Rain at last!

I know many of you will have considered 2009 a pretty poor summer, but for those of us living in East Anglia, the weather has been warm and dry since May. This has been great for barbeques and the kids, but pretty poor for the garden. Particularly as I quickly loose enthusiasm about regular watering. So it was with some relief that I woke up this morning to what must be the first rain since July.

It has been so dry that the front lawn is all but dead (see picture) and I have lost four new asparagus plants due to the drought conditions. On the flip side the 5 chilli plants I transplanted to my seed bed have thrived, growing faster and bearing more fruit than the pot bound examples in the greenhouse.

Given the warm weather, the cold frame has seen very little use of late, although the night time chill is starting to be felt so it won’t be long before it gets some use. Time permitting, I intend to sow some lettuce in the cold frame in the next few weeks and see if I can manage to grow some winter lettuces this year.