Tuesday 3 April 2012

Rain at last

Just when my water butts were starting to run dry - it's rained properly today, at last.  Heard Charlie Dimmock talking on the radio yesterday and she made a good point about gardeners having to rethink their planting times in future years because of the dry springs we now seem to get regularly.  Must try to get myself organised to do more autumn sowings of hardy annuals this year - it does seem to make more sense as young plants can develop better root systems during wetter, cooler periods than in the warm dry springs we currently experience. (Imminent snow and sleet forecasts excepted!)

What with my lack of time and the lack of rain last spring, I barely got any annuals established - in terms of either flowers or veg.  Seem to recall a good beetroot crop from a later planting, but lots of other things struggled due to the lack of water in March/April last year.

Have now got more water collection things in place at the allotment, so that should make watering less of a chore this season.  Just have to get some guttering put on the shed to make it more efficient too.

Glad to see that my relaid patio also seems to drain away to the flower beds reasonably effectively and the lettuce seeds I've sprinkled about are also germinating during this cold snap, so there are some upsides to the plunging temperatures after all - even if my tomato seedlings in the greenhouse don't agree.

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