I'll have to apologise for the small number of photos to accompany text this month, my computer is refusing to upload from my camera and my phone thinks it's too full to take more photos (when it really isn't). I'll try to get both problems fixed before the next post.
In the UK we have fairly changeable weather. We're used to having to carry suncream, umbrella and a warm coat, sometimes all for use on the same day! Lately, however, it's just been hot... very hot and very dry.
This causes something of a problem when trying to grow your own food, especially when you've been forced onto a water meter.
We'd been meaning to sort out some rainwater collection for a while, and this last month's weather has made it a higher priority.
Our barn has a lot of holes in it and a few bits of broken guttering, so our first water collection solution was simply a collection of buckets, barrels and plastic boxes dotted around under the barn, not very attractive, but it did help us water all the plants through the first half of the drought.
We also do a number of little things to save water which we find add up, such as;
- Putting the plug in the bath when we have showers, then fill a watering can with the water saved.
- Keeping a watering can by the kitchen sink, so as I wait for the water to flow hot for washing up, I can fill the watering can rather than it going down the drain.
- Using eco products for everything, so even buckets of water used to wash the car and solar panels can be re-used on the plants.
We've been spending a fair bit of time browsing eBay and gumtree and places for a number of items, so we added guttering to our searches to see if we could make a better collection system.
We were in luck! A man was selling a lot as he'd just changed his entire guttering on his house, so for less than £2 we gained about 50m of guttering, lots of downpipes and connectors, bargain!
It was a bit of a mission getting it home, we were a bit nervous as it stuck quite high over the front of the truck. (Oh, I forgot to mention we got a new truck... sooooo useful!) Iain and I kept glancing up at it on the drive back to make sure it was secure..luckily it was. :)
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| Our new guttering safely home. |
Our first guttering project we decided to coincide with re-roofing our power cupboard shed, as this was leaking, which is not a good thing when you have batteries and inverters and things inside. We found an old barrel already converted into a water butt in one of our barns, yay! So 'easy' guttering job 1 done. Workshop is next. The barn roof will be interesting... not quite sure how we get that high as it's taller than our ladder, but I'm sure we'll figure something out.
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| Iain testing the angle of the new guttering, despite appearances, it does lean to the left into the barrel! |
We were pretty good on our timing, as 2 days after fixing the roof and putting up guttering it absolutely poured with rain! Within a few minutes of raining it filled the waterbutt and the barrels and buckets under the barn, hopefully that will be enough to last us through any more approaching hot weather.
The weather has been very harsh on the plants. Unfortunately, I'd planted a lot of seedlings out just before the heat wave and it was too intense for some of them, so we've lost a few crops. The broad beans are still going strong though and the chard is growing rapidly. Some onions bolted in the heat, but they've already got swollen bulbs so we're eating those now and I'll store any that don't try to flower early. The nasturtiums have been going mad, so we've had lots of that in salad and I also tried tempura...that was good! I'll put a recipe in a separate post in case any of you would like to try it too.
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| Nasturtiums |
I'd planted out more radishes which have also started to bolt, although I actually don't mind this. They may not get swollen roots, but they will instead grow pods. Now if you haven't tried radish pods, you really should, they're delicious! They taste like a cross between pea pods and mild radishes, they're fantastic in a stir-fry. You also get more food from the plant than if you ate the root, so I always think it's worth growing some specifically for the pods.
Yet more butternut squash plants are sprouting, I have no idea how many plants I have now, but it's a lot! The first ones I planted out are looking really big and healthy, I don't think it'll be long until they start to fruit. Lets hope there's more rain by then to help them swell nicely for our tummys. :)
Happy Summer everyone, have a great month!
