I take back my rants...

[bonniethomas06]

...about hosepipe bans and all of that rain.

Having strimmed the 4ft high nettles on my patch to a point where I can now see where vegetables should be, I have been digging and planting some things out.

I thought it would be a great start for my veg having had all of that rain. But I dug down a trowels depth...and it is dust! Dry as a bone! Seriously worrying after what feels like a month of torrential downpours. Feel really bad about slagging off the water companies for their drought warnings now...

[chickenchargrill]

I'm sure they said we'd need about 3/4 months of rain to actually top up the groundwater. Just a couple of days without rain and my veg patch is desperate for a water.

[demi]

we're also having problems with the hydro-system in our field. it comes down from the reservoir above the town and feeds into everybody's land. but the local municipality control when its on and off and they haven't turned it on yet this year so my hubby's been having to go fill up bottles from the river and bring them back up to water everything by hand.

we will be investing in a very deep well this year to get our own free fresh water supply year round!

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Perhaps the clue to the dry soil lies in the vigour of the nettles....

I don't know about the UK, but around here there is much relief at the 200mm odd we've had in April / May: the reservoirs are full, ground water is about normal levels and no-one is currently irrigating, which is unusual for end May.

I wouldn"t be too quick to absolve the water co's of all blame.

[Thomzo]

My clay soil is cracking already despite the fact that it's only a few days since the rain stopped. It's a real worry. I don't blame the water companies, but I do blame the council for allowing all the development around here that causes all the rainwater to be diverted straight into the drainage system instead of restocking the underground aquafers.

Zoe

[baldybloke]

At least I have 3 full water butts which should last me a while. I must admit that I'm not over keen on this heat.

[prison break fan]

I think the water companies have to accept some responsibility for the lack of investment and the failure to repair leaks, particularly in this area, Southern Water. They have to keep the shareholders happy!
With regard to the weather, I moaned for months that I was cold, and now I am moaning that it is too hot! pbf.

[boboff]

From the Forest Garden point of view I have found ground with a decent ground covering is nice and wet underneath, it does go to show the advantages of having ground cover in place, I am not sure why but when strimming the top field, the Burdocks are absolutely MASSSIVE this year, some are nearly 5ft across!

[Millymollymandy]

April was wet and very welcome but May has been quite dry apart from a nice 25mm last weekend. However that is not enough for a month and yesterday many of my plants were drooping (partly they were as shocked as we were to have 28C ).

If we don't get rain in the next few days I'll be starting to hosepipe again as this year I am determined to not let my flower beds dry out as rewetting them is a nightmare!

The veg patch is fine as that's completely different as it's dug over every year and doesn't have perennials in it.

There's no way one month of rain here compensated for 2 dry years, and rain in April is not the same as winter rain as it's all taken up by the plants and trees coming into growth so less chance of it getting down into the groundwater. My department is still on 'vigilance' alert (the lowest of 5 levels) just the same as it was back in March. Depts 17 and 81 (don't know names) are on the highest drought alert.

Jon if you are in 85 then you are on Vigilance as well.
http://propluvia.developpement-durable. ... /index.jsp

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Jon if you are in 85 then you are on Vigilance as well.
http://propluvia.developpement-durable. ... /index.jsp

17 is Charente Maritime, so just a few km away from us to the south, but they seem to have quite different hydrology. I think the high alert is just for a limited area in the south of 17, but it doesn't exactly bode well for them. We have boreholes, which helps, though I'm being careful anyway because I should be. We are generally allowed to continue topping up the pools for the gites because we are a business, but a 'crise' alert would stop that.

At the moment, though, the level of agricultural irrigation is very low, and it's that that really drains the ground water here - our 'vigilance' is currently for surface waters only.

[Green Aura]

It hasn't rained here for over a week - do you think we'll face rationing soon?