The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: deepinthewoods on April 30, 2011, 06:36:51 pm

Title: the weather!!
Post by: deepinthewoods on April 30, 2011, 06:36:51 pm
anyone else fed up of having to water the garden and veg plot every day? tis not right in april, ive used all my stored water already.
maybe this isnt applicable to those lucky souls north of the border but here in cornwall we havent had a mm for over a month and everything is suffering. 
im just glad i have a bore hole otherwise my water bill would be ridiculous and make all my projects unfeasible.
 im praying for rain, proper torrential rain!!!
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Helencus on April 30, 2011, 06:53:18 pm
Me too! I'm in the midlands and nothing for weeks, our new pond is just a dry hole in the ground.
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: CameronS on April 30, 2011, 07:16:33 pm
we are in fife (north of the border), and have been having to water all the seedlings sprouting,
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: deepinthewoods on April 30, 2011, 07:26:39 pm
i built a pond in the veg garden last year and have been topping it up regularly or my fish would be gonnas by now.
it does make it v hard to get seedlings established, my runners are definitely finding this hard going despite my preperations earlier on this year. and my plans of selling amazing gladioli flowers to the flower shops are looking unlikely!! theyre just not putting the growth on.
hey ho just goes to show the best laid plans etc etc :'(  
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: shetlandpaul on April 30, 2011, 07:59:32 pm
no im quite happy with the weather. the field is dry and the grass is growing so we are happy thanks.
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Beewyched on April 30, 2011, 09:17:30 pm
Yep, we're west of Glasgow & having to water the seedlings every day - twice a day for the last couple of days.  Unbelievable for this time of year - we've used up most of our stored water & just keeping it now as a reserve for the blueberry bushes.
We've also had to reconfigure one of our pig paddocks as one of the little streams running into the burn has nearly dried up - good for a wallow, but didn't want to risk any dehydrated pigs  ::)
Couldn't belive it when we got in this evening, been weeding the flower borders - got quite cold at times with this easterly wind, even with sunshine all day - but we've got sunburn  :o
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: mab on April 30, 2011, 09:37:21 pm
Dry as bone here in E anglia too - grass is growing ATM, but if there's no rain soon we're going to have another year short of hay  >:(  .
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Beewyched on April 30, 2011, 09:46:40 pm
Just had a quick glance at the 10-day forcast - we're not due any rain until Friday 5th May - it'll be the first April I can recall with no rainfall :o
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Hermit on April 30, 2011, 09:48:53 pm
I am having to water my veg garden here in Shetland!! I have had to shade all the poly veg as well it is so hot in there they are shrivelling. The areas around my ducks houses have dried lovely and can now walk on the surface instead of ankle deep! Another plus is we finished one peat bank quickly so now can open a new one!
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: SallyintNorth on April 30, 2011, 10:07:54 pm
Absolutely not going to grumble about having warm dry weather in north Cumbria in April!

The grass is lush and long - last year was also dry but cold and we had no grass for the lambs until mid-May.  This year we had more by the end of March than we did mid-May 2010.

We are having to carry water to a few fields with natural water that is more-or-less dry now.

And the pig has now (finally!) been moved to the field we want her to plough for turnips - but it's so hard-baked she's no chance so BH is going to order a conventional plougher  :(

And I have (very slight) sun-damage on one side of my nose from sitting in the garden with relatives on Easter Sunday!
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Brucklay on April 30, 2011, 10:25:35 pm
Sorry - not complaining either - the goat kids love the dry weather, the lambs are happy but IBC tank is empty and turned on the bore hole pump to the goats shed but at the end of the day I can supply water but can't get rid of mud - but understand the garden problem though - sort of the opposite of me wheeling a water container to water the sheep mid winter in -15, no worries in the garden then! Swings and roundabouts....
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: deepinthewoods on April 30, 2011, 10:37:37 pm
i think my biggest concern is for the implications later on, assuming we have a 'normal' progression into summer. im going to go to the well 2moro and monitor the water table i think. im reliant upon it.
unless it tips down 2nite of course!
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: hughesy on May 01, 2011, 08:49:53 am
Thr ground is like concrete here in North Wales. Watering is becoming a pain now just like last year at this time. Funny how the weeds seem to do allright though.
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: deepinthewoods on May 01, 2011, 09:31:45 am
heehee it rained all night!! all water butts filling nicely, maybe my prayers were answered! ;) ;D :bouquet: :farmer: :wave:
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Coley on May 01, 2011, 09:42:46 am

While it luvverly to have a dry warm spring its a fact the ponds so full just weeks ago are drying up fast, aye a good downpour would be welcome.
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: robert waddell on May 01, 2011, 09:44:24 am
you know your a farmer when you complain about the weather :) :) :wave:
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Hilarysmum on May 01, 2011, 09:57:12 am
Our pond is drying out much earlier this year, although its always seasonal.  The piglets and Digby are using it to dig sand  mud castles and to paddle in.

Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Hilarysmum on May 01, 2011, 10:00:16 am
Just as I pressed send for my previous posting, a crack of thunder and a deluge.   Doubt it will refill the pond though.
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: bazzais on May 01, 2011, 10:18:10 am
We were hoping for rain last night, it really did feel and smell like it was going to come - but nothing this morning :(

The place is like a dust bowl here and my sad attempt at making a new lawn is just being blown away.

There was a fire over the other side of the bay this morning that looked pretty bad by the smoke and the sounds of fire engines - its like a tinderbox.

Baz
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: manian on May 01, 2011, 12:11:52 pm
wheres bamford and his weather updates....... miss them
 ;D :wave:
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: sabrina on May 02, 2011, 12:36:23 am
My fields are rock hard, lack of rain is slowing the grass down, ponies are still in winter coats and sweating like mad and like others having to water the veg garden. All unheard off at this time of year
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: SallyintNorth on May 02, 2011, 12:47:19 am
BH has now clipped 10 of the hoggs - a month earlier than ever before.  And our bareskinned Charollais lambs are of concern not because of getting cold but because of possibility of getting sunburnt!
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Fowgill Farm on May 04, 2011, 09:26:55 am
This morning we had a really hard frost here in our part of north yorkshire, water pipes to outdoor pigs frozen so had to lug buckets of water out to them to replenish tanks and smash ice off the top of said troughs, the sun is now up and its baking hot so pipes will no doubt thaw quickly but what topsy turvy weather. Thank god i remembered to shut the greenhouse last night.
Weird.
mandy  :pig:
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: northfifeduckling on May 04, 2011, 09:49:19 am
I quite enjoy it but am very concerned that all the water we didn't have might come at once once it starts raining. the ground won't hold any now and the area had its share of floods in the last few years and worldwide it's increasing. I miss the balance - sun during the day, rain at night  ;D :&>
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: ellisr on May 04, 2011, 10:54:43 am
Well the rain is forecast for down here tomorrow through to sunday so hopefully that will not just run off and help the grass grow
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Beewyched on May 04, 2011, 07:37:22 pm
At last - we're forecast rain for tomorrow & Friday  ;D
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: SallyintNorth on May 05, 2011, 04:57:02 pm
Just please please please, let it know when to stop...   ::)
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Beewyched on May 05, 2011, 05:30:29 pm
Tomorrow afternoon Sally ;)

But isn't everything the greener for it?  I'm sure I can hear my garden sighing happily - I can even smell the apple blossom now - aah :D
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: ellied on May 06, 2011, 10:52:59 am
I was getting desperate still feeding hay and watering the garden not to mention running a hose to the end paddock where the water dried up ::)

But we had a good downfall last night so today I have no watering to do and fingers crossed the grass will grow finally.. after which I can start worrying about fat ponies rather than thin ponies ::)
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Helencus on May 06, 2011, 10:10:42 pm
Still no rain here. Been 6 weeks since we had rain :-( everything is parched
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: SallyintNorth on May 07, 2011, 08:48:17 am
We've had a proper wetting overnight and some spectacular 360 degree lightening belts; heard a light aircraft up there full throttling for home, hope he made it.
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: shetlandpaul on May 07, 2011, 09:09:46 am
wet here. thanks a lot mutter mummer.
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Coley on May 07, 2011, 10:29:53 am

Can you waft some of it ower here, desperate for some rain or I will have to water 300 newly planted trees by hand ;D
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Blonde on May 07, 2011, 01:38:20 pm
RAIN...... Gee kinder wonder what that is like, we have not seen rain for months.  Every think is just so dry,  dew on  the ground keeps some things alive, but we desperately need the rain to begin seeding.   Every thing and every one is just about ready to go.....BUT.....without the ground being wet it is difficult  to pull any thing through it.  Some deep ripping ahs been going on and this wears the points down to the  where they have to be built up with some welding.
Wemight not et what we wnt  and their might be a huge amount of shrivelled grain on themarket next year.... good for some like me and not so good for others like the farmers.
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: Helencus on May 07, 2011, 05:37:38 pm
At last we've had a proper soaking here today! Things will rocket out the ground now.
Title: Re: the weather!!
Post by: deepinthewoods on May 07, 2011, 08:17:00 pm
yep drizzle today, rain last night. ponds are full, butts nearly so. so alls good. 'just in time' rather than 'just in case' it seems.
sorry paul ;)