My butt is empty - Will it ever rain?
Whilst the simple answer is 'yes, of course it will rain', the real question is: when? The gardener then needs to know how to manage the current unseasonably sustained dry period in the south and west of the country and what it may mean for the rest of the growing season.
Here in Surrey, the winter was relatively dry and the April Showers have certainly been lacking. So, what does that mean for our May flowers? Well, it seems that water companies are already hedging their bets and following reports that the winter was the driest for 20 years they have warned that reservoirs low, particularly in the south. My smaller water butts dripped their last drop at the weekend (thankfully I have a larger one so it will be some time before we run out of rain water completely).
If you are planting up your garden now then you will need to make provision for irrigating your investments until the plants establish themselves; then there are a number of steps that you can take to try and help your plants survive if the rainfall stays lower than the average this year.
If you do not have water catchment from your gutters then perhaps it is time to consider adding them where you can. In some areas your local council my fund or subsidise water butts along with composting bins. We currently have a 1000l tank behind the garage and more conventional sized butts collecting rainwater from the roof of the greenhouse and the also the sheds (none on the house, yet!)
Grey water/washing up water (does anyone still use a washing up bowl?) can be used in the garden so long as it does not contain too much detergent.
When watering try to direct the flow of water to the plants roots and avoid sprinklers. Water well once a week, in the cooler part of the day, rather than lightly daily and raise the cutter deck on your mower to let your lawn grow longer so it is less affected by the dry conditions.
You can add mulch (compost, old wood chips, gravel etc.) to your flower and veg bed. This will helps reduce evaporation and, if the layer is thick enough, weed germination. It is best to apply mulch to ground which has been rained on rather than ground which has already dried out.
Then comes the question about which plants to grow? Is it time to think about choosing more drought tolerant plants? This is one of a gardeners dilemmas and one of the considerations when coming up with a planting design for a new garden. No two years are the same and part of the joy/challenge of gardening is finding what works for each site. I will write a post soon which identifies some more drought tolerant plants for your garden.
Remember to keep an eye out for any plants which may seem to be suffering as you can normally bring them back from the edge with timely bucket of water and whilst your lawn may be your pride and joy, and it may turn brown, it will bounce back as soon as it starts to rain - which it will!