Thursday 22 May 2014
I Thought They Were Special
Thursday became our wettest day of the year with recorded rainfall of 11.2mm. It was dull and miserable with spells of rain throughout the day. It was a shock to the system after the lovely weather of the last week or so.
Thursday’s rainfall amount wasn’t anything exceptional for one day and doesn’t get it into our top thirty wettest days since 2009. At least 13.0mm is required to move into the top thirty.
In the last couple of days I’ve spotted a butterfly and moth which I thought were unusual and that I hadn’t seen before and must therefore be rather rare. As it turns out that’s not the case for either of them. I spotted the butterfly on a visit to the plot on Wednesday. I popped down to drop of some materials for making a fruit cage to protect our redcurrants and to water our newly sown peas.
I couldn’t remember seeing one of these small butterflies before but it turns out to be a small copper and a common variety.
On Thursday afternoon between the rain showers I popped up to check that nothing was drying out in the home greenhouse. Unlikely to happen on such a dull day but better safe than sorry. I only just spotted this tiny moth resting on one of our viola flowers.
After a quick snap with my phone camera I headed back to the house to try my luck with my Sony camera. When I got back the moth was still on the flower and then it was a question of how close could I get without disturbing the moth or finishing up too close and with a blurry image.
After a bit of cropping and tweaking the final result isn’t too bad. It’s a common mint moth but I can’t remember ever noticing one before. As you might guess it gets its name because the caterpillars feed on the mint family. I’ll inspect our pot of mint for caterpillars when the weather improves.
Friday 23 May 2014
Some Links to Photos and Video
Its continuing to rain on and off on Friday so I thought I’d post links to some additional photographs and video from our visit to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
More photos from our visit can be found on my Flickr page here
A short video of our visit is on YouTube and can be found here
Hope you enjoy the pictures and video.
Friday 23 May 2014
Watering Wont Be Required
I knew earlier in the week when I blogged that some of the beds on the plot would benefit from a little rain I was tempting fate. Late on Friday afternoon the weather gods had the last laugh as a thunderstorm gave everything a thorough soaking. We’d had some rain on and off all day but it hadn’t amounted to anything special. Then around 18:30 the heavens opened and it bucketed it down for a few minutes.
At its peak intensity the rain was falling at 81.2mm/hr or roughly a month’s rain in about half an hour. Fortunately it didn’t keep that rate up for long but by the time the thunderstorm had passed over our daily rainfall amount was up to 17.2mm.
That makes it our 18th wettest day since 2009 and the wettest May day I’ve recorded. For the record the wettest day I’ve recorded was 06 July 2012 with 39.2mm of rain and the most intense rainfall occurred on 15 August 2012 with 151.6mm/hr.
There’s more rain forecast for Saturday so it might now be a case of having to allow the plot a little drying out time before any cultivating can take place.
Saturday 24 May 2014
Spring Needs a Reboot
Saturday was another wet day. Another 11.2mm of rain on Saturday brought the total over the last three days up to 39.6mm or about the rainfall we might expect in the whole month.
The monthly total is now up to 70.4mm following some more rain overnight Saturday into Sunday morning.
Gardening is on hold at the moment. We’ve plenty of plants in the cold frames waiting to be moved into their final positions on the plot but I’m guessing the ground is going to need a few days to dry out after the soaking it’s had over the last few days and that’s provided we don’t get any more rain.
Our new coldframes have been very useful already in protecting our plants from becoming waterlogged. Their covers have been open to let in some air but not rain unlike our old aluminium cold frame which remained open to the elements.
Inside they’re bursting with plants desperate to be planted out in the plot. They may have to hang on for a few more days.
Then there are lots more young plants in the greenhouse waiting to take up the vacated space. The space in the greenhouse is needed for our tomato plants.
This is the space in our greenhouse where our grow bags will positioned for our summer tomato crop. There’s a lot of planting out and jiggling about to do before that can happen.
A few days of decent weather are urgently required but looking at the forecast it’s not looking all that promising.
That forecast for a dry Sunday isn’t too accurate because as I finish off this blog post at 11:00 the rain has started yet again.
Rainfall and Temperature from Thursday 22-
Sunday 25 May 2014
Thoroughly Wet May
Another dull, wet day on Sunday stopped any outdoor gardening again. This has now become the wettest May we’ve had in the short time I’ve been keeping records.
