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Rain Anyone?

Sam80Sam80 Posts: 40
in The potting shed

Hi - I'm reasonably new to gardening, this is only my second spring with a garden and I am finding my garden in Hampshire incredibly dry this year, I don't remember it being like this last year and I never paid this much attention to the weather before I started gardening.  Now I check the forecast all the time.

My water butt has been empty now for about a month, is anyone else finding it a dry April?  Surely there should be more rain that this...

Thanks

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Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    We had 2.5.mm in April, ponds at half mast. If it carries on the plants that suffered last summer will be dead


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    You are correct it has been very dry in parts but that's how it goes. The forecast rain keeps missing us here too but other parts of the country have had bucket loads. Have a look at the "Whats your weather like thread" you will soon get the idea.
    AB Still learning

  • matt_fendermatt_fender Posts: 169
    Yes, West Sussex here, so pretty close to you, and we have had an incredibly dry April - or so it seems to me. Although we've been promised rain a few times over the last month it has never amounted to more than a millimetre or two and most of the decent bands of rain that did sweep through have missed us entirely. There is some in the forecast for tomorrow but again it looks patchy - hopefully one of the heavier showers will hit us this time (with apologies to my son, who will be at football training!).
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    Just be glad you're not a farmer. The guys round here (heart of E Anglia) are now extremely worried because we've had no appreciable rain for a year.

    They used most of the water in their farm reservoirs for irrigation during the drought / very hot weather last summer and have not had the autumn / winter / spring rains needed to replenish those reserves. They are not currently allowed to extract water from the rivers because those are also at extremely low levels / slow flow rate.

    They are sowing peas and sugar beet into dust.

    Expect onions the size of golf balls, a shortage of peas and higher food prices generally come the end of the summer - unless we have a lovely wet summer.

    I can garden in the wet but my garden will struggle with a second serious drought. 
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Speaking as a member of an East Anglian farming family, I can confirm
    @Topbird ‘s comments. Very concerning. 😢 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I've found the same as Dove and Topbird.
    I have 5 240L water butts - all empty.
    My wildlife pond could do with 2-3" top up.
    Plants I put in last autumn are not very well established
    Apart from a rare brief severe downpour all we get is some occasional mizzle.
    We've had no appreciable rain for a year or more and the ground is cracking open already - very worrying 

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • DyersEndDyersEnd Posts: 730
    I think we can expect a hosepipe ban in East Anglia sadly.  My family also in farming and they're worried too.
  • JohnnypJohnnyp Posts: 71
    Everything very dry up here North East of Scotland also , rain forecast next day or so but the earth is like powder .

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    It's been fairly dry here recently but all my waterbutts are full and ready to go. It's been a pretty wet winter here overall but it doesn't seem to be enough to stop hill fires breaking out all over Wales.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    It's still raining here.

    The UK anomaly maps show that last year was wetter than the trend for April in the past decade. 7 out of the last 10 Aprils have been significantly drier than the 30 year average in East Anglia. 1 was very wet (2012), 2016 was average and last year was actually a bit wetter than the average. The figures for April 2019 aren't published yet - it takes a few days.

    Hampshire hasn't been quite as dry - only 4 out of the last 10 Aprils have been notably dry. There was a very marked southwest/northeast split in 2014 where Hampshire was on the wet side of the line and Norfolk the dry.

    2019 was a dry winter, and 2018 wasn't. 

    Annually, where I live was a bit wetter than average in 2018, Norfolk was drier, most of the south coast was pretty close to average.

    Just by eye - looking at the thumbnails, there's no particular trend to drier or wetter, but the weather maps are getting darker - which is to say the variations from average are getting wider
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
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