Monday, 15 August 2016
Coldest to Hottest in a Matter of Hours
Monday was the hottest day of the month but only hours before it was also the coldest day of the month.
Temperature & Rainfall for August 2016
At 05:50 in the morning the temperature fell to 8.2°C (46.8°F) rather nippy for mid August but Monday turned out to be a lovely sunny day with the temperature reaching 25.4°C (77.7°F) at 17:25. From monthly low to high in 11 hours and 35 minutes.
It's also the driest start to August over the last seven years, which is a bit of a mixed blessing on the allotment. On the one hand our onions are starting to dry off nicely but I need some rain to help create some better conditions for digging.
On a less than perfect rose, I had a bit of a dabble with a new zoom lens for my camera.
It was a bit too warm to do anything too energetic!
Tuesday, 16 to Thursday, 18 August 2016
A Day Out to Gibraltar
We've had a very nice three days, nothing approaching that record August temperature that some newspapers reported, just some lovely sunshine and temperatures into the low 20's Celsius or low 70's in Fahrenheit.
Temperature & Sunshine Records for Week Commencing Saturday 13, August 2016
After a day harvesting and watering on the plot and a day tidying up a few things in the garden we had a day out to Gibraltar Point nature reserve near Skegness. The reserve is looked after by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.
Out to sea we could just about spot seals basking on a sandbank but they were too far away to capture any really good images but as you have probably guessed that didn't stop us having a go.
The reserve also has some freshwater marshes where our zoom lenses were stretched to their limits again to capture some shots of egrets and avocets.
Now we are standing by for some long awaited rainfall on Friday afternoon. The forecast is for heavy rain all afternoon but will it be correct?
Friday, 19 August 2016
Coldframe Looks Like It's Spring
Friday was dull and wet as we finally got some of that rain I'd sort of hoped for. I wouldn't describe it as the heavy rain that was forecast and after it seemed to rain all day we finished up with 8.2mm (0.32in).
I'm not sure it will have done much more than moisten up the top surface of the soil but it must have done a little bit of good. One thing is for sure it will have given the slugs and snails a new lease of life.
I caught this one at teatime on the patio looking for an early meal as it slimed across the damp paving stones.
A month or so ago we didn't think out autumn and winter brassicas were doing very well on the allotment. I though it was a bit late to try to fill any gaps by growing replacements from seed so I ordered a collection of autumn and winter brassicas from DT Brown. They arrived on Friday.
All the plants had been grown as plug plants but for delivery they had been removed from their plugs and carefully wrapped in paper for postage. The plants looked healthy enough if a little bent from their journey in the post. As usual with plug plants I intend to grow them on a little bit before they are planted out on the plot. At the moment there's not much space in the greenhouse for potting up plants and we'd normally set up a spot on the lawn or patio to do this however I didn't fancy getting wet as it was still raining.
I set up a temporary potting up bench on top of our wheelie bins under one end of the carport. Once potted up all the plants were moved to the coldframe.
The coldframe looked like I'd expect it to in Spring once all the brassicas were moved. Now all I need to do is keep those marauding slugs and snails away. The full list of brassicas supplied in this collection and notes on each variety is listed below. There's five plants of each variety except for Tundra and Amsterdam which have ten plants.
Funnily enough after I'd ordered this collection of brassicas a few of our plants on the allotments took to growing much better.
Saturday, 20 & Sunday, 21 August 2016
A Busman's Holiday
We've had a drop more rain over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon our visit to the plot involved a number of dashes to the shed to avoid the frequent showers.
Temperature & Rainfall Saturday, 20 to Monday22 (morning) August 2016
As is the way with showers when we arrived back home on Saturday teatime it looked as though Ossett had missed all the showers. In all, Saturday's and Sunday's rainfall together with some overnight into Monday morning amounted to 12.2mm or 0.48in.
On Sunday we had a trip to North Yorkshire to capture a bit of video of the world's most famous steam locomotive and then on to Beningbrough Hall which is looked after by the National Trust.
It's amazing how soon kitchen garden areas are past their best. Already the walled kitchen garden had a few areas left bare where presumably crops have already been cleared away. It's always good to compare "expert" kitchen gardens with your own especially if you think that your own little plot isn't doing too badly in comparison.
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.
©M Garrett 2016