Author Topic: Rain  (Read 12025 times)

Digeroo

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Re: Rain
« Reply #40 on: July 31, 2018, 06:31:24 »
Another light sprinkle in the night.   We have had a total of about 1/2 inch and that seems to be it for  10 days at least.  Radar map shows  it is raining here now but it isn't.  Haven't stopped watering.  Hopefully it rained more somewhere up above Cheltenham and will flow through the limestone and arrive in the well we use. 

About an inch down it is bone dry.  Not sure how far down it is dry but I have lost an unwatered blackcurrant bush.

galina

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Re: Rain
« Reply #41 on: July 31, 2018, 07:42:37 »
I noticed that our gooseberry is dropping leaves and so is the apple tree.  Clearly leaves at this time of year are expendable.  :wave:

pumkinlover

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Re: Rain
« Reply #42 on: July 31, 2018, 08:10:14 »
Have you had any rain yet Galina?

galina

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Re: Rain
« Reply #43 on: July 31, 2018, 09:19:53 »
We have had two short deluges this morning and a few hours of light rain a couple of days ago.  Ground still very hard though, but I hope after this morning that will have changed, haven't been out yet.  Yesterday it was still nearly impossible to penetrate the ground with a fork to get potatoes.   Cracks are still there, but narrowing. 

How is it your way Pumpkinlover?   :sunny:

BarriedaleNick

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Re: Rain
« Reply #44 on: July 31, 2018, 09:38:52 »
We had a wet weekend and a massive downpour last night. SE London is changing colour again - back to green!
OH plots has just soaked it up and I am just off to see if I can get a fork in mine.. 
Naturally loads of toms split over the weekend!
Moved to Portugal - ain't going back!

Digeroo

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Re: Rain
« Reply #45 on: July 31, 2018, 11:19:38 »
I sowed  some crimson clover on Saturday the rain has got it very excited it has already germinated.  I hope it does not get cooked over the weekend.

Pescador

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Re: Rain
« Reply #46 on: July 31, 2018, 18:58:34 »
I was able to do some digging on my new plot today with the soil in perfect condition after that rain. It had soaked in at least 30cm.
Made it slightly easier to pull out all those Mares-Tail roots!!
Then just 20 minutes of blackberry picking to get 1.5kg of huge, ripe, sweet berries. That 8Kg so far this year!
Like us on Facebook. Paul's Preserves and Pickles.
Miskin, Pontyclun. S. Wales.
Every pickle helps!

Digeroo

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Re: Rain
« Reply #47 on: August 03, 2018, 23:38:22 »
30 cm!!  That's fantastic. I wish.   We managed about 2.5cm and that has already evaporated with wind and sunshine.   Back to dry as a bone.

We have had a total of about 1.25 cm of rain in 9 weeks.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2018, 23:41:08 by Digeroo »

Digeroo

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Re: Rain
« Reply #48 on: August 08, 2018, 06:21:57 »
Looks like some got thunder storms yesterday.   There was some chance for us next Saturday but that has now disappeared from the forecast. 

6 20 am off again to water.

lezelle

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Re: Rain
« Reply #49 on: August 08, 2018, 11:44:35 »
Hi Ya, We got rain and thunder forecast for last night but the thunder didn't happen and we got a shower of rain. I use the term shower loosely as my rain gauge said 0.05" in my measurement but in converts to 1.25mm. So nothing to write home about. A colleague who lives 30 miles away got a deluge and filled his water butt up to the top. 30cm's of rain, wow, 12" of the precious stuff in my measure, I'm not sure our ground would take it as it's so dry it would just flood. Funny thing rain as someone gets gallons who is nearby and us nothing. Our time will come but I hope it's quick and not all at once.

lezelle

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Re: Rain
« Reply #50 on: August 10, 2018, 10:48:54 »
Hi Ya, Well the weather truly broke yesterday afternoon. I was well pleased 4 full water butts at home and looking good on the plot. I measured it at 0.75" about 17.95 mm's I think. Any way this weekend looks promising I will be able to do quite a bit about the place. That said it will more than likely rain and I won't be able to get going. Still temp's are more manageable and comfortable.

ACE

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Re: Rain
« Reply #51 on: August 10, 2018, 12:16:04 »
Bound to rain today, Cowes week fireworks, the 3 Queens liners leaving port together, Red Arrows and loads of attractions down in the town. I got really soaked through this morning. Done a bit of digging in a cool sort of drizzle, then it sort of got heavier and I thought I am already damp so I will finish the row, it then got even heavier for the cycle home. No need for a bath today.

Digeroo

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Re: Rain
« Reply #52 on: August 16, 2018, 10:44:59 »
We have just had just over five hours of rain.  But I am gutted to find it is only about 1cm total.  That is just enough to get the weeds excited.   Hopefully it might help  the raspberries.   

Tee Gee

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Re: Rain
« Reply #53 on: August 16, 2018, 13:05:27 »
Quote
We have just had just over five hours of rain.  But I am gutted to find it is only about 1cm total. .   

Snap!

