Bank Holiday Monday, 07 May 2018
This Catching Up Is Hectic
The weekend's weather was lovely for early May and it looks like it's going to continue on through Bank Holiday Monday.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 01-07 May 2018
The weather steadily improved through the week. We're playing catch up at both the allotment and in the garden and it's made of what is a busy time of year even more hectic. On the allotment it hasn't meant that we haven't stopped for coffee breaks to sit down have a drink and watch the wildlife.
We can usually guarantee a visit from a robin, blackbird, blue tit or goldfinch during our coffee breaks but on Saturday we had a much rarer visitor.
In fact I think it's the first time we've spotted a squirrel on the plot. Was it lost or did it have ulterior motives? As for what we got done on the plot during the week it's mostly covered in the video below.
Tuesday, 08 May 2018
A May Record Breaker
It all seems very odd that after such a cold start to spring we've had a second record breaking hot day. On 19 April we had a record breaking April high temperature of 28.8°C (83.8°F) and yesterday Bank Holiday Monday 07 May we reached the same temperature again setting a new record high for May. Due to that exceptionally hot day in April, it meant April’s highest temperature was higher than May’s. That’s now no longer true with both months now tying with the same value.
Temperature Record for 07 May 2018
It also means that Bank Holiday Monday just makes it into the top twenty hottest days I've recorded over the last eight years.
As you can see they are the only two spring days to make it into the top twenty. Oddly the hottest two spring days in over eight years of record keeping have occurred only 17 days apart and after an unusually cold start to spring. It's been an odd sort of start to the year weatherwise.
Friday, 11 May 2018
Courgette Problems
The forecast was for some overnight rain Wednesday night into Thursday morning but it didn't happen. We had a few spots of rain late on Wednesday night but not enough to trouble the rain gauge. Thursday was quite sunny and very pleasant with temperatures around what we'd expect approaching the middle of May.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 05-11 May 2017
So far this month we've only had 4.8mm (0.2in) of rainfall and parts of the plot would benefit from a drop of rain. Over the course of a month or so the allotment has gone from too wet to almost too dry. We gardeners are hard to please as far as the weather goes but the fact is we are now having to water parts of the plot. I've still got a couple of large beds to dig over and confusingly I'm not too sure if they'll turn out to be too wet or too dry to cultivate. I might find out if we visit the plot on Friday afternoon.
I posted last week that a sowing of courgette seeds, Defender, hadn't germinated. It wasn't a case of poor germination as none of the seeds sown germinated and they were in date and purchased as new seed this year and not last year's leftovers.
Seeds sown 22 April 2018 - photo taken 09 May 2018
As a follow up on 03 May I sowed the remaining 6 seeds of Defender and 9 seeds of a yellow variety of courgette called Atena Polka.
Photo taken 03 May 2018
This was a bit of a test and I thought at least a couple of Defender seeds would germinate and I'd be able to compare the difference in germination times of the two varieties.
Photo taken 09 May 2018
A week on and you can see that all the Atena Polka seeds have germinated and not a single one of Defender has.
I've bought another packet of courgette seeds, Zucchini a green variety, from our local garden centre and sowed some of those yesterday.