Ive got a pond

[ideasguy]

and it covers most of my top lawn 
That pond Simon dug is finally filled with water, with no further effort on our part.

It has rained during last night, and heavily all day. For the first time EVER in more than 30 years of mental records, my garden is flooded.
My front garden is OK, but the front of my neighbours garden is under a few inches of water, but the side garden up my driveway had puddles, beside where I planted some new plantsduring the week. Guess they wont need watered in for a day or two!

We had planned to visit the Richardsons Walled Garden tomorrow, at the Greenmount campus:
http://www.cafre.ac.uk/index/information-for/conferences-visitors/richarson-walled-garden.htm

They only open to the public a few times each year. Day 1 (today) was a washout! Hope its dry tomorrow.
Ive been before, and I have to say, its a fantastic place for the plantsman.
Heres another link:
http://www.cafre.ac.uk/gardens-open-at-greenmount-2

[NightHawk]

WOW!   - Sorry to hear you've been hit so badly.  We noticed that the weather forecast for today was very heavy rainfall for Scotland and Northern Ireland today - guess they were right for once.

Strangely though, we've had good weather today - first for a while.  We actually managed to accomplish a lot of work in the rear garden today.  Got the lawn mowed, dead-heading of some plants, a bit of weeding and a general tidy up.

We hope you've not had too much water damage.

The walled garden sounds like a nice place.  Let's hope you have better weather for it tomorrow.

Laurie.

[NightHawk]

George, I hope you had better luck with the weather over your way today, because I think I spoke too soon for us over here.

By late evening yesterday, just after we'd got all of our gardening tasks completed for the day, the heavens opened.  Rained, heavily at times, right the way throughout the night and into today.    It didn't really stop until late afternoon, when the sun came out and started to dry up the garden.  Fortunately, we didn't get any flooding.  Phew!

Did you manage to get to the walled garden today?

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Well, its stopped here, mercifully. Glad it didnt affect you too much!
We tried to go to Greenmount today, to see the Walled Garden. We usually take a short cut across country for the first leg of that journey (its on the way to Belfast International Airport) but today we were worried about flooding, so we took an alternative route, on main thoroughfares. But, after travelling 20 miles, we found the road closed at a roundabout outlet, completely! So we doubled back on another road, and hit a part of the road which was heavily flooded. The traffic had to alternate though the pond, taking the high ground in the centre of the road. One car was abandoned at the side, right in the middle of the flood! After another mile, we hit another flood.
Enough was enough. We turned and took a shortcut back to Hillsborough, and had lunch.
Thats the village where visiting dignitaries stay over (Hillsborough Castle) Royalty and politicians.
As you may know, I donated 132 copies of FG to the Ulster in Bloom competition, so I decided to get a few photos of the displays in Hillsborough. The flowers are definitely suffering this year. Hillsborough has won awards for Best kept Village a few times in the past, but even they are struggling this year.

When we arrived home, believe it or not, the sun was beaming, se we had coffee outside and enjoyed it while it lasted! My first plums are ripe, so I put on the gardening clothes and pulled a few. Then I staked a few plants (Sidalcea) - in my raincoat! Yip, it was on yet again!
That all sounds like Rupert Bear telling his mum about his exciting adventures 

Weather forecast?
To be good Tue and Wed here. Fingers crossed.

[NightHawk]

Sounds more like a synopsis for a disaster movie. 

That is what I really call bad luck - seems like everything was conspiring against you for getting there.

This weather is getting so unpredictable that you don't know what's coming from one day to the next.

We seem to be dodging raindrops at the moment - doing bits of gardening when we can when it stops.  Sheesh! 

This weird weather pattern doesn't just seem to be localised to us either.  All parts of the UK (and indeed neighbouring countries) are getting these freak condiitions.  There appears to be some truth in climate change predictions.

Never mind.  We'll just do what we can.

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Someone mentioned Global Warming. Foolishly, we expected heat and sunshine.
Instead, the icecaps melt and chuck it down on Ireland. Mind you, we missed the severe flooding that many unfortunates suffered in England last year.
Not good for gardening,and I'm sure the Nurseries are losing out. Not many would think of going out and buying plants here at present.

[Palustris]

Looked pretty grim on the TV. Hope you and your garden are ok though.

[ideasguy]

Yes, we have a brand new underpass at the end of the M1 motorway (the busiest thoroughfare in N Ireland) , which I use to get to work.
It cost approx £104 million, and was opened a month or so ago.
It filled up with water, completely.
They are still pumping it out. A few cars are submerged  - the passengers had to wade out to safety, so  no casualties, mercifully.
It took ages to get to work this morning, using alternative routes, some of which were also closed due to floods. Chaos!

There's a major inquest going on as to the cause of the underpass flooding.
The newspaper I work for has a full story - apparently the pumping system was overwhelmend when a river overflowed into the underpass.
Up to now, we have been very impressed with how this project was executed. For about 2 years during construction, traffic was diverted around the site, and flowed very well indeed.
Hopefully its something they can fix. I'd hate to see major repairs and diversions again!!

Hope you folk don't get this weather. Its amazing how it can be so different only a hundred miles away.