{"id":35998,"date":"2025-06-15T09:58:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T08:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/?p=35998"},"modified":"2025-06-16T09:23:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T08:23:15","slug":"if-it-wasnt-bad-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/susan\/if-it-wasnt-bad-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"If it wasn’t bad enough"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Still no rain. It’s as though someone has switched off our water supply. Widespread thunderstorms were forecast, but none made it our way. Empty beds that were waiting to be planted up and so weren’t watered are either like dustbowls or rocky outcrops.\u00a0 Now that we need to plant in them, we doubt the plants will thrive.<\/p>

Mid-week, Martyn and I each spent two hours watering. When we water, we try to give plants a good dousing rather than just water the surface. Due to our pathetic watering system, we spend as much time waiting for cans to fill as actually watering. We just have to hope no one else is using the taps when we need to.<\/p>

Tap water isn’t the favoured drink for plants, they much prefer natural unadulterated rainwater. Sadly, this is not on the menu so they have to make do.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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All our squash plants have now been planted but to be brutally honest the plants are small and sickly.\u00a0<\/p>

\"\"The only difference from previous years is that the compost we are using is different. We had to find an alternative brand and had heard good things about Verve, so we bought a bag to try and had good results, so we bought several more bags. The problem seems to be that the compost is inconsistent. Some bags seem to produce good results whereas other bags are poor. I’m guessing that either the nutrient value is poor or there is an issue with some of the materials used. We use lots of compost, so we can’t make our own, and other recommended brands are far too expensive. It seems that these days, buying compost is a lottery. Has anyone found a good, reliable brand that we don’t need a bank loan to buy?<\/p>

Plants have picked up when moved out of the compost, but will it be too late for the squash plants?\"\"<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Yet another problem is one that is affecting all of the buddleia plants on our plot. The newest leaves are twisted and distorted. Research indicates that this could be caused by either pests or weather conditions. I can’t see any pests on the leaves and to affect all the bushes so badly, there would need to be a plague proportion of pests. Extremes of temperature and lack of humidity are other causes so I am plumping for that. It’s certainly dry and we have had temperatures that are vastly different during the day and at night.<\/p>

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We planted up an annual flower bed. We didn’t think the flower seeds would germinate if sown directly, so we sowed them in trays which they may not appreciate. Time will tell. There are some courgettes – Tromboncino\u00a0 – in the bed too, but again all these were grown in the Veuve.<\/p>

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Other than a handful, the second lot of peas that were sown direct failed to germinate. To try and have better success we decided to try raising some seeds in modules in our garden greenhouse where they could be kept well watered.<\/p>

\"\"A batch of sugar snap and a batch of garden peas were sown and both lots have germinated well. The sugar snap peas were ready to be planted out which Martyn did at the weekend.\u00a0 The garden peas will join them shortly. These will only take up part of the bed so in the remaining section we are trying more direct sowing.<\/p>

Video here<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The garlic and onions that were planted last autumn were unlikely to do any more growing so I lifted them all.<\/p>

The two varieties of garlic had produced a reasonable crop of decent sized bulbs.<\/p>

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These have been tied in bunches and hung up to dry. Maybe that will tempt the weather gods to send us some rain.<\/p>

\"\"The onions were less successful with many sets making hardly any growth. The onions that were produced are very small.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Each time we came home from the plot we\u00a0 were accompanied by a small harvest.<\/p>

Details of our June harvests are posted here.<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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It wasn’t only the plants that suffered last week. Ruby had a recurrence of broken wag, otherwise known as swimmers’ or limber tail. Instead of carrying her tail over her back as usual, it hung down limply. She didn’t wag it and sitting down was painful. It’s primarily caused by strained or sprained muscles in the tail. This is usually caused by swimming – not something Ruby is likely to do, she even avoids puddles – energetic play or prolonged wagging in a confined space. The latter two causes are more likely in Ruby’s case.<\/p>

The last time this happened, last September, we visited the vet as we didn’t know what the problem was. Ruby was given several anti-inflammatory drugs all of which upset her stomach so in the end the treatment was down to resting. We tried to keep Ruby as calm as possible, not easy with Ruby. No ball games, long walks or energetic games. On Thursday her tail was at half mast, so we took her to the allotment with us where she could mooch around without over-exerting herself.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Of course Ruby had other ideas and at one point had, what we call a crackerdog, and whizzed up and down the paths at top speed. I guess it was a release of all the pent up energy that had built up over the week. Happily now the wag is mended.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Well that’s all for this week so as always stay safe and stay well.<\/p>

Again I am linking to Harvest Monday<\/a> at Dave’s Our Happy Acres blog.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Still no rain. It’s as though someone has switched off our water supply. Widespread thunderstorms were forecast, but none made it our way. Empty beds that were waiting to be planted up and so weren’t watered are either like dustbowls or rocky outcrops.\u00a0 Now that we need to plant in them, we doubt the plants 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