Tuesday 16 May 2017

A Wet Day But Not A Lot of Rain

We had some rain on Monday which the allotment and garden badly needed.

 

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Temperature & Rainfall Records for 15 May 2017

 

However, although it was wet and damp all day we didn't have very much rainfall by the end of the day. It amounted to 5.0mm (0.2in) bringing the month's total up to 7.8mm (0.31in) and so May continues to be a dry month.

 

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This is the state of one of the beds on the allotment that I want to dig over. The photo was taken on Sunday. It's almost possible to get a hand down the cracks that have formed in the soil as the plot has dried out. I'm not too sure Monday's rainfall will have been enough to thoroughly wet the soil and make it diggable.

 

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I'm sure the plants will welcome the rain though and it will give us a break from watering when we visit the plot. There's more rain in the forecast so maybe I'll soon be able to get that bed dug over.

 

Thursday 18 May 2017

Wet Wednesday

After a couple of completely rain free weeks at the beginning of the month the recent few days have seen use have a reasonable amount. We haven't had any torrential rain, rather a few showery days until yesterday, Wednesday, which turned out to be wet and miserable. With a total rainfall for the day of 5.6mm (0.22in) it was our wettest day since the 22 March 2017 with 7.2mm or 0.28in.

 

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Temperature & Rainfall Records 15-17 May 2017

 

To help put the rainfall into context our average rainfall for May is 50mm (1.97in) and over the last few days it's amounted to 15.6mm (0.61in) so we've a way to go to achieve our monthly average.

 

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I'm hoping that we've had enough rainfall to allow us to get a few more beds dug over on the allotment. In our cold frame there's plenty of plants now hardened off and ready for planting out on the plot.

 

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Cabbage - "Kalibro"

 

The forecast for the next few days is sunshine and showers so we might have to work between the showers to get some planting out done.

 

Friday 19 May 2017

A Bit of a Plot Tour

We made the most of some decent weather on Thursday to get some jobs done on the allotment. Sue planted out our first batch of sweet peas.

 

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I'm hoping that our rustic supports constructed from our coppiced hazel poles are up to the job and don't collapse in any strong winds we have through the summer months.

 

I managed to remove the weed control fabric from last year's runner bean bed and dug over the ground with our little cultivator.

 

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It went from looking a lot neglected as can be seen in the above photo to something much more well tended.

 

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The recent rainfall didn't seem to have had a great deal of effect and the ground was very dry and difficult to cultivate. It's a reminder that if we don't get any more rain crops will soon need watering again.

 

To finish off with here's a little tour of part of our plot filmed on Thursday afternoon.

 

Sunday 21 May 2017

More Cold Nights

Well, we did need some rain but it would have been nice for a couple of wet days and then some decent weather so we could get on with some jobs at the allotment. However, what we've actually had is a series of wet and dull days but not a lot of actual rain.

 

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It seems we've had a lot of such days over the last few months. We either have a spell of dry weather or we get a series of damp and cool days but with very little rainfall. There is just enough drizzle or rain to make it too miserable to do any work on the allotment.

 

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Temperature & Rainfall Records for 19-21 May 2017

 

The early hours of Sunday morning saw another cold start to the day with the temperature falling to 5.1°C (41.2°F) a reminder that's it's still a bit risky to plant out our dahlias and tender vegetables such as runner beans. I'm hoping the potatoes at the allotment escaped any more frost damage.

 

In our home greenhouse, I did get a chance on Saturday to plant up three growbags with tomato plants. Each bag has been planted with three plants. One bag is planted with Sungold, one with Shirley and one with Gardeners Delight.

 

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Hopefully, the weather will behave as forecast and improve next week and we'll be able to get some planting out done at the allotment.

 

 

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