Feeling Disappointed & Ungrateful At The Same Time

I can sympathize Dawn, we have had intense heat for well over a month, although I water every other day (hose) for the borders, and OH uses watering cans for the pots, the plants are hanging on, had to replace earlier bedding today, most of the GCs had nothing left, and no rain forecast!

Hey tell you OH Dawn thats my saying lol to my kids mainly. Could nt you mulch the most treasured ones Dawn which prevents the ground and plants drying out.

We had rain too Dawn for 5 mins as I ve said just we will have this weather into August it said today.

Thrupenny...bit late to mulch now! And with a big garden...extremely costly. I try to do one bed a year. It does help to keep moisture in and weeds out, but its all very dry now. And we have had a bit of rain too. Dawn, I feel for you. I am getting very tired of lugging watering cans about, they are so heavy. I am still using the hose with the feeder on it, but not the sprinkler. My grass isn't too bad at the moment, but with the weather set to continue, things can only get worse. We are due some rain again overnight, but it would take a lot of rain to wet the lawns now. I must say, I have enjoyed it so much this summer. It has been such a relief after last year which was as wet and miserable as this has been dry and sunny! The trouble with the weather is its never just right its it!? ;)

No rain forecast here in the South for another week. Unfortunately I dropped a brick on the connection pipe linking my two water butts, two weeks ago, breaking it and loosing all 400 litres of rain water. Special rain water I keep especially for my Carniverous plant pond, Orchids and Citrus. I'm desperate for a deluge.

Oh no! Sorry for that Sue :(

Oh no Siris!! how maddening! no water in our butt, hasn't been for over 6 weeks!

Same here. I am washing smalls with pure soap in a bowl and tipping the 'grey' and rinsing water into one gallon containers, to cart down to my shrubs in tubs. Gives them a good drink, sustained by the Gerbil litter mulch.
Am pleased to see clouds build up to break up the fierce
shafts of the sun. Every bit of shade is precious.

Oh Sue, what a devastating loss. Our plants have had to make do with tap water and any water left in a washing-up bowl. do hope they like soap!

Very grey here today: looks miserable but no rain!! Actually love the cooler temperature.

Today our daughter said we had to have more help in the garden as Nature is taking over: weeds and brambles. Surprisingly difficult to find someone who will WEED!

I feel the same, so can really sympathise. I got rid of a lot of conifers last year which left lots of space for new planting and I was looking forward to filling up the spaces this summer as I've got the six weeks school holidays off work. Because it has been so hot, I don't really want to buy new plants as they will need extra watering, so it will probably have to wait until the autumn now.

So my garden is looking rather bare and extremely untidy as the hot weather has drained all my energy. All I'm managing to do is water the front garden which does have new plants bought in April and bedding plants.

We all sympathise Dawn! We water newly planted things: front garden one evening, back garden the next . . . luckily our new garden is not very big, so it’s not too onerous a task.

Thanks everyone for your comments, it’s reassuring to know I’m not alone. Mulch seems the way to go, I need to find the cheapest way to do it. No much sun today but still hot, I did some cutting back today, so much to do, it upsets me seeing the garden looking so sad.

Sorry to hear about your woodlanders Dawn. I hope they'll be all right, and the rest of your garden too. Hard labour watering with a can lol …

Don't worry about moaning. Nobody does that more than me in extreme temperatures ! :D

Like you, we have had no real rain here since April. We are due rain on Friday and I am happy about it. We live in Glasgow.....rainy city. What is going on?
I have to say I have loved the warm, sunny weather. It isn't quite as hot here tho'. Low twenties.
Like the rest of you, I am fed up carrying watering cans around the garden.
However last year my roses were rotting before flowering because of continual rain.

Monsoon weather news for uk.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.express.
co.uk/news/weather/990773/UK-weather-forecast-rain-today-Friday-long-range-forecast-Met-Office-heatwave-July/amp

We're in the same (ahem) boat over here! Hub tells me the forecast is for four (count 'em!) days of continuous rain at the end of the week. Hurry Sunday! Hope it's bound for the UK.

Ours is suppose to be coming from Spain Lori I hope we have some but I doubt it here where I live.

We will get rain tomorrow...all the way down to Lincolnshire on our train journey. Pity it will spoil my views of the coast, but never mind...we do need the rain. For one day only though Lori...and then back to very warm. I can't believe how wonderful the weather has been. It's absolutely incredible. I think we Scots think we have all died and gone to heaven!

Dawn I hope to goodness your new woodlanders survive - Pity that worrying doesn't help! We have had one day of rain, started gently and then got harder, just what we would have ordered, but there's no sign of anything more. But every little helps doesn't it? This year I didn't feel up to bothering with hanging baskets (for the first time)and am now so glad I didn't as they would have been dead by now. The bedding plants in the front garden have not grown much but I guess they are doing their little best, There is too much soil showing though!

