Autumn Dry

Well we have had a reasonable as far as the land goes - some people living in town think we didn't have Summer - they are right it has been pretty average but here in West Melton we don't complain too much because we have got through the season in reasonable shape; meaning the grass stayed greener for longer. I have used the word reasonable twice (three times if you count the last!) because it means that things were not so terrible but not so great either. Hey we all know that people living in the country are never satisfied with the weather.


So to stick to my title - we are approaching Autumn, you know "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness; Close bossom friend of the maturing sun, conspring with him how to load and bless........................Good old William Shakespeare.

We haven't had a really good rain for quite a while and so things are drying out. People new to the area may be lulled into a false sense of security with the days shorter, the nights cooler, heavy dew on the grass, and daylight saving finishing and think they can start putting away the hoses and irrigation. For sure the ground is not drying out as fast as it does in Summer, but it certainly does dry out and it is very important to keep watering otherwise you can end up with stressed plants heading into winter.

I hope people don't think I am "teaching people how to suck eggs", but I remember being caught out one February. We had had a great summer as far as rainfall went, everything was green and lush even into January. I had eased off the watering (actually it was one of those rare seasons when the irrigation was hardly used)  and as we proceeded through February the rain stopped, the dry Nor' west winds became more frequent, and I got caught out. Things dried out very quickly and I got left way behind with the watering - February was a "mean" month and jolted us out of our complacency.

I hope this is useful for somebody somwhere.

Cheers