We haven't had a single drop of rain for a month now and despite daily watering, our allotment is looking rather sorry for itself. We have scorched strawberry plants, wilting rhubarb and flaccid purple sprouting broccoli.
The only things that seem to be thriving are the broad beans, sprouts and potatoes, which we earthed up again today.
There were also a few carrot and parsnip seedlings poking through the dusty soil.
Despite it's parched predicament, I'm delighted with how the plot is coming together- it will be so beautiful in a year or two when the fruit trees have filled out. I'm planning to move that enormous concrete compost bin by the shed (behind the water butt) and weave a living willow playhouse for the girls in the winter.
This morning we made a scarecrow to guard our crops- the girls have named him Sidney. Let's hope the birds are fooled!
It also seems important to mention the government's plans to end the right to have an allotment, thus placing plots up and down the county under threat. For more information and what you can do to speak out against the plans visit here. All the more reason to vote wisely on thursday...
yes yes yes to thursday! YES! Am I clear enough? Ahem... Sidney is rather dapper, won't Steve miss his red jumper? ;0) I think the soil might need a mulch... grass clippings, compost or manure, it might help to keep the moisture in. lou x
ReplyDeleteAm outraged by government plans!!! I am old enough to remember the last Con Govt and the old rage is returning. Husband (Mark) was out canvesing for a yes vote today. Am afraid we are heading for disappointment but YES, YES, YES.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean; our fields are all cracked and looking very sorry for themselves. Really need rain now and a lot of it.
ReplyDeleteCJ xx
same here went carbooting today and my shoes were so full of dust i think i have brought the feild back with me x
ReplyDeletebut think how strong we will all be after lugging watering cans for months, whilst eating our teeny tiny carrots!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it crazy - I never thought we'd be longing for rain at this time of year!
ReplyDeleteI hope Sidney does his job, a scarecrow recently went missing from our site.
A few days later I heard some children screeching that they'd found a dead body in the stream on the other side of the fence. My heart raced as I heard their father shout OH MY GOD in horror!!
We found the scarecrow, sadly 'drowned'.
Fingers crossed, it may rain this week!
ReplyDeleteSidney is great! And yes I'm another one praying for rain - 45 minutes tonight watering the garden, when I could have been planting seeds and potting on my tomatoes! Your blog is fabulous - it's new to me, will add it to my Reader...
ReplyDeleteWe were poured on VERY heavily today whilst watching the girls and boys dance around the Maypole. It started light then turned into a proper downpour but they kept going! Hope it all comes your way!!! xx
ReplyDeleteOk, so I just learned what an allotment is. I thought was just a term you used for a garden. I clicked on your link and read all about it. We do not get allotments here in the U.S., but if we did, I'm sure there would be a lot of happy people who lived in apartments..that they could have a garden. Where I live, in Pennsylvania, most everyone who lives in a house has room for a garden. I was wondering...where you live, do people mostly live on very small plots of land? I hope this is not a silly question. I think it's pretty cool that the government is required to provide people with an allotment to grow a garden. In fact, I think it's fantastic! I can totally see why you and everyone else would be so upset by the possibility of it being taken away...especially if most people didn't have any space to garden where they lived! That would be terrible. I hope that whatever vote needs to be answered "yes" to...actually happens!
ReplyDeleteP.S. In the link you provided, while reading, I came across the name Pippa. Seems to be a name that I am hearing a lot of these days since William and Kate got married. (I caught the tail end of the wedding when I woke up at 7:00 am). Well, anyhow, I never heard that name before the Royal Wedding. Seems us Americans are quite smitten with Pippa. Everyone is talking about Pippa. They've even started a facebook page in her honor because everyone was wowed by her beauty and her teeny tiny figure and how gorgeous she looked in that dress. Is anyone in your country making a big fuss over Pippa? Cause she' all the talk here. I must admit, I noticed her myself!
ReplyDeleteI think we have all the rain over here. In the last two weeks, we have had one sunny day each week, serious rainfall the other days. I'm going to try to send some of it your way, okay?
ReplyDeleteI haven't been blog reading for a while and I see there are 10 posts for me to catch up on! The allotment is looking great but sorry to hear about how dry it is, we have the same problem here, except I can easily water mine as it's only a few feet away in the garden. It's a shame to see all your work drying up, I hope there's some rain soon. As for getting rid of allotments - no way! Beth/The Linen Cat :)
ReplyDelete@Bonnie wow- lots of questions! The local councils don't actually have to provide everyone with allotments as far as I understand, they just have to have some land for allotments. People have to go on a waiting list sometimes as long as 10 years to get one (we were lucky and only had to wiat 18 months).
ReplyDeleteI think your average person has some sort of outdoor space at their home, but not generally big enough to grow much veg- we only have a small paved yard. I think gardens and houses themselves generally tend to be smaller than yours over there- I suppose our little island is rather small and well populated so we're all fairly packed in!
The 'yes' vote is to do with changing our election system, to make it fairer, especially for those people who live in areas considered 'safe seats' for one of the major parties.
And re the name Pippa- it's short for Phillipa, not a particularly common name, but not uncommon either! Yes Pippa looked incredible at the royal wedding didn't she- her bottom has been the talk of the nation!
Cxxx
Just got to say well done for having such a trendy, low-slung-crotched scarecrow!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the watering battle - must be exhausting having to water so often.
Reading about allotments has kicked me into action - I now have pots of red and yellow pepper seeds on the kitchen sill. Quite exciting, in a very small way!
How maddening!
ReplyDeleteNo rain here for weeks now too. Fingers crossed to all our hard work.
Nina x