Weather

[MereDintofPandiculation]

How are you all getting on? I’m just outside the red area, so only 29 today (and forecast mid 30s tomorrow and Tuesday). Main effect so far is there are no cats in the greenhouse.

I’m having to water containers daily, I’m not mowing because the grass isn’t growing (and it feels beautifully cool between my toes), it would be foolish to repot anything or plant anything out, so gardening is limited to hedge trimming.

In Somerset, it has been as dry as dry can be for months now - my rain guage has recorded less than 2" of rain, IN TOTAL, since 16th March, the last time we had any appreciable rain, and, as it was a significantly dry winter too, the soil moisture deficit is astronomical. I am praying, daily, for days and days of the precious, life giving stuff!

Temperatures have been in the upper 20's for days, forecast to be mid 30's tomorrow and Tuesday, but allegedly falling from Wednesday onwards, and a 60% chance of rain forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, but I will believe it only when I can actually sing and dance in it and feel it on my skin!! My birthday this coming Thursday - rain would be the best present ever!
Meanwhile, all gardening operations have come to a grinding halt, apart from watering of pots and tubs. My lawns are burnt to a crisp, many things are not flowering properly and, those that are, are yielding very little nectar for my bees and other pollinators. It is, on the whole, a very disappointing year, so far, but, doubtless, it will even itself out in due course.

@Beekeeper1 That’s dreadful! We get fed up with the news chirruping about the wonderful weather forecast for the next few days when it’s pissing it down in Yorkshire. But at least our water problems are temporary (I may have to use tap water for a few days in June or July, but by August I’m back to overflowing butts) and we can simply ignore all these articles about growing drought resistant plants.

We’ve away so have a timed irrigation system for the greenhouse and raised beds. The flowerbeds and pots are at the mercy of ADS, when he remembers.🤣

Not sure what bit of Somerset you're in @Beekeeper1 but in our bit (Devon/Somerset border) we've have a lot of rain over spring - water butts are pretty full still. Clay soil so retains water well & though it might be dry on top, a few cm's down it's fine.

@APurpleSquirrel , without revealing my exact location, I am sandwiched between the Bristol Channel and the Quantocks, but seriously think that I must be in some kind of microclimate bubble as, even when it rains in Bridgwater (only 4 miles away), none of the glorious liquid descends upon me! It has been an exceptionally dry winter, spring and summer here, but has been this way for at least the last four years.

I, too, am on clay, but it is baked rock hard and has been for months. My planting schemes and plant choices reflect the dry nature of my locale, but, even so, everything is really starting to suffer and I have now given up trying to grow vegetables as it is a fruitless excercise - simply cannot supply everything with enough water!

@Beekeeper1 ahh yes we're in the Taunton Vale, so get a lot of run off from the Blackdowns - sometimes advantageous, sometimes not!
Agree about vegetables, just can't seem to keep them alive - sticking with fruit & making the garden as nature-friendly as possible to compensate for our neighbours on either side who have either paved their entire garden or astroturfed their entire garden

There was a post on our local facebook page last night seeking recommendations for someone to dig up their entire lawn and pave it I know lawns aren’t great for wildlife but they’re better than slabs, and that’s before we start to consider flash flooding.

@APurpleSquirrel , well, hello neighbour! I am with you on the fake grass/paving front! Fortunately I have no neighbours to raise my ire in that regard! Just as well, really, since they would, no doubt, hate the way I keep my garden - lawns full of clover and wild flowers and, much to my delight, some bee orchids have popped up in the unmown area. My hedges are never cut until the end of July at the earliest - I would rather have raggedy hedges and plenty of birdlife, insects and wild fruit than hedges which are manicured to death, but devoid of wildlife. And many of my flower beds are deliberately planted with wild flowers, many of which are as beautiful, if not more so, than cultivars. Good job that we are all different in our approach to what constitutes a beautiful and relaxing garden!😁

I'm in north Hampshire. It's already 25 and not 9am yet.

There is still some water in the water butts and it's supposed to rain tonight so hopefully we won't run out. I'm watering pots every day - fig trees, an olive, a peach, tomatoes, chillis, peppers, miniature french and broad beans, courgettes and cucumbers, assorted salad plus various herbs/flowers.

I'm weeding gravel paths in the shade, but only in 45 minute bursts and then retreating to the house. Generally doing things slowly. I made some real lemonade on Sunday but it isn't going to last beyond today. 😎

Last year I started cutting back a privet hedge at the end of August and then realised there was a late bullfinch nest further along, so I had a half cut hedge for the next 4 weeks.

I'll leave all pruning until September this year.😊

@MintJulia, how lucky are you - I've not seen a Bullfinch for donkey's years, nor a Linnet or, come to that, many other,once common, farmland birds, but plenty of Goldfinches around, and Yellowhammers in the lane leading to my house.

Sparrows are still nesting in my Nitida hedges, third broods now, so no, no hedgecutting for a while longer yet!

They raised four chicks and are back this year. They like ash seeds and they strip my cherry trees each year 🙂

Very hot and dry where I am. Not cut lawns for weeks and don't intend to. I am watering containers daily and keeping an eye on some small trees planted earlier this year which are looking very stressed. I have been watering them plus some fairly recently planted herbaceous perennials and so far they seem to be holding their own.

I am topping up bird food daily plus have several water stations in the garden for birds and wildlife which I top up daily.

I foolishly planted a couple of squash plants last week as I was keen to get them in the ground thinking it was too late but they're not really enjoying being in the full sun right now. So like a crazy plant lady I am I've put up a couple of umbrellas to give them some shade. Most of the other establishes plants are doing OK for now. Although it looks like my chard is starting to bolt.

I've been relishing sitting at the end of our garden under the trees near our wildlife pond with my toes lovely and cool on the shady grass.And kerp topping up bird food and bird baths and watching them splashing in them is joyful. I can't help wondering how those with fully paved and artificial grass like my neighbours find this weather.Also thinking of the number of lovely mature gardens round here lost to building plots.Its no wonder we have flash flooding and declining wildlife. And good to hear fellow gardeners who actually love plants and grass !

I've been on a mission this year to get lots perennial climbers up on the fence/walls. Next project i want to do is a pond in a pot - bottom of our garden is very damp & can't be used for much else, so seems like a good option. Had a damselfly in our garden this year & dragonflies last year, but no water sour for them.

Well there's confirmation that where I live the temperature has hit 40 degrees. Quite breezy too. DH is, as I write, outside with a hosepipe giving all my bonsai trees a shower to bring the humidity up a bit.

I live in London and have an allotment, and I’m away for 2 weeks in holiday. I was obsessing before departure and visiting twice a day to water, now it’s in the hands of the gods. And my kindly allotment neighbours. You never know, this might be the first year my tomatoes don’t get blight.

Lol! I said the same to DH - maybe this year we'll actually get the tomatoes to ripen on the vine before the blight hits!!