Monday 16 July 2018

Weather

This morning North West England have brought in a hosepipe ban from August 6th.   Things are getting serious.   I have not hosed my garden here in North East England for the last week as I felt it was irresponsible.   One has only to look at the fields to see how serious the situation is - second crop silage was a very poor crop and since it was cut the grass has not greened up at all - the fields are golden.   Unless something gives soon the farmers will have to start feeding cattle which means that silage will then be short before winter is over.

Well that is how it was yesterday.   But have things changed overnight.   Well, let's put it this way, at eight o'clock last evening we had a tremendous thunder storm - a bigger one than I have seen here in a very long time.   It lasted a good hour and the rain came down in sheets.   Everything was soaked, the roads were flooded, my steep drive was like a waterfall and still the rain fell.   By the time I went to bed it had stopped and the air was fresh and clean.   This morning it has dried up but the sky is full of black clouds - there is still an ominous look to it all.   On Breakfast Television they have just said that in parts of North Yorkshire an inch of rain fell in an hour so no watering of plants with a heavy can needed today!

Oh, and if you are interested, I have not got my water butt fixed in yet, so no excess water saved for the next time.

21 comments:

Bovey Belle said...

I am glad that Yorkshire farmers had a bit of help from the weather. Sadly here, the rain was VERY patchy and light and they will soon be having to feed silage too. Next Door will be glad of the few extra bales of haylage that our field yielded for him. Our "payment" for the work he did harrowing and reseeding it last year. We are happy to do that now the son has taken over - we can deal with him far better than his father.

At least your garden has had a good soaking. I am looking at our fish pond and thinking we will have to rescue the fish and put them in a blue barrel with some weed so will try and get that done in the next day or so. It will give us a chance to get the silt out of the bottom of the pond too, and get rid of a lot of the Canadian pondweed.



Frances said...

Lucky you getting all that rain. We haven't had so much as a drop for weeks in Herts. I am still using the hose for the garden every night as presumably there is still enough water left somewhere ! I don't go mad with it though and we don't use a sprinkler. Just need to keep the beans and tomatoes alive, and my favourite plants and cuttings.

Heather said...

Thank goodness for that timely thunderstorm - you and the farmers can sleep a little easier. All the promising clouds passed us by yesterday - we shall see what today brings.

Rachel Phillips said...

For the moment we are wanting the dry weather while the barley and rape are harvested and the straw baled and cleared. After that we can have the rain before we start the wheat. The weather is currently perfect in the east.

Sue in Suffolk said...

I hope the rain didn't flatten too many of the standing crops.

Not a spot here again and none forecast either. Everywhere is frazzled and crispy

Derek Faulkner said...

The last rain that we had here on Sheppey was June 1st and not a drop since but then we tend to be one of the driest places in England. It is forecast to stay this way well into and possibly beyond, August and so we will be regularly envious of you.
I was talking to the guy who farms alongside the reserve this morning. He is just finishing the rape harvest and is contemplating starting on the wheat but he said tonnages will be well down due to the dryness of the soil and the corn grains being undersized.

Tom Stephenson said...

It does seem crazy to give the plants drinking water, but that's all most people have.

Gwil W said...

I assume it didn't rain on St Swithins Day.

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

That first rain after a drought is such a wonderful thing. We have not had rain in a couple of weeks, but it is coming this afternoon. My flowers will appreciate it.

thelma said...

It was a lovely thunderstorm, not enough of course and they are just showing the very depleted reservoir in the Lake District for your side of Yorkshire. I have given up on my flowers, they have all really given up under the heat, there is always another year though.

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

I had to look up water butt, because I wasn't sure what you were referring to. Now I know it's a rain barrel of sorts. I put large buckets under my downspouts which I use to water flowers in pots and window boxes. We've had a very dry few weeks as well, with a little rain yesterday, but not nearly enough. The grass is crispy and dormant now. -Jenn

jinxxxygirl said...

I enjoyed reading your post this morning Pat.. Like a few others i didn't know what a water butt was... Had to Google it..lol Did you read about my SunShower the other day? I think you did.. Well yesterday we had a drenching!!! Thank thank goodness... We needed it so bad.. The deer have been draining my birdbath twice a day... I tell them.. 'Ladies theres a lake right over there' but they don't listen..lol Its been one hot dry summer.. Some more rain expected tomorrow.. I hope it holds true.. Amazing how the grass just greened up over night.. Stay cool Ms. Pat!! Hugs! deb

Joanne Noragon said...

In the spring our water barrel simply did not fill. Finally I found the kink in the pipe. Then it didn't rain. Then it only rained little bits and the barrel was barely over the outflow pipe. I was so frustrated, being cheated of "free" water. It's full now, and we're in drought and happy to have it.

Librarian said...

Rain at last! It's a shame the ground can't really hold it when it has been so very dray before.
We've had gales appear out of nowhere early this afternoon, and the sky looked really threatening for a bit. It passed us, though, and an hour or two later the sun was out as before, and the sky is blue again.

Living Alone in Your 60's said...

I'm glad some parts of the country are getting rain. At least some good producers may still get some of their crops in.

Derek Faulkner said...

Pat, I've just been watching the news and seeing the drying out reservoirs in the North of England, it looks quite dire. Clearly somebody up above must of took pity on you by giving you the rain that few of the rest of us have had. Good on you.

The Weaver of Grass said...

You are quite correct Gwil in your assumption.
Yes Thelma - I don't feel justified in giving the flower s precious water now.
Thanks for the comments everyone. Today everything is looking a little less thirsty.

Ivy said...

Our three drops of rain last night are hardly worth mentioning.
Good that your garden looks a little less thirsty, so you don't have to water your plants.

https://ruraltownliving.blogspot.com/

angryparsnip said...

When I lived in California, we had several droughts, lakes drying up and hot hot months.
Also wildfires, lots of wildfires, we have so many here in Arizona right now.
So nice to hear you had rain.

cheers, parsnip

Theresa Y said...

Please tell me what a "water butt" is. Is it like the "rain barrel" we use over here in the US? We use the rain barrel to catch rain and then use that to water our gardens.

Derek Faulkner said...

Exactly that Theresa