It's raining!

[alan refail]

No more rain forecast here for the next five days - thank goodness!

[oldherbaceous]

They probably have got it wrong, Alan.

[Geoff]

Well it cleared up pretty quickly to the pleasantest day for a while, so the beans got planted and tucked up in their fleece.

[Monika]

Same here, Geoff. Planted all the beans out this morning, suitably protected, as well a lot of other things, including flowers. All in all, we worked virtually non-stop for three hours. Although it's warmer than of late (about 15 degrees today), the wind has picked up again and is rather shaking the plants about. Well, may that, too, will abate.

[Catherine]

Glad to be of help OH, sorry PJ forgot to mention the rain might change to hail, but at least you got something, will try harder with my rain dance later in the week. We have had a mix of showers and sunshine but it is quite cool here.

[Westi]

I suppose those with rain wouldn't mind trying to send some down this way?? We had some good rain at home and in the Forest but seems to have completely missed lottie which is only 1/2 mile away. Dry as a bone & has dried out completely under the mulch as well. Unfortunately there are always loads of plot holders down so only gets the minimal water rather than a good soak - I didn't even beat them getting down at 6am!

Westi

[KGAdmin]

The East (us!) have had 14% of our average rainfall in the last 3 months - and it shows. Whilst it rained gently all day Monday, its once again hot and dry - and this is forecast until early next week.

I wonder if we're going to see an extreme reversal of weather - and experience flooding in late June like we did a few years ago ;p

Also see USA got hit again with another deadly tornado.


KGAdmin

[Monika]

Although we have had some rain here , it certainly is far less than in 'normal' years. A pond in our village has completely dried up which we have never seen in more than 30 years of living here. Also, the foliage of many mature trees looks exceedingly thin, especially ash, poplar and birch trees. Has anybody else noticed that?

[Catherine]

How strange Monika because we have had quite a lot of rain in the last three weeks and we are only over the hill from you probably about 10 miles as the crow flies.

Bye the way how are you feeling now? Please let us know when your Village Hall show is as we so enjoyed it last year we will not want to miss it this year.

[Nature's Babe]

KG Admin, I am also in the south east, near Rye, that was my thought too, drought then deluge! Take a peek at Emilia Hazlip's synergistic gardening you tube video - I find it works well in drought or deluge, under 3 inches of mulch my beds are still moist despite the drought, and if we get deluge the excess water drains off into the paths. All my water butts are empty, I have been using them for the greenhouses. However despite the drought, by planting through a thick mulch on raised beds, stuff is flourishing. Areas that I have not mulched are bone dry, hard clay and the worms have excavated a wee cavern and tied themselves in a little knot to conserve moisture. In mulched areas the worms are still functioning and in fine fettle and come up when ground is disturbed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSKilNcmoVE

[Nature's Babe]

Hi Monika, our forecast keeps getting it wrong, it said heavy rain for monday and I thought yipppee .... more planting... disappointed again, now it says light rain for Sunday ... going by past forecasts, that will skirt around us too... sigh... It might be the hills, rainclouds seem to skirt around them, we are surrounded by hills.

[Primrose]

I'm afraid I've almost forgotten what rain looks like here. I wish I had enough "stuff" to put a three inch mulch on my vegetable beds and borders. I wish I hadn't put Weed & Feed on our lawns earlier, otherwise we could have used the clippings as mulch, but even the grass has virtually stopped growing now. I may have to go and cut down some nettles in a nearby footpatch and chop them up to give me something to cover the ground with to retain moisture for a little longer.

[Monika]

Today's 'Yorkshire Post' had a very interesting MetOffice map showing this spring's rainfall as a percentage of the average 1971-2000 rainfall in Britain (maybe, Alan, you can dig it up in cyberspace for us?). Eastern and southeastern England is certainly worst off with less than 30%, Midlands, southwest and central northern Yorkshire (where we live) has had between 30 and 50%, just further west up here (including Catherine!) between 50 and 70% and further west still (including Geoff!) 70 to 90%.

And, thank you, Catherine, I am nearly back to normal (as normal as I will ever be) and our Village Show will be on Saturday 3 September. More details nearer the time!

[Geoff]

There is this one

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releas ... l-contrast

I've posted radar charts saying it was picking on me and the white square isn't too far out!

[Nature's Babe]

Hi Geoff, yes that figures, dryest I can remember, perhaps we should do a rain dance ! We can see lightening out at sea and hear thunder, but once again it's missing us so far.
Hi Primrose, my tall Robinson peas are just filling out, when they are finnished I will lay them on the soil as mulch then add the next lawn clippings on top, I do the same with the climbing french and runner beans after cropping, I use anything I can as long as it's not seeding. I'm going to try planting some autumn sown Kamut grain under an envirofleece tent to protect it from the snow, if we get another early spring it should start into growth again early, it's taller, hardier, and more drought resistent than modern varieties, and much higher in protein, and I will harvest the grain and be left with a good batch of straw for mulch hopefully. Well that's the plan in theory ... it works with autumn sown beans, I'm hoping it will with the grain too ! Apart from mulch stopping water loss by evaporation, the bonus is the weeds are suppressed by the mulch and the few that do find their way through pull out quite easily.