An end to our record dry spell

We’ve just gone 34 days without a single drop of rain. The last time it rained was in May on the 14th of the month. Not that it was a great deal of rain just a meagre 0.4mm hardly detectable in the table below. The remaining 17 days of May were totally rain free. I’ve included the rainfall and temperature records for May 2023 and June 2023 below.

The first 16 days of June were completely rain free too.

Anyhow, after 34 completely dry days, we got some rain. In the late afternoon, we had a few rumbles of thunder and a short but very heavy shower. It amounted to 1.6mm and it seemed to be clearing up. This wasn’t what the forecast had suggested implying that we’d get a rather long spell of rain. It turned out that the forecast was accurate and through Sunday evening we had some consistent and sometimes heavy rainfall. It amounted to 20.4mm over the course of the day. It will mean we can have a week at least off watering at the allotment. I’ve looked through my records and I can’t find anything longer than 5 or 6 days without any rainfall. The driest month I’ve recorded was April 2011 with just 2.4mm but that 2.4mm came in lots of small amounts with no excessively long gaps without rain.

It all meant lots of watering was required at the allotment. As the water pressure is very low at the allotment filling a can of water can often take almost 2 minutes. It’s not too bad if I’m the only person watering, but the more people are watering the longer it takes to fill a can.

We do have a sort of priority system. Seeds and seedlings come first on the list followed by any plants that have just been planted. Plants that have got themselves established come next, these include runner beans, peas and onions. It’s been warm too with temperatures getting into mid to high twenties centigrade each day so tomato plants in the greenhouse dry out very quickly.

Of course the flowers are also in need of regular watering. Established plants like rhubarb and fruit bushes and trees just have to get by. There’s also plenty of tubs to water at home. It begins to seem like watering begins to take over your life. Allotment jobs are planned around getting the watering done. It means some jobs at best get delayed and at worst don’t get done at all.