Irrigation is the name of the game

 I believe this is a cloud raining

I am sitting here waiting for it to rain. The weather people said it would be raining here by about four this afternoon. Unfortunately the sun is breaking through the white cloud. According to the BBC Weather App on my fone the rain may now arrive at 6pm. I hope it can explain its tardiness!

Get me a drink! I'm stressed!!

I went down the allotment yesterday afternoon (Hungarian GP Qualifying to watch today) and cleared more weeds. It is actually looking pretty weed free at the moment. During the week my apprentice went mad with the strimmer and cut down the overgrown weeds around the edges. Actually he is far better with the strimmer than I am – boldly strimming where no one has strimmed before! So it looks very tidy, for a couple of days at least.

Weed free - for now

The strawberries have just about finished now, not too bad considering the helter-skelter weather we have had so far this year. Plans to rearrange the fruit area are afoot (well abrain actually as they are all in my head) The blueberries are very unhappy because the soil is not acid enough for them so they will be dug out and put into pots of ericacious compost and kept at home because pots need a lot of watering so I’ll be able to keep an eye on them. They will be replaced by the new blackcurrants which are in a pot by the greenhouse. I will move the strawberries which were heeled in last year to a permanent place in September, they will be near the fruit cage but I'm not sure exactly where. There is a vacant bit of land on the north side or the area where the squashes are on the west side.

I have been digging more taters still pretty small and many have something inside – most likely wireworm – so about half of many potatoes end up being thrown away. I will photograph some and get it confirmed before I can decide what action to take. The broad beans are still producing moderately well. I'm going to try a late sowing when I've finished taking out the early potatoes in the next few days.

Neat and tidy for a while

I have bought some new tunnels to protect crops – they are made of fairly thick fleece on wire hoops – really easy to use because the hoops are already attached so they just need stretching out over the crops. I was thinking of getting netting versions but have decided to get some irrigation spikes instead, well I have plenty of chicken wire which works perfectly well. 

Bottle and spike irrigation

They fit onto the top of 2L drinks bottles (we get through lots of them) then just push the spike into the ground and the plants are watered automatically. They should be much better because all the water will go directly to the roots. My only concern is how far the water will or will not spread. All the ones I've looked at show one bottle per plant – not very practical for my needs. Still its got to be better than no watering at all! I'll try out a few and if they prove effective I'll get more – the allotment could be invaded by bottles!

 

More room for seedlings etc

Back at home we have a new arrival! The mini greenhouse I wanted was on offer so I went ahead and bought one. It is deeper than I thought it would be but does just what I wanted. It is home to seedlings, cuttings and salad leaves at the moment and over the winter will house various pots. I just need to get rid of the ants nest under the concrete where it stands otherwise everything will be infested!

Since I started writing the sun has come out again so I checked the weather online; we now have no rain until 8pm!! Even then it is only a 'light shower'!  We have a slight sea fret instead. I despair!!!!