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| Rondo with florets |
Everything is so late this year. The Rondo has flower buds but none of the others do yet. The Albarino has suffered greatly over this winter. None of the vines are happy and quite a few look dead. I think the late cold snap did them in.
May was cold and wet in Ireland according to Met Eireann's May Report. All rainfall totals were above their Long-Term Average (LTA) for the month. All mean air temperatures across the country were below their Long-Term Average for the month. Most long-standing stations had their coldest May since at least 1996. This is counterintuitive as all available sunshine totals were above their Long-Term Average (LTA). Who knows?
Overall Spring 2021 was relatively dry, sunny and cool, with a cool and sunny but dry March and April, and a wet May.
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| Water remains pooled over cement 2 days after rain. |
In fact, the day after the polytunnel went up, it rained solidly all day and half the tunnel flooded. The water coming off the tunnel pooled and flowed into the tunnel. Now, Alex has to put in a drain, for which he has started digging. Fortunately, the rainwater softened the earth and I was able to rake the soil a bit more evenly where the cement vehicle had left hideous muddy tire tracks dug into the soil.
The last couple of days, we've spent breaking up and collecting the excess cement that had spilled on the floors around the posts. We'll use the rubble to fill the trench
New drain diverting water downhill.
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| The rain came off the tunnel and into the inside. |
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| Drainpipe that's been lying around waiting for this project for years. |
