Wednesday 27 June 2007

Gray Skies in June


This has been the sky for most of June


I keep falling in the wet grass and looking up


A few hours of brightness last week made all the grasses burst open at once

As I lie here, tucked well under the covers, all I can hear is the pounding of the rain. It's chucking it down out there just now. There seems to be a pattern of 6 days rain and one day dry (nearly always a Tue or Wed). As a result UK has had severe flooding, particularly bad in parts of England where 3 people have died. One report said an entire month's worth of rain fell in 12 hours yesterday and 3 villages have been evacuated for fear of the local reservoir bursting and flooding the area.



One really simple step that millions of people can take to lessen the impact is as simple as a change of materials. Stop covering your gardens in plastic sheeting, concrete and tarmac. Instead use landscaping fabric or other permeable membranes which prevent weeds but still allow water to soak into the ground. Same goes for paths and driveways, make them permeable not solid and this will reduce the strain on drainage systems. There are many options for this and many of which I wrote about here on Sew Green in April.



I always prefer the options that use reclaimed materials so I liked the reused brick driveway that Greet made with the holes of hte bricks facing up to let the water through. It's not hard to find free bricks in the UK and many people would be more than happy for someone to relieve them of their piles now that it's going to cost them to dispose of them. In fact some git dumped a pile over what used to be the path to the shop, since they did that almost no-one walks there now and it's getting really overgrown. I take secateurs to cut my way through though I've not walked there all month because of the rain, the waist high grass completely drenches my clothes.



Last week the hill was visible through rain after 2 weeks of just not being there. Then on
Monday, in between showers, the whole hill was visible so I took a pic for Mr P as he had probably forgotten what it looked like...






The respite from the rain meant peoples roses could open for a day without losing their leaves, I'll try and pass by this rose with Lucy if the sun comes out today, it will look gorgeous in sunshine. Yesterday was nice through the afternoon but I couldn't walk Lucy in the field because even the 'dry' parts will suck the boots off your feet...


Perhaps boot laces would be a good idea?

The sun popped out twice while I wrote this, but was soon followed by more torrential downpours. My courgette, which is I put in a compost bag about a month ago, hasn't grown AT ALL. In fact, it's going a bit yellow, presumably the rain is leaching all the nutrients out of the compost. The herbs and salad are a little better as I grow them in covered tubs. But they are still hardly growing. Not that I want to eat salad in this weather, soup, give me soup, hot veggies, mashed potato and steamed greens.

8 comments:

deedeen said...

In Switzerland we had some floods too, not in my part, luckily. But June has been rainy. Too much in fact. I want sun! Yesterday, it was so cold that I thought maybe it would snow...

Cally said...

I can believe it, apparently we had snow on the mountain tops in the Highlands last night. And this afternoon Lucy and I got caught in hailstones!

cindy said...

we have had terrible weather here also. hail, rain, snow (in june?), no consecutive days of sunshine. it's really getting to be tiring.

Anonymous said...

We have severe swings in weather, +100 degrees followed by clouds, rain, hail...today fog and humidity..not too very typical.

Hope the sun comes out for you soon!!

christine ann haynes said...

Oh Cally those photos *swoon*

I am sorry to hear about the nasty weather. I hope you have some lovely days soon, lovely girl!

Hugs!

Francesca said...

weather is indeed grim in london too. those first 3 photos make it all seem beautiful though.

Anonymous said...

So much rain! WOW. That is not good, when the flooding happens and such. It is kind of Ironic, the way the earth acts... Really, it should see us in Arizona, just over-run by the heat, and send a few days worth here. It is so hot. It is 107 degrees everyday. Thank Goodness there is no humidity. But, still, 107 degrees. The plants are hanging on by a thread. The rabbits are eating anything, including cactus. It is terrible. The rabbits are out of control here. They are not so cute when they eat anything that grows and ruin gardens by the bundle in the matter of hours. What kind of plants do rabbits hate? You might know...? Stay dry, and send down the rain! xoxoxo

paula said...

I have see it on the news and looks really bad. things are pretty strange. even in here the weather isn't "normal". it has been quite chilly for this time of the year and we also had some rain. not that I mind since I strongly dislike the extreme heat and the forest fires that come with it. I much prefer the sort of spring weather we are having at the moment.
but no it isn't very usual for this time of the year.

so, so glad that my flowers made you feel a bit better. I wish you could have walked with me along those paths.

you have such a fine blog in here and I love your photographs.

the landscape where you live is just beautiful.

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