Yes - I do feel on the verge of giving up and turning everything back to grass (straw!) - even though it would make me very unhappy to do so. I haven't felt this fed up with the garden for years.
I live in the (officially!) driest part of the UK and garden on heavy clay soil but, to be honest, the drought conditions we've had this year (we had a dry winter and spring and have had no real rain in nearly 3 months) are not really that exceptional here.
What has been exceptional are the very high temps and the horrid, swirling, desiccating, hot winds we've had the last few weeks which seriously compound and exacerbate the lack of moisture in the ground. Many mature shrubs will probably recover because their roots go deep down but, right now, they look dreadful because of brown, drooping, wind or sun scorched leaves. Mature shrubs and trees are dying (not just losing leaves) in the hedgerows all around me and small rivers have dried to a trickle.
I too want to scream at the people who live in normal to excess rainfall areas preaching about 'right plant right place', mulching, not using hosepipes or saying that they never water their borders (they don't need to and are usually the first to moan about how dry their gardens are if it doesn't rain for 2 weeks!).
As if those of us who garden in places with regular droughts don't already try to plant accordingly (although I'm in exactly the same boat as Posy when it comes to summer versus winter conditions) and mulch frequently to retain what moisture there is. Also, don't lecture me about not using a hosepipe when your garden is less than a tenth the size of mine!
I am trying to keep some perspective about all this. I am surrounded by farmers trying to grow cereals and other crops to feed the country. Their livelihoods are shrivelling in the field as they watch. We are also in an area where wildfires have broken out around us (thankfully restricted to fields) and not that far from where over 20 homes were lost to fire last week. Those in much of Europe have it even worse.
I'm sorry if that all felt like a big rant or whinge but I am pretty fed up and occasionally need to let off a bit of steam. One saving grace is that I have been here before. Come spring I will probably feel the old enthusiasm. If, however, we have another dry winter with a prospect of hosepipe bans I may yet give in. Getting too old for fighting losing battles....
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
Topbird,where do you live, aren't you scared of that cat! 2018, I planted a lot of new shrubs....then we didn't have rain for 2 months,I thought they were dead, nope, the following year,they popped up happily. My back garden is north facing,but because it's a bungalow, the sun comes over the top at this time of year. I only water what I have to. I have a little stumpery with ferns,next doors huge fir trees suck all the moisture out of that border. My astilbes are really suffering,I think one has had it. We had a tiny shower yesterday, which quickly evaporated in the following sun and wind. My Acer's have been moved into the shade. We've already been having a shower with the plug in,and scooped water out. Our pond is very low,has fish so needs topping up. A little in one of our 6 water butts. Saving that for the Rhodos,they are 30 years old, have moved several times with us,and are irreplaceable. I'm not growing veg in pots anymore after this year.
@Topbird apart from your location, I could have written your piece verbatim.
@AnniD I have also abandoned my big south-facing bed to it’s fate and a future rethink. We have been in drought-like conditions since November, our last significant rainfall. Although I have a (seemingly) unlimited supply of unmetred well water, I just can’t keep up with or justify the water use and it’s pointless trying to force water into parched ground.
I chose to live here and am used to living and gardening in the sun of course, but we moved to the north to escape the increasingly excess heat of the south and for greener, lusher pastures. Unfortunately that lushness is fast disappearing as rainfall and rivers dry up. We are now experiencing exactly the same conditions that we (thought) we had left behind!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Actually I wonder if they introduce a hosepipe ban, and it starts raining.
I remember April 2012, the day when the ban applied, it started raining and never stopped until the Olympics in August. Worst ever summer. still see us walking through Windsor Park in June, cosy 11 degrees and endless rain. I just found this : In 2018, a hosepipeban that affected millions in the north west of England was called off after a deluge of rain at the last minute.
I feel with everyone who has to give up gardening because of the missing rain.
@Nanny Beach - I live in Mid Suffolk about 20 miles from Beth Chatto's famous Dry Garden. One of the borders is a medium sized very hot / very dry bed with appropriate planting and drainage. Even that was flagging last week so I gave it it's first drink in 3 years! I wonder if they've given in to temptation at B Chatto's yet?
What do you mean about the cat LOL😁 That's my late, great, very much missed Harry. The sweetest cat I ever had.
