It’s been pretty wet here the last few days and the amount of fresh rainwater that has swelled the ponds and rivers is simply astounding.
The gutters on our house were cleaned out recently, but yesterday there was a tremendous waterfall cascading down my office window. On closer inspection it turned out that a few leaves had blocked a drainpipe and the overflow was pouring down my window.
In between the showers, we checked and emptied the greenhouse gutters, which had missed the earlier clearance process and were full of cedar needles and leaf debris. It’s an essential greenhouse task and one that I often overlook. Have you checked yours yet?
More importantly all that precious rainwater is great for our plants and much better than our chlorinated tap water. All my waterbutts are full to bursting already, but maybe it’s time to add a couple to the greenhouse gutters too and collect as much water as possible for this season. After all, they are already saying it’s going to be a barbecue summer (didn’t they say that last year?) and it’s always useful to have a supply of rainwater in a waterbutt near the pots and containers.
I don’t tend to use rainwater for seedlings as it can transmit fungal problems but it is great for all established plants. To keep it fresh and clean add a bit of Citrox to the water. Available from www.agralan.co.uk.
