Summer's here?!

[alan refail]

It's now raining most days here. Planted all my tomatoes in the tunnel this morning. Took the propagators out of the tunnel this afternoon, and before I could put them away, what did we get? Hailstones!

Wel dyna'r haf yng Nghymru! There's a Welsh summer for you!

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Alan, complete opposite here, rain Saturday night, after no decent rain for a month, only to be followed by strong drying winds.
So back to where we started.

[Parsons Jack]

Hi Alan,

Can you send me some of that rain

We had a short shower on Saturday morning, and nothing since. The ground is like concrete at the moment.

[alan refail]

Hi Alan,

Can you send me some of that rain

Morning PJ

Do I send the hail showers as well?

[Primrose]

We could certainly do with more rain here. I've started to keep a large bucket outside our kitchen door and we're tipping all our waste water from the kitchen sink into it for garden watering, rather than letting it go to waste down the drain. The week-end's rain didn't add much to the contents of our water butts and I fear a hosepipe ban will be imposed before too long here.
But the swallows have arrived So wonderful to watch them racing around and screaming overhead.

[Monika]

Lots more water needed here, but at least the atmosphere is damper. We keep getting promises of rain ("in the north and west of England", the forecasters say), but it doesn't seem to get here, though we did have about an inch altogether.

This Friday our village garden club is holding a "gardening workshop" and I am going to demonstrate sowing in root trainers and growing and pricking out herbs. so that should be fun. After today's strong winds (without rain), the herbs look a bit tatty but I will put them into the greenhouse for the next two days to help them recover before they go on public display.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Monika, i hope all goes well for you at the gardening workshop.

I think i would be a little nervous at doing that!

[Primrose]

Hope it goes well Monika. One thing that has surprised me as a long-in-the-tooth gardener is how lacking in experience some gardeners are, especially when it comes to doing some of the basics and seeing somebody do things "in the flesh" often helps to demystify some of the processes which novices are frightened to tackle.

[Monika]

The weather forecast for today was cool, mainly dry and overcast with just the chance of a light shower. Aha, I thought, good day to plant all the brassicas - started about 10 o'clock , having already lined up all the rows previously. Well, I had planted about a quarter of the 128 plants when the heavens opened, accompanied by a strong westerly wind. I couldn't really stop because my OH was coming down later to help me cover the whole thing with netting. So I carried on: first I could feel the rain seeping through my fleecy, then running down my back, the water dripping off my head and nose, I was sliding about, rain squelching through my toes in my old trainers. In other words I was soaked to the skin when I finished. And then it stopped raining! We made the bed bird proof and I beetled off home to a warm shower.

At least, the brassicas will have been watered in well (including the thorough soaking I gave each plant).

The Gardening Workshop, by the way, was a success as far as the enthusiasm of those who attended is concerned. Unfortunately, the attendance wasn't brilliant. But we might repeat it next year. I certainly enjoyed the demonstrating and also seeing the other volunteers doing their stuff.

[Primrose]

Well done Monika. Hope the next post from you that we read isn't that you've been confined to bed with a heavy cold after your soaking.

You could have sent some of your rain down here. I literally can't remember when we last had any more than a drizzle which barely wet the pavements. I've been trying to save every last drop of water from our sink for garden watering and have had to have the hosepipe out to keep our vegetable seedlings alive. Getting concerned for our farmers though in the South of the country. They must be getting really desperate.

Glad your gardening demo went well. Pity you didn't get a bigger attendance but am sure those who did turn up learned something.

[alan refail]

Wel dyna'r haf yng Nghymru! There's a Welsh summer for you!

For what it's worth, the weather's vile here now - driving rain and wind with more rain and gales forecast for next week

[oldherbaceous]

While i was getting fried in the greenhouse just now, potting up a late delivery of plugs, i heard on the radio they are giving out an amber warning for gales across the country.

So be warned.

[Primrose]

Thanks for that warning. I was wondering about planting out some of my climbing beans tomorrow but perhaps I'll stay my hand for a while. The beans are getting to the stage where I'm wondering how much longer I can really keep them in their loo rolls. What do people do when beans get like this?

[Parsons Jack]

Big news here today!!

It rained this morning for at least 5 minutes

Everywhere is just so dry now. Went for a walk with the dog around some fields this afternoon, and there are massive cracks in the ground around the field edges.

[pdblak]

We had hail here in East Yorkshire yesterday too