Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Watering's Not Required
After a very long spell of dry weather necessitating watering the allotment every few days we can at last have a week off after the allotment got a good soaking from a storm on Monday afternoon. I'd finished sowing some Buckwheat, as a green manure crop, where our trial potatoes had been lifted. The seed packet said to water the seeds in well. I look northwards into the sky.
Monday Afternoon, 13th August 2018
To water or leave, hoping we'd get some rain. As we seemed to have missed most of any storms around this summer I decided to water. By the time I'd emptied a couple of watering cans full over the bed it was spitting with rain. I headed for the shed and just made it in time before the torrential rain arrived.
We had a cup of coffee and watched the rain come down for about half an hour. The Buckwheat was certainly watered in well by the time the storm had passed. It did stop raining but threatened another downpour so we did some very quick harvesting before it began raining again.
It looks like we're going to have a bumper crop of Oullins Gage plums this year. There's still lots to pick so we might be giving a few punnets away.
Thursday, 16 August 2018
Wrong Sort of Rain or Soil?
The rain on Monday afternoon was very welcome and it's given us a rest from watering the plot. The rainfall over the last four weeks, added together, is now beginning to look like it might manage to make a full column of blue equivalent to about an average month's rainfall.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 17 July to 16 August 2018
Before the rain arrived on Monday afternoon I'd just managed to sow a crop of green manure then the heavens opened. If there's one thing that's bad for our soil it's heavy rain. It's not just heavy rain though as the same problem occurs using a watering can. Our soil is clayey and, after heavy rain or after it's been given a good watering, it soon starts to form a hard crust on the surface. This is especially so if it gets a bit of warm sunshine to help the baking process.
The surface of the bed s,own with a green manure crop of Buckwheat on Monday afternoon. looked like this on Wednesday afternoon. There were lots of cracks forming in the soil as it started to dry out. If crops are planted in rows then hoeing the soil breaks up the surface and gives crops a chance to germinate. This is why we normally line a shallow trench with compost when we are sowing seeds at the allotment but as green manure crops are generally broadcast when sowing lining a trench with compost or hoeing the soil isn't a workable solution. I decided to break up the surface of the soil with my rake.
The grass paths got a quick strim and I edged around the bed, not that there was much grass to cut, and the bed didn't look too bad. I'll have to wait and see if that Buckwheat germinates.
Monday, 20 August 2018
A Return To Watering Duties
The rainfall last Monday was most welcome but since then it's been dry. Not only that we've had a blustery wind and some sunny spells most days which has soon dried out the ground. So it's been necessary to resume watering duties.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 01-20 August 2018
Summer seems to be gradually fading away, or at least the heat is, but on a positive note any watering we do at the allotment lasts a bit longer.
Last week's rain has started to green up our grass paths at the allotment. The last couple of months on the plot have all been about watering and harvesting with little time for other jobs. Now there's some time to catch up it suddenly seems a bit autumnal as the job of tidying up beds from summer crops begins.
I managed to clear our early brassica bed of the old roots of cabbages, calabrese and cauliflowers. I always inspect the roots of brassica plants to see if there are any signs of clubroot. As all the varieties in this bed were clubroot resistant ones I wasn't expecting any problems and indeed there weren't any signs of the disease at all.
I managed to dig over the bed even though the ground was very dry. There are other beds that are ready to be cleared and dug over once the old pea haulms are cleared away. Our onions have been lifted and stored in boxes to finish drying off leaving another couple of beds to be dug over. I'd like a drop more rain to make digging easier before I tackle them. However, there's only the promise of showers in the next week to ten days so I might have to wait a little longer. Much cooler weather is forecast over the Bank Holiday weekend so at least our watering duties will be reduced.