Saturday, 01 July 2017

Damned Statistics

Well, we look back at weather statistics and think that they make sense. I'm not so sure. We've done more watering at the allotment this June than we've done in a long time. The ground has been hard and dry with some parts having cracks up to an inch wide. It was un-diggable. However, June has finished up with not only above average rainfall for the month but it's finished up the wettest month of the year so far. All this down to three wet days at the end of the month.

 

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Ossett Rainfall 2017

 

It was a hot June too, the hottest I've recorded but it failed to match the summer of 1976 which I believe remains the hottest in the last 100 years.

 

On the plot the rain magically turned our rock hard soil back into a workable condition. We harvested some more fruit, planted some Brussels sprouts for winter, and managed to get a bed cultivated ready for planting some other winter brassicas.

 

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I made a video of the state of the plot at the end of June.

Tuesday, 04 July 2017

Breezy Start

It hasn't been too bad a start to July. The temperature has been a little below average for the time of year but we've had some good sunny spells to make up for that. Monday morning saw our first rain of the month although in truth it was only a little bit of drizzle but enough to register a value of 0.2mm on my rain gauge. The main downside of the first three days has been the wind, which, while it hasn't been gale force, has been very blustery.

 

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Temperature & High Wind Speed Records 01-03 July 2017

 

It's not the sort of weather that's tempted me to move our banana plant out of the greenhouse. Windy weather soon shreds it's leaves and that results in it being spoilt for the rest of the summer. I'm keeping it sheltered in the greenhouse hoping that the windy weather will go away.

 

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Banana Plant - Musa Basjoo

 

The rain at the end of June meant that I was able to dig over a piece of ground which had been too difficult to do during the very dry spell. Part of a path alongside the dug over bed had become overgrown with thistles, nettles, elder and a jostaberry bush.

 

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It's not very pleasant getting caught up in brambles and thistles when you're trying to plant up a bed so I decided to do some cutting back and tidying up.

 

There's a little bit of video of my efforts below.

The cutting back is the quick and easy bit it's clearing away all the debris that takes time.

 

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Thursday, 06 July 2017

Back to Dry

That rain we had last week which did wonders for the allotment has now lost its magical effect. Wednesday's weather forecast was for heavy thundery showers, we even had a Met Office warning of heavy rain, but it never materialised. The forecast for today, Thursday, is much the same except that the temperature is forecast to be much higher than the 20.2°C (68.4°F) we managed on Wednesday.

 

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Temperature & Rainfall Records 05 June - 05 July 2017

 

The result of a dry week is that the plot is back to being undiggable and we're having to start watering again. I tried on Tuesday to dig over one of our beds but the ground was very dry and it refused to break down into a decent tilth.

 

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It was a waste of time as all my cultivator was doing was shuffling around hard compacted pieces of soil. There was almost no sign of any moisture in the ground at all. I decided to do something more useful and pick some fruit instead.

 

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Blackcurrants - Ebony

 

It will be back to watering our vegetables when we next visit the plot unless that forecast of thunderstorms and heavy rain turns out to be correct.

 

Friday, 07 July 2017

Hot and Sultry

The weather forecast was correct for Thursday as it turned out to be hot and sultry as the temperature reached 28.4°C (83.1°F) in the afternoon. The afternoon had the feeling that a storm was brewing up.

 

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Temperature & Solar Radiation Records for 06 July 2017

 

However, we missed out on any rainfall and we missed any thunderstorms that were around. On occasions the sky clouded over as though we would be getting a storm at any moment.

 

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In the late afternoon we had a few rumbles of thunder as a storm passed to the south of the allotments.

 

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As the storm passed I was watering the plot. I thought that I was maybe wasting my time and that a thunderstorm would do the job for me. As it turned out it was just as well I continued watering as the storm passed by without shedding a drop of rain. Rain is becoming a precious commodity on the allotment and in the garden.

 

 

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