Wednesday 26 October 2011

Hoo-Bloomin'-Ra!

Firstly, apologies to those of you suffering from the effects of flooding. Secondly, yay and double yay - it's raining!!!
Despite a slightly wishy-washy summer it's been quite a dry old year in the South East. Low rainfall, high humidity and blustery winds have left some plants stressed and unhappy and I've seen a lot more powdery mildew than normal, which has affected all manner if plants from phlox to sturdy perennial sunflowers.
No rain means that empty water butts aren't replenished and that combined with our refusal to use a hosepipe on the garden at home has lead to the frenzied collection of shower and bath water. Grey water's fine for the garden and we use biodegradable shower gels etc (and when not covered in mud I'm relatively dirt free anyway), so I feel fairly happy with using the the leftovers from our daily ablutions. Unfortunately as we live on the 1st floor it means schlepping up and down stairs with 2 watering cans and a 10L container full of water most days.
So, when rain was forecast for this week I was firstly sceptical that it was indeed going to rain and then overjoyed that on Monday it actually did. Although I did wonder if that was it for the year. But no, today I got soaked through for the 1st time this year (yay again!) so now like a squirrel storing nuts I'm stocking up on porridge and soups ready for the winter.
Thank heavens the autumn is finally here and I can honestly say, hand on heart, that my idea of absolute bliss is a dry pair of trousers.
LxXx