Allotments 4 All

Thought you might like to see my BROWN grass and barren herbaceous border!

Apple seem to be doing OK

Installed a new water barrel this morning as part of the renovations to my garden before I give up my allotment at the end of the year!

Same here Tee Gee not a drop in Barnsley not sure if any will reach us tomorrow either

at huddersfield town today i think there was a few tears

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at huddersfield town today i think there was a few tears

Yes a big difference from last year! For example last year it was quite wet season and Town were at the top of the league after their first match of the season.

Plus I have had the worst season I ever have had, I lost interest in this season back in June and on average I have only spent about three hours a week on the plots since then.

To be quite honest I am looking forward to my retirement from allotmenteering. As I mentioned in another posting I have had a good innings so time for a change!

Just been out to check we had about 1 cm last night.  Up to then we had had about 1/2 inch total covering 10 very hot weeks.   We had at least had some very heavy showers the last week in May which I think you missed in Huddersfield.
There is currently two large blobs on the radar one Swansea and south Wales and the other from north of Exeter which stretches out of view beyond the French coast and we look set to neatly dance through between the two.
Our apples trees looks good. But Discovery which has turned red has rather poor eating quality.  The flesh is dry and woolly.  Blackberry doing well.

It absolutely chucked it down in the SE.  Driving on Friday down some country B roads was a mare with floods and huge puddles causing massive slowdowns.  Have been away all weekend so haven't been to the plots yet so I have yet to see what has been flattened and what has swelled and split!

Here in SE Wales we had 65mm between Friday morning and this morning. And Thursday into Friday night there was torrential rain, but I didn't have a measure out.

Total for July 24mm, August so far 5.9mm .N E Hampshire
The weeds in my lawn are revived.
Plotwise, most crops are fine, beans have stopped flowering, but hopefully may try again. The clay layer below has remained moist (4" down) and the mulch upon the nodig has done its job. Potatoes planted in manure/compost/leafmold are clean, polished and with a good result, approx 60Kg from 50 tubers. Varieties : Apache, Charlotte. Pink fir apple still to harvest- be a couple more weeks subject to blight-
Main problem is everything has peaked at the same time!
The small amount of rain (gratefully received) has permitted sowing of the August selection of autumn crops mainly those leafy things to stand into the winter under cloches/fleece covers such as endives, Hilde lettuce, spring onions, mitzuna, kotsuma, chinese cabbage, spinach

We have had loads of rain having had none for so many weeks both water butts are now filled again sadly not helped the potatoes which have had quite poor yeilds so far. Greenhouse is confused though.

2mm this morning.  They forecast 3mm.

No more forecast for the next 10 days but at least temps are set to stay in the high 20s and low 30s which means we can function.   Had to hide for the recent very hot days when we got to 46C on the front doorstep which faces full south, I know, but even so......

Potato harvest OK as we had loads of rain till late June and we're still allowed to water between 8pm and 8am and we've been rotating watering round them, the toms and the squashes.   Tomato harvest is excellent so far but the sweetcorn is a disaster.  Most of the cobs have a gall that looks like charcoal ashes when they pop and the few unaffected cobs are malformed and dried up.  Won't bother again.   Beetroot and recent plantings of broccoli and celeriac look good as does the radicchio.

Fartichokes and sweet potato experiment doing well as long as they get watered but it'll be awhile before we see what the crop is like.

I hope you get some decent rain soon Tee Gee and everyone else whose plants are gasping.  I don't think our grass is going to green up till September now.

Measured the water level in my new water butt after some overnight rain and found that it had risen one inch so at this rate It might get filled by Xmas.

Had a look at a few of my planters and these are getting a bit worse for wear and are showing the effects of this long dry spell, so I relented and gave them a drop of water.

When is it going to end? I am missing my moan about the typically wet summers we used to have

The only people that I find that are enjoying this dry spell are the T.V. Weather forecasters who are just loving telling us the good news ( in their opinion) that we are going to have more hot dry weather.Then occasionally they will say that if you are unlucky (or is that lucky?) you might get the odd shower, which never materialises although to be fair with comments like that one day I think one of these they will get their forecast right.

Ah! The balmy British Weather without it we would often  have nothing to moan (talk) about.

I've got so sick of the BBC forecasting rain and us not getting more than a few drops, that I decided to ignore it and put the washing out - 5 minutes later it was pouring down- but only for a few minutes- enough to soak the washing but not to wet the soil.