Thursday, 08 June 2017

Storm Damage

Tuesday and Wednesday were windy, very windy especially considering it's June.

 

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Temperature & Hi Wind Speed Records 05-07 June 2017

 

The gale force wind abated almost as suddenly as it arrived but according to the weather forecast it should have died down much sooner than it actually did. We did get some rain mixed in with the gale force winds but it was a bit of a mixed blessing as I'm sure the wind has done more damage than a few more days of dry weather would do.

 

I'd seen the weather forecast so when we were on the plot late on Monday evening I took a little bit of video of our cardoon plants. Even if I say so myself they were looking pretty impressive on Monday but I'm aware that they don't deal with strong winds very well.

 

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It or rather they as we do have two plants standing well over 6 feet or 2 metres tall so I've never really considered any form of staking for them. Maybe from now on I should but for this year I think it might be a little bit too late.

 

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This is the same plant after it had been battered by the gale force winds for a couple of days. I'm considering what measures to take to see the cardoon through the rest of summer.

 

At least the cardoon isn't a productive vegetable for us as we've never quite worked out which bit of the plant we would use as a vegetable. The storm has damaged some of our crops ranging from breaking smaller branches on fruit trees to snapping our newly planted sweet corn plants.

 

I'm in the process of editing a video of the damage the winds caused on our plot which I will post as soon as it is processed. For now though. it's nice to be having some light rain without a gale force wind accompanying it.

 

Plot Inspection for Storm Damage

My video inspection of the plot following the gale force winds of Tuesday and Wednesday can be viewed below.

Saturday, 10 June 2017

Extra Support

The weather's not been too bad since the gale force winds died down although Saturday morning has started off on a damp note.

 

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Temperature & Rainfall 08-10 June 2017

 

We had a visit to the plot on a sunny Friday afternoon to see if we could undo some of the damage caused by the mid week gales. If only there was an undo button! The easiest job looked to be the cornflowers which now had a very dramatic lean.

 

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We decided to use some of remaining coppiced hazel poles to create a frame. The difficulty is actually getting the hazel poles into the ground which remains stubbornly concrete-like despite some recent rainfall. Using my trusty wooden leek dibber knocked into the ground with a sledge hammer some poles were eventually coaxed into the ground.

 

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A rustic looking framework of hazel poles completed, the cornflowers were a little bit more upright. I've still got to fathom out what to do about our cardoons or indeed if much can be done to recover them at all. They may have to remain as they are for the rest of the summer. The flowers, much adored by the bees, will still open even though the plants themselves have been blown about and spoilt by the wind.

 

Monday, 12 June 2017

A Tasty Treat

It was another blustery day on Sunday but nothing like the gales of mid-week. Some decent sunny spells were spoilt by the strong breeze. It wasn't very welcome after the gale force winds of last week.

 

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Temperature & Hi Wind Speed Records for 11 June 2017

 

However, it was one of those days that make you aware of why you "grow your own" despite the setbacks that weather conditions and pests throw at you. On our visit to the allotment on Saturday, we harvested some  calabrese and strawberries.

 

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I emptied out our sack of Casablanca potatoes growing in our home greenhouse to make way for growing peppers and aubergines through summer. Three potato tubers were planted in the sack on 02 March 2017 and had been left in the greenhouse to do their own thing. They'd got very leggy and certainly hadn't flowered but I decided to harvest them in any case.

 

The results were a little disappointing but we had enough potatoes for Sunday dinner. The main problem was that the compost in the sack had become extremely dry and no amount of watering helped as the water merely ran down the inside of the bag and out of the drainage holes in the bottom.

 

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Growing Record for Potatoes & Calabrese

 

Just out of interest, I've included my growing records for the sack of potatoes and calabrese. We've still got more calabrese heads to harvest and then with a little bit of luck we'll have some tasty side shoots too. Once we've harvested all our calabrese I'll enter the total weight of the crop in the table.

 

For Sunday dinner we had home grown potatoes "Casablanca" with a helping of calabrese "Aquiles" followed by "Cambridge Favourite" strawberries for dessert. It was a reminder of why we go to the trouble of "growing our own" and hopefully the harvesting season is only just beginning.

 

Tuesday, 13 June 2017

Another of Those Days

Monday was a poor day considering we're heading towards mid June. A little bit of light rain in the morning was just enough to wet the ground and it was accompanied by a very strong breeze. Not up to the gale force winds of last week but it was enough to put us off an allotment visit.

 

It did give me a chance to finish editing some video of our plot greenhouse which is in the process of transitioning from plant propagation unit into its summer mode of growing tomatoes, peppers and aubergines.

I think our resident blackbird might now be raising a second brood of young. The first youngsters are still about in the garden making use of the feeding and washing facilities we provide.

 

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I think this is one of the youngsters taking a bath this morning. However, the adult blackbirds are still flying in and out of our camellia bush so I'm presuming more chicks can be expected.

 

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