Sizzling Summer Bits and Bobs.

[PLUMPUDDING]

There was a sprinkle of rain this afternoon, 0.2 mm. Not enough to wet anything. Very disappointing.

[Primrose]

We need another Minister for Drought ! That should do the trick.

[peter]

Well we had some rain while I did the Heathrow taxi run, that's it on our other car, all of it, walked the dog and the grass didn't even dampen my toes.

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[Primrose]

Frustrating, isnt it? I think we're all more than ready to sacrifice one more sunny day for 24 hours of a good steady downpour but it just won,t come !

[oldherbaceous]

We had a fair drop last night but, as I thought, with the ground being so warm, it has dried up already.....

[Shallot Man]

We were promised heavy downpours. Unfortunately I blinked and missed it.

[Primrose]

I,m sitting here in the shade of the house counting 15 cabbage white butterflies currently flying around the greens on my vegetable patch. Haven,t seen so many of them f9r years. Having to do a daily leaf inspection for eggs which still seem to be plentiful despite the netting I,ve put over them.

[Shallot Man]

I,m sitting here in the shade of the house counting 15 cabbage white butterflies currently flying around the greens on my vegetable patch. Haven,t seen so many of them f9r years. Having to do a daily leaf inspection for eggs which still seem to be plentiful despite the netting I,ve put over them.

I trust in formation.

[Primrose]

Fornication more like ! But when I,ve found caterpillars from them I,ve occasionally put a few on the bird table on pieces of leaf but the birds don,t seem to touch them. Is the caterpillar of the cabbage white butterfly one which the birds won't eat. We,re always being told that blue tits are supposed to like caterpillars but they don't seem to be eating these. Maybe there are just enough other insects around in the wild at the moment , including the ones which keep biting me !

[oldherbaceous]

You two make me smile, so thank you....

Just had Big Bertha out, to go through a large Strawberry bed that has had it's day. Only went down a few inches to get the plants out, now they will burn off in the sun....made me puff a bit, wrestling her....

[Primrose]

All my strawberry plants and runners are completely scorched and dead. I was thinking the plants were probably due for replacement anyway but this prolonged heartwave has made the decision for me.
I have. nowhere else I can conveniently plant their replacements. As this location has been a strawberry bed for about 10 years now, can I risk replanting there or should I leave the border barren for a year to help eliminate any disease which might have built up?

Alternatively, would a heavy manuring reduce this problem?

[Westi]

No rain down here as yet. Spent ages watering but couldn't complete all of the beds as the hose queue was forming & water pressure was so low it was barely a drizzle. Changed to the can to find that the trough wasn't filling up either so it was a long & tedious wait, filled in with dead heading & a bit of hoeing.

Primrose I think the soil would be OK if you dug it over & replenished the nutrients. I just put my new ones in a couple of years ago into the same bed as I had no other space. I just removed the timber edging which attracted wood lice which caused quite a bit of damage.

[Monika]

We harvested the last garlic this morning and the soil was so dry that I could just pull them out of the ground. We grew Solent Wight, Mersley Wight and Provence Wight, all planted at the same time (end of September) and under the same conditions, and Provence Wight has certainly produced by far the largest bulbs. I gave the leeks and the remaining shallots (seed grown Ambition) a good drink but the rest of the allotment will have to fend for itself.

[peter]

Mildly surpried that you didn't break the GEM, soil round here you can't get a fork in it even if you jump on the fork.

[oldherbaceous]

The top couple of inches weren't too bad, Peter, but I didn't dare go any deeper....