PLOT LINES

RAIN ON DRY GROUND WON'T DO MUCH GOOD, SAYS TIM FOSTER, AND... KEEP IT ORGANIC

- WITH TIM FOSTER

REMEMBER being told as a student that rainfall between April and October wasn't helpful. I presume it was meant that, because of higher temperatures, most was lost via evaporation and it wouldn't contribute to the soil's reserves.

It doesn't mean that any rain in the summer is useless - far from it; the rain we had in the south west earlier this month really kept a lot of plants going. It just won't do what the winter rains do: fill reservoirs, fill aquifers, turn the allotment into a mud bath etc.

That information at the beginning - since it was given to me too long ago to comment on - doesn't account for the recent trend of really heavy, intense rain 'events, and how that might alter things. If the heavy rain can be intercepted and slowed down, it could infiltrate and make a difference. If not, then you have run-off (water moving over the surface) which is super bad. Not only is the water not getting down into the soil, but it will carry material away with it as it moves over the surface of the soil, namely the soil itself. This is popularly known as erosion.