Tuesday & Wednesday 01/02 July 2014
Another Mild Month
The first two days of July have been very nice and mild with some long sunny spells. It’s been a bit chilly overnight though with the temperature dropping into single figures.
The last few months have all been on the mild side. The spell of mild months started back in December 2013 with each subsequent month averaging out on the mild side. What’s a little strange though is that we haven’t had any extremely high monthly temperature to achieve that above average record. The temperatures been mostly a little above average for most of the time both day and night.
The last temperature record set for any month was back on 01 August 2013 when the monthly high of 31.1°C was recorded. (A red or blue cross on the chart represents the hottest or coldest temperature I’ve recorded for that month since 2010. A red or blue diamond indicates the hottest or coldest temperature for that month over the last 12 months.) Since then nothing out of the ordinary either high or low. As our 2014 high temperature is currently 25.2°C set on the 18 May 2014 I would expect July to set a new high temperature record for the year.
Our experimental crop of cucamelons had been left to grow on in the greenhouse without much attention. The only problem is that they had attached themselves to our aubergines and sweet pepper plants. Once separated from their supports this left the cucamelon plants themselves requiring separating.
After all this effort I’m hoping that these cucamelons live up to their billing and prove to be tasty little fruits. I’m wondering if these tiny fruits will develop as quickly as courgettes or cucumbers now that they’ve reached this stage. If that’s the case we should soon have something to sample.
It took me some time to untwine the cucamelons but once this was completed they were moved into some larger pots. All the plants have tiny yellow flowers which have a tiny cucamelon forming a bit like a mini courgette.
Thursday 03 July 2014
Yorkshire’s Shut For the Weekend -
Thursday wasn’t the best of summer days, rather cloudy but mild. We decided on a return visit to RSPB Bempton Cliffs to see if we could catch sight of any of the seabird chicks and get any better pictures of puffins.
Travelling around Yorkshire you can’t help but notice all the signs around warning of traffic problems over the weekend due to the Tour de France starting in the county. We’ve decided it will be best to stay local perhaps having a visit to the plot. Many roads are closed completely so long delays are expected on other routes.
The signs around York inform you not to follow Sat Nav directions but I’m betting your average paper map of York won’t be much use either. The roads around the coast weren’t very busy at all on our trip to Bempton.
We were lucky enough to get some shots of the seabird chicks being raised perched precariously on the edge of the cliffs. It was a little bit breezy on the cliffs so holding the camera steady was difficult at times.
This little gannet’s chick plea for food wasn’t successful. It really does make you wonder how these birds manage to bring up their young on such an exposed ledge in the face of gales coming in off the North Sea.
I did mange to get my closest shot to date of a puffin.
There was lots of long grass blowing about in front of the puffin and my camera either focused on the blowing grass or the shot of the puffin was blurred due to the grass. The puffin didn’t stay in this spot for long but luckily I managed at least one decent shot out of the dozens I took with the puffin in focus and no grass spoiling the picture. The adult puffins will be leaving and heading out to sea later this month leaving their offspring behind in the nest to find their own way out to sea. Puffins will be 5 or 6 years old before returning to breed and may live for up to 20 years.
Friday 04 July 2014
Odd Weather and a Video
Friday was mostly dull with only the occasional glimpse of any sun. Around teatime it started to rain a little after threatening to do so for most of the rest of the afternoon. It didn’t rain much it was what you might call “slug rain” not enough to water any plants but damp enough for the pesky molluscs to slime about.
We then had a drop more rain overnight into Saturday morning which has started off dull and damp.
Rather oddly for July the temperature has been falling steadily since around the middle of Friday afternoon through the night before accelerating downwards on Saturday morning. It’s summer now it should start getting warmer through the day not colder.
I’ve finished editing some video from our visit to Bempton Cliffs on Thursday. I’ve tried to include footage showing just how the birds manage to nest on the tiniest of ledges jutting out from the cliffs and just how far the birds are away from the viewing areas.
Saturday 05 July 2014
A Taste of Casablanca
After the dull start to Saturday, as forecast it brightened up around lunchtime and we had a lovely sunny afternoon.
We’re continuing to harvest our first early potatoes that have been affected by blight. Our trial of comparing two varieties grown under weed control fabric compared to our traditional planting method won’t be much use. Although the two crops are only a couple of feet apart the crops grown conventionally have suffered far more from blight. I dug up one root of conventionally planted Casablanca yielding 0.366kg of potatoes which were completely free of any slug damage.
I only managed a few small sprigs of mint to go with our potatoes. Sue dug out all our mint a few weeks ago as the mint had gone rampant taking over the entire bed and we decided it was time for a fresh start. The mint managed to spread into the grass path next to this bed where there’s not much we can do about it. A few days after the grass has been cut it’s possible to harvest tiny sprigs of mint as it forms new shoots. There’s also a wonderful smell of mint every time the grass is cut and I think it’s a rather nice feature. Just walking on the grass has the same effect.
The potatoes did break down a little when boiled but had an excellent new potato flavour. Hopefully the ones grown under the weed control fabric which still have plenty of leaves will produce a bit heavier crop.
Sunday 06 July 2014
Minting My Bets
Sunday wasn’t too bad a summer’s day with some sunny spells and the temperature into the low twenties. It seemed that it was going to spoil itself around teatime when we had a very short shower but it soon cleared away leaving a nice end to the day.
This time last year in July was the start of three weeks of warm sunny weather with the temperature into the high twenties centigrade each day. A repeat of that fine spell of weather isn’t in the forecast for this year.
On Saturday I mentioned that Sue dug up all our mint at the allotment as the bed was in need