Watering, Watering and more Watering

Hello

Weather is gorgeous and we (nearly) all love it!

Hopefully, this bodes well for all the staycations and the tills of the local destination businesses. Unfortunately, not so well for plants and seedlings. A major priority during this hot and dry season is watering. Everywhere, inside and outside, becomes extremely parched and all the crops require constant attention. Generally, the crew and ourselves take a good look around and put the water on somewhere. We all keep a tally as to what has been ‘done’! At the moment tho’, we are just starting at the beginning and just keep going from tunnel to tunnel and area to area…Forth Bridge Style. 

We are still learning all the time and watering is becoming quite a skill. We are realising that we have very wet patches, damp areas and some very dry ground. This affects the crop which is planted or sown. For instance, celery needs lots and lots of water, so this crop is going in tunnel five next time as a wet area can always be found here. 

The outside growing area, The Pond Field, is now huge - a third of an acre - and takes a lot of watering. We have been taking an age to move the sprinklers and very carefully move hose pipes around to catch each corner of the plot. Well no more time wasting and fear of ruining the crops! We have invested in a more efficient (back to those efficiencies I talked about in an earlier chapter of the HexOrg Journal) watering system. We will now have permanent sprinklers with permanent hose. The hose output is larger than any domestic hose. This enables a faster flow of water, which will reach all areas of the third of an acre field. It will mean that we can regulate the amount of water we are using and the time saved will be used elsewhere. Never fear the time saved will not mean we can put our feet up and sunbathe!

The excess hose we were using in the Pond Field will be of great use in the Green Field. We are going to simplify the watering of the polytunnels by having more lengths of hose near each connector to the watering system attached to each tunnel. Here we have overhead and ground irrigation. We decide on the system used dependant on the crop we are growing. For instance, all summer fruiting crops make use of the ground irrigation. We will also need extra hose when the new beds, which are being created behind all the tunnels, comes into operation. 

Watering is also an art form for the pigs!!! We feed and water the pigs every day. But, I can guarantee that during this hot weather the water trough will be tipped over to create a mud bath. There is nothing they like more that going to the salon for a full body mud wrap! This is all part of them cooling themselves down and protecting themselves from the suns rays. A bit like SPF50. However, not the type of protection I need but, obviously, the pigs don’t realise this as otherwise they wouldn’t pop across to see me while covered in wet mud for a little scratch of the head. Our legs always have a muddy wet patch on them after seeing the pigs at this time of the year. But heho! 

We all hope you enjoy this weather and don’t forget your SPF…from a bottle! 

Still Stay Safe,    

 Ann👩‍🌾