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A Gardener’s Weather Diary - July week 1
Friday, 01 July 2011
Pleasant enough start
Friday got July off to a pleasant start with a mostly sunny and dry day. The temperature just sneaked into the twenties.
With all our dry weather you might expect slugs and snails to be less problematical. After all we keep hearing blackbirds and thrushes are having a bad time as they can’t find worms or snails. The snails are still able to find my french beans waiting in my cold frame for planting out on the plot and devastating the new tender leaves. As they're now planted in the plot these particular snails will be looking elsewhere for a meal tonight.
On the plot I pulled this unusual collection of radishes. The long tapering root is a variety called Candela di Fuoco and the other three are from a packet of mixed seeds. I feel a taste test will be required to test out the different radishes. I hope the different varieties will extend the cropping time of each sowing for a few extra days.
Saturday, 02 July 2011
A fine few days then rain!
Saturday was another nice summer’s day, mild with plenty of sunshine. The forecast for the next few days is for the fine weather to continue before we get some showers or possibly longer spells of rain. Some decent rain for the plot and garden would be extremely good news as our dry spell is going on forever.
Our garden apples which I think are Peasgood Nonsuch are coming on a treat with plenty of fruits which are already starting to take on a rosy glow.
One batch of our new strawberries arrived rather late and our new plot strawberry bed was already planted up. These Finesse ever bearers were planted up in containers and are growing in our newly cleared area around our cold frame. This is our first fruit ready for the taste test.
We thought that all our radishes recently harvested had excellent flavour including Candela di Fuoco from our free packet of seed.
Sunday, 03 July 2011
A great start to the week
Sunday was a lovely summers day with almost unbroken sunshine. With a maximum temperature of 26.3°C it was a hot afternoon. We picked some fruit on the plot rather than tackle any energetic jobs.
In the hot sunshine most of the vegetables looked like they needed some water. Some were lucky others will just have to go dry for another day. This squash plant looked in particularly desperate need and was given a can full of water.
Our local weather forecast has plenty of rain forecast for the end of the week. However if it’s like many of the forecasts for this year the rain will somehow never actually arrive.
Monday, 04 July 2011
Hot and cloudy
Monday was less sunny but just as hot. We decided to give harvesting a miss and went for a walk around the old Walton Colliery site which is now a nature reserve. The wild sweet peas there put ours to shame as they are already in flower. In the plot our annual sweet peas are just beginning what we hope is a serious growth spurt.
It was mostly cloudy as we wondered along the trail which leads around the perimeter of the reserve.
If the forecasts turn out to be correct this is the last of our few days of settled weather. We will be returning to more unsettled and cooler temperatures tomorrow.
Tuesday, 05 July 2011
A surprise
Tuesday was much more cloudy with some hazy sunshine at times but once again warm with the temperature into the mid twenties. It was dry all day until 23:00 when we had a heavy shower.
I’d presumed our banana (musa basjoo) had been one of our winter casualties. There was no sign of it shooting in spring at its usual time and I presumed the severe cold of winter had finished it off. Whilst I was mooching around the garden today I was surprised to find new shoots coming from around the stump of the banana. I’d not got round to digging out the root as other parts of the garden have had priority. We were still in the process of deciding how to redevelop this part of the border without the banana, however it seems our banana has other ideas.
Wednesday, 06 July 2011
Sunflower Weeds
Wednesday was another day of sunny spells, mild with just the occasional light shower. Most of our rain fell in the early hours of the morning.
We spent the afternoon harvesting on the plot and did have to take to our shed once fort a cup of coffee and to shelter from a short shower. The details of our harvest can be found here.
Some of last years sunflower seeds survived winter and have grown into excellent strong plants much better than the ones we are growing from seed this year. They are providing some extra early colour in our mixed flower and vegetable bed before our sweet peas come into bloom. It just shows that a little care when weeding can produce some excellent results. The sunflower seedlings could easily have been pulled up along with all the other weeds in spring.
Thursday, 07 July 2011
Tomato worries
Thursday was mostly cloudy with just a few sunny spells. We had just one very light shower otherwise no rainfall to speak of.
I was starting work on renovating an area around our pond and this yellow rose caught my attention with this bud and its perfume.
In the greenhouse this tomato Blondkopfchen is giving me some concern. At the moment it looks like it is unable to support the weight of its flower trusses so it’s going to struggle if all these flowers turn into tomatoes even if they’re cherry sized tomatoes.
It does look to be living up to its reputation of producing masses of cherry sized tomatoes. It also has a reputation for producing some of the most tasty cherry tomatoes so we’re hoping for great things from this plant.
