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Saturday 21 April 2012
Missed Them Again
We missed the showers again on Saturday and with some sunny intervals it felt a bit warmer than of late.
We made the most of the weather on the plot planting more potatoes and tidying up around the strawberry plants. The grass paths really need cutting and in some beds weeds or self sown seedlings of various flowers and vegetables have sprung up in abundance. But they’ll just have to wait awhile until we’ve got some planting done.
Beneath this mass of greenery are 2 beds and a path which were cleared of weed ready for digging a couple of weeks ago. So we’re not likely to run out of jobs on the plot.
Most of our potatoes are now planted. These are our second early potatoes planted on Saturday one row of Winston and Nadine and two rows each of Nicola and Charlotte.
I’ve got some seed potatoes left, mostly Winston, as I haven’t planted any bags of potatoes on the plot. These would normally grow on in the greenhouse to provide some early new potatoes but I decided it was more of a priority to plant our outdoor crop which provides the bulk of our potatoes for storing.
I don’t know how long our seed potatoes will remain in a usable condition but I thought I might try successional plantings to give us some new potatoes later in the season. I’m planning on planting these outdoors, perhaps around the middle of May and mid June if the tubers last that long. Obviously there might be a problem with blight growing potatoes late into the autumn but we have avoided blight for the last two poor summers. The trial is on.
Sunday 22 April 2012
No Plotting Today
Plenty of showers on Sunday after a couple of drier days. The temperature remained stubbornly cool for late April.
April so far has been a very disappointing month weather-wise. To date this year every day has been colder than the corresponding day last April. Last year by the 22 nd of the month 18 days had exceeded 14°C (57°F) with a high of 22.8°C (73°F). This year we’ve still not managed to reach 14°C and our highest temperature has been 13.9°C on the first day of the month.
The average temperature for the month stands at 6.9°C (44°F) which will make it the coldest April since 1989 unless we have a heat wave over the next few days.
We’ve had plenty of showers throughout April but surprisingly only just reached the average rainfall for the month which is 57.9mm (2.4”). Maybe it seems wetter as we’ve had 18 days with recorded rainfall rather than a few very wet days. Our total now stands at 60.6mm. In contrast we had just 2.4mm last year as April 2011 was one of the driest on record.
Little wonder then that allotmenting has been a tricky business this April with its wet and cool weather.
Monday 23 April 2012
More Rain and a Cold May Forecast
Monday was a day of more showers so it was another inside sort of a day.
Plot on Saturday 21st April 2012
Like most gardeners I’ve seen the forecast suggesting the possibility of the coldest May in 100 years. Whilst I’m hoping that the forecast is completely wrong I thought it might be interesting to plot this year’s May temperatures against those of the actual coldest May in the last 100 years.
To my surprise I reckon that all we have to be is colder than May 1996, which had an average temperature of 9.15°C, so if we have the coldest May in 16 years we will also have the coldest in the last 100 years too. May 1996 was the 9th coldest since 1772 as far as I can tell from the records. Then again like the forecast I could be wrong.
Tuesday 24 April 2012
Wow - A Dry Day
It didn’t rain on Tuesday and a little bit of sunshine dried out the lawn enough at home for the mower to be put into use. By the time I manage to get to the plot the grass will be so long it will need to be strimmed rather than mowed. On the last few visits to the plot it’s been a case of planting taking priority over grass cutting.
I also got a chance to transport the last of the rubble left around the new summerhouse base along to the tip giving me enough space to finish laying the last of the paving flags on which the summer house will sit.
In the pond our marsh marigold is in full flower. I’ll be pleased once the summerhouse is finished and the area around the pond tidied up. I’ve noticed that we have some small amounts of duckweed in the pond which will take over the surface if it’s allowed to grow on unchecked. Regularly removal is the key.
Wednesday 25 April 2012
The Wrong Sort of Rain - Lots of It!
Wednesday was a wet day but by “experts” it was deemed the wrong sort of rain to ease the drought.
Once it started mid-morning it was pretty persistent all day amounting to 15.4mm and upping this month’s total to 80.6mm by midnight on Wednesday. Apparently as it’s been so dry the rainfall doesn’t have a chance to soak into the ground, just running off the land and straight into rivers and streams. I don’t think that’s happened down on the plot. On our last visit the soil was bordering on being too wet and I’m sure it will now be far too soggy for tilling after more wet days. Another reason given was the mild April weather means that much of the rainfall is lost through evaporation. I didn’t know we were having a mild April, I thought just the opposite, as this month could turn out to be the coldest since 1989.
