After a very dry summer, we have now moved into Meteorological autumn and we are still awaiting some proper rain. We haven’t had a good wet day since February. At home, two photos taken from the same spot show the difference between watering and not watering.
Standing on the patio these tubs have been regularly watered all through summer and, at the beginning of September, they are still very colourful. However, behind them above the wall, the garden hasn’t been watered all summer the result is all too obvious.
It has been a very good summer weather-wise if we ignore the lack of rainfall which has made gardening a little bit tricky. I can’t remember any days where we’ve had to change our plans for the day due to any rain. We have visited the allotment a few times in the morning to avoid the afternoon heat and some of Ruby’s walks have been in the morning or evening through some parts of July and August.
So just how have the summer temperatures and rainfall stacked up when compared with summers since 2010?
This summer has finished equal hottest with the summer of 2018 and also the driest since 2010.
August itself finished as the hottest and driest August I’ve recorded.
We’ve done surprisingly well with harvests at the allotment considering the weather. Crops that appreciate the warm weather like tomatoes have ripened really well and despite not being watered all through summer we’ve managed a good crop of potatoes. The losers have been runner beans which have failed to crop as, although they’ve produced flowers, they refused to set any beans. It means a lot of effort that went into watering them was wasted. It’s just as well that our French beans didn’t suffer from the same problem and produced an excellent crop with enough beans to fill the freezer for winter vegetables.
Our attention at the allotment is now turning to clearing and digging over beds ready for winter. The first priority was to find a bed that could be dug over and planted with winter onions.
Luckily we harvested a bed of sweetcorn this week and as a result of this bed being watered all through summer the soil dug over reasonably well, although it was very dry. Anyway, it is now ready for planting with winter onions and garlic once the sets arrive in the garden centres.
The weather forecasts tantalising suggest we’ll get some rain in a few days time. However, as time moves on the suggestion always seems to be in a few days time and the forecast rain never arrives. It has been like that for months now. They are bound to be correct at some time and I’m hoping that in the next few days we’ll get enough rain to allow both onion planting and beds cleared of crops to be dug over.
Thanks, Sue.
When I was growing up, we had a victory garden, a true victory garden because this was in the 40s. My dad would only grow one kind to eat and that was Golden Bantam. Corn stalks had several purposes besides eating, one was to hide the watermelons from the street. It was a big issue, you nursed a watermelon along and when it was just about ready, someone would come along at night and steal it. Dad would be so sad. Any way when I got older I grew Silver Queen, but I could never get him to change, Golden Bantam got stuck in your teeth, but grew quickly and was ready without that much heat. In fact we looked for corn for short growing season so it would ripen. We lived near San Francisco.
It’s still possible to buy Golden Bantam sweetcorn here Jane. Apparently, popular since 1902
The same happens with pumpkins around Halloween, Jane
Yes that extremely gorgeous red plant is an impatiens. Our daytime temperatures are very pleasant at the moment around the 70°F mark. I’m dreading the time when we have to start putting the heating on. Our energy bill has increased fourfold since April and is due to go up again in January and then again next April. Simply unaffordable.
You are beginning to sound like me: always waiting for rain. Hey, I’ll give you some heat. Free. Yesterday it was 111F max and in one place the night low was over 90F. Is that extremely gorgeous red plant an impatiens? I love sweet corn and eat about one ear a day in season. Even the markets sell different kinds. What kind is yours?
The corn varieties are Earliking and Earlibird, Jane