Wednesday, 03 October 2018
Three Unwanted Records For September
Looking at the average figure for September 2018 you wouldn't think it was any sort of record breaker but that's not the case from my weather station records. It now holds two records relating only to the month of September and those are the lowest September temperature of 3.1°C (37.6°F) and the highest wind gust speed of 30mph.
September Rainfall & Average Temperatures 2010-2018
Whilst this September only ranks as the fourth wettest most of the month's rainfall fell on one day. On Thursday 20th September we had 41.6mm (1.64in) of rainfall making it the wettest day I've recorded in any month since 2010.
Rather amazingly we went from that very wet day at the beginning of April through to that record breaking day in September with very little rain as we recorded our driest summer since I started recording our weather.
October hasn't got off to a brilliant start with a cold day on Monday followed by gale force winds through most of Tuesday. The average wind speed for Tuesday was 6.5mph which was higher than we had for all the named storms in September. The only other day this year with a higher average wind speed was the 3rd of January with 8.6mph.
On the plot it's now a case of getting as much tidying up done before any really bad weather sets in.
At least following that very wet September day the ground at the allotment returned to resembling soil rather than concrete and I could make a start at getting some beds dug over for winter. I hardly dare say that we could do with a drop more rain as the ground has once again dried out. I'm planning on leaving these beds uncovered until they get some wet and frosty weather on them to break the soil down. I'll consider replacing the weed control fabric early next year before any weeds begin to germinate.
Saturday, 06 October 2018
Purple Sprouting Under Attack
Friday morning was dull and it felt pleasantly mild but, by the time we headed for the allotment in the afternoon the temperature had fallen considerably. The forecast was for light rain to begin falling during the afternoon. As it turns out that was pretty accurate.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 04-06 October 2018
We needed to pull a few more carrots and to cut a fresh cabbage to replenish our supplies of fresh vegetables. If we had time I planned to pick our quinces. However, as I had a look for a suitable cabbage to harvest I noticed that our purple sprouting broccoli was being demolished at a rapid rate by large white butterfly caterpillars.
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
All our brassicas are covered with environmesh to protect them from butterflies laying their eggs on the leaves but obviously somehow a butterfly had managed to get through the cover or maybe had managed to sneak in when we were harvesting cabbages or cauliflowers.
As you can see this trio were happily munching their way through this leaf.
These two were just about to start on a fresh leaf. It seemed the easiest course of action was to carefully remove the caterpillars by hand and also pick any up that got knocked off and fell to the ground. I'm hopeful that these plants will recover to produce a decent crop. Fortunately, we have some other purple sprouting broccoli in another bed which haven't been found by any butterflies. Once all the caterpillars had been removed they were disposed of by giving the birds some extra protein.