We have been having the very best kind of rain - gentle even warm rain that smells sweet and sinks right down to the roots of the plants. The garden is growing at a fantastic rate - both plants that should be there and weeds that shouldn't - I swear you can see the leaves extending by the hour.
I love working outside in this kind of rain - you can't feel yourself getting wet and the earth smells wonderful.
We don't water plants here - well they get watered in when they are first planted and again after 5 days if there has been no rain, but after that, not a drop. My theory is that they get better root systems if they have to make an effort to get water and that they encounter more nutrients in the soil.
Having said that, it is not that hard a test as we are a wet part of the country - but we had the same heatwave as everyone else last summer and the flowers didn't droop or mildew.
Euan is busy designing a system of siphons and water barrels to take rainwater from the house and greenhouse roofs to various points in the garden, tunnel and field. Soon I hope to not need the hose at all.
The photo is of a self seeded Cerinthe major.
7 comments:
Hi Jane,
What a lovely post, I can almost smell that luscious wet earthy smell, here in my armchair.
Me and the little one have been gardening in the rain today too, great stuff!
Did I say thanks for your ever so slightly rambling, but very astute, reply to my blog question? Well thanks, I agree!
Victoria x
Hi Jane, Thanks for the advice on dahlias and for leaving me such a reassuring comment at The Flour Loft. I am one of those other 492 who has been enjoying your blog for a while now but only since entering the blog community have I been brave enough to leave a comment. Now i am addicted!
Love the smell of the damp soil too.
Ginny x
I love the dewdrops in your photo! We have such sandy soil where I live, that if my plants miss one day of water during the summer months, they wilt excessively. We have water bans during the summer months, so watering has to be all done by hand on the days we can't use the hoses. I much prefer using my old galvanized watering can to a hose anyday!
My parents garden on very sandy soil - basically a sand dune - in East Lothian. East Lothian gets very little rain (in Scottish terms) and as you drive past you can see the water sprayers almost constantly on the golf courses surrounding the village.
I think that it is a great problem - but economics insist that greens be green. I remember seeing grass being sprayed with green dye in Australia so that it would look lush in wedding photographs!
Today is very sunny and I have overheated tidying the greenhouse! Time for a cool glass of water!
J
x
Thank you so much for your advice about dahlias - I have written them all down and I am off shopping! My garden was so sad and empty last August that I am replanting based on global warming and hosepipe bans - I am trying to regard it as an opportunity rather than a problem. So this summer I hope for a blast of colour when all the lovely pale pinks and blues have finished - it will be my Snapdragon border!
Alice
Just got back from town having been caught in a downpour - it was bliss. the air felt fresh and clear and best of all my garden was getting its first real soaking for weeks and weeks.
Kim x
i have a self seeded one in my garden too, not sure how it got there but so beautiful!
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