[IanYORK]

Hi,

I am fairly new to allotmenteering...I have read both of John H's books, so I am armed with some knowledge that hopefully will see me in good-sted for the coming year. 

Something worrying me at the moment is how dry it is.  I can't even get my fork in the ground more than 1 cm - it is solid!  Other than the obvious watering, does anyone have any tips for digging over hard ground?  Or is it just a case of waiting for the rain to come?

Also, I am thinking of buying a water butt (one going for £20 at Wilkinsons), but wonder whether I will get enough water off the small roof from my 6x4' shed?  What are peoples' experiences with this?  If we are going to have a Sarharian-esk summer, then I want to be prepared.

Thanks for reading. 

Ian (from York).

[Yorkie]

Hi Ian and welcome to the forum from another Yorkie - which site are you on (just being nosy!)

I've moved this thread to the GYO part of the site so you may get more replies.  Feel free to pop back into the Welcome bit and tell us more about your growing

You're right, it's really really dry at the moment.  I hosed a bit of my plot this afternoon so that i could earth up my spuds, but it made very little difference and we'll just have to wait for the promised rain tomorrow and during the week.

It can't hurt to have a water butt - if it isn't full enough you could always top it up from a standpipe on the site.  Just make sure that you have a sufficiently high base so that you can get a watering can underneath the tap, if that's how you access the water.

[poultrygeist]

Same here. Not seen rain for a couple of weeks.

We have a butt off our small shed but only one side. If you can, take the guttering round the back to the other side so you get the full benefit. Or 2 butts.

Welcome to the forums btw.

Rob

[compostqueen]

you'll get plenty of water off a small shed but even more if you join several together

[harrymac]

Over the last year or so I've built up to 11 water butts to capture water from a shed (9' x 7'), greenhouse (10' x 8') and would-be-potting-shed (10' x 8', but with leaky roof ). I've never managed to get them all full of water because of the lack of rain , but even if they were full I doubt they would keep the garden watered for very long on their own. Luckily I've got access to a tap. Can't have too many water butts.

[iwantanallotment]

Checked my butt's contents earlier and it looks like soup with a green film/crust

How long is the collected water viable before it becomes an actual hazard to plants or of no benefit?

Greenhouse seedlings are suffering enough with greening compost tops - surely watering with this will only make it worse?

I do apologise - think this Q was asked recently & meant to check back but forgot & can't find it now

[paintedlady]

This method won't give immediate results especially now while it is dry, but where I had black plastic sheeting over areas this past 12 months waiting to be dug over, the ground underneath was lovely and moist so I was able to get my spade in.  Those areas where it has got baked this past week are like concrete.

[DD.]

The rain dance worked & it's raining nicely here now, looks set for quite a while. Looking at the weather map, it should be softening your soil as well. Only the east seems dry at the moment.

[diggerjoe]

couldn't dig at weekend as the areas I need to work on like concrete as well as the [plot gets a bit waterlogged in places when it drys its really hard going - so rebuilt compost bins and even painted the pallets green Put some more peas in so pleased its tipping down here in Coventry - only down side I was going to Nun Wood this evening to admire the bluebells looks like it will be macs and wellies on

[Solitaire]

My ground rock hard but after a day and night of rain the clay soil is now too wet to dig  can't win over here 

[strangerachael]

I have a tiny shed - more of a cupboard really but I fixed a piece of corrugated plastic on the top, slightly larger than the roof, which I hoped would increase the collection area. I filled two water butts just over last summer. Only trouble is, vandals keep coming and breaking bits of it off 

[oldbean]

Checked my butt's contents earlier and it looks like soup with a green film/crust

How long is the collected water viable before it becomes an actual hazard to plants or of no benefit?

Posted reply at http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=35206.0

[IanYORK]

Thanks for your help and advice people!  Much appreciated. 

[Christine]

Locally we have been watering for about a month where we have planted seeds and small plants (strawberries, herbs, raspberry canes). My fruit trees were in a sorry state until I did some serious allotment watering last week.

It's been a virtual drought for the past two months till yesterday and today. Luckily it's nice steady rain that soaks in rather than run off at the moment.

Of course if the rains continue as promised for this week, we shall be wondering about summer floods again - oh was that summer we've had the last few weeks?