Rain, beautiful rain..

   Well it finally arrived. Rain and it has gone cooler. Enough rain to fill the 1000 litre container I have and my five what I guess are around 500 litres each water butts. Of course, I will not need them now will I?

   Here are two photos taken before the rain river at the bottom of my field. I have not seen the Petite Cruese as low this in the nine years I have lived  here. The recent rain will help but it is not enough. Now need to get my winter onions and plant them and also sow some broad beans. Hopefully the hot weather will not return but it will stay mild for a few more weeks yet.
   In the garden I am still picking courgettes and tomatoes but both are coming to an end. I have harvested more than I thought I would from both. Oh, I managed to dig up a few very thin carrots. They provided me with a second vegetable for a couple of meals so I must be grateful. With the rain the parsnips should pick up and the remaining beetroot may still get a little bigger. Hopefully the leeks will now start to grow. I am amazed they have survived but they will continue grown even when it gets cold.
  Nothing new on the chicken front.

I am now learning the desert song....

  

Mixed squash harvest

   The drought continues. It is still sunny and there have been two days of thirty degree centigrade this last week. Temperatures continue in the mid to upper twenties and a very very vague hint of "light rain" sometime in the near future!
     There is very little in the vegetable garden now. A few tomato plants still giving me a few fruits which is fine by me as too many means I have to find something to do with them! A mixed bag of winter squash has be gathered, crown prince, long island chess, butternut to mention three. Still one or two to gather but those are on plants that are still hanging in there and I am reluctant to harvest until the plant gives up.

  The photo is of my Bedfordshire onions grown from seed. I am quite proud of them.  Another couple of courgettes picked. The plants are showing signs of giving up now. There is little I can do in the vegetable garden. Even clearing weeks is not a good think to do and it just disturbs already dry soil and digging or forking is definitely out! I would like to plant some over winter onion sets. They are not in the shop yet but again I am reluctant to do anything until there has been a bit of rain.
   It is time to think about gathering seed and I have some parsnip and moss curled parsley already. Need to get some tomato seeds especially the black Crimea which have done so well in the dry conditions.
    Chickens. Oh yes chickens. Feathers everywhere! You would think the fox had been at them but no they are moulting. One or two look a right mess with bold patches and feathers hanging in ready to fall out. Lucky for them it has not been cold. Still getting two to three eggs a day which does me fine. The chicks are growing and it cannot be long before they come into lay.
    Just took a look at the weather forecast a week out and rain is forecast for Sunday 22nd September. Believe it when I feel it.

GASP!

   Ok folks still no rain and now the first frost! That is early! Just gone through a couple of days of lot cooler weather but the forecast is for the temperature to rise into the 20's so here is hoping winter stays away a little longer but boy could do with some rain!

Unknown tomato variety...black!

   So,  over the last week what has been going on? Not a lot. Picked a few courgettes and tomatoes and looked despairingly at the other crops. The ground is just bone dry now and there is no sign of any rain in the forecast. The river at the bottom of my field is as low as I have ever seen it and to honest I am glad that I no longer have any sheep.

Bedfordshire onions grown from seed

   I have managed to produce some pickled beetroot. The beets have been various in size from tiny to medium and I made a jar of whole pickled beets which I have never done before. In the poly tunnel the last lot of lettuce have all but given up despite being watered regularly. Still some tomatoes hanging in and my market maker cucumber is also just about holding on and I may get another one or two. 
   On the plus side I have never seen so many blackberries. I have an enormous collection of them outside my front door! I have frozen some and prepared some apple and blackberry mush for a pie or crumble.
  Well my tan is being maintained but little is being done in the garden though there are as always jobs to be done!

Water! Water!

   The drought continues. Tichy amout of rain in the last week. Not enought to do anything really other than cool things down a bit.

Drought affected cauliflowers

  The last of the second earlies, variety Anoe, have now been lifted. Somehow the last couple of feet of the bed has been overlooked until now. As the photograph shows the drought has badly affected my autumn cauliflowers and the whole crop is a right off. Sun,bit of rain, sun really did not agree with them at all. Still picking the outside the poly tunnel Wautoma cucumbers which are now starting to show signs of coming to an end. They have been one of the plants that I have watered using my precious supplies of rain water and once again they have been very good. The courgettes are still producing with two or three this last week. Enough for my consumption! The second sowing of haricot vert managed to produce a crop certainly enough for two meals! The last of the melons have been picked and despite the drought they have done ok. A decent seed tray of tomatoes picked. I am grateful for any tomatoes to be  honest given the poor start to the year. The winter brassicas are hanging in but I fear if we do not get some rain very soon they too will be a complete loss.
   On the chicken front the chicks have settled into their new enclosure with one or two deciding that outside the wire if better than inside! Still getting two to four eggs a day from the other flock which is fine for my use.
   The weather forecast over the next week is for some light rain at the week end but that is still a few days out so it cannot be depended on. Will the sun ever go away?