Wednesday, 08 February 2017

We're In A Dry Spell!

It seems rather hard to believe that at the moment we are in a dry spell of weather. I noticed a Met office article a few days ago now reporting how low the rainfall had been between October 2016 and the end of January 2017. They went as far as to suggest it was one of the driest on record for the time of year. We've been working down on the plot and it didn't seem all that dry.

 

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Certainly the soil in the bed we were cultivating had a habit of sticking to our spades and forks as well as boots. The top of the soil was certainly very clinging but it didn't turn over too badly considering it's February. I decided to consult my weather figures to see if we were in a dry spell.

 

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This chart suggests that we are in a dryish spell of weather as the average rainfall per month has been below average since October 2016, as reported by the Met Office. At the end of September 2016 we'd had more than 720mm of rainfall in the preceding 12 months compared to an expected rainfall of 620mm. By the end of January 2017 we were down to 583mm in the preceding 12 months. Our actual rainfall figures for each month are shown in the table below.

 

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The forecasters are suggesting that our weather, over the next week or so, will be governed by a large area of high pressure sitting over Scandinavia probably meaning colder rather than wetter weather over the next few days.

 

Judging by the state of the soil on our allotment I don't think we need to worry about a drought just yet.

 

As Tuesday afternoon was reasonable mild I decided to take a little bit of video of our hellebores and snowdrops before we get any actual snow which may arrive in small amounts over the weekend.

Friday, 10 February 2017

A Reminder It's Still Winter

After a few mild days and bulbs coming into flower it was all too easy to think spring might be here but Thursday was a reminder that it's still winter. Thursday turned out to be the coldest day of the month with the thermometer struggling to get much above freezing. Oddly for such a cold day it didn't actually fall below freezing.

 

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Temperature Record for 09 February 2017

 

It was dull and cloudy all day without any hint of brightness with a high temperature of 2.8°C (37.0°F) and a low of 0.9°C or 33.6°F.

 

We didn't get any of the threatened snow showers through the day but overnight into Friday we had the merest hint of a few snowflakes around the garden.

 

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Other plants were surrounded with something between snowflakes and ice. The forecast doesn't improve much over the next few days. Any precipitation on Friday and through the weekend could fall as either snow or rain. We'll soon find out.

 

Sunday, 12 February 2017

Too Harsh?

The weather has been dull and cold over the last few days. So far the snow showers that were forecast haven't arrived but having said that it hasn't rained much at all. It's been drizzly with a little bit of sleety stuff mixed in at times. A little bit of brightness wouldn't go amiss after what seems to have been a week of cold and gloomy days.

 

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Temperature & Rainfall Records 10-12 February 2017

 

The wind chill effect has made it feel especially cold. We certainly haven't considered visiting the allotment, choosing to wait for an improvement in the weather.

 

I saw an article in the gardening press this week about not pruning too harshly. Like all good articles it comes a little bit too late but I'm not sure that I would do anything differently having read the story. On the plot in the perennial bed that we are currently refurbishing we have two Sambucus nigra  "Black Lace" bushes or more commonly called black elder. Through summer these two bushes put on a brilliant display with their colourful foliage, pink flowers and finally trusses of elder berries.

 

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Sambucus nigra  "Black Lace"

 

They get lots of comments about how impressive they look through the summer and a few shoots have been nipped off for other plotters to have a go at raising their own plants. However there comes a time when they get too big and somewhat out of control. Their sheer size means they cast too much shade onto the adjacent beds resulting in poor performing crops. Every year they get a light prune but they quickly grow back seemingly even bigger unless I take some drastic action every few years.

 

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In the winter months they don't look too bad and it's difficult to image just how much shade they cast. As we are refurbishing their bed I decided this year would be as good a time as any to give them a severe pruning. First of all the straightish stems were cut out and will be used as pea sticks.

 

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Then they were cut back almost to ground level.

 

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Needless to say I'm not expecting them to flower this year. It will take them a year or so to recover but I'm sure that they will. In the meantime they won't be casting too much shade over the adjacent vegetable crops. There won't be any elderflower cordial from them this year but we do have a couple of wild elder bushes on the plot that will no doubt produce flowers and fruit.

 

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The remaining sturdier stems were cut up and will be added to a bonfire to produce some wood ash once they have dried out. Below is a short video that we made when cutting back  our Sambucus nigra.

 

Monday, 13 February 2017

More Gloom

Sunday was another cold and gloomy day. The highest temperature on Saturday and Sunday was exactly the same 3.6°C (38.5°F) with equal amounts of sunshine on both days, zero hours. There was a cold easterly wind blowing making it feel even colder than the temperature suggested.

 

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Temperature, Wind Chill and Rainfall Records for 12 February 2017

 

The rainfall amounted to 4.0mm (0.16in) which isn't much considering it seemed to drizzle all day long.

 

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The view of the window or through the window wasn't very cheery.

 

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If the forecast is correct we're in for another gloomy day on Monday but through the rest of the week the weather should become milder and brighter.

 

Tuesday, 14 February 2017

Some Welcome Sunshine

Monday started off cold and dull not unlike the previous few days. At the very least the drizzle had disappeared. I'd almost decided not to do a blog post for today as there was nothing more to say about our dull, gloomy weather. I'd no more photos or video to add to blog posts either. Then for a couple of hours around the middle of the day the clouds broke up and the sun came out. Brilliant!

 

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Temperature, Wind Chill & Solar Radiation Records for 13-02-2016

 

It was time to grab a camera and get a few photos. Our snowdrops have been in a sort of a limbo for a week now. They're almost in flower but seemingly waiting for the weather to improve before they put on a proper show.

 

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We've some crocus that will soon be in flower too.

 

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All too soon the clouds rolled in again but it has given us some hope that the weather is changing for the better. Who knows we may even get down to the allotment this week.

 

 

 

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