Tuesday, 21 March 2017
Rhubarb - How's Yours Doing?
Well the weather models and forecasters didn't too well at predicting our rainfall over the last week but they did get the anticipated change to cooler weather correct.
Temperature & Rainfall for 20 March 2017
We've lots of rhubarb growing on our plot. Living in the Rhubarb Triangle it is only fitting that we do. I picked a few more stems from our earliest variety which I think is Timperley Early.
We don't give this plant any special treatment over winter. It doesn't get any protection from the weather and it isn't covered with a pot to keep the light out to force some early stems. I've never really felt the need to do this when we can normally harvest stems from this variety by the middle of March.
Timperley Early?
Looking around the plot at our other varieties it is interesting to note their various stages of growth. We bought most of the rhubarb crowns many years ago and whilst I'm sure of the names of the varieties I'm no longer sure of their positions on the plot. Besides which rhubarb is just rhubarb isn't it?
Growing next to our earliest rhubarb is a later variety which we think is Giant Grooveless Crimson. It's well behind Timperley Early but it's not the latest of our types of rhubarb.
Giant Grooveless Crimson?
This root is certainly the last to spring into life. I think the variety is Stockbridge Arrow.
Stockbridge Arrow?
I seem to remember that when we visited Clumber Park the kitchen garden there has more than one hundred and thirty different varieties of rhubarb growing so we have some way to go to catch them up. If your rhubarb isn't ready yet the chances are you have a maincrop or later variety.
Thursday, 23 March 2017
They're Up and Eaten!
Wednesday was a miserable day with steady rain for most of the day. It was the coldest day of this March as the temperature only managed to reach 6.6°C or 43.9°F. The day's rainfall amounted to 7.2mm or 0.28 ins - nothing exceptional.
Temperature & Rainfall for 22 March 2017
I sowed some lettuce seed Tom Thumb and Salad Bowl a week or so ago and made a note that it had started to germinate by Monday of this week. I popped into the greenhouse this morning (Thursday) to see if any watering was required. I doubted any would be needed after a dull, cold and wet Wednesday. I was right and nothing needed to be watered but as I looked over the emerging lettuce seedlings I noticed something I wasn't at all pleased with.
Lettuce Seedlings-Tom Thumb
The seedlings looked like the emerging leaves had been eaten. It looked a bit like a slug might have browsed them but there wasn't a tell-tale slim trail. I thought it might be worth removing the set of cells from the seed tray to see if a slug was lurking in the dark.
My suspicions were well founded as I found one hiding away waiting for better conditions to emerge and finish off the few remaining lettuce seedlings. This particular slug has eaten its last salad. I might have to resow some lettuce seeds but I might wait a couple of days to see if any more seedlings germinate. So much for my attempts at some early salad leaves!
Saturday, 25 March 2017
Coldest Night Since January!
Friday was a lovely sunny day and feeling spring like in the afternoon sunshine but as forecast the sting in the tale for gardeners was that Saturday morning's temperature fell to -0.7°C (30.7°F) the lowest since the 27 January 2017 when it fell to -2.0°C or 28.4°F.
Temperature & Sunshine Records 23-25 March 2017
We spent the afternoon at the allotment getting a few jobs done before sowing and planting starts in earnest in April. The frosty nights have arrived perfectly timed to coincide with our plum Oullins gage coming into flower.
Plum - Oullins Gage
These are the first few flower to open so hopefully the bulk of the flowers won't be affected by frost.
During the afternoon a noisy robin brought work to a standstill as we tried to photograph and video him singing. Our first few attempts were foiled because as we moved closer to get a better shot he flew off to a safer spot. Then when we were having our afternoon coffee break he decided to sing to us from the greengage tree which overhangs the shed. We managed a few closer shots of him although he was silhouetted against a bright sky. He was answering to the calls of another robin somewhere else on the plot.
Monday, 27 March 2017
If It's Not Slugs It's Mice
Sunday was another sunny and mild spring day.
Last week in our home greenhouse our emerging lettuce seedlings were devastated by slugs or at least one slug. I popped into the greenhouse on Sunday morning to check if anything needed watering to find that something had been digging up our sweet pea seeds. I'm blaming mice for this damage. On top of several cells were the remains of sweet pea seed coatings and I'm assuming a mouse had eaten the rest.
I'm not sure whether or not it found all the seeds in the cell or just the one. It definitely had a dig around in more than one cell but the damage didn't look too extensive and lots of cells looked undisturbed. Hopefully that will be the case and the culprit has not had too many of our sweet pea seeds for breakfast.
It's going to have to work harder if it wants any more sweet pea seeds.
Over winter with little gardening activity going on it's easy to forget to take precautions early on in the season to prevent such attacks. I must admit I'm surprised it missed the broad beans I sowed a couple of weeks ago.
On the allotment we continued to do a few tidying up jobs and getting beds ready for the start of next month when sowing and planting will get underway in earnest. The video below includes most of the jobs we managed last week.
We have now created a vlog that will house all our gardening videos, some of which may not make it onto either of our blogs. It's called Two Gardeners - One Video Diary. Follow the link if you are interested in taking a look.
Tuesday, 28 March 2017
Spring Sunshine Disappears
Monday saw an end to the lovely spring weather we had enjoyed for the last three days. The clear skies were replaced with cloudy ones accompanied by a naggingly cold easterly breeze. It was a bit of a shock to the system.
Temperature & Sunshine Records 25-27 March 2017
As you will know if you're a regular follower of my blog our peach, apricot and nectarine trees are all on flower in the greenhouse. The apricot has been the first to drop its petals and so it's now a case of checking to see if we think any of the flowers have set fruit.
Apricot - Flavourcot
It's very early to be sure but it looks like this might be an apricot fruitlet. We didn't have many flowers on our apricot so we would like as many of them as possible to set fruit.
Thursday, 30 March 2017
Mild But Disappointing
The weather has turned milder since the sunshine disappeared. However, the weather has been disappointing after a few lovely days last week. At least on Tuesday the sun put in a bit of an appearance late in the afternoon before we had a little bit of light rain.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 27-29 March 2017
Wednesday was very disappointing with showers for most of the day. It was a frustrating sort of a day, as every time I thought it was brightening up, it began to rain again. At the end of the day the rain had put a stop to any gardening even though we'd only had 2.6mm (0.1ins) by early evening.
Despite the weather I have managed to sort out one of our cold frames so some of the greenhouse plants could be moved outside to "harden off".
Broad beans - Witkiem Manita
Shallots - Golden Gourmet & Red Sun
I'm a little apprehensive moving them out of the greenhouse. It's their first move into the outside world and I always think they're more at risk from slugs and other garden predators in the cold frame.
It looks a little bit bare in the greenhouse now but I'm sure we'll soon manage to fill up the empty spaces over the next week or so.
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