Now And Then

10 days ago the main road between Taunton, where I live, and Glastonbury (across the Somerset Levels), was passable for the first time since the flooding began across Somerset, before Christmas. Many householders not far from here are just returning to their flooded properties for the first time this week. It still takes a lot of imagination to realize just how much rainwater has been soaked up into the ground. As my regular readers will know, both my plots are at the lower south end of a gentle slope on our allotments. The weather for the past 2 weeks or so has been without rain, mostly sunny and breezy, except for the past few days with some rain and hail showers and lowering temperatures Sowing and planting this year for me is later than usual, as most of the soil on my plots is still wet and compacted. Having prepared all the beds, ready for sowing and planting by the end of last November,  I am currently having to repeat most of that preparation. The soil on most of the plots has been well compacted by rain and flooding since November last. Aerating,  turning and lifting the soil on the majority of beds is a priority at the moment so that it eventually dries out proportionately. Since the heavy Winter rain stopped I have spent most days down my plots resurrecting the soil conditions of last November. For the first time in 5 years I had carried out very few visits to my plots over the Winter period and D.I.Y at home became a priority, out of the rain.

From November 3rd 2013 the following calendar of unplanned events unfolded.
3rd & 4th November 13 (raining).
5th November 13 - cleaned bamboo canes, composted 2014 Brassicas bed N1 Plot.
6th 7th 8th 9th November 13 (raining).
10th November 13 - Removed Runner bean plants & their supports (canes) N1 Plot.
11th November (raining).
12th November 13 - 2nd batch of Onion sets planted, tidied up rubbish from plots.
13th November 13 - Filled final raised bed with soil N2 Plot.
14th November 13 - Cold weather stayed home.
15th November 13 - Cleared walkway around shed N2 Plot of debris, constructed a rainwater butt, cleaned more bamboo canes.
16th November 13 - Broad beans sown N2 Plot.
17th November to 29th November 13 - (raining).
30th November to 5th December 13 - Digging L-Shaped bed N1 Plot, leaf clearing, cane cleaning.
9th December to 13th December 13- Fence painting back garden.
14th to 18th December 13 - (raining).
18th to 26th December 13 - Christmas arrangements, (mainly raining).
27th December 13 - Checked plots for flooding and other damage, (raining).
28th December 13 - Tidied up debris and compost heaps.
29th December 13 to 1st January 14 - (raining).
2nd January 14 - Checked plots added more compost to Brassicas bed N1 Plot.
3rd January 14 to 6th February 14 - (raining).
7th February 14 - Checked on plots.
8th February 14 to 14th February 14 - (raining).
15th February 14 - Checked on plots.
16th February 14 to 18th February 14 (Sunny).
19th February 14 - Dug 1st Runner bean trench. Turned compost heaps.
20th & 21st February 14 - (rained).
22nd February 14 - Runner beans potted up.
23rd to 26th February 14 - D.I. Y.
27th & 28th February 14 - Heavy overnight rain.
1st March 14 - Ground too wet to work on again.
2nd March 14 - Fine weather a.m. Potting p.m.
3rd & 4th March 14 - (raining) D.I.Y.
5th to 8th March 14 - Turned and lifted roots bed N1 Plot.
10th March 14 - Thinned overwintered Onions, turned Leek/Onion bed N1 Plot.
11th March 14 - Fixed some storm damage both plots.
12th & 13th March 14 - Cleared main bed N2 Plot of annual weeds.
14th March 14 - Cleared Brassica bed of annual weeds. Dug 2nd Runner bean trench.
15th March 14 - Strimming grass, rotorvating, weeding, potting.
16th March 14 - Rotorvating, Pea sowing.
17th March 14 - Top bed (Roots) turned N1 Plot.
18th March 14 - Potting various seeds. (weather damp & drizzly).
19th March 14 -Turning top bed (Roots) N1 Plot, potting seeds, turned soil in raised beds & weeded.
20th March 14 - Turning top bed (Roots) N1 Plot, potting seeds. Added more soil to the last raised bed.
21st March 14 - Planted Primroses in front garden border a.m. Turning top bed (Roots) N1 Plot, p.m.
22nd March 14 - Turning top bed (Roots) N1 Plot. (Sunny, breezy, cold, hailstones).

