Another bright sunny and hot day; another day with no rain and none in prospect. For us gardeners this means another day of watering any tender plants; and another day of planning our growing and gardening to minimise the amount of watering needed, and maximising the amount of water we can collect.
So you can imagine my pleasure earlier this week when I walked past a neighbour’s garden where they had assembled all sorts of things from their garden that they wanted to give away and it included a large garden water butt complete with stand. It now stands ready to be installed (once I’ve made a flat surface for it) at a corner of my greenhouse. That makes 4 water butts in all – one for the hens’ water supply, two by the shed, and one by the greenhouse. My plan is to replace a large butt in the back garden with a larger one (or maybe even two), and move that one to the allotment as well, so that there will be one for each side of the greenhouse. In addition, I need to figure out some kind of automatic watering system for inside the greenhouse – if you’ve made or know of a low-tech solution for this I’d love to hear about it.
Increasingly I’m looking to soil improvement and mulch to reduce the need for watering wherever I can. But some plants are very thirsty, especially while they’re establishing themselves, and it would be foolish not to water them for a while. Also the soil in my garden is very poor and needs a lot of improvement before I can ease up on the watering regime – something else to add to the list of things to do in the autumn.
If you look carefully you’ll see the blue mayflies mating on the water lily leaf on my pond
And here’s a pair of red mayflies mating on the same pond
Rather unexpectedly, today turned out to be a busy day. An older relative who lives alone and has barely seen anyone since the lockdown started felt able to come and visit us in our garden. He brought his own flask and we sat well away from each other while we chatted, but it was a great improvement for all of us over the usual phone calls (and for him especially).
Then as we sat chatting youngest son messaged to say that he would be in Bath tomorrow for some work and could he drop by. Lunch in our garden, again at a distance, has been arranged. Two social engagements in as many days! It feels decidedly odd, but it will be wonderful to see him in person again.
However, it did mean that making the birthday present for his daughter had to be suddenly speeded up, so that he can take it home with him rather than take our chances with the postal system. So – I didn’t get as much as I wanted done on the allotment, but I did get another make finished, and all in all I’m very pleased with it. Pictures in due course – but it was another first for me, and another experience of getting acquainted with my sewing machine. I think we’re getting on rather well together now.
More on this tomorrow
Here’s hoping you’re well. See you again tomorrow xx
the magic jug 