Monday 23 July 2018

Under Our Hedge.



Apparently this summer, 1976 and 1941 are the warmest summers on record.  Although I believe it was 33 degrees in Kilkenny in 1887 or something?  

There are hose pipe bans in Ireland if your on mains water.  Luckily for us we have our own private well.  I dowsed it with my dowsing rod and the well borers drilled it 220 feet.  It's that good a well that it comes up the pipe without the need of the pump and we had to dig a trench and pipe a drain for it.  

Some of my new plant cuttings have still suffered and some have given up the ghost.  So the other day I decided to place some of them in trays on tiles underneath one of the hedges.  The cuttings, new plants love the shade and I water them every morning and night.



How do your plants cope with the sunshine?  The weather is supposed to change to more typical Irish mizzle this week.  The plants and the fields will return to their Emerald green and we can start moaning about the rain.  



20 comments:

  1. We've just had two days of heavy rain, not that we needed it.

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    1. Gosh! It's usually roasting in Austria this time of year. We have mizzle this afternoon. Won't need to water the gardens tonight. The polytunnel will be thirsty though. Thanks Gwil.

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    2. Enormous toad living in the garden. Never had one like it before.

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    3. Warm rain is usually the way to describe an Irish summer. Hope you have taken a photo of toad for your blog Gwil?

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  2. Although it has been hot here it has also been humid, so the sharp heat of the sun has been diluted into what feels like a steam bath, which the plants don't seem to mind!

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    1. Ireland is sometimes called the kettle Vera. Its steaming up this afternoon. I can't see the mountains across the bay. The plants will love the soft mountain dew and rain. Thanks.

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  4. It is 32C. The nearest I ever came to feeling the air like this was getting off a TGV train in Nice many years ago having travelled down from Paris. The heat hit me like a wall as I stepped off the train. It is doing that here today. Such a long hot spell as this must only have been in 1976. I have not recorded rain in my diary since the first week of June. It is good that you have your own private well. Some of your cuttings will survive with your watering. Thanks Dave, and good to see your post today.

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  5. Thanks Rachel. The hottest heat I have experienced was 36 Celsius in Krakow in 2013. Thanks for the blog encouragement.

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  6. 32 for us in West Suffolk today and the forcast rules out rain for a further week after this one. The hottest part of the day for us during the summer is usually 4 or 5pm. I think it must be the soil in the surrounding fields radiating the heat back. Well that’s my theory. Was it expensive to put your own well in?

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  7. Gosh that is hot for England Philip. A lot of farmers here in Ireland are feeding their first cut silage to their livestock. The well cost just over four thousand Euros. But we reused the pump from the old well. Councils give grants for wells but you could wait six months for it all to be granted. We got a loan from our local Credit Union and got it drilled straight away. Thanks!

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  8. We recorded 33 in our yard this lunchtime. Fortunately we haven't got a hosepipe ban yet so we are judiciously watering the vggies and the fruit trees. We do have a river at the bottom of our paddock, but it is quite a pull from there and the banks are pretty steep, but i suppose if we get a ban we could haul some water up. Good forward thinking with your well dave.
    Gill

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  9. Thanks Gill. We had some welcome soft rain yesterday and the perennials and vegetables welcomed it and look a lot better than they did. The polytunnel vegetables need a drink twice a day.

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  10. One or two of my bushes have turned an ugly brown but most are hardy enough to withstand the incredible heat. Years ago, when dustbins were suddenly replaced by big contraptions that spoiled the view from the house, Joe and I hid the black bins so they wouldn't be taken away to be salvaged. Those two bins made excellent butts, situated by down-pipes, in places where rain can get in them. Consequently, no problem this year. Even the birds get water. Ooops, went on a bit there. Sorry!

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  11. Thanks Valerie. I have been trying to put off trimming hedges and one of mine is brown in parts. Water butts are excellent and rainwater comes with free nitrogen. We put out old pans full of water in the garden for cat and dog pubs. The birds like drinking from them too. Thanks!

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  12. Ahhhhhh, there have been similar summers! Interesting to know.

    Our flowers were not happy. But now we are in a sun, clouds, rain, T-storms, sun, clouds, etc., etc. spell. So they are happier, with rain.

    Brilliant idea to take advantage of shade!

    Also brilliant is to have your own well. When we lived on the other side of town, we had one too. We were on sand there, and my then-young husband, drove a point down, himself.

    Then we moved over here, and are on rock!!!! No drilling a well here. We missed the taste of the well water! -sigh-

    A 'Nana'

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  13. Hello wisp of words. 1976 and this year have been fabulous summers. 1941 was also said to have been great in Ireland.

    The plants seem to be happy after the rain.

    Yes shade under an hedge is great for newly rooted cuttings. I am always making perennial plants by division and cuttings.

    It is good to have your own well. But they can be expensive if equipment breaks or the well goes dry. At least we don't have water bills.

    Thanks!

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