Weather ... again

[MAD87]

It used to be rare for us here in ex-rainy Haute-Vienne, but for the last 8 or 9 years, it's hothothot! A good storm + said rain would do us a world of good, but although it's forecast for sometime today, it seems to take a swerve either left or right.
Must go shut the windows now.

[exile]

Saturday, Sunday and Monday we were forecast storms and the best we got were distant rumbles and just a few drops of rain - not even enough to wet the ground.

[exile]

Well another weekend has passed where we were promised storms on each of Saturday, Sunday and Monday and again no storm, not even rumbles this time. We did however get 15 - 20 minutes of heavy rain on each day. So with that in mind I ventured out into the garden early this morning to sow some broad beans. Opening out a shallow trench about 2cm deep and at that depth, the soil was still dust dry.

[Lori]

Yes, the ground here is so dry 15 to 30 minutes of rain isn't enough to moisten the ground and allow additional rain to penetrate the soil. We got about 30 minutes of heavy rain a few days ago, but it hadn't rained in many weeks before that and nothing since. Wasn't enough. Everything around here is pretty much dead or suffering.

[Blaze]

The little rain we did have on Sunday did no good at all. It evaporated in the heat before it could soak into the ground.
However, yesterday was much cooler, as is today, and should be for the rest of the week .... and we might even get some rain ...

We've decided to give up a veg patch. Our soil is sand and clay, and probably salty, and there isn't enough rain. The garden already gives us more than enough work and then we have other activities ..... something has to go Fortunately for us there are several farms selling fresh stuff, including bio.

[Headers]

I gave up my veg patch a couple of years ago. I tried really hard but between weird weather and rampaging hogs I didn’t really stand a chance.

[MAD87]

I hope @Bayleaf is ok - her commune had raging wildfires yesterday.

[Blaze]

@MAD87 Yes, I hope she's okay. I gather it was started by an "engin agricole" .... there have been several fires in the next department to ours that have been started by tractors/combines. Dust/grain/dry straw and a spark or hot piece of metal ....
Farmers are being encourage to harrow the ground as soon as possible after combining to avoid stubble fires.

[Lori]

I hope she's okay too. Just a bit north of us. And yes, there have been several fires around this area that were caused by agricultural equipment sparks. Everything is SO dry. Really scary.

[Bayleaf]

Thanks for the concern, nobody hurt, no houses damaged and everyone who was evacuated were able to return home in the evening. This one was started by a spark from a combine harvester I believe. It was the other side of the village to us, and as soon as I saw the two low planes coming over, and circling back quite soon, I thought "eh up, that's not normal". Air Tractors and Pompier were fantastic, as always, and 4 local farmers were making buffer strips to try and contain the fire.

https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/faits-d ... es-8146965

Rain forecast at the weekend, so here's hoping it actually delivers ....