When the Garden Had to Wait

If you’ve wondered where I’ve been, there’s a very simple answer: the weather.

This summer in the UK has been unbelievably hot, dry and, at times, incredibly frustrating. We’ve gone through what feels like the longest stretch without proper rain, and the garden and allotment have really suffered.

At the allotment, our routine became very simple: open the polytunnel early, water everything, and close it again at night… There was no time for leisurely gardening or taking on new projects. We were simply trying to keep everything alive.

With the hosepipe ban in place, watering became even more difficult. We had to take water from our home and transport it to the allotment. At home, we couldn’t water most things either, so we had to watch the garden struggle and hope for rain.

When the flowers stopped blooming

The heat has taken a real toll on our flowers. Many of the flowers in our rose garden died back, and sadly, some of our dahlias never bloomed at all.

That has been particularly disappointing after putting so much time and care into growing them.

But perhaps the biggest surprise has been our fruit trees.

Our apples have been falling much earlier than usual, and some of the apple trees have started losing their leaves. It seems the trees are trying to conserve water and protect themselves from the extreme conditions.

It has been quite incredible to watch.

Finally, some rain

And then, finally, rain!

Over the past couple of days, we’ve had a really good amount, and I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see it. The garden desperately needed it. The allotment needed it. And, after weeks of carrying water around, we needed it too!

This summer has definitely taught me a few lessons, and one of them is that I need to make the allotment less dependent on constant watering.

Some flowers have surprised us by coping incredibly well with the heat and lack of rain. Lavender and echinacea have both continued to thrive despite everything the weather has thrown at them.

Next year, I’ll be planting more drought-tolerant flowers and looking at ways to make the allotment more resilient. I want to explore whether using mulch, hay or even sheep’s wool around the tomatoes could help retain moisture and reduce how often we need to water.

There’s still plenty for me to learn, and I’ll be experimenting, researching and trying different things.

I’ll share everything I discover with you in due time — the successes, the failures and, hopefully, a much less thirsty allotment. 

So that’s where I’ve been.

I’ve been outside, watering, worrying, watching and waiting.

And now, after a long absence, I’m finally ready to start sharing our garden journey again.