It's raining again....About time!

It is weeks since it has really rained in this part of the east of Scotland. Our sandy soil was like a dust bowl in spite of my efforts to add lots of home made compost. I even go as far as to add wet newspaper and compost to trenches for really  hungry veg such as potatoes, beans, peas, courgettes and the like. So in spite of this lots of watering has been the order of the day. In fact it seemed to take up a lot of my gardening time.

I have a philosophy about watering. There is no much point in little and often. It tends to make the roots come to the surface instead of spreading out and searching for water deep in the soil. Give plants a good soak. The plants in the flower garden only get a good watering (from me) in their first year or until they become established. After that they have to fend for themselves. They may get a bit of mulch after a shower if there is enough compost left.

The vegetables and fruit are expected to put on a lot of growth and  produce in one season so they need more cossetting. We have a drip hose round the main bed and I supplement this with the watering can. The hose is all very well but you don't know how much water you are giving to the plant.
A good way of finding out is to scrape back the soils and see if it is wet more than an half inch below the surface. You'll be surprised how dry it may still be.
You can also tell with pots by how heavy they are (or not). Terrca cotta pots hit gently with a tool sound more hollow when dry.

Rain was forecast yesterday and today and tomorrow. It certainly rained heavily during the night. But next afternoon it was dry and I ventured out to plant a lot of modules of small but perfectly formed vegetable plants that had been waiting patiently in and around the cold frames. I managed a couple of rows and then the heavens opened. I rushed for cover thinking the shower (one of the many forecast) would soon blow over. It didn't and I retreated to the house leaving everything where it was.