Apr wk 4

Friday 22 April 2016

A Day in the Dukeries

Friday wasn't too bad a day as we moved into the cooler spell of weather as forecast. There were some sunny spells but it felt cold out of the sun and in the north easterly breeze that was blowing.

On Friday we visited Clumber Park, in the Dukeries, a part of Nottinghamshire. Clumber Park was once the home of the Dukes of Newcastle but is now owned by the National Trust.

We had a walk by the lake taking some photos and video of the geese, swans and ducks.

Walking through the woodland area we were met by the grey squirrels. They're used to being fed and approach you to see if you've any treats for them. It can make getting a decent photo surprisingly tricky.

We also had a look around the walled kitchen garden. It was confirmation that we're not really that far behind on the plot. Most of the display in the kitchen garden was from flowers rather than vegetables.

We're now about to find out just how cold this forecast Arctic blast of cold weather is going to be.

Saturday 23 April 2016

Arctic Blast

It was well forecast wasn't it this blast of cold air coming from the north. We had some sunny spells but you wouldn't have known it from the day's temperature chart.

The temperature just made it into double figures for a short while in the afternoon and with an overnight low of 0.9°C (33.6°F) it's not exactly good gardening weather. Worryingly I haven't seen any forecasters suggesting when this cold spell is going to come to an end.

As I didn't do much gardening here's another photo from Friday's visit to Clumber Park.

Sunday 24 April 2016

To Plant Or Not To Plant

Sunday was another cold day. We've put gardening on hold for a short while until the weather decides to warm up a little bit. We ummed and ahhed about going down to the plot and planting out our onions, brassicas and more potatoes. In the end we decided against it thinking our plants would benefit from the protection we can give them at home. Our onions and brassicas are in the cold frame.

Our brassicas look ready for planting out but I'm hoping they'll survive another week in the cold frame before moving to the allotment. It looks like this cold spell will last through to the first week in May but maybe with a bit of luck it will end sooner than that. I transplanted some Little Gem lettuce seedlings on the 18 April.

Little Gem lettuce 24 April 2016

These seedlings transplanted into our raised don't seem to have done any growing at all outside despite the protection of some mesh although it's primarily intended to keep the birds off.

These seedlings in modules in the greenhouse have done much more growing. My intention was to move these to the plot but I might try to grow them on in a couple of large pots to get some early lettuces. It seems a waste planting them outside where I'm assuming the cold will stop them growing. It might be cold over night in the greenhouse but at least it warms up in there during the daytime.

Monday 25 April 2016

Meagre Pickings

The cold spell continued on Monday with the temperature hovering around the 7°C (44.6°F) mark for most of the day.

We had a couple of snow, hail, and rain showers throughout the day.

There's not much to harvest just now but our salad bed planted up on the 20 March 2016 in our home greenhouse is continuing to provide us with a few salad leaves to brighten up our lunch time sandwiches.

Tuesday 26 April 2016

Coldest Day of the Month

April's turning out to be a cold month. I'd expect it to be getting milder as the month progresses but that's not the case and Tuesday finished up the coldest day of the month. The temperature only made it up to 8.1°C, (46.6°F) the lowest of the month, and the average for Tuesday was 4.7°C (40.5°F) also the lowest this April.

The afternoon showers fell as a mixture of rain, hail, sleet and snow. Roll on May.

Wednesday 27 April 2016

Short Lived Record - New Coldest day of the Month

If you saw Tuesday's blog you'll know that it was the coldest day of the month. Well that record didn't last long as it was replaced by Wednesday with an average temperature of 4.2°C or 39.6°F. Once again showers fell as a mixture of rain, sleet, hail and snow.

Rainfall & Temperature Monday 25 April to Wednesday 27 April 2016

We've plants growing well in the greenhouse but with temperatures down to freezing point each night they're not going to think much of being planted out in the plot.

The waiting game continues for conditions to improve!

Thursday 28 April 2016

Panic Setting In!

Thursday was another poor day for late April, as the cold weather continued, with Thursday equalling Wednesday's coldest

average daily temperature this month with 4.2°C or 39.6°F.

This year's allotment planting is going to be very late compared to normal seasons. By the end of April our early and main crop potatoes, broad beans, peas, carrots, parsnips, cabbages, cauliflowers, calabrese, onions and shallots would all be planted out in the allotment. This year all we've planted so far are our early potatoes and a small bed of varieties new to us we bought at a local potato day. Some vegetables are waiting patiently in the coldframe for conditions to improve but the cold weather is forecast to remain into the early part of next week.

We'll certainly have a lot of catching up to do when conditions are a bit more favourable.

Friday & Saturday 29/30 April 2016

A Day Out to End the Month

Friday continued the theme of the rest of the week cold and showery. Although the forecast wasn't very good for Saturday we had a day out into the Yorkshire Dales National Park to the Embsay and Bolton Heritage Railway.

As we expected it was a bit on the cool side but all the inside facilities had some nice warming wood fires burning.

We didn't fancy getting too far away from the railway as the clouds threatened some heavy showers for much of the time we were there.

We managed to escape most of the showers and at times looking out of our vintage carriage as the scenery passed by the weather looked really pleasant. Outside it was hard to believe it was almost May.

Next we really must get something done down on the allotment. Perhaps May will bring some better weather.

Disclaimer

This weather site is operated as an amateur weather station site and should not be used as official data. I make every effort to ensure my data is as accurate as possible but I cannot guarantee that the data meets the requirements of the Meteorological Office or other professional weather monitoring organisations.