As high pressure dominates and controls our weather at the moment Tuesday was another fine day with long sunny spells, mild and dry.
Our garlic and shallot in the greenhouse were ready to plant out down on the plot and I thought it was about time I got my green manure trial started by sowing a bed of Phacelia.
I’d already prepared this bed for sowing so all I had to do was scatter the seed followed by a gentle rake just to settle the seed in. As you can see from this picture the soil looks fairly dry so I thought about watering the seed in. The problem is watering the ground just tends to form a thin crust on the top of the soil as it dries out. I decided not to water as there is some moisture below and I'm hoping this is enough to germinate the seed.
Last year the plot needed plenty of watering to produce some reasonable crops. Fortunately we’re not in one of the areas where a hosepipe ban is starting at the beginning of April. However we do seem to be rather short of rain over the last couple of years. The table below shows the rainfall figures for the last couple of years and to March this year.
This year has started off even drier than than the previous two years so it looks like plenty of watering will be required again.
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We only water when absolutely necessary as we don't have piped water on our plot so we have to rely on the water butts to keep us supplied. It can be tough when we don't get any rain.
ReplyDeleteWe had an extremely dry winter and it looks like the spring is going to be the same. I really can't remember the last time we had any rain.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather was a farmer his entire life. He always told me not to water too often. I'm sure you know that if you water too often the plants roots will stay shallow and require more water. I hardly ever water the home garden or the plots.
I have been trying to keep my recently planted peas damp enough to germinate though. It's dry as a bone here!
Hi Jo
ReplyDeleteAt least we have mains water supply on our site.
Hi Robin
It's ages since we had a really wet day too. If I do water I do follow your advice to water well rather than little and often. We've still got some moisture in the soil but once our clay soil dries out it turns to concrete.
Yeah! Really it was very difficult to cultivate without sufficient rain and the farmers will always getting affected by this problem.
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