Its raining, its raining

The title is not strictly true. It has been raining and raining. I have been very busy with family commitments over the past few weeks which is just as well considering the weather. My auntie had her 60th birthday, so that was a day out being plied with food and drink. She lives near Ashton-under-Lyme so it was drive to get there and meant that I could not imbibe. My brother flew in from Fuertaventura, where he now lives, for a visit. He and his good lady, Tracy, stayed with us over night before returning to Manchester. Mum and Dad came too. We did go and have a look at the lottie though. Fencing continues on Tuesday nights. A team of us went to fencing competiton near Nottingham last Sunday. I had a series of close fought bouts in the pool rounds which damaged my position for seeding into the direct eliminations. I had a good outing but came mid field whereas Peter came third.

I keep going up to the lottie for an hour. Partly to weed and partly to see what has happened with all the rain we have had. My buddy Steve emailed me to say i had a massive puddle where my Patio [posh name for a bunch as paving stones at the entrance to my plot]. By the time I went to the plot the next evening the waters had subsided. I got the mattock out and hacked out a rough channel away from the plot towards the ditch. The water hosed along the channel. Since then the pond has not reappearred even though it has rained in biblical proportions. I have away dug a ditch round my large beds partly:

1. to give me some where to walk
2. as a boundary
3. to create a raised bed
4. to create a ditch
5. to a create a void that creeping weed roots can not cross or at least slow them down

The down hill sides of these ditches have been constant puddles and when it rain hard they are linear lakes. As I have said before the substrate of the site is clay over laid with imported aluvial soil. Because of the way I make big raised beds the top 4 to 6 inches of soil tends to drain quite well unfortunatley the underlying clay is slow to drain. This is a handy feature in dry weather as the clay holds the moisture for the plant roots. Just now my plants are suffering. Chic peas and Garlic in particular. I think I will have the garlic up this weekend and dry it out to see if a can salvage a crop. All the other plants seem to be making a living although they are covered in soil which has been bounced off the surface of the earth and been disposited on the leaves by the down pours.