Mostly the rain (but also some garden)
Several weekends ago we set about clearing all the rampant weeds that were down by our rhubarb and fruit bushes. It had all got into a terrible state.
Then we went on a quest for mulch. Previously we have used cocoa shells as a mulch. A by-product of the cocoa industry (so recycling of sorts) plus they eventually broke down and were a soil improver too. However, the cocoa shells were getting increasingly difficult to find and they are toxic to pets if eaten. While we weren't desparately bothered about the health of next door's cat we have too much invested in our 3-legged moggy to see her keel over.
Aternatives were really only chipped bark in varying sizes. You can now get cobble sized pieces of bark which look hideous. We tried bark a while ago and it just looked a mess - especially after the birds turfed it onto the lawn while looking for bugs/worms etc. We decided a cat would make an even greater mess with mulch-redistribution.
Eventually we spotted some 'composted bark' mulch. It is dark and fine and look excellent on the garden. This too will eventually become soil improver. So we bought as much as we could fit in the car and had a weekend covering newly weeded earth. So far the mulch seems to be suppressing weeds very well.
Around the fruit trees we laid some more of the weed suppressing barrier cloth stuff. It has been good where we put it before and felt it was just a lot less work for us to use it here. Plus it's at the bottom of the garden and not visible, so the prettiness of it didn't matter much. While we were laying this (the last warm Sunday we had) the people over the fence had taken delivery of a swinging chair (you know the sort?) for the garden. We could here Her saying "Well I've got B1 and C1, so where is D1?" and Him saying "Well what does it look like?"... We've all been there! Well since the seat has been erected I don't think we've had a fully dry day - so the rain is our neighbours' fault.
For those of you not lucky enough to have residents of Sheffield/Leeds/Doncaster on your flist you may not know about the horrendous flooding the area has seen of late. One month's worth of rain fell in a day and the whole of Sheffield was awash. 4 people died through the floods. Then a dam nearby started to crack and areas had to be evacuated while work was carried out to try and stop the dam splitting. A large chunk of the M1 (one of the main north-south motorways in the UK) was shut as it would have been affected if the dam went. Residents of one area have been away from their homes a week and they are still flooded.
We have had a huge amount of rain this side of the Pennines, but not quite so much. Our back garden tends to be damp all year and when we get heavy rain the water takes a long while to drain away. Due to the large quantity of rain of late we are getting more flooded areas in the garden, that last longer, than we have ever had before. AND THIS HAS BEEN IN JUNE. It would not have been fun in winter - but mid-summer it is a worry.
So it may seem ironic that we had decided to get another water butt to put on the other side of the greenhouse - to counter balance the threat of global warming and drier summers! We couldn't find a slimline one (like our current one) so ordered one from the local hardware store. We collected it on Saturday and got it set up IN THE RAIN! Of course nobody now sells the fixings we used for our original one (a little fitting that clipped into the gutter of the greenhouse) so we cobbled together a means of getting the water from the greenhouse into the butt. It works anyway. I should go and check how full the butt is after two days of torrential rain. Yesterday we had flooding in parts of the front garden that never usually floods!. IT IS JULY.
Mid-summer and I have washing draped on maidens around the house. I could not wait to wash any longer.... Forecast is bad for the next few days at least.
Then we went on a quest for mulch. Previously we have used cocoa shells as a mulch. A by-product of the cocoa industry (so recycling of sorts) plus they eventually broke down and were a soil improver too. However, the cocoa shells were getting increasingly difficult to find and they are toxic to pets if eaten. While we weren't desparately bothered about the health of next door's cat we have too much invested in our 3-legged moggy to see her keel over.
Aternatives were really only chipped bark in varying sizes. You can now get cobble sized pieces of bark which look hideous. We tried bark a while ago and it just looked a mess - especially after the birds turfed it onto the lawn while looking for bugs/worms etc. We decided a cat would make an even greater mess with mulch-redistribution.
Eventually we spotted some 'composted bark' mulch. It is dark and fine and look excellent on the garden. This too will eventually become soil improver. So we bought as much as we could fit in the car and had a weekend covering newly weeded earth. So far the mulch seems to be suppressing weeds very well.
Around the fruit trees we laid some more of the weed suppressing barrier cloth stuff. It has been good where we put it before and felt it was just a lot less work for us to use it here. Plus it's at the bottom of the garden and not visible, so the prettiness of it didn't matter much. While we were laying this (the last warm Sunday we had) the people over the fence had taken delivery of a swinging chair (you know the sort?) for the garden. We could here Her saying "Well I've got B1 and C1, so where is D1?" and Him saying "Well what does it look like?"... We've all been there! Well since the seat has been erected I don't think we've had a fully dry day - so the rain is our neighbours' fault.
For those of you not lucky enough to have residents of Sheffield/Leeds/Doncaster on your flist you may not know about the horrendous flooding the area has seen of late. One month's worth of rain fell in a day and the whole of Sheffield was awash. 4 people died through the floods. Then a dam nearby started to crack and areas had to be evacuated while work was carried out to try and stop the dam splitting. A large chunk of the M1 (one of the main north-south motorways in the UK) was shut as it would have been affected if the dam went. Residents of one area have been away from their homes a week and they are still flooded.
We have had a huge amount of rain this side of the Pennines, but not quite so much. Our back garden tends to be damp all year and when we get heavy rain the water takes a long while to drain away. Due to the large quantity of rain of late we are getting more flooded areas in the garden, that last longer, than we have ever had before. AND THIS HAS BEEN IN JUNE. It would not have been fun in winter - but mid-summer it is a worry.
So it may seem ironic that we had decided to get another water butt to put on the other side of the greenhouse - to counter balance the threat of global warming and drier summers! We couldn't find a slimline one (like our current one) so ordered one from the local hardware store. We collected it on Saturday and got it set up IN THE RAIN! Of course nobody now sells the fixings we used for our original one (a little fitting that clipped into the gutter of the greenhouse) so we cobbled together a means of getting the water from the greenhouse into the butt. It works anyway. I should go and check how full the butt is after two days of torrential rain. Yesterday we had flooding in parts of the front garden that never usually floods!. IT IS JULY.
Mid-summer and I have washing draped on maidens around the house. I could not wait to wash any longer.... Forecast is bad for the next few days at least.