Don't Lose The Plot: Some Rain At Last

I was woken up this morning at silly o'clock by the almost forgotten sounds of raindrops splashing against my bedroom windows. Relief at last I thought for the plants and the ground down my plots, both of which have been starved of any appreciable rainfall for several months. Watering of my plots this season has been done by utilizing water from the drainage ditch situated at the lower, southern end, of my plots. Even that supply was about to dry up. About three quarters of an hour after the first downpour of rain, another followed, only lasting for about 10 minutes, but enough for a reasonable drenching of the ground. I ventured down to my plots later at about 10-30 a.m. to pick some veggies for this weekend. Having thinned out 1 row of cabbages yesterday and replanted some of the thinnings I was glad for the earlier rain, needed to re-establish them. Most of the parched clay on my plots had soaked up the rainwater down to a depth of about 4 inches (10 cm) or so.

Another Pick of Peas (Mid July 14)

Since my last post and during possibly the busiest time of the gardening year, many tasks, other than sowing and planting, have been carried out on both of my plots, whilst fruit and veggies have been developing. The fruit cage I was constructing on N1 Plot, is finished apart from about 50% of the wood preserver still needing to be applied to the wooden framework. The netting for the roof of the cage will be added next year, as most of the fruit growing within the cage has now been picked and frozen or sold at last weekends car boot sale I attended. I am currently covering the ground of the cage with weed prevention fabric (where my strawberries will be moved to and planted). Stronger fabric will be used for paths between the planting areas or "strips", until the full area of ground is covered , except under the currant bushes.

More Gooseberries (Mid July 14)

For some time now I have been considering removing the wooden edging surrounding most of my vegetable beds on both plots. After the fruit cage was built I began to remove some of the grass paths, along with the wooden edging, running between many of the beds. No easy task during the hot or muggy weather of late. Several paths have now been removed and the turf stacked adjacent to one of my compost heaps to break down ready for re-use as soil. Recently, watering of the plots has mainly been carried out during evenings as the sun was going down, to avoid rapid evaporation during the mornings or afternoons. I am currently constructing a metal cage (box on legs), which, when completed will stand on the bottom of the drainage ditch, with a submersible pump inside the box. The whole contraption is being made from part of the framework of an old greenhouse and the leftover pieces of chicken wire from the fruit cage project. I just hope I've measured the depth of the mud in the bottom of the drainage ditch correctly, at 2 feet 6 inches or just short of a meter, otherwise the project is sunk.

1st Pick of Carrots (July 14)

Harvesting has been fairly regular lately, with a good crop of marrows, lettuce in abundance (and strangely left alone by the armies of slugs and snails), beetroot, some excellent carrots, runner and french beans are just coming into their own. Most of my peas have been picked and along with currants and gooseberries are already stored in my freezer. My courgettes and main crop potatoes should be ready for harvesting this coming week, with a while to wait for cucumbers and squashes which are slow in developing at the moment. What to sow next week is the next puzzle.