Tuesday, 07 August 2018
Rain On The Way?
Although we are only one week into August it has already been the hottest and driest start to August that I have recorded.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 01-07 August 2018
Sunday saw the temperature reach 29.3°C (84.7°F) making it into a new last place 20th in my list of top twenty hottest days. This exceptionally hot summer has certainly left its mark on the list, with a total of six entries in the table, it equals the summer of 2013 which also has six entries.
We'd some late winter vegetables growing on at home which were devastated by caterpillars when we were concentrating on watering the plot and not giving enough attention to plants growing at home. That's my excuse anyway. We had enough time to sow another batch of seeds and these have been carefully inspected most mornings for any signs of pests.
Cauliflower "Aalsmeer" Left & Cabbage "Sabrosa" Right of Picture
These plants are now ready for planting out in the allotment. They're growing quickly at the moment so I'm going to have to work out a way of planting them out even though the ground is very dry. There is some rain in the forecast for next weekend but that would mean holding the plants back for another week and I'm not sure that's a good idea.
10 Day Weather Forecast from Web Site http://www.wetterzentrale.de/
If my adding up is correct that's 21.3mm of rainfall forecast over next weekend and including Monday too. That would be most welcome for both the garden and allotment even if it's a bit late for getting our cabbages and cauliflowers planted out. The rest of this week looks to remain sunny although cooler than the last few days. After the wet weekend forecast, the sunny weather looks set to return later in the week so perhaps the lovely summer isn't going to end just yet.
Saturday, 11 August 2018
Still Waiting!
The forecast earlier in the week for rain on Saturday has changed with the wet weather delayed until late on Saturday night and more rain to follow on Sunday and Monday.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 01-11 August 2018
The last couple of days have seen some very light drizzly showers which have managed to wet the plant leaves but do nothing at all for the drought conditions.
However, I have managed to plant out our cabbage and cauliflower plants at the allotment.
Cauliflower "Aalsmeer" & Cabbage "Sabrosa"
The planting process involved copious amounts of water. My original plan was to dig a hole with a trowel and fill it with water before planting but digging a hole wasn't possible in the dry ground. The dry soil just fell back into the hole as quickly as it was dug out. The ground had to be watered first before it was even possible to dig a hole with a trowel. What is normally a fairly quick planting job took all afternoon although that did include fixing the hoops in place for the environmesh. Making holes in the ground for the ends of the hoops to slot into wasn't the easiest of tasks in our dry and very hard ground.
Once planted they got another good soaking to settle them into their winter quarters. A nice drop of rain over Sunday and Monday will do them very nicely.
Sunday, 12 August 2018
Was That It!
I posted earlier in the week about the weather forecast for rain over the weekend. The total amount forecast to fall over the weekend was 21.3mm (0.84in) which also included a spell of rain on Monday. By the middle of Sunday morning, that forecast isn't looking all that accurate as so far we've managed only 3.8mm (0.15in) and it's not raining at present. There's the possibility of a few light showers in the forecast for Monday but nothing substantial.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 10-12 August 2018
On the allotment I'd planned for a good downpour. The weed control fabric covering the bed where the Casablanca potatoes had been dug was removed to let the rain at the soil so that the top could be raked over and allow some green manure to be sown.
Bed on Plot 42 Ready For Sowing With A Green Manure Crop
Our trial bed of potatoes was cleared and I reckoned a decent amount of rain would also allow this bed too to be tilled and planted up with a green manure crop.
Cleared Trial Potato Bed On Plot 29
The trial potatoes deserve a post of their own but it's worth noting that our efforts at watering what appeared to be dead potato tops did at least keep the soil moist enough to allow the potatoes to be dug out of something more resembling soil than concrete.
As we approach the half way point of the month, the total amount of rainfall for August is now 4.6mm (0.18in). Our average rainfall for August is 64.4mm (2.54in) so we've a bit of catching up to do to meet this month's average. Our rainfall total for May, June and July this year was 50.4mm (1.98in) set against an average for those three months of 160.9mm or 6.33in.