If the “expert opinion” simply means that we’re short of water as one wet month doesn’t make up for lots of dry ones why can’t they just say that rather than give explanations that don’t make too much sense.
Thursday 26 April 2012
Lots More Rain
Lots more rain on Thursday whether it was the right rain or not who knows. It was definitely of the wet variety.
We’d pre-booked tickets for the Harrogate Spring Flower Show. It was tipping with rain when we set off. We thought it prudent to take our walking boots expecting the fields where cars are parked to be boggy. We weren’t wrong and were glad we’d taken along some decent footwear.
It was fine when we arrived around lunch time so we had a quick look around the exhibition gardens outside. There were plenty of dark clouds over head and it was spitting with rain most of the time.
The drier spell didn’t last and it poured down with rain. Most folks made for the indoor exhibition halls but some more hardy souls decided to sit it out outside.
There was plenty to see inside but I’m always a little bit disappointed by the coverage fruit and vegetables get at these sorts of shows. The flowers certainly made for some beautiful displays though.
It continued to rain for most of the day. By late evening the month’s total passed the 100mm (4”) mark. It’s only the second time since October 2009 when I set up my weather station that we’ve passed this amount of rain in one month. November 2009 holds the record at 118.3mm so still a little way to go to beat that.
Friday 27 April 2012
Nearing a Monthly Record
More rain in the early hours of Friday morning brought our total for April up to 108mm just 10mm short of our monthly rainfall record. More rain is forecast for Sunday so we might yet be setting a new rainfall record.
Although it was dry throughout the day it wasn’t very pleasant and cool once again. I did venture into the greenhouse and the slideshow below gives the state of play at the moment. Generally plants, especially our tomato plants, are struggling due to the cold overnight temperatures .
Saturday 28 April 2012
Sights and Sounds of Harrogate Spring Flower Show
Saturday was almost a dry day but not quite. We had a few sunny spells but even then the temperature only just managed 10°C.
It wasn’t a day for venturing outside giving me chance to edit my pictures taken at the show
Sunday 29 April 2012
More Rain Produces a Record
Today we needed just 9.8mm of rain for April 2012 to take over as our wettest month from November 2009 with 118.3mm (4.7”). We’ve now had 10.0mm and it’s still raining so this month is now our wettest month since November 2009.
Sunday 29 April 2012
What a Month
Another 11.4mm of rain saw us past our highest monthly rainfall figure and it was also another cold day with strong winds for good measure.
The gardening season doesn’t seem to have started. We’ve hardly visited the plot and I suspect it’s going to take a few dry days to get the soil into anything like a workable condition. It’s been a cold month as well as wet with the average temperature this month colder than March. March averaged 8.7°C and April only 6.9°C.
With the cool temperatures it’s also been a struggle to grow plants in the cold greenhouse especially the more tender plants like tomatoes and peppers. These dahlia seedlings have recently been pricked out which has meant moving them from the luxurious warmth of the indoor grow light to the much cooler conditions in our cold greenhouse.
Monday 30 April 2012
Parsnips Are In!
Monday easily turned out to be the best day of the month with lots of sunshine and for once mild reaching 17.1°C in the afternoon.
After the rain of the last few days it was going to be too wet to do any digging on the plot but the grass paths would certainly be ready for strimming. Some beds had already been dug before the wet weather arrived ready for sowing parsnips and planting out some home produced strawberry plants. We set out hopeful but not too confident we would be able to get these jobs done.
The soil’s been battered down by the rain and it’s obvious where puddles of water have formed on the surface. All the surface of the soil needs hoeing to break it up.
As expected the grass paths had become overgrown and as I’d guessed, they were in need of strimming as the grass was too long to cut with my mower.
Once strimmed the plot looked much tidier and a little bit more like it was cared for.
The strawberry plants did get transplanted into their new bed and the parsnips were sown. The soil needs a few dry days before it will be in a suitable state for digging but in the meantime we have plenty of weeding to get on with before we can even consider tilling some of the beds.