I've actually got two bins @GardenerSuze (paid for!), which I filled up in November, but nothing since. We must have gardeners in the Bin Collection department here as our collection starts again on 16th January. Time for a spring clean 😎 !
Quite wet but we drain off quite quickly here - I'm on chalk at the bottom of the south downs. Did manage to get out and have a quick tidy up but the decent weather always seems to happen when I'm at work. It's a messy time of year in the garden. On the plus side, our Robin is awake and singing very loudly at about 06:30!
Very wet here as well. Got an appliance delivery last week as the old one had broken down and the lorry driver for some reason thought he could use the grass as a handy place to pull in and make a quick turn around so he could be facing back out of the garden again. Ended up with a neighbour with a tractor being called to pull them out. Being on a slope it has occasionally dried out enough to walk on over the last few weeks but rarely enough for wellington boots to not be needed. Some drier weather forecast for the weekend on the way so may get a chance to do some bit of tidying up then.
Despite living on a slope parts of my garden are underwater. My conservatory is running with condensation inside. I am sure it is because the water table is so high and the box gutter is full of moss. Thank goodness the men are coming next week to clear the guttering and wash the conservatory down. I haven't needed to top the pond up for weeks. My soil is thin gritty and poor but it is too wet to work on so no gardening for weeks.
Very wet but nothing like as bad as our neighbour's garden. Every time we have heavy rain his lawn floods. It does drain within a couple of days but the difference does seem odd. Our deeds say we can't do commercial sand or gravel extraction, so maybe his is just the wrong side of the dividing line between that and heavy clay as that is common around here too.
I'm resigned to last years big summer project dying off because of the incessant rain. Its a bed consisting of mostly drought tolerant mediterranean species that i spent well over a year growing from seed and cuttings. So much effort to try and counter the awful drought conditions we've experienced here since 2020 only to be thwarted by over 160% our usual rainfall in the 3 months since.
Walking the dog (an energetic collie) is mostly a misery now. I can handle rain (I worked outdoors for years)...but give me a break at least!
On a positive note i'm now planning an overhaul of my garden drainage starting with land drainage but also concentrating on my soil make-up (heavy clay) and coming up with a recipe for ameliorating it to a dynamic blend of free draining but moisture retentive material...I'm also planning to incorporate some kind of suds system linked to a wildlife pond, a fun project to do with my daughter when she's old enough i hope.
Its exhausting trying to adapt to the peculiar flavour of climate change our island is experiencing. Warmer air holds more moisture so we are experiencing more rain, but perversely we are also having to deal with extended periods of drought. Its certainly pushing my abilities as a gardener and landscaper to their limits!
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Big trees needed a good drink. Hope it's kept them alive
However, I'm grateful that we don't have landslides, or flooding.
Moss has proliferated everywhere.
My garden is literally a swamp.
I'm resigned to last years big summer project dying off because of the incessant rain. Its a bed consisting of mostly drought tolerant mediterranean species that i spent well over a year growing from seed and cuttings. So much effort to try and counter the awful drought conditions we've experienced here since 2020 only to be thwarted by over 160% our usual rainfall in the 3 months since.
Walking the dog (an energetic collie) is mostly a misery now. I can handle rain (I worked outdoors for years)...but give me a break at least!
On a positive note i'm now planning an overhaul of my garden drainage starting with land drainage but also concentrating on my soil make-up (heavy clay) and coming up with a recipe for ameliorating it to a dynamic blend of free draining but moisture retentive material...I'm also planning to incorporate some kind of suds system linked to a wildlife pond, a fun project to do with my daughter when she's old enough i hope.
Its exhausting trying to adapt to the peculiar flavour of climate change our island is experiencing. Warmer air holds more moisture so we are experiencing more rain, but perversely we are also having to deal with extended periods of drought. Its certainly pushing my abilities as a gardener and landscaper to their limits!