After the previous week’s rain, we had a treat – a whole week of no watering, except for the greenhouses.
The grass is already looking greener, but no doubt we will soon be toting watering cans again.
Its seems Yorkshire Water did indeed send out engineers to further investigate our poor water supply. People wearing hi-vis jackets were seen in the vicinity of the stop tap on Monday morning. When we arrived at 10:30, they had left. There is no improvement so I guess we are still at the investigation stage.
Last week we spent time trying to catch up with some general maintenance and weeding. The weeds came on in leaps and bounds after the rain. We had some prize specimens of fat hen.
I didn’t take any photos – I was too busy weeding.
Ruby had fun exploring on the plot and ended up with weed seeds embedded in her hair. Goosegrass seeds are not the easiest things to remove from curls.
Free from watering duties, we took time to ‘smell the roses’ or in our case admire the flowers.
The hibiscus started life in our garden where it didn’t seem to grow so it was transferred to the plot. This often happens to things that don’t do well in the garden. Now I’d really like it back but it is too big to move so maybe I’ll take some cuttings.
Lots of hardy cyclamen have somehow migrated to the allotment but I wasn’t expecting to find one flowering now.
Of course, we had to spend some time harvesting.
The plums have done really well this year and so far haven’t been spoiled by grubs.
In the garden, each year we plant up pots of annuals which are grown from seeds and spend time in the greenhouse before planting out. This year the young plants just didn’t thrive. Despite having had good results with the same brand earlier, we suspected the problem was with the compost so we bought a different brand to fill the containers. We planted the pathetic looking plants with low expectations.
However, once the plants were placed in a different compost they started to grow and look healthier. The pots that appeared to be sparsely planted soon filled up.
Buying compost these days is a minefield. Differing batches of compost can be vastly different in terms of quality. The compost was B&QÂ branded and so I emailed them to ask what quality control processes they employed. Their response told me to go into a store for gardening advice which wasn’t at all helpful and didn’t answer my question. I emailed again and no reply has been forthcoming.
Mangetouts have done well this year and some were used with yellow and green courgettes in a chicken stir fry that I forgot to photograph.
I used more mangetout and climbing French beans in a Thai turkey curry.
 At Nostell all five cygnets are fit and well.
Fortunately, I am sure they have outgrown any threat from the heron that was prowling the lake.
Finally, in spite of the drought there was plenty of fungi in the woods.
That’s all for this week so as always stay safe and well.
Again, I am joining Dave for Harvest Monday on his Our Happy Acres blog.
Glad you had a nice rain–especially with your water problems. How do the large gardens manage during these drought periods?
Glad you had a nice rain–especially with your water problems. How do the large gardens manage during these drought periods?
We are back to drought, Sue. Some large gardens have irrigation systems or seep hoses,
Archie always used to come home with seeds embedded in the fur on his ears after walks, as you say, very difficult to get out. We visited Roundhay Park last week, there are lots of cygnets on the lake there.
|Seeds in dogs fur can be dangerous, Jo so we always give Ruby a good brush after being ub grass.
Glad you had rain!
Be very careful with Ruby and seeds. I saw a segment on a morning magazine programme where dogs have been very seriously injured with grass seeds. Apparently, there are tiny barbs on the seeds which can result in the seeds entering the body through the eyes, ears, and even skin and they can wreck havoc, as well as racking up huge vet bills and causing a lot of discomfort for the dog. It isn’t uncommon either, with some vets treating up to six or more dogs a day at this time of year.
We are Debbie, I have read all about it and it can cause horrendour problems.We try to keep Ruby out of long grass once it has seeded,. She also has a good brush every day and paws washed after walks.
Those harvests look lovely, especially the beans! I’m glad you finally got some much needed rain.
Everything is a bonus, Dave after this years,’ weather