Thursday, 08 March 2018
More Snow - Spring Didn't Last Long
The early hours of Thursday morning brought some more snow. Judging from the depth of snow on the bird bath it's probably the best part of 2in or about 50mm.
Thursday, 08 March 2018
It's that wet sort of snow we get, not like that very dry powdery sort we got with the "beast from the east". With virtually no breeze to speak of it's left the trees looking very Christmasy with snow piled up on the branches.
Having said that I'm hoping it all disappears very quickly. We'd planned on a bit of gardening today but it looks as though that might now be on hold until tomorrow. The temperature is a little bit above freezing and the sun is beginning to break through the clouds so fingers crossed it will thaw quickly.
I have a suspicion that it's going to be a rather delayed start to the allotmenting year.
Saturday, 10 March 2018
Plenty of Wet Weather
Thursday morning's snow didn't take long to thaw and by Thursday afternoon most of it has disappeared. However, the downside was that the rapid thaw left the ground very wet and soggy.
Thursday Afternoon 08 March 2018
To compound the issue we've had more rain since then. February has started off as one of the wettest ones I've recorded at this stage of the month. In the last nine years only 2016 recorded more rainfall.
Temperature & Rainfall Details 04-10 March 2018
Friday turned out to be a much better day. Morning sunshine meant it was pleasant in the greenhouse which had quickly warmed up after an overnight frost. It tempted me into sowing some broad beans. The first seeds to be sown this year.
Broad beans are fairly tough but I'll leave them in the greenhouse to germinate. In the greenhouse I expect germination will take a couple of weeks. They could be sown outside directly into the ground at the allotment but even if that were my preferred option, due to the recent rain, and snow the soil on the plot is unworkable at the moment.
Preparation of Early Brassica Bed
The good weather tempted us down the allotment on Friday afternoon. The ground was very wet, certainly too wet to dig over, but I managed to prepare a bed ready for our early brassicas which are coming as plug plants from DT Brown. The bed had some compost spread over it and as brassicas prefer to be planted in firm ground I thought the bed didn't need to be dug over. Some fish blood and bone fertiliser and some garden lime were incorporated before the weed control fabric was moved from last year's brassica bed to this one.
Next on the list is to get a bed ready for planting our onion sets but with heavy overnight rain Friday night into Saturday morning, it's going to have to wait until the ground dries out a bit. I've learnt the hard way that attempting to dig our clayey soil when it's too wet can create almost unworkable soil. It's far more productive to delay digging and sowing until the ground dries out a bit.
Monday, 12 March 2018
Wettest Day So Far
We've had plenty of rain so far in March, enough to put most allotment jobs on hold. Monday has already become the wettest day not only of March but the year so far. The rain gauge has just ticked over to 12.4mm (0.5in) at 10:30 and if the forecast turns out to be correct we've got more wet weather to come today.
We had a trip into the North Yorkshire Moors National Park yesterday (Sunday) to see Tornado. This wasn't one of the weather variety but a steam locomotive named Tornado.
60163 Tornado at Goathland Station
There was still some snow about on the highest points of the moors, especially near Levisham Station, but it was now coated black and not looking its best.
We really should be getting on with some jobs at the allotment but it's far too wet at the moment to even consider digging over any ground let alone planting any crops. If I can this week I'd like to sow some leeks, in modules in the greenhouse, just to feel a little bit of progress is being made.
I've noticed that the computer weather models are suggesting some colder weather following on from next weekend. I'm not sure at the moment that it won't be any worse than overnight frosts and fairly cold by day but there's always a chance that we could get a return of some snow as well. With a week to go there's plenty of opportunity for the weather models to come up with something very different. I'm hoping they will as I'm fed up with cold, snowy and wet weather and would very much appreciate it if spring would hurry up and arrive.
Tuesday, 13 March 2018
Some Decent Weather Urgently Required!
There's not a lot to say about Monday. It rained all day starting in the early hours of the morning continuing through until almost midnight.
Temperature & Rainfall Records for Monday 12 March 2018
In total it amounted to 19.0mm (0.75in) and it fell onto already saturated ground. It will take a good few days of good drying weather before it's fit to do any work on the allotment.
Monday finished up as our second wettest March day since 2010 with 04 March 2016 holding the record with a whopping 27.6mm or 1.09in. The monthly total is already 58.0mm (2.28in) which only leaves March 2016 with a higher March monthly rainfall of 79.0mm or 3.11in.
My table of top twenty wettest days since 2010 looks like this.
