It was starting to get a bit tedious, constant watering every other day which by the time you have done that with walks to the water trough and back multiple times, you were not in the mood for much else. The dry and dusty clay/chalky soil was starting to annoy me, but at least with no rain for what must be over a month, no weeds really either. The whole problem is that everything was looking dry and tried. On the plus side, sitting in the garden, reading a book and sipping cold drinks, life was good.

Life was even better when it finally rained. It rained for a couple of days, most of the time with the evenings being sunny as it nothing had happened. But it had happened, and it rained very hard as if it were monsoon session.

The immediate benefit was not having to worry about watering. This meant on my next plot visit I could get straight on with doing things, which was mostly weeding. Weeds had not grown for weeks but within these two days, they had taken hold. The soil was no longer dry and it was workable. Good job as I dug up the remaining potatoes, hoed and raked over to leave an empty bed ready for something else. I edged the paths and generally hoed, weeded and tidied things up. It didn’t take long and the plot then looked full of energy and growth, instead of a hot dusty wasteland it had been just days before.

Having paid money for the swede plants I had given them plenty of water all during the dry days so that I would not loose any. With that and the recent rain they have all taken very well and hopefully will need re-netting as they grow larger over the next weeks. The other brassicas (sprouts, purple sprouting, broccoli) all look happy, the sprouts look like they could do with their netting raised. None of these are anyway as established and grown as they should be, I hope we continue with good mix of weather so they can put on plenty of growth before the winter.

With the empty beds I will plant field beans as a green manure (when the seeds arrive). Planting them around about now and cutting them down in spring time.

The tomatoes on the plot had survived the heavy rain hitting down on them, which I was surprised about. I spent time tidying them up and checking on the tomatoes. I hope they eventually turn red.

In the garden I tidied the tomatoes up too, cutting off a lot of the low down green and allowing light and air through. I didn’t think we had too many tomatoes but actually we have quite a lot of them. Some are even starting to turn red.

A keep a constant eye on the butternut squash plants, which have grown massive. Some have some tiny fruits on them but we have yet to get one to continue to grown. I keep seeing bees about and around the flowers so hoping one for some luck with them at some point.