Kitchen Garden Forum

Some proper summer conditions on the way next week for us up north.
full cross model agreement on serious heat Tuesday onwards, how long for though is anyone's guess.

Here, in the sunny south, we have black clouds and darkening skies

Doesn't start until next week.

I just managed to raise enough confidence to sow bush-beans, my French climbers have been in the ground for a week. Usually gardeners say I'm too late.

And at last I'm eating my own spuds.

Life is good.

What's late to them is bang on to you, really all that matters end of the day.

I lost too many French bean plants by being over-eager, the temperature up here on the hillside can be as much as ten degrees lower than in the nearby town.

I'm often working with pyjama bottoms under my work pants and a light fleece when in town everyone is walking around shorts and Ts.

Weather forecasts for some areas will be a convenient compromise for the area rather than for an area within that area that is often completely different.

We often get heavy sea mists coming in off the Irish Sea at this time of year, you know they are coming when you hear the lighthouse at Strumble head blowing it's horn. That mist can drop the temperature ten degrees and bring drizzle, if you add a north wind that comes directly off the sea it's back to wearing woollies when you've been walking around in shorts.

An old one.

"I can't believe it," the tourist asked the Scottish hotel manager. "I've been here an entire week and it's done nothing but rain. When do you have summer here?" "Well, that's hard to say," replied the manager. "Last year, it was on a Wednesday."

The ground is as dry as a bone, I can water everything I have to but I do feel for those who have to carry water, the bit of rain we had would have just evaporated.

I have been changing clothes regularly during the day depending on the wind-shelter. It isn't a cold wind but it's cold enough for these old bones to need some help though once I'm working in the lee of the bard or the few trees we have it's nice to get a bit of sun on these white legs.

It's good for you.

I noticed the swallows are struggling in the wind as they try to feed, we have a fairly brisk SW breeze here. The swallows launch from the tall growth in the banks or the few gorse bushes that are left after the bushwhacker trimmed them down, then they go on a mad session of insect eating very close to the grasses and come back quite quickly for a rest.

I know it's summer because of the twittering.

Richard, It is bone dry here, too, and the wind (which was warm but quite strong today) does not help either. We spent all morning watering the allotment. I am particularly worried about the peas. They are growing well but I know how quickly they can succumb to powdery mildew when they are too dry at the roots. I emptied a two-gallon watering can onto each courgette plant and the water just disappeared!

We have had 31mm of rain so far in June, less than 2 inches, and most of that was at the beginning of the month,

This warmth is great, but could we have two or three nights with a few hours of gentle warm rain, please?

Cultivate a third of an acre here and have had no mains water for over 40 year.
Only water in new plants then they on their own simple as that,F1 seed helps I must admit.

44 deg in the shade here , the down side is theres plenty of cool beer and cheap wine ,this time next week I'll be well home ,probably shivering its a hard life

robo wrote:44 deg in the shade here ,

I find anything over 30 very difficult though it depends on humidity, I was once in South Africa where it was 30 plus on a daily basis but with low humidity. Last month I was on Mallorca, it didn't get to 30 and I'm still hiding indoors.

I think it rained all night and it's still,raining here, last night about ten I was woken by the unmistakable sound of multiple-munching. Escaped sheep and they like my petunias, they were also munching the flowers on my dogs grave so I'm out in my Jim-jams yelling and shouting to little avail so I had too physically shoo them. Most of our property is fenced, it's just the drive, parking areas and front lawn that gets covered in sheeps poos. Mostly the munching isn't a problem but this year I have flowers on Molly's grave and some pots with flowers, the pots will have to be moved behind the fence.

Escaped sheep are a regular occurance and could be a massive problem if I leave the gates open, and I often do. I bet they love kale and a bit of enviromesh won't deter them.

That's a nuisance Richard, especially if flowers and crops get eaten. Being able to collect the aftermath from your lawn to remulch your veg beds is little consolation.
It's been terribly dry here too, and with our stoney soil,any watering doesn't last long. Even when you think you have given something a good watering, the soil quite close to the surface is still dry. This heat will not be good for sowing lettuce, and possibly other vegs. I find they just don't germinate in hot weather.

The gazebo we set up on our patio for summer remained in storage last summer the weather was so mixed. . I'm debating whether one week of heat this year is going to be worth the effort of getting it out and erecting it !

Happy watering everybody! And mind your backs!

Primrose wrote: Being able to collect the aftermath from your lawn to remulch your veg beds is little consolation.

The sheep made a right-old mess of the flowers growing on Molly's grave and most of the poo they leave behind is in amongst the gravel/chippings we cover the parking areas with so I just throw it in the banks before I tread on it then smear it all over the clutch peddle in my car. I did do that once, and Molly used to eat the sheep poos then suffer involuntary-evacuations.

My PFR haulms are so high they fell over onto the broad beans so I'm pruning them (Haulms) down by half their hight, I hope that isn't going to be a bad thing too do.

I very lucky to have two hosepipes on steel reels that can reach any part of my two raised bed plots, the domestic garden and for washing vehicles and even though we are encouraged to have water-meters fitted I didn't for this reason. The grass is starting to show signs of drought with weeds taking the usual
opportunity and I haven't yet treated the grasses with chicken poo because that needs a good down-pour.

Richard, yiunpose an interesting dilemma for gardeners over having a water meter fitted. If I weren't a vegetable gardener we could save a lot of money by having a water meter fitted but I use a lot of water in the garden and would be frustrated if I felt i had to watch my wallet every time I switched the hose on. We have four water butts (2 in front garden, 2 in back) but following back surgery years ago (ironically caused by lifting a heavy watering can which ruptured a disc) the hose is now my preferred method for watering. The water butts do get used but mainly for filling half a watering can at a time and for watering those plants closest to them which is a frustrating chore.

Our water board are threatening the compulsory installation of water meters for everybody before too long because of heavy demand and I dread the day it happens. . Lord knows whixh foreign organisation owns them now but if they hadn,t milked the profits in earlier good times and built more reservoirs perhaps this move wouldn't have ,been necessary. And a smaller population in the South East would help of course but I,m not offering to reduce it by one just yet! Ironic that we end up paying so much for a free commodity which falls from the sky, isn't it .
Perhaps if all new houses built were compulsorily forced to harvest their own rainwater this would help a little . I hesitate to think how much processed water is wasted on a daily basis just flushing loos.