The good news is that Bank Holiday Monday has begun on a much brighter note with a lovely sunny morning. It will be a case of trying to get some planting done down on the plot provided the soil isn’t too wet.
The forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday is for more heavy rain so we’ll need to make the most of this break in the weather.
Monday 26 May 2014
Onions!
Monday was nothing to write home about but following our recent spell of wet weather the improvement was very much appreciated. After a sunny morning the afternoon clouded over and when we left the plot around teatime it was starting to drizzle.
We’d spent the afternoon on the plot. We transported all our sweet pea plants down to the plot in the hope that it wouldn’t be too wet to do any planting. The car was cram packed full of construction materials and tools as well as I wanted to erect a new cage over our redcurrants.
Sue’s the main redcurrant picker and as she’d requested a better method of actually getting into the cage I’ve provided her with a door. It’s nothing special and its hinges are made out of string but I’m hoping it will fulfil its purpose. In the past there hasn’t been a way in other than removing some of the netting and scrabbling in.
It was good news on the sweet pea front too as the bed we’d prepared for them wasn’t too soggy and Sue managed to get them planted. I did have a little proddle about in one bed that needs tilling and it’s certainly too wet to be dug. The top few inches of the soil weren’t too bad but it was wet and claggy below that.
We left as the drizzle started but not before I pulled a couple of onions. These are some of our autumn sown onions “Radar” which have done much better this year than last. After a complete crop failure the year before due to the onion sets arriving too late this year’s crop from the local garden centre have produced what looks to be an excellent crop. We should certainly have enough onions to keep us supplied until this year’s summer crop is ready.
Tuesday 27 May 2014
By Hook or by Crook
The forecast for Tuesday was for rain all day but I’d decided that this was the day I was going to get our plot greenhouse tomatoes planted. First thing in the morning was drizzly and damp but even if it meant getting a bit wet this job needed doing. The first task was a visit to the garden centre for some grow bags which were then taken down to plot. By this time the weather had brightened up considerably and it was a bit of a warm task giving the grow bags that beating to break up the compost inside that’s always well compacted due to the grow bags being stacked on top of one another. Once the bags were in place in the greenhouse it was back home for lunch and to fill up the car with tomato plants.
By the time we got back to the plot, although not actually falling, rain was threatening so we decided to do a few jobs outside saving planting the tomatoes as a fall back job which could be done in the dry in the greenhouse if the rain came.
Sue planted out our first lettuces of the season “Red Salad Bowl” and “Little Gem”. I decided to sort out a few pea sticks as we had three rows of peas and a row of sweet peas all growing well with nothing to climb up. It was the sort of job that could be abandoned half way through if it started to rain. Unbelievably the rain held off and I ran out of peas sticks before all the peas were supported. Our “Carouby de Maussane” peas now have something to climb up.
The rain continued to hold off and the tomatoes plants were transplanted into their growbags. They’ll need some supports too but I decided to leave that for another day.
We left the plot around 18:00 and it was still rain free although there was a cold north easterly wind blowing but the day’s weather forecast for rain all day turned out to be wrong for Ossett. The tomatoes were planted and we’d managed to stay dry.
Wednesday 28 May 2014
Still Raining!
Once the rain started in the early hours of Wednesday morning it’s just continued on and on and into Thursday morning and it’s still raining. Thankfully it couldn’t be classified as heavy. It does have nuisance value though as it’s gradually adding to the month’s rainfall and delaying any planting out operations we had planned on the plot.
The soil was wet and claggy on Tuesday when we were last down on the plot so another two day’s worth of rain isn’t going to have improved matters. May has now become our wettest month of 2014.
I’m seriously starting to think of a back up plan as I don’t think the courgette and cabbage plants we have in pots and seed modules under the cold frames at home are going to last until the soil dries out enough to be cultivated ready for planting. I might sow another batch of cabbages and courgettes as my back up plan just in case.
On a different note altogether I’ve noticed that the birds are making a much better job than usual of clearing the “golden chorus” and “buggy nibbles” that they get treated to every morning.
This is how the bird table looks when breakfast has been served. The main diners at the table are blackbirds and starlings and both bring their youngsters along for a fly in. It’s not long then before the table looks like this.
Every last morsel is found and devoured. I must have a go at getting some pictures of the bird table covered with birds but the youngsters are easily spooked so a cunning plan will be needed.
