Slowly but surely we are losing the battle with the drought.
I am a little depressed about it, I am thinking about what to do next, what to do next year
Whether to stand up or give up. The things that give me hope are, for example, this tomato weighing over six hundred grams. which has proven to be drought tolerant and not attacked by pests, not even the stink bug
At first we wondered what kind of tomato it was and then we realized that we got these seeds from a woman from the village, a perfect guess.
The one I measured was the first one picked this year, there are more. I took a picture of them next to my handful so you can see the size. One tomato is enough for breakfast.
We started harvesting peppers early. A variety of rot attacked. Severe warm weather with large fluctuations. In order to minimize damage and save what can be saved. It's not just for tasting or eating, we also have to start preparing for the winter.
And here's the whole tribute to peppers.
Our two young hazelnut trees are drying up. The leaves are burnt and it seems like it's late autumn. We water it regularly, as well as all the fruit we have, but the drought is too severe.
I'm worried about this young apple, it's a Golden Delicious, but so far it's holding up very well.The mulch we planted around her probably helped..
To see the full picture of the trouble we are facing. I will tell you that this year I only mowed the grass in the orchard once, around mid-April or late April. After that, this little grass sprouted, but it was scorched by the sun.
I hope you are doing better. Although the whole of Europe is under drought and low water levels. What is the situation on other continents?
*All images are mine unless otherwise noted
Thanks for reading.
Until next time.
Stay healthy.
Markone85.
Oh that looks bad, I'm sorry. Here we in Africa we are more used to heat and drought and unpredictable crops. Summer is yet to come and we are dreading it. Some things I do: use 20% shadecloth, mulch a lot, water very early in the morning so that the water has a chance to sink into the ground and plant crops that are more tolerant of hot, dry weather. Beans, maize and sweetcorn and similar
We are in winter now but I'm dreading the summer. I was sorting out the shade cloth yesterday in readiness. I'm worried about whether the renters will be as diligent as me when the scorching weather comes. I might start up an irrigation system but usually I drape sheets over the fruit and veg too and water them in worst weather.
All you can do is keep the soil fed and mulched over winter and hope that provides some resilience next year. And yes plant varieties that can hack the drought. Look into wicking containers and beds perhaps. Hugelkukture. That doesn't help for the fruit trees but perhaps if you can build cages around them you can easily drape shade cloth over for Feb worst of summer.
May the drought break soon. It's tough on people who tend the land.