Wow. Endless sunny days. Three months now with hardly any precipitation. And while I know I should be dancing for rain, I also know that once the rains start, they won’t stop. Seriously though, I broke down and bought water today. My garden cisterns were emptied a month ago and I’ve been tapping the house cistern telling myself it’s just for one week, well maybe another and another. Now we have less than a month’s supply for the house, so I had to stop. Besides, nothing was getting well watered. I’m sure most of the shrubs would survive but they really don’t have much to draw on. There’s stone under everything here, none of that clay that people always seem to be cursing. I’d die for some clay below my topsoil, but nope, for me it’s stone.
I’ve done a lot of watering the last three months, especially in the kitchen garden, and I realize a few things have got to change. So, instead of putting the garden to bed, I am remaking the beds. I’m building the beds higher and layering in the organic matter. At some point before spring, I hope to install some irrigation, although it’s a bit challenging for raised beds. Especially as I don’t want to be tripping over any water lines. For those who say bury them, I’ll loan you my essential garden tool. It’s not a spade or a fork, it’s a heavy metal bar with a point. When I need to dig outside the garden bed I grip the bar with both hands and pound the point into the stoney ground. Problem is, there’s no guarantee that you won’t make contact with an impenetrable chunk of the island!
Despite the water challenges, the garden did well this year. I am still pulling peppers and tomatoes from their covered beds and a late planting of basil is fresh in the greenhouse. I now have a list of kitchen garden changes that will keep me in projects for the entire winter. I told my husband that winter won’t be long enough for all I have to do. Who am I fooling. Maybe I won’t get everything done, but I’m sure winter will be long enough.
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