Allotments 4 All

We were baking here in the north west as well this morning - almost 30C.  Then a huge thunderstorm burst at 3 pm.  Half an inch of rain in half an hour.  Some of the roads are flooded!  Am I glad I started early!

I'll put the graph from the weather station on my blog in a mo - for any weather nerds out there...

We just had half an hour of continuous thunder in the west. It wasn't far off but not adrop here. I hope the allotments aren't flooded; that's the direction the stream comes from.

Braai-ing under a golf unbrella at the moment as OH was determind to have one as it's fathers day!
Having first lot of new potatoes with lots of salady things from lottie. mmmm

 8) 31.8ºC max in our little garden today, even my little dog refused a walk in it and I don't blame him, I could hear thunder rumbling like and upset stomach but no rain as I was watering my Lottie at around 5pm.

Trillium, do so like your weather station, I'll keep nipping back and forth till I get the hang of it  ;) ;D

Trillium

I am impressed with your weather station. 

What did take my eye though is 'Newton le Willows'
is that in Suffolk, nr Stowmarket.  If it is, I used to live in Badwell Ash, many years ago.

;D ;D ;D

in notts we had thunder and lightning for 2 hours before the rain come. thank god for rain at night!!!

Hi Carol,

It's the other Newton-le-Willows, in Lancashire just north of Warrington.

I can't take much credit for the weather station - my other half bought it for me for Christmas.  But it is fun, and compelling.  I can keep an eye on the weather from work if I want - great if I've forgotten to open the polytunnel or left washing out!

In Essex/London it's muggy as hell!

And I think my min/max thermometer broke at the weekend - the max is now up to the max of the thermometer - 50C/120F!!! :o :o :o It is in full sun, though.

Everything in the garden is parched, despite all the gallons of water yesterday. I'm still waiting for the rain. It started this morning, but soon gave up, despite the thunder cracking away.

make it rain, please!

Poor folk in Yorkshire -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/4109692.stm

Have suffered in the North East too though not as bad as in Yorkshire.  We sat in the garden all afternoon yesterday, OH, me and the children enjoying each others company on Father's Day.  It was very hot and stuffy and then late in the afternoon the thunder started and then the most torrential rain I have ever seen. 

After the children had gone my OH and I sat in our summer house in the garden and watched about 40 frogs cavorting on our lawn, it was tremendous sight - our own Spring Watch event. They seemed to relish the downpour.

After the storm was over I popped up to our allotment to see if it was okay, and it was amazing journey, the water was streaming down the streets like a river and I was told that Whitley Bay sea front area had been closed off and several streets around abouts because of flooding from the storm drains.  The underpass on the way to my allotments was flooded with over 3 feet of water.  I couldn't get along my path on Site as it was flooded and when I spied my poor plot it was completely submerged -  it looked like a rice field. 

Was expecting the worst this morning when I popped over but it had completely drained and just left a muddy trail behind and no lasting damage as far as we can tell yet.  Hopefully it will all be okay, but what a storm! busy_lizzie   

   

We were just on our way back from Gardeners World Live at NEC when the sky turned very dark with an orange tinge. Quick decision was necessary - home and bring in the washing - or - allotment to harvest a lettuce and some strawberries?

Chose home to bring in the washing first, then down to the allotment. We just got on our plot, pulled back the mesh from the strawberries when there was a flash, immediate clap of thunder overhead and somebody turned a big tap on. We dived into our little hut (when I eventually managed to get the padlock undone!) and stood in there for half an hour watching the rain pour down.

That's two Sundays running that we have been driven away from the allotment by rain. If we could rely upon it happening every week we wouldn't have to bother too much with watering.

Hopefully the ground should be in good shape for planting the blueberry bushes we bought yesterday.

I'd forgotten about the frogs - yes ours were hopping around the lawn as well. They seemed to be migrating from the pond to the borders -  not sure what that was all about!

Beautiful day today, clear, sunny, warm but not sultry.  Shame I'm stuck in the office!

Trillium

It has been a hot one here again today. This is our temperature at this moment.

LIzzie - we had water coming in under the door and flooded road, got some great photos sent to me of people going down chillingham road on inflatable chairs!!

That must have been a sight to see Legless.  Saw on the local news also tonight the old couple rescued from their car in Walkergate.  It floated down under the bridge and just disappeared just a few minutes after they were rescued.  Thankfully though all these areas seem to have recovered really quickly.  Hope you had no real damage.    ??? busy_lizzie

the house was fine, we'd taken up the carpets as we are decorating and discovered the advantage of swimming cats - they soaked most of it up  ;D

the allotment is fine but has obviously been slightly flooded as all my shallots are filled in and the beds are dead flat!!

Sorry to hear about those people suffering from the weather - be it one extreme or the other!

Little or no rain around here since last Wednesday, when we arrived back from holiday - but it must have rained a bit while we were away, as the allotment didn't look very parched. Different story now though, and the water levels have dropped on our site, so our hand pumps don't work too well. Yesterday I invested in a water butt and guttering to collect rainwater from my shed roof - obviously this would have been more useful had I bought it a month or two ago!! All I need now is a bit of rain to start filling it up (but not until I've had chance to fix the guttering to the shed this evening!).

 :) Essex Suffolk border here, dry as a bone. Cracks so big on my clay soil you could fall down them.

Spuds are the size of brussels sprouts, peas will probably be invisible. Have been watering but it evaporates as quick as I can get it on the land. Plus I got sunburn t'other day when doing the hoeing.

Mid Essex here, and same thing.  Cracks so deep I could loose the kids in them  ::).  Plants in the garden are wilting like my astilbes, and the water level in the pond has dropped!  Waterbutt is empty, going to have to get the hose out tonight!  :-\

EJ, can I send my girls up to you? ;D

We are dry as a bone too in East Sussex, cracks in the lawn, wilting flowers, emptying the paddling pool from the weekend on the plants tonight! Just waiting for the hosepipe ban!