Rain - God's Gift

Farmers are renowned throughout the world for complaining about the weather.  I fall into the same trap myself, sometimes, so it is only right to acknowledge good weather when it comes our way,  This week we finally had the rain we had been hoping for.  The timing of the weather is as critical as the net amounts (of sun or rain, etc.).  A well timed rain is a real god-send.  We are fortunate that we are able to irrigate most of our crops when and where we need to, although there are limits to the amount of irrigation water we can (and should) use.  But all farmers seem to agree that natural rain, falling from the sky has a very different impact to water sent through pipes.  We sowed a green manure crop on most of the area we are preparing for our winter storage vegetables, to keep the soil alive and thriving before crop plantings and sowings.  With these rains the green manure has burst into life, not to mention the great effect the rain has on the crops sown (carrots, onions, potatoes, celeriac, and a whole range of other crops in the garden).  Many people will find this cooker spring less welcome, but for salad and leafy vegetable lovers this is the best weather we could be having - please enjoy the crops while they are here!