But it has been nice to have a "proper" summer - last year I don't remember wearing summer tops at all...

So true Stera. Last year was the exact opposite of this. It was so depressing. I was thoroughly miserable. I’m loving this. I think us Scots think we have all died and gone to heaven! After the dire spring, I thought we might get a good summer...this has been amazingly good!

Make the most of it...we don't know when the next one will be!

Well I think it's horrible lol :D … thick heavy air and it's difficult to breathe and move around. Can't please us all !

re hanging baskets I must be psychic ! In the Spring I brought my overwinter Geraniums out from the kitchen window, put black polythene bags in the half baskets.
Put the Geraniums in together with the rockery plants halfway down from last year, folded the tops over, just left a space for a litre a day from old drink bottles. All the water goes for the plants, very little escapes. Maximum use of water, maximum use of rockery plants and Geraniums.
Had a lovely show all summer.

we had a gentle rain for about an hour on Monday and the weed seeds have exploded into growth but to hot to do any gardening. we are meant to get rain today but....
it will probably rain on Sunday on the nth York Moors as OH and I are on a motorbike rally.

I feel better after cutting back the dead growth on the perennials, garden looks slightly tidier. I spent alot of time yesterday with cans watering the most needy, even well established Weigela and Viburnum are wilting, I can't bear seeing it but it's exhausting and it's getting hot again next week, I must try and keep them alive, such a weird summer, I'm so used to damp conditions, I'm not accustomed to drought, not here, not me lol

Is it worth getting a wagon load of mulch Dawn tipping a wheel barrow full on each you want to save.

Meadow, luckily our pond has a spring that keeps it up to level but the garden in looking depressing.

The heat shows no signs of abating here either! In fact East Anglia, where I live, is forecast 32C on Friday! We had 30C here just yesterday (Monday 23rd) & today it's been around 27-28C!

We did have about an hour of rain a few days ago & both my wife & I got up to look out of the windows at it! 😱😂

I feel exactly as you do, Dawn. We've had no rain now for 2 months. What seemed like a wonderful proper summer is now turning the country into a crisp arid dust bowl. Farmers are so worried, crops stop growing at 25c & are small & stunted, grain is shrivelled, animals have no grass so are being fed winter silage.
We drove down to the New Forest for the weekend, some 200mls, & the whole way verges & fields were brown & many roadside young trees dead. It's depressing!

We've tried to keep the ericaceous pots going with water from the butts, not much left now tho, but I've still lost a rhodo that I've had for almost 20yrs.
I also find it hard to breathe in this thick humid air so not very active at all.

I certainly feel for the farmers. But it has been wonderful to go out without coat or umbrella for weeks, and enjoy outdoor swimming so often.

Storms forecast for tomorrow - really hope we get them here!

I think I could hear a d-i-s-t-a-n-t rumble in the south-east from the balcony about 30 mins ago!

As I'm writing this a fierce wind has sprung up & is carrying a tiny amount of rain! I had to leave off writing to go & close the windows in the kitchen because of the wind! I heard something banging & went to investigate & discovered that one of the windows in the kitchen had opened almost as far as it can go! I was unable to shut it from inside & had to go outside to close it! Fortunately we live on the ground floor & standing on tip toes I was able to close it! If we had lived on any of the floors above us I don't know how I would've closed it!

This wind seems to have blown the clouds away as now the sun is coming out again & things are feeling hotter by the moment! We currently have 31C with a 50% chance of rain! It just after 5pm.

OH works at Addenbrookes, Cambs, as he was leaving around 4pm it started to rain, he had to use the windscreen wipers for 2 wipes & that was that.

LOL! Something similar happened to my son just as he was leaving work yesterday! He only drove about 100m when the rain stopped & it was very light.

This afternoon around 5pm we did have a couple of thunderclaps & a hefty downpour with some especially strong, gusty winds. I had 2 tomato plants in pots on the balcony & I was forced to move them further inside to the most sheltered spot because of the wind. We did have a very heavy 5 min downpour of rain before it all finished! Talk about a "Flash in a pan!"

About 7 pm another thunderstorm popped by for a brief visit! This one hung around rather longer but in 20 mins it was done! Nevertheless it left continuous rain in its wake for over an hour.

I wonder if the skies will clear for a while this evening? Tonight the Red Planet reaches the closest point to the Earth than it has done in 15 years! There is also a total eclipse of the Moon tonight so it will appear red or orange for a while.

Missed the red planet & eclipse as the storm hit us last night but so relieved to have a heavy downpour & lighter steady rain on & off. Today was very pleasant.
Tomorrow another big belt of rain over the middle of the country & us a bit later.