Saturday, 07 April 2018
At Last Some Improvement
Finally, we've got some improvement in the weather. Temperatures have recovered to about what we can expect for early April and we've had some decent sunny periods. Wednesday was showery and so another 2.8mm (o.11in) of rainfall brought our monthly total up to 35.8mm (1.41in) or around average for the whole of April.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 04-06 April 2018
We spent Friday afternoon at the allotment. After all the rain I thought the ground would be too wet to cultivate but I did consider planting our early potatoes in a bed that's already prepared for them. In the end I decided to tidy out the plot greenhouse which tends to be taken over as a storage space over winter. Environmesh and canes are stored inside to give them some protection from the worst of the winter weather so some sorting out was needed.
Before
After
The remaining "stuff" stored in the greenhouse will hopefully be moving out over the next few weeks. The boxes containing our overwintering chrysanthemum plants will soon be moved out. The roots are now producing some tiny green shoots and once these have grown on a little bit they will be planted outside. This year we are considering allocating them a bed of their own. The large roll of environmesh is used to cover our carrots as soon as they are sown which should be before the end of the month. Underneath the environmesh are the canes which will be used for our runner beans and climbing French beans so these too will be moved out of the greenhouse in time for summer tomato plants to move in.
We even managed to do a little bit of harvesting before leaving the plot.
There are some firsts and lasts amongst the harvest. The daffodils are our first cut flowers of the season and the parsnips are definitely our last as all the crop has now been cleared. The purple sprouting broccoli and spring onions are both first and last with both crops producing a very disappointing harvest. We certainly have a few more leeks to dig up and maybe some more Brussels sprouts to pick.
Monday, 09 April 2018
Early Potatoes Are In!
After last Monday's rainfall, which give or take a little bit, amounted to April's average amount, the rest of the week wasn't too wet and occasionally we even saw a little bit of sunshine. The temperatures managed to reach around average for early April during the daytime but we did have a couple of chilly nights.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 02-08 April 2018
We decided to head to the plot on Sunday afternoon to plant our early potatoes and if we had time our six trial varieties for this year. Luckily the beds for these potatoes had already been prepared so no digging or cultivating the ground was required.
Planting Our Trial Potatoes
For a good number of years now we have planted all our potatoes by digging a hole with a trowel and just popping the potato into the hole. We've had good crops this way and when we first trialled this method we didn't notice any difference in yields so have continued to plant our potatoes like this ever since. Our trial varieties were planted through weed control fabric. However, as we lift our early potatoes - Casablanca - as and when required we find it easier to harvest them if they're planted without any weed control fabric.
Casablanca Potatoes
We're now stuck for planting any more potatoes as the bed for our main crop varieties hasn't been prepared.
The bed on the right of the photo covered with pea sticks will be our main crop potato bed this year. After planting was completed, I cleared away the pea sticks and lifted the weed control fabric that had been covering this bed. Hopefully, we'll get a few decent days to allow the bed to dry out before I set about it with the cultivator.
The weed fabric was folded up and moved and the bed will now be left to dry off enough to be dug over. The forecast is for the weather to be unsettled this week with more rain so it might be a while before this bed does any drying out.
Tuesday, 10 April 2018
More Wet Weather
I posted yesterday that I was hoping for some dry weather to help dry out the ground so that it could be dug over ready for us to plant our maincrop potatoes. Well, the weather gods aren't being helpful. After a decent sort of a day up to early evening yesterday the weather went rapidly downhill and it's rained all Monday evening and through into Tuesday morning.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 08-10 April 2018
We're now up to 54.8mm for the month so far, which already amounts to almost twice our average total of 34.4mm for March and we're not half way through the month. There doesn't seem to be much chance of the plot doing much drying out this week although I've noticed the weather models are going for high pressure building next week which, if their forecasts turn out to be correct, might bring some warmer and more settled weather.
At least our coldframes at home got a bit of a spruce up on Monday with a lick of preservative.
All I need to do now is give the insides a bit of a clear out to remove the rubbish left in from last year and they'll be ready for this year's seedlings. Our broad beans and brassicas will soon be moving out of their cosy quarters in the greenhouse and into the coldframes.
I don't think that there is much difference between night time temperatures in the greenhouse and coldframe but the plants will spend a week or so acclimatising in any case before they are planted out on the plot.
Wednesday, 11 April 2018
Like November or December - But There's Promise!
If Tuesday had been in November it would still have been considered to be a dull and miserable day. Overnight rain on Monday night gave way mid morning on Tuesday to misty, drizzly weather that didn't clear up all day. It's continued much the same into Wednesday morning. Not much rain to speak of, but everything outside remains wet. So much for my hopes of conditions drying out at the allotment.
Out of interest I thought I'd compare previous Aprils with this year to see how their temperatures and rainfall compared by the 10th of the month.
I'm certainly not surprised to find it's the wettest at this stage of the month. It's worth noting that April 2012 is the wettest April I've recorded with 120mm (4.72in) by the end of the month. Hopefully we wont be getting anywhere near that record. As for temperatures, it's one of the coldest Aprils apart from 2013 which was an exceptionally cold month.
There is a promise of much better weather next week - jam tomorrow you might say!
10 Day Forecast for Ossett
However, a week away in weather forecasting is a long time and there's the possibility that things might change but at least there's some hope that weather more like spring or, even dare I say it, early summer might be on its way next week. Fingers crossed!
Friday, 13 April 2018
Still Waiting for Spring - Gardening on Hold
It wouldn't really matter what month of the year we were discussing, the last few days have been very poor. The last three days in particular have been exceptionally cold, misty and damp for the middle of April.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 10-12 April 2018
Day time highs have struggled to get much above 7°C (45.0°F) and, with the low cloud and misty, wet weather prevailing all day long, even greenhouse temperatures haven't made it to 10°C or 50°F. However, the cloudy and wet night times do mean that we haven't had any frosts.
The poor weather means that we are behind with getting beds dug over and planted up at the allotment but then we're not the only ones that are behind.
Magnolia Blossom 01 April 2012
Magnolia Blossom 13 April 2018
Hopefully, next week will turn out to be as good as the forecasts suggest and we might be able to get a few gardening jobs done as conditions improve.