Rainfall from Tuesday 27 May 2014 to Thursday (morning) 29 May 2014
Thursday 29 May 2014
Another Dull and Miserable Day
At least the rain stopped around lunchtime on Thursday but the heavy clouds hung around all afternoon making it a dull and miserable day. In that brilliant spell of weather a couple of weeks ago my weather station was recording around 9 or 10 hours of sunshine each day. What a change now as the last 8 days have produced only 8.5 hours of sunshine and 5.4 of those hours came in one day.
With gardening activities on hold yet again we decided on a short trip to Woodlesford to carry out a bit of steam train photography.
It was a value for money trip with three steam locomotives all making their way from Carnforth to Dereham to take part in a steam gala to be held over the weekend by the Mid Norfolk Railway.
If you’d like to see more, my video of the train passing through Woodlesford is here.
Our weather forecast for the next few days is a little more promising. At least it’s forecast to be dry but any sunshine looks to be in very short supply before more showery weather arrives early next week. We’ll probably find out exactly how wet it is on the plot this afternoon.
Friday 30 May 2014
Well at Least It Didn’t Rain
I’ve said it in the title at least it didn’t rain on Friday but it was another dull and miserable day without any sunshine. We seem to be living under everlasting cloud at the moment. A bit of brighter sunny weather would be very welcome.
We decided on an afternoon visit to the plot to get some of our vegetable plants moved into their final positions. The ground was very wet and I think it was probably a bit too wet for planting out but things are getting a bit desperate at the minute so cabbages, Brussels sprouts and squash were planted out.
We were able to plant up these beds because the soil had already been prepared earlier in the spring. The beds had been given a quick tilling followed by the addition of some fish, blood and bone fertiliser and in the case of the brassica bed some lime. The beds had then been covered with weed control fabric.
Now we have the additional problem that we are rapidly running out of prepared beds. Two large beds were waiting for conditions to improve so that the soil could be tilled but some dry weather is needed for that to happen. Two other large beds had been covered with weed control fabric since last autumn. I had considered the possibility of planting these two beds without first cultivating the ground beneath. I had a quick peek under one corner of the fabric and it was obvious that this wasn’t going to work. The ground under the fabric was saturated.
These are the two beds in question. The weed control fabric has done its job but it is worth noting that any potatoes left in from a previous crop will do their best to find their way out from under the fabric growing long white haulms attempting to find daylight.
I’ve decided to leave the weed control fabric off these beds for a few days hoping that the soil might dry out a little quicker. This bed is due to become home for our runner beans and sweet corn so I really need it prepared quickly. I can’t see it drying out over the weekend and more unsettled weather is forecast for next week so I’m not too sure when this bed will be ready for our crops.
I don’t think the situation has been caused by the weed control fabric. Since the spell of fine May weather broke on the 20th May we’ve had 58.8mm of rain far more than we might expect in the whole month. Our runner bean crop might be a little late this year.
Saturday 31 May 2014
Making Pea Sticks
Saturday was a big improvement on the last few days. We managed a few short sunny spells. Although it remained mostly cloudy, the clouds weren’t so dark and ominous. It was another dry day to help the ground dry out a bit more.
We used up the last of the prepared ground on the plot to plant out some courgette plants. The ground is still far too wet to use the tiller. I know from past experience that tilling our clayey soil when its too wet creates almost unworkably hard ground once the soil does dry out. It’s far better to leave well alone just now and hope that it will dry out and be ready to cultivate towards the end of next week.
Under our environmesh carrot frame we now have two generations of carrots coming along nicely. The larger seedlings are from a first sowing made on 23 April 2014. These all germinated successfully but large numbers of the seedlings were decimated in a slug attack. The only option was to resow which was done on 17 May 2014. These seeds have germinated successfully too so I’m hoping that the slugs won’t get to these too.
I’d used up all our pea sticks from last year and still had more peas that needed supporting. I’d left a pile of prunings from our blackcurrants, elder, hazel, and laurel in a heap ready to be sorted out. Most of our woody prunings, provided they aren’t prickly, are made into pea sticks after a little more careful snipping here and there. The left overs are added to the compost heap.
I’m hoping that this little collection will keep me in pea sticks for a while. I still have more laurel prunings to sort out if I need more.