During the "rainy season days" 57 individual D.I.Y. tasks were completed around my house and on my cars and garage, plus another 23. The list goes on.

2014 Roots Bed N1 Plot Weeded Turned & Lifted Drying Out Well 22/3/14

Leek & Onion Bed N1 Plot Still Wet Compacted From Flooding (22/3/14)

Leeks Looking Good Now They Have Had Some Sunshine (22/3/14)

Rhubarb Looking Good N2 Plot (22/3/14)

Strawberry Bed N1 Plot Being Aerated/Lifted After It Was Flooded You May Be Able to See the Green Algae On the Area of Soil Which Hasn't Been Dug  (22/3/14)

Last Years Roots Bed Top of N1 Plot This is in Good Condition Despite Being Waterlogged (22/3/14)

Where There Was Grass Paths Now It's Moss Lower Part of N1 Plot (22/3/14)

Bluebells Daffodils & Cowslip on the Drainage Ditch Bank Bed (22/3/14)

There Are Still Quite a Few Caterpillars Around Despite the Wet Weather (22/3/14)

One of the D.I.Y. Tasks I Mentioned, My Old Astra Up and Running Again With the Back Seats Removed. Ideal for Lugging Allotment Equipment Around In and Other Tools etc (22/3/14)

There's Always Tomorrow!!

Slippery When Wet

Its no use moaning about the wet weather here seeing as the t.v. cameramen and politicians have trickled away from the area now, just a pity they didn't take the rain with them. With a few sunny days last week and the waters on the Somerset levels beginning to recede at last, I continued indoors with some more D.I.Y. mainly clearing out junk from my garage and painting its walls white to brighten the dingy interior. With some more extremely heavy rains overnight on Thursday and Friday and intermittent showers and drizzle in between, my plots are still too wet to achieve any substantial work on them. Saturday was dry, as was this morning, so just before midday I toddled off down to the allotments to pot up various seeds. The drizzly rain started again as I arrived at the allotment gate, I assume just to test my patience further. After donning my wellies and depositing 3 bags of kitchen waste onto my compost heaps, I drained the rusty water from my shed padlocks and unlocked the sheds before tidying up one of my sheds on N2 Plot, so as to give me some extra elbow room to lay out various pots and trays, before adding potting compost to them, (the pots & trays that is, not the elbows).

After potting up several trays full of pots with Runner beans and deciding that open ground would be too wet for any sowing for some time to come, I decided to lift the remaining Carrots from 1 of my raised beds. This raised bed will be covered over with plastic sheeting at my first opportunity and used for more protected seed sowing later. Having finished lifting a reasonable harvest of medium sized and baby Carrots I removed some more of those annual weeds that seem to appear, whatever the weather throws at them, at this time of the year. Using a hand cultivator and working from the grass paths alongside this years potato bed on N2 Plot the majority of weeds were removed within about half an hour or so. By the time I had finished with the weeding even the grass paths were becoming muddy and slippery where I had been walking on them. So even using walking boards across open soil would have been a mistake. At least no sink holes have appeared yet.

Overall the majority of allotments are looking windswept and desolate, with many of them still having various items of gardening equipment strewn around them, after the storms of late. Only 2 or 3 other allotment holders paid short visits to their plots on another dreary, damp afternoon. The lack of bird life was again evident, except for a few Seagulls circling overhead. Probably too rough out over the sea I thought. By 3 p.m. the rain had made a come back so it was time for home. It's 10-30 p.m. now and the heavy rain has just stopped, not for long I fear. I'm listening to the local weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow as I type, more thundery rain overnight and snow tomorrow. Just going to check Google maps to make sure I'm definitely still living in sunny Somerset.

There's Always Tomorrow!!