Precipitation

Over the past two days, the rain has returned spectacularly. Sheets of it for several hours at a time combined with the darker nights and mornings signals the official start of autumn. It’s a season at the allotment tinged with a little sadness as all the greenery is removed and there are fewer people on site. Although our greenhouse is still green, in the next week I know I will need to pull out the tomato and cucumber plants before cleaning the glass.

Between the downpours, I plan to finish digging over the plot and reclaiming the back of the plot. A more pressing issue is how to protect the girls in the new coop as it faces the prevailing wind (and rain!) direction. I suspect I will need to get some more tarpaulins and cable ties to keep them as dry as possible. In the main coop, I plan to get the internal guttering sorted at the very least – the leak from the roof absolutely soaks the coop floor when it rains, leaving the chickens in the mud. Fortunately, I already have a blue plastic drum which will be the water butt for the new guttering. All that’s left is sourcing the guttering and setting it up. Somehow, this seemingly simple task will inevitably end up being complicated by an irate cockerel attacking whoever is up the ladder sorting out the guttering!