cheer me up!

[Bramble_killer]

I've just been out to the garden and we have clay soil, there's been no rain for a month. Everything bounces off the soil and all the pot plants are withering. I missed a few herbs 2 days ago and they are now crispy and dead.

I have peas that need to go out but I can't even dig. I've spent ten minutes with the hose in the ground, broke a lump and it's still bone hard. ugh

and now watching perfect gardens on gardener's world....

[zazen999]

I threw out about 400 plants/seedlings/cuttings on wednesday that hadn't been watered at one of the schools I garden in.

[SarzWix]

It took me a whole day to plant my peas. Well, 2 afternoons. I did get the bed dug over, but didn't have the energy to rake it, so I was left with huge dry clods of clay I just set to with the rake, and used it like a pick-axe to break the clods up a bit, then watered it, then broke it up some more. Horrible.

Um. If you haven't dug it, it's going to need water, then be covered up so that it soaks in instead of evaporating... Have you got a tarp? Or some cardboard? If you have a tarp, put the hose on underneath it!

[scarey55]

It's miserable isn't it, we have had weeks with no rain and It makes everything hard (literally)
I have just had to give up - I never thought I'd say this but we really need some rain.
Keep your chin up

*goes out to do a rain dance*

[jackie j]

Very dry here too, driest March for years. We had a very small amount of rain this morning but didnt last long, just as well cos I left the sun roof open in the car, managed to shut it before the seats got too wet.

[zazen999]

I've even emptied out all the milk bottles that I use at the lottie to weigh down netting etc; brought them home empty and will fill them up and take them back up full tomorrow. I did unearth another source of water, which is a plastic city link box that I'd forgotten about - which is full of water.

It's a bit worrying, as alot of my onions that were transplanted in the last 2 weeks haven't made it. Luckily, I sowed a huge tray of them 2 weeks ago so I can replace. I'll bet we'll have sun when we need rain and flippin rain when we need sun during June and July.

[SarzWix]

You're forecast thundery showers tomorrow teatime, and again on Sunday according to the BBC BK...

[Bramble_killer]

Thank you Sarz! I certainly hope something falls. I just realised the tatties aren't planted yet too

Zaz: that's an amazing amount of losses, I would be sobbing uncontrollably.

Nekkid rain dance anyone?

[SarzWix]

A bunch of us on the allotments are looking at clubbing together to buy a pump - a few plots (including one of mine) have pipes down into either underground sumps, or directly into aquifers, but the only way to get the water out is with a pump. And the only person on our site with a pump is a grower of exhibition veg, who won't loan it to anyone else... We reckon we can get a pump for about £150, and there are 5 of us willing to share the cost, and any water we might find. Will be a godsend - I haven't dared plant anything in my greenhouses yet because I had to replace the tap on my 1000l container and it's only 1/3 full

[Two_Sheds]

I've resigned myself to a greenhouse full of dust - the school's been locked up for a fortnight

[CaroltheCarrot]

Its taking me an hour to dig,weed and plant each row of tatties,groung is hard, compacted and full of roots,man who had the plot before me should be shot at dawn ( he is the Allotment secretary!! go figure)
Does that help?

[Pies]

1976 here we come

[The Large One]

we took on a second plot last month and first thing i did was cover with massive tarps and leave it whilst we done other jobs on the original plot, i dug over some weeks ago and peeled back the tarps as i went and all underneathe was lush and brown where everything else was grey and rock hard so continued digging but then recovered with tarp to keep the moisture in and it weorks brillirant
i just finished tilling the last bit today where everyone else was digging lumps of clay brick

[SarzWix]

jackyspratty lost loads of strawberry plants at the school garden because nobody bothered to water them, although I think the caretaker had agreed to. I'm thanking goodness that the school garden I'll be helping with is just over the wall from my plot, so even if the gates are locked, I can hop over and do the watering...

[Glutton4...]

Most of this area is Clay, and several of the Gardens I do, still have moisture in the soil, if you dig your trowel in. The two that are on a Sandy seam are bone dry - so dry, in fact, that I wouldn't be surprised to find Camel remains....

I'm with Sarz, cover any surface that you need to plant in, if you can water first, all the better, but I think you'll be surprised at the improvement in conditions when mulch is used!