The weather so far this year has been really weird.
We had snow in March, and then we had a cold, long, wet spring, and then suddenly it was
warm and dry, with a heatwave thrown in. Since march, the weather here in Ireland has
been quite similar to what I grew up with in Canada.
It’s not bad weather, it’s actually quite good weather to grow in, and quite enjoyable,
but its just different and unexpected, and that has caused some problems.
Ireland is famous for its wet, cool, maritime climate, it’s what makes everything so green.
But for the past 7 weeks, since the middle of May, the temperatures most days have been
significantly above normal, with a break of about 10 days where there was more normal
temperatures. And there was a few days where the temperatures
almost broke record, all-time highs, with temperatures above 30ºC.
I don’t ever remember feeling heat like that in the 20 years I’ve lived in Ireland.
The rainfall during the same period of time has also been very low.
In May, June and July of a typical year, we would expect an average of about 17-20mm of
rain each week. But, for the last 7 weeks we’ve only received
25mm of rain in total. Put another way, there’s more than 100mm
of rain that we would normally get over that period of time that hasn’t fallen, and we
haven’t had a drop of rain in the last 26 days.
It looks like there might be some rain tomorrow, but it doesn’t look like there’s going
to be a lot. With all of the warm temperatures, and lots
of sunlight, and big thirsty plants in the ground, the time that we need the most water
is when we’ve actually had the least. This is quite an unusual drought for Ireland,
and a lot of growers and farmers are really suffering, and so is the landscape and biodiversity
around us.
Within the context of many parts of the world, this is quite normal, and in fact good growing
conditions. But here in Ireland we’re struggling, because
it's outside of the range of what we’ve come to expect
And that's the critical point, having to deal with things that we’re not set up for, and
it can be quite chaotic and stressful, having to deal with unexpected pressures, just when
our workload is tough enough. And this is especially an issue when our systems
aren’t as resilient as they could be. There was a fair amount of heat stress in
plants in the polytunnel, especially during the really hot days, and there was also heat
stress in some of the plants outside, particularly the salad crops.
And it was difficult to keep enough water in the potted plants, and seed germination
was a bit tricky for some crops. Other pants did really well during that period,
especially the squash, courgettes or zucchini, and the runner beans, which really like these
type of conditions, providing I can keep enough water in the soil.
But it was all a bit much as a grower, with the heat and the sun being quite overwhelming
at times, especially in the polytunnel, and I really feel for farm workers around the
world who have to deal with these kind of conditions on a regular basis.
This kind of heat in a garden is ok, and even desirable, but water is the key issue, and
it’s especially an issue for me on this site, because of key limitations of the context
that I’m in. The municipal water supply has very low flow
and pressure, the result of poor coordination and planning during the development phase
of this community. There’s obviously some kind of obstruction
in the supply pipe, the result of which is that we only get about 8L a minute of water
on the site, less if more people are using the supply.
This is a fixable problem, but not without digging up the entrance road and laying a
whole new section of pipe. In a typical year this constraint has not
been a problem. It does add a little bit of extra work in
the polytunnel, but not enough to really worry about, and as a result, the problem never
got fixed. But this season it’s been a real problem,
with trying to get enough water in the gardens, as it slows everything down, and it really
limits the options, as many sprinklers just don’t work with this kind of low pressure.
I’ve explored a number of different options on how best to do this, but without rushing
out and setting up drip line watering systems for all of the gardens, I can only really
water by hand. Thankfully, I have a number of large tanks
that have been really helpful with this. So, what I’ve been doing, is setting up
the tanks near that garden that needs to be watered, letting them slowly fill up over
time, and then watering quickly by hand using watering cans.
it takes me about 20 minutes to add over 600L of water to a 100 square meter garden, which
equates to about 6mm of rain if it’s spread out evenly over the whole area.
I’ve also started using hoses or pipes to syphon water from one tank to the next, which
means that I can fill up 3 tanks at a time, which saves time in managing the whole process.
And it also means that I can stockpile water when other people aren’t using the supply,
and I can water the gardens when it’s most convenient for me.
