Lack of rain.

[Guykp57]

Hi, how much damage is done to allotment with this dry spell we,re having?. I can only get up to mine every few days to water and don't want to lose everything. I have Potatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, beetroot, onions, turnips all growing up there. Please advise a newbie.

[Shadylane]

If you're watering every few days, that's more than enough. I would think if you're watering everything once a week, it will be loving it. Mine don't get anywhere near that. We don't have a water supply so no hose pipe and watering by can takes forever. We've had plenty of the wet stuff today though so hopefully it will help stuff along a bit.

[Guykp57]

Thank you SL.

[Olorin2001]

If your soil has plenty of humus it will retain water so much better.
Spring 2012 I dug 8 ton of horse manure into a 10 rod plot.
And I water heavily when the moisture meter indicates it needs it, just about to go into the red.
When measured at 8 inches depth.
When I say heavy watering I mean drown the plot, takes about two hours with a hosepipe, checking with meter to be sure it has penetrated to maximum depth meter reached and goes into the black.

[Shadylane]

Y' welcome Guykp.

Olorin - 2 hours?? With a hose? Good grief that's a lot of water. Hrmph. Really annoys me that we don't have a tap on either of our plots (on different sites), but the sister sites to both plots do. Annoys me no end.

[zazen999]

I don't have water on the plot so I water when it goes in and then some get some water if they are looking frazzled. Otherwise, it's pots only.

[Bigmallly]

I only water the Greenhouse & Kite, The outside stuff gets what moisture there is in the air. So far so good.

[chris]

Drowning the whole plot is such a waste of water. It'd be much more beneficial to target the roots of the crops that you're growing.

The only thing I'm really watering now is my asparagus crowns, as they're new - the rest is coping fine after some initial watering and heavy mulches.

[vikkib]

I've really noticed a massive difference since I started planting through mulches (be it shredded paper, cardboard or the often maligned black weed suppressant stuff).

I sink bottle/drainpipes in between plants so I can just water down to the roots but I've not been doing much watering at all, even in this hot weather.

I didn't water my spuds at all and I've been getting a fantastic crop of first earlies... large and plentiful... can't believe I spent so much time, energy and water last year on them!

The mulching evangelist signing off...

[Guykp57]

Went up last night and everything was looking ok. Watered a little and know waiting for the rain to come?...nice when people reply to newbie's..makes us feel that people care and want to help.

[Shadylane]

Went down yesterday and one of the veterans was chatting to me about the latest allotment related scandal, while watering the same 5 feet or so, with a hose he pumps from a well, for about ten minutes. Bearing in mine it rained the day before. Another veteran was soaking his beans. I know it didn't rain loads but really? Watering the day after it rains? Mind, their broadies are still looking healthy whereas mine have had it. Still don't think it's necessary tough.

[Two_Sheds]

I ... don't want to lose everything.

I water once a week, if that. 12 litres per sq.metre, give or take. 22 litres for spuds in the last stages, ie when they're forming tubers.

I ... drown the plot, takes about two hours with a hosepipe

That's far more than is needed, and is why a lot of sites don't allow hosepipes.
2 hrs is going to use up to 1800 litres, which is more than 250 watering cans-worth

https://www.iwnl.co.uk/domestic/hosepipe-ban.php

[Olorin2001]

I should have been more specific, to save being accused of wasting natural resources.
Two hours to water 30 rods, and the water comes from the river/stream that runs alongside, with a pump and hose, and that lasts at least two weeks if we have wall to wall sunshine and no rain. Sorry but I never measured, calculated or even guessed at the volume used. Two miles downstream the stream runs into the sea so the impact on the environment is minimal.
If you just dampen the surface your plants stay shallow rooted, if you give each plant its own measured dose, say half a watering can, poured slowly and carefully allowing time to soak in - that takes forever.
I invest my time, effort and money to put food on the table, plus get fresh air and exercise, and there is the social side of allotmenteering. Everyone has there own way of gardening, working within the micro climate/environment of their land, if my moisture meter shows the soil is dry it gets enough water to bring it up to a level that experience has shown me works and give me something to harvest.

[Olorin2001]

30 rods - and a rod is 25 square meters - then you say to water at 12 litre per square metre - you do the maths.
Sorry but with a moisture meter you can water when really needed, not when the soil surface is dry, yes I could go along digging holes every few yards to check the soil moisture at root level

[SarzWix]

I would have liked to be able to water my onions. They're all falling over already at about pickling size due to lack of water. Also spuds yield better if watered after they've flowered. Raspberry canes can suffer from a lack of water because they're shallow rooted, so they'd benefit from watering too.
Thankfully most of us will have had some heavy rain by now, but not soon enough to save my onions or my raspberry canes