Rain please!

Here in our easterly part of Britain we haven’t had any significant rainfall for weeks. The grass looks like straw, plants are wilting and the rain barrels are emptying with that precious water only being used for the neediest plants. By the shed we have our tomato plants – quite a lot of them as we use a lot and enjoy the wonderful flavour of home-grown varieties. This week I saw a huge platter of heritage varieties grown by a friend and we marvelled at the range of colours, from purple to pink with incredible shapes too. Our beans are also deemed worthy of precious water and they are producing as many as we can eat, but no glut this year. Our young friend is gathering peas and freezing the excess for another day. Local farmers are now being warned to ration water which will inevitably have a direct impact on yields and prices of their harvest. We ‘re managing to keep our small crops going, but a jolly good shower wouldn’t half help.