But, it’s still taking up a lot of my time, as I’m trying to water each of the six outside
gardens at least twice a week, in addition to the regular watering that I need to do
in the polytunnel. This means that I’ve been spending about
7 hours a week watering all the gardens, or about one hour a week for each of the family
scale gardens outside. In comparison, last year I spent on average,
only 4 hours over the entire season watering each of these gardens, and most of this was
to keep recently sown seedbeds moist, or to help transplants, or while liquid feeding.
I’ve added more water in the last three weeks to each of these gardens, than I would
normally add over an entire growing season.
Of course, all of this has an impact, as I don’t really have time for a lot of the
other tasks, and it’s already been an extra busy season.
As a result, I’m struggling to keep up with some of the sowings that I’ve planned, and
I’ve delayed sowing some crops that would need some extra care and attention, and I’ve
abandoned others. In addition, some of the plants that have
been growing in the garden are maturing faster than expected, or bolting, and I don’t have
transplants ready to fill the space when they’re pulled out.
And it’s a bit disconcerting seeing empty beds in the garden in the middle of the summer.
I’ve been practicing a type of triage, letting go of some crops, and focusing on the crops
that will do a lot better with some care and attention, and trying to fit everything else
in when I have the time. It could be a really good growing season,
especially for the crops that I can keep strong and healthy with enough water and fertility.
It might be the best crop of squash that I’ve ever grown, which is a plant that I normally
have a lot of trouble growing this climate.
In addition to keeping up with day to day tasks, I've also been looking at how things
can be made easier in the future, and replacing the pipe for the municipal water supply is
a big part of this. I’ve also been exploring options for installing
a pump and pipes to bring water from another well, which is about 400m away from the gardens.
This will reduce dependency on the municipal water supply, which is treated, and can be
expensive, and could be restricted at some point in the future.
Then, with decent water pressure and supply, I could invest in sprinkler systems, and even
lay out drip line watering systems in all the gardens outside.
Catching rainfall water would be an option, but there’s an issue about how much can
be realistically stored and for how long. i could also work to build the soil organic
matter and apply mulches, and use a lot of other techniques that are useful in growing
in dry climates, which often don’t make a lot of sense here in Ireland.
I could also invest in shade cloths, to protect seedlings and transplants from the strong
sun and heat, and I could even put in ventilation fans into the polytunnel.
But all of this is infrastructure, with associated costs and embedded energy, and equipment that
needs to be maintained and materials that need to be stored.
And it only really makes sense for me to acquire this stuff if I think I’m going to need
it again, and it’s kind of crazy to think that I would use any of this stuff in Ireland.
So, getting the water pipe replaced makes a lot of sense, for a number of different
reasons, but everything else depends on the likelihood of these dry conditions happening
again in the near future. If I believed that the climate was broadly
stable, or changing only very slowly, then I might deduce that these extreme conditions
are only at the outer edge of what would be considered a normal range, and therefore unlikely
to happen again for a number of years, or decades.
In which case, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to make these kinds of investments or
changes, as I would assume that weather next year and the year after that would be closer
to the normal range. But, that’s not what I believe, as I trust
the climate science for the most part, and believe that the climate is shifting, and
possibly faster than the climate models have forecasted.
And some of these models have indicated that we should expect more of the types of weather
that we’ve already experienced this year, with wet, stormy winters and dry summers.
In which case, I should expect that these hot dry conditions will happen more frequently
in the near future, and I should start investing in the infrastructure and start planning for
the possibilities that these unusual growing conditions may actually become typical or
normal. But, of course, there’s no guarantee, as
seasonal weather is very different from long term climate trends averaged over many years,
and next year, we might have a cool growing season with way too much rain.
This RED Gardens Project is an independent, citizen-led research and development project,
focused on trying to help people to grow more food for themselves and others.
The only funding I get is through the sale of surplus vegetables to my neighbours, teaching
an occasional course, but mainly through this YouTube Channel.
As I want to avoid sponsorship, and would prefer to limit ads as much as I can, I've
set up a Patreon Page, to try to raise funds from people around the world who want to support
me in the work that I do, or at least want to encourage me to produce more videos.
A link to my Patreon page can be found here or in the description below, and I’ve produced
a short video explaining how Patreon works, and why I’ve chosen it as a platform, which
you can find here, or again in the description below.
It would be really cool if you could support me in this great adventure, but most importantly,
thanks for watching.