Rain!!

Rain Courtesy of BBC.co.uk & the Met office

   The poor allotment is absolutely gasping for a drink (as are the mozzies - ouch!), crop yields are down and distressed plants are running to seed. I checked the long range weather forecasts on the BBC website and it may only be a few days ahead but I was overjoyed to find this in the forecast for the early hours of Wednesday(July 24th) morning. Just look at all that rain – and even thunder right over North Norfolk! Perhaps I wont need to do a rain dance after all! The actual forecast was somewhat different – it said light rain shower. I have just checked again and the thunderstorm has vanished and it varies between light or heavy showers – well at least it does at the moment. Still my hopes are raised that we will get some sort of precipitation at last! Saturday was grey and drizzly all day – such a relief for the garden!

Not so Bumper Harvest

I went down to get some potatoes yesterday – at the biggest about the size of a tennis ball – and came back with a bagful of potatoes, broad beans, peas, chard and a pot of strawberries. It raised my spirits a bit. However a lot of the broad beans are like Pooh Bears head – just filled with fluff; the peas were almost the entire crop and just enough for two portions; many of the potatoes could be used to play marbles! Many of the onions think they are for picklung so have stayed very small. The Ruby Chard is doing well though. If the weather is on the turn for a few days things could improve. It has got me thinking about improving things for next year – I know that I need to put a lot more organic matter into the soil and I need to mulch a lot more. I have also been thinking about some sort of irrigation system so that I can water directly to the roots of the plants – a lot of research is needed.

My Russet at last has fruit

 

Saw these near the allotments

Up in the greenhouse things are much better because I go and water regularly. The tomatoes are now all equal sized, my home grown Moneymakers took a while to catch up with the shop bought Gardeners Delight. The two cucumbers are doing well and embracing the cheeseplant which is spending the summer in the greenhouse. I have grown some Rainbow Chard from seed and was planning to put them down on the allotment but they are now happily growing in a big tub in the greenhouse. There are also a variety of salad things, I buy those trays of living salad (lettuce seedlings) from supermarkets then once all are cut down they go up to the greenhouse to regrow. I also have a bowl of mixed leaves to add variety. With all these salad things growing the greenhouse is quite full so I am planning on getting one of those mini greenhouses to put in a sunny place near the back door to use for salads and to overwinter potted plants.

Around the garden things are going ok but many of the flower seeds have either not come up or are way behind where I'd expect them to be. I may well buy annual, biennial & perennial plants rather than seeds in future.

Sea Fog lurking on the marshes