forecast, for us it is the other way round they forecast rain but it does not materialise.  They forecast cloudy and the sun comes out and tries to cooks my newly planted out brassicas.

[cornykev]

It's still hot and dry here.  ;D ;D ;D

[Ragdoll Lady]

Hot and dry here to. We have had a couple of downpours that alas only lasted 1 hour max. Apparently two days of rain forcasted for the weekend. :)

[taurus]

That line again Digeroo.  Cracks you can get your fist in.  My worst year to date.  Working lots of overtime due to (other staff ) sickness and holidays.  So much for my part time job. Seriously thinking of paying for some help for the autumn dig this year just to give me a fighting chance.  Would need a jack hammer at the moment.  Sorry if this sounds a bit moany,  just very tired.
                             Regards to you all,
                                                     Taurus 

[galina]

Same here.  It is nearly impossible to get the potatoes dug.  Ground rockhard and with huge cracks too, where I haven't been filling in.

Watered a squash plant yesterday, which was ailing and not thriving.  Suddenly the soil around the plant sunk 2-3 inches!  The squash had been sitting in a bit of crust and the clay soil underneath it had dried out and shrunk.  The squash had a watering bottle by its side which kept it alive, but I guess most of the roots were hanging in air!  Today it had grown an inch! 

We have had bad years before, but this is pretty grim.  My stored water is long gone and we are on a meter.  Now that sounds whingey too, but I really despair sometimes and it is good to get it off my chest.

[Digeroo]

I have only just gone over to metered water so I was rather dreading the bill.  But I have just had one and even with watering it was still considerably less than before.  The water from the butt filled up in a shower about 10 days ago but it seems to go so quickly.    So they are more of less empty just keeping a little for my lemon.

I am hoping to use rainwater to flush the toilet in the winter and so balance out my summer use. 

I just hope we get some rain in the winter or we will be in deep trouble next year.

The weeds seem to managed very well without much water.

[telboy]

1976 comes to mind.
That was a serious dry summer, this year certainly has been with hot periods.
I hope though that when the rain comes it won't be like '76 - didn't stop for 3 months!

[jennym]

I remember 1976, I fainted pushing a pram with baby and shopping up Chingford Mount!
It's SO dry here though, can't keep up with the watering, using as much mulch as I can but the fruit is really suffering. The trees are fine but bushes and canes need water and there's only so much time available to water, and it's all by can. I'm fairly sure it's drier than any other year I've known, and one thing I haven't seen before is the street trees here shedding leaves, you would think it was autumn to look at the leaf litter.

[Robert_Brenchley]

This is a lot cooler than 1976, and we are at least getting some drizzle!

[grannyjanny]

Robert you may be getting drizzle, sorry we are getting downpours :). OH has a big Winter jumper on & I'm going to have to put some socks on ;).

[Poppy Mole]

A little drizzle overnight but hot sunny & windy here in West Sussex

[Robert_Brenchley]

Robert you may be getting drizzle, sorry we are getting downpours :). OH has a big Winter jumper on & I'm going to have to put some socks on ;).

I wish we could have one!

[grannyjanny]

I wish I could send it for you Robert. We could do with getting on with the jobs we couldn't do because it was to dry, now it's to wet ::).

[jazzidoodle]

we're the same hasn't stopped raining for weeks!

[Pescador]

Whereabouts are you Jazzidoodle?

[pigeonseed]

It's very variable from place to place, isn;t it!

Today in Hastings we had one of those strange sea mists that make everything wet without quite actually raining properly. The top of the soil was dark. I felt pleased that everything would have been watered. But when I weeded I realised the soil underneath was dust.

I was soaked meanwhile!
Very funny weather.

[earlypea]

Totally droughted out here  :(  Didn't realise how bad it was until I went to plant out brassicas on Friday.

Beds with crops in are OK , but where they've been waiting for a second crop they're either concrete or gravelly dust.  Even the badger's given up trying to dig up my carrots, they're locked solid.

I scooped out big planting holes in the gravel and literally poured bucket loads of water into them - could hear cracking noises all the way down.

It's pretty annoying because I had planned to put out quite a few things in August too, but doesn't look remotely feasible.

Always heavy rain on the radar (now they say Friday) but it never comes.

Note to self!!!  Sow green manure after lifting crops next summer.  Last year was a similar problem but not as bad as this.

[Poppy Mole]

Still no rain, but at least I haven't had to mow the grass for several weeks.

[Digeroo]

I have been watering the brassica beds for several days before I plant them out.  I have also had to soak the seed beds very thoroughly as well in order to get the seedlings out.  I found I was just breaking off the roots.  I am also finding that standing the seedlings in a bucket of water for a few hours and even overnight seems to increase their recovery time.

I have planted out some more french beans and had watered them well in but I am worried that underneath it is as dry as a bone, it is like growing things in pots.

Heard on the weather yesterday that some parts of wales have had twice the normal rainfall  ( 300 plus mm) while parts of East Anglia have had only 5mm.  I am rather hard pressed to remember as much as 5mm.  I do not think we have had much more than this since the beginning of June.   

[:(]

Totally droughted out here  :(  Didn't realise how bad it was until I went to plant out brassicas on Friday.

Beds with crops in are OK , but where they've been waiting for a second crop they're either concrete or gravelly dust.  Even the badger's given up trying to dig up my carrots, they're locked solid.

I scooped out big planting holes in the gravel and literally poured bucket loads of water into them - could hear cracking noises all the way down.

It's pretty annoying because I had planned to put out quite a few things in August too, but doesn't look remotely feasible.

Always heavy rain on the radar (now they say Friday) but it never comes.

Note to self!!!  Sow green manure after lifting crops next summer.  Last year was a similar problem but not as bad as this.

Same here. Ive not sowed followon crops or successions of anything or green manure becuase the ground is too hard and dry. Digging up potatoes, they have boulders of soil attached. Cant remember the last time we had rain, its forecast but then passes north or south and we dont get any.