Beersmith

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Re: Rain
« Reply #54 on: August 16, 2018, 23:18:35 »
Between early May and late July my rain guage recorded a more or less total drought. One intense storm lasting little more than an hour dropped 33mm, one damp day totalled 16mm but others were entirely dry and a very few recorded trace readings such as 2mm or 1mm.

My plots are too far from the water troughs to make watering all my crops feasible, so I watered selected bits fairly heavily and only infrequently.  The results were far better than you might expect. Indeed, there were some genuinely positive things to report.

Firstly, potatoes where yields were down, fewer and smaller potatoes, but totally free of blight so overall no worse than a bad blight year. Secondly, strawberries where I had a great harvest before the drought really started to do damage. Onions too were good, bulb size again a bit below average but they ripened extremely well and I had far fewer losses from rot than usual. Courgettes squashes and cucumbers all good, though I put the work in here watering when needed. Sweet corn have been no better or worse than usual. The lack of blight has also helped my tomatoes.

There's plenty of bad news of course, I have had a disastrous year for beans despite my efforts with watering. The conditions seemed Ideal for blackfly to thrive, and my runner and French beans were literally black hardly setting a decent bean. The infestation was so heavy the few beans that did set were themselves covered with blackfly. Again a combination of drought plus pests has hit my brassicas hard and here the problem was flea beetle. Heavy attack killed many newly set small plants, and even bigger established plants have been badly weakened. Then after fruiting, my strawberry plants have died in substantial numbers. Not helped by a mole that decided to burrow tbackwards and forwards through the bed.

For me the conclusion was pretty obvious. Where the only issue was drought things were not too good but not a disaster. Where the effects of drought and heat stress was amplified by other pests plants could not cope with the combined effects and things were truly bad.

One other curiosity. I like Inca berries and usually grow three or four bushes. They have grown well this year but are  perplexing because the plants have consistently produced very few flowers. Hence very few lanterns and little fruit. On one bush I tried pinching out to encourage bushing but it made no difference. Has anyone else noticed an effect like this. I had assumed they would love the heat and grow like the blazes and was looking forward to a good crop. Well they have grown well but purely vegetative growth. Any advice or similar experiences would be gratefully appreciated.

I try to see the glass as half full rather than half empty. And, of course, next season will be perfect!!


Not mad, just out to mulch!

Vinlander

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Re: Rain
« Reply #55 on: August 17, 2018, 10:04:07 »
One other curiosity. I like Inca berries and usually grow three or four bushes. They have grown well this year but are  perplexing because the plants have consistently produced very few flowers. Hence very few lanterns and little fruit. On one bush I tried pinching out to encourage bushing but it made no difference. Has anyone else noticed an effect like this. I had assumed they would love the heat and grow like the blazes and was looking forward to a good crop. Well they have grown well but purely vegetative growth. Any advice or similar experiences would be gratefully appreciated.

Are your Inca physalis the perennial kind or the properly annual kind?

I'd recommend you grow both (though seeds of the true annual ones are harder to find) - their response to weather is pretty different.

This year the annual ones have done much better outside than usual and I'm looking forward to a good crop from larger than normal bushes (though I started late -  the "year of no spring" meant my first batch of seedlings failed, and I'm mainly relying on transplanted volunteers).

Are your perennial ones very like the shop version? I find their intense aroma unpleasant and only grow "Aunt Mollys" which have a delicious, much cleaner taste.

The Molly that survived the winter in my (draughty) polytunnel has been providing early berries for 2 weeks now, though its size and thuggish sprawl mean that I will be putting (water-rooted) cuttings in their own outsize cloche next year so I might be able to claw back 20% more space in the tunnel by 2020.

Are your perennial ones from seed? You'd be lucky to get fruit before September.

Are they older plants but outside? Same result.

Cheers.

With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

Beersmith

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Re: Rain
« Reply #56 on: August 17, 2018, 20:12:35 »
Vinlander

Thank you. Have a like! I did not know there was so much to learn about Inca berries. Rest assured I'll be researching further. Up until now I have found them a fairly easy crop. Few problems and  troubled by pests. I had a plant them forget them approach.

The advice is much appreciated!
Not mad, just out to mulch!

Tee Gee

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Re: Rain
« Reply #57 on: August 17, 2018, 20:33:17 »
I'm curious what is the difference between Inca berries and Cape Gooseberries?

Vinlander

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Re: Rain
« Reply #58 on: August 19, 2018, 10:59:57 »
I'm curious what is the difference between Inca berries and Cape Gooseberries?

If you read the Wiki Physalis page you will find they are all closely related. 

There may be separate species in the wild but they have been cultivated in South America for so long I'd be surprised if they aren't all just a spectrum of crosses. I suspect the properly annual ones are outliers. The names are even more fluid than the genetics - and invented marketing names make it worse - it's a nightmare to work out which seeds you are buying.

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

ACE

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Re: Rain
« Reply #59 on: August 27, 2018, 07:52:56 »
A months worth in a day, looks like wellies if I need to work the plots today.

 

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