I've said it in the title at least it didn't rain on Friday but it was another dull and miserable day without any sunshine. We seem to be living under everlasting cloud at the moment. A bit of brighter sunny weather would be very welcome.
We decided on an afternoon visit to the plot to get some of our vegetable plants moved into their final positions. The ground was very wet and I think it was probably a bit too wet for planting out but things are getting a bit desperate at the minute so cabbages, Brussels sprouts and squash were planted out.
We were able to plant up these beds because the soil had already been prepared earlier in the spring. The beds had been given a quick tilling followed by the addition of some fish, blood and bone fertiliser and in the case of the brassica bed some lime. The beds had then been covered with weed control fabric.
Now we have the additional problem that we are rapidly running out of prepared beds. Two large beds were waiting for conditions to improve so that the soil could be tilled but some dry weather is needed for that to happen. Two other large beds had been covered with weed control fabric since last autumn. I had considered the possibility of planting these two beds without first cultivating the ground beneath. I had a quick peek under one corner of the fabric and it was obvious that this wasn't going to work. The ground under the fabric was saturated.
These are the two beds in question. The weed control fabric has done its job but it is worth noting that any potatoes left in from a previous crop will do their best to find their way out from under the fabric growing long white haulms attempting to find daylight.
I've decided to leave the weed control fabric off these beds for a few days hoping that the soil might dry out a little quicker. This bed is due to become home for our runner beans and sweet corn so I really need it prepared quickly. I can't see it drying out over the weekend and more unsettled weather is forecast for next week so I'm not too sure when this bed will be ready for our crops.
I don’t think the situation has been caused by the weed control fabric. Since the spell of fine May weather broke on the 20th May we've had 58.8mm of rain far more than we might expect in the whole month. Our runner bean crop might be a little late this year.
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Eastbourne total rainfall for the four months Jan to end April were 328mm compared with 215mm for Ossett your average of 53.75 was not that bad compared with Eastbourne which had 143mm in Jan and 132mm In Feb giving an average of 82mm those figures surprise me, total here for May so far is 46mm our average accounts for the huge amount of slugs and snails on the plot
ReplyDeleteI've noticed some of the private weather stations around Eastbourne have recorded around 900mm of rainfall in the 12 months May 13 to May 14. That's about 300mm more than us. Our 12 month total is about as expected just over the 600mm mark.
DeleteLet's hope it's only light showers next week, I've got lots to do and I need some dry time. I hope you're able to get the beans and corn out soon. I always heave a sigh of relief when everything's finally planted out.
ReplyDeleteThe weekend's weather has helped dry the plot out a bit. Once we've planted out our beans and sweet corn the plot should be full. Just the harvesting bit to look forward to!
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