Hot sunshine and lots of watering: My wildlife allotment at the end of July 2018

What a difficult year for growing things this year proves to be, first the cold and wet spring, now a never-ending heatwave and no rain for months. The last proper rain we had was at the end of May, since then just a few drops which evaporated as soon as they hit the ground. It is getting more and more difficult to keep the plants on the allotment alive, without endless watering most things would be dead or dying by now.

I don`t have much time to water during the week but the weekend is mostly about watering now, there is not much other gardening to do at the moment as the grass on the paths is brown and the weeds have stopped growing. I water 2 1/2 hours each weekend day early in the morning to make the most of the cooler hours, lugging endless watering cans from the water trough to the plot. I cannot water everything, the potatoes and fruit bushes have to go without water, I mainly target the vegetables such as pumpkins, beans, tomatoes, sweetcorn and the flowers which need it most  such as Rudbeckias. Some flowers seem to cope quite well with the drought, namely Achillea, Echinops, Eryngium, Kniphofia, Dianthus, Verbena, Centaurea and ornamental grasses. In future I will focus more on these drought-resistant plants as I think we will get this extreme weather more and more often now with climate change.

Below are some pictures of the allotment, still looking good in the heat (but who knows for how long as no rain forecast until mid-August now and more heatwaves coming):

Lobelia cardinalis growing in a small bog planter

Echinacea purpurea with ornamental grasses, mainly Stipa tenuissima

Echinops ritro with Centaurea macrocephala and Verbena bonariensis

Yes, I do grow vegetables as well, here courgettes and tomatoes with Echium pinninana in the background

Achillea and ornamental grasses still doing well

Origanum vulgare in the foreground with grasses, Inula orientalis and fennel

Echinops ritro is always a hit with bumblebees

Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are still doing well, each flower only lasts a day!

Dianthus carthusianorum with Echium pinninana in the background

From left:Serratula bulgarica, Inula magnificum, Kniphofia 'Tawny King', Stipa gigantea, Verbena bonariensis and Rudbeckia grandiflora (in the background)

Echinacea purpurea, Verbena bonariensis and grasses

Veronicastrum virginicum with Rudbeckia grandiflora

Eryngium planum and Verbena hastata

Eryngium planum likes it dry

Eryngium planum and Ratibida columnifera

Echinacea purpurea looks very pretty at the moment

Echinacea purpurea and Allium sphaerocephalum

Echinacea purpurea and the grass Eragrostis eliottii

Verbena hastata doing well in the heat

Echinacea purpurea is quite long-lived on my allotment, all plants are raised from seed

Echinacea purpurea with grasses, Verbena bonariensis, fennel and Rudbeckia grandiflora

Echinops ritro is a great plant for dry soil, always looks good with grasses

My apple 'Bountiful' is truly bountiful this year!

Eryngium giganteum still looks good even after flowering has finished

The allotment seen from the back

Berkhea purpurea has pretty daisy flowers

Kniphofias are doing well, this is Kniphofia 'Papaya popsicle'

Rudbeckia grandiflora with Eryngium planum

I have grown Rudbeckia grandiflora from seed acquired via the Hardy Plant Society seed distribution scheme and I am very pleased with it

The allotment still doing well despite the drought

This female Common Blue was very interested in a patch of Lotus corniculatus on my allotment

Next time I will post some photos from the allotment in August, hopefully everything still surviving in the heat, including me!