Drought watch

I'm slightly worried we may have a repeat of last years early summer drought on our plots. To aggrivate the problem, the council have cut off our water supply sompletely while the 'dispute' over the latest bill is settled. Many of us are very annoyed about this having put in a lot of work and spent a lot of money on raising plants only to watch them wither. I'm trying not to find this too dispiriting, but it's difficult, I even lost a brand new watering can in the nearby river yesterday trying to hoik water up...all while 7 months pregnant. I especially find annoying the fact that the chap who's in charge as spokesman lives nearby so waters his plant with water brought from his own supply, and doesn't seem that concerned that others like me have to drive to the plot, so this is impossible. Sometimes it's tempting to give it all up, but this year I'd planned to grow enough to really supplement our family's shopping bill so I don't have much choice but the continue to find ways to try and solve the problem. If there was more of a community spirit, perhaps we could club together to complain to the parish council, but any support I've tried to drum up has failed. I just wish I had got my water but in time to fill it up to have enough for my seedlings during this dry spell. Ho hum.

Anyway, enough of my moan and on to my 'progress' which has halted a bit as a result. Yesterday I got rid of the emerging thistles with my fab new hoe which works like a dream. I uncovered the last of my beds which was covered in black plastic to warm the soil/keep weeds down, and gave it a quick rake and left it to dry out. This bed will house brassicas and sweetcorn. I also removed the fleece from the remaining broad beans which had emerged well, and netted them instead. Pretty much all my beans and peas are netted now, apart from any more peas I will sow in the next couple of weeks. Looks like some slugs have munched some broad bean leaves though.

My wild strawberries look really happy and have started to flower

Onions and garlic growing well

and I'm pleased to report my parsnips have germinated, as well as the rocket. Still no carrots despite having sowed four times since Feb!

My comfrey patch is going bananas

and the raspberries are spreading

 but overall you can see they plot is looking pretty dry, which is a shame as the weather is fantastic at the moment, I think it was almost 25C yesterday which is amazing for this time of year. I think a picnic is planned for this weekend!
..oh and I almost forgot to mention my potatoes have sprouted!

Water conservation

Last year my plot suffered terribly with the spring drought and our poor water supply to the allotments really aggrivated the situation.This year I was determinded to resolve the issue somehow, but it's tricky as we are not allowed to erect sheds or any type of building that I could collect water from. So I've finally forked out for a humble water but from a large but cheap DIY chain. I searched high and low (well not very hard, but that's due to having two toddlers) for something to store water in, but all solutions were either too big, too heavy or cumbersome to get onto the plot by myself. I just have to fill the butt now, which may take some time, as it's a five minute walk to the other plot's standpipes.

Last year there was a dispute between the farmer who owns the land my plot came from, and the plot holders who were using his cattle trough as a water tap (as it refilled) He called in to have the supply cut off, but after lots of local parish political wranglings it turns out that his water supply was actually owned by the council and was connected to the standpipe in the other allotments. In some ways this is good, because it means the council have agreed to erect a standpipe there for our plots, which would be amazing as I could then only have to walk about 1 minute as opposed to across the road and up the hill to fill my watering can. I only wonder how long it will take for them to do the work to reinstate this water supply and whether we will get any benefit from it this year? In the meantime it looks like I will be mostly walking back and forth all day Tuesday to fill my butt!

Read about the water dispute here as it made the local rag!