@Nollie - I understand what you mean about chasing the weather. Last year we had a wet summer. It was so lovely! The garden was lush and green and full and I did hardly any watering - just new plantings.
I would love to live somewhere where they get plenty of rain. I don't 'do' heat and sun at the best of times and have never minded being cool and damp. Unfortunately my OH doesn't feel the same way. One day we might move to the Lake District - he loves the walking and scenery there so it might compensate for the weather!
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
It’s the sheer unpredictability that’s the worst isn’t it? The climate has always been pretty bonkers here but it’s just getting too extreme now. Same here Topbird, OH is a sun lover, me less so. Our next move is to the coast which currently enjoys much milder, frost-free winters and cooler summers but my fear is the same happening again, with climate change running ahead of us.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I think we can see across the forum and across the years that giving any broad advice can be pretty useless. We need to know the exact details of where people are and what conditions they are grappling with. As in gardening, so in life.
As ever, the forum gives me perspective and I count by blessings for the troubles I don't have.
Nollie et al, do you find Oz and NZ drought condition gardening guides more useful? It seems their permaculture culture is very different from that of "damp summer gardening" - a very different way around of thinking.
As ever, the forum gives me perspective and I count by blessings for the troubles I don't have.
Nollie et al, do you find Oz and NZ drought condition gardening guides more useful? It seems their permaculture culture is very different from that of "damp summer gardening" - a very different way around of thinking.
Posts
I live in the (officially!) driest part of the UK and garden on heavy clay soil but, to be honest, the drought conditions we've had this year (we had a dry winter and spring and have had no real rain in nearly 3 months) are not really that exceptional here.
What has been exceptional are the very high temps and the horrid, swirling, desiccating, hot winds we've had the last few weeks which seriously compound and exacerbate the lack of moisture in the ground. Many mature shrubs will probably recover because their roots go deep down but, right now, they look dreadful because of brown, drooping, wind or sun scorched leaves. Mature shrubs and trees are dying (not just losing leaves) in the hedgerows all around me and small rivers have dried to a trickle.
I too want to scream at the people who live in normal to excess rainfall areas preaching about 'right plant right place', mulching, not using hosepipes or saying that they never water their borders (they don't need to and are usually the first to moan about how dry their gardens are if it doesn't rain for 2 weeks!).
As if those of us who garden in places with regular droughts don't already try to plant accordingly (although I'm in exactly the same boat as Posy when it comes to summer versus winter conditions) and mulch frequently to retain what moisture there is. Also, don't lecture me about not using a hosepipe when your garden is less than a tenth the size of mine!
I am trying to keep some perspective about all this. I am surrounded by farmers trying to grow cereals and other crops to feed the country. Their livelihoods are shrivelling in the field as they watch. We are also in an area where wildfires have broken out around us (thankfully restricted to fields) and not that far from where over 20 homes were lost to fire last week. Those in much of Europe have it even worse.
I'm sorry if that all felt like a big rant or whinge but I am pretty fed up and occasionally need to let off a bit of steam. One saving grace is that I have been here before. Come spring I will probably feel the old enthusiasm. If, however, we have another dry winter with a prospect of hosepipe bans I may yet give in. Getting too old for fighting losing battles....
@AnniD I have also abandoned my big south-facing bed to it’s fate and a future rethink. We have been in drought-like conditions since November, our last significant rainfall. Although I have a (seemingly) unlimited supply of unmetred well water, I just can’t keep up with or justify the water use and it’s pointless trying to force water into parched ground.
I just found this : In 2018, a hosepipe ban that affected millions in the north west of England was called off after a deluge of rain at the last minute.
I feel with everyone who has to give up gardening because of the missing rain.
I ♥ my garden.
What do you mean about the cat LOL😁 That's my late, great, very much missed Harry. The sweetest cat I ever had.
@Nollie - I understand what you mean about chasing the weather. Last year we had a wet summer. It was so lovely! The garden was lush and green and full and I did hardly any watering - just new plantings.
I would love to live somewhere where they get plenty of rain. I don't 'do' heat and sun at the best of times and have never minded being cool and damp. Unfortunately my OH doesn't feel the same way. One day we might move to the Lake District - he loves the walking and scenery there so it might compensate for the weather!