The Rain in England falls Mainly on My Veg
I think this summer can safely go down in the history books as a Wet One. I’m too bothered, I haven’t really got into the swing of summer this year. Besides, I’m an Autumn kind of gal really. It’s all jumpers, tights, root veg, hearty soups and fresh, wet sunny mornings.
The rain is good in a few regards, mainly because it saved me the epic task of watering every day. It also saves on resources. I wish I had more water butts about, we have a measly ONE water butt that regularly overflows. That’s definitely on my list of Things to Buy When I Have Some Spare Money or Things To Buy When I Win the Lottery. There’s tonnes of ways you can recycle big containers to use them as water butts, but I never quite come across the right sort of containers. It’s probably because I’m not looking hard enough. You can get old food storage containers that are steam cleaned and ready for use. Just whack some mesh over the top (stops leaves and small animals/children/haphazard adults comme moi) and voila, a new waterbutt!
Hang on, I’ve diverted from what I was going to post about…
Oh yes, why the rain is good. Aside from saving me from watering, it also keeps the wildlife well watered. The really dry summers can be just as big killers as cold hard winters for wildlife. The only problem is that stagnant water can be a breeding ground for nasties like botulism. If you keep hens, you’ll know that they like to drink from little puddles all over the place. If these puddles have been sitting there for a while, then they can be a one way ticket to a lot of trouble. So I have to be careful about leaving out plant dishes, old compost bags, anything that can collect water.
Actually we have an old water feature that Rich has been planning to rewire and use again. It’s basically just a big black round container with room for the pump and a lid on top where you can place your pebbles or stones. I moved it out of the way a while back and it filled with rainwater. Since then the blackbirds have been coming down daily to use it as a bath and drinking station. We even had a resident toad followed by Mr. Frog for a few days. It makes me want to start my wildlife pond in earnest, but that really is something I’ll have to think long and hard about. We have to make it so that the hens won’t scratch it up, won’t be tempted to drink loads and eat from it, and of course, that nothing can fall in without a safe escape route (shallow levels).
The rain iwasn’t so great for my onion drying. Some of the foliage had fallen over, so I pulled the onions out and had laid them on the veg plot bed to dry out. Luckily we had a few warm, sunny days in August. Yesterday morning from around 6-10am we had the most glorious warm, fresh sunshine. But since then it’s been damp and quite chilly for September. I need to start learning how to properly store my veg, as I’m trying to increase my output and decrease my reliability on supermarkets each year.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I’s love some rain, send some my way! All we seem to be getting here is almost gale force winds and sunshine. When it does rain it’s a deluge for about 10 minutes that flattens all my seedlings. Sometimes I think the Gods are against the idea of me growing anything to eat.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Hi Lucy, Actually had to water my pots this evening, dreadful wind has dried everything out. Keeping fruit and veg.throughout the winter a bit hit and miss I fear, apples seem to go bad the minute you stop checking them, but have heard of folk keeping marrows in old tights for months!
September 4th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Is marrows a euphemism for legs?!
September 4th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Y’know I was convinced that it would be brilliant sunshine as soon as the children went back to school. Don’t think the Met Office will be beating a path to my door!