Sunday, 15 April 2018
At Last Spring? - Our Warmest Day
Saturday saw an end to the dull, misty and wet weather of the last week. We saw the sky and some sunshine for the first time since last Monday and the afternoon temperature reached 16.2°C (61.2°F) which is very respectable for the middle of April. It was our warmest day of the year.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 09-14 April 2018
We thought it would be still very wet on the allotment and had a day out to the North Yorkshire Moors. It was very pleasant to be outside and not feel cold. The plan was to do a little bit of steam train chasing. There were two steam specials in the county on Saturday. The Ebor Flyer headed by 60163 Tornado travelling from London to York and The Whitby Flyer with steam locomotives 48151 and 1264 hauling the steam section of this trip between York to Whitby. When we arrived at Colton Junction near York to capture 60163 Tornado I checked on my phone to find out exactly where Tornado was on its trip from London. The answer was near Peterborough more than 100 miles away. Obviously something had gone wrong so a rethink of the day's plan was needed. We decided to head to Grosmont in the North Yorkshire Moors.
926 Repton operating on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway with a Grosmont to Pickering train
At Grosmont we managed to capture trains operating on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. We had a walk along part of the Rail Trail which runs from Grosmont to Goathland. There were signs along the walk that, whatever the weather, spring has certainly arrived.
Grosmont station serves as a station on the main line network linking Whitby and Middlesborough and also for the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. It meant that the Whitby Flyer would pass through Grosmont station on its run to and from Whitby.
1264 brings the returning Whitby Flyer into Grosmont Station
We're now hoping that the better weather will hang around for a while so we can get started on catching up in the garden and allotment. If indeed this is the start of spring its already very late arriving this year.
Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Things Are Looking Up
Over the weekend and into the first part of this week the weather has certainly taken a turn for the better. Temperatures are now more normal for the middle of April rather than well below as they were for most of last week. Monday was our new warmest day of the year reaching 17.3°C (63.1°F).
Temperature & Rainfall Records for April 2018
The next few days are forecast to be even warmer and rain free so I'm hoping that one or two beds on the allotment will dry out enough to be dug over. Our maincrop potatoes are still chitting away in the greenhouse as it's been too wet to get them planted.
We did have an afternoon at the allotment on Monday. The grass paths got their first strim of the year and I managed to get around most of the edges too. A couple of more beds had their covering of weed control fabric removed to allow them to hopefully dry out ready to be dug over. Where a few weeds were removed from the edges of some beds it was clear that the ground was too wet to be dug. Sue dug up the last of this year's leeks and reported that they were growing in mud, more confirmation that the ground would be better left for a few days to dry out before being dug over.
The plot still appears to be very bare even though it's the middle of April. If it wasn't for our fruit trees and bushes together with bulbs and a few perennial plants there would be nothing to see apart from bare earth. Over the next few weeks given some decent weather the plot should start to "green up".
Thursday, 19 April 2018
What A Difference A Week Makes!
It was well forecast that we were going to get some warm, sunny weather on Wednesday and sure enough it produced our warmest day of the year by far with the thermometer reaching 24.4°C (75.9°F).
Temperature & Rainfall Records 12-18 April 2018
Only a week ago on 12 April, temperatures struggled up to 6.0°C or 42.8°F. There wasn't any need to check plants in the greenhouse to see if they needed watering as they went day after day without drying out. Temperatures in the greenhouse weren't much different to outside in the dull and murky conditions.
Broad Beans - Witkeim Manitor
Today they've needed watering twice as the temperature in the greenhouse soared. Perhaps I'm not used to giving the plants a good drink. It's been a while since we had any hot weather. In cold, dull weather I don't like to over water the plants so perhaps I was a little bit mean with my watering on Wednesday morning.
Brassicas Bought In From DT Brown
Our brassicas and broad beans are just about ready to move out of the greenhouse and into the cold frame. I'll give them a week or so in the cold frame before planting them out at the allotment.
On the weather front, it looks as though Thursday will be the warmest day of the week before the short spell of good weather comes to an end over the weekend. It's then forecast that we'll return to more unsettled weather with temperatures returning to normal or even below normal for the rest of April and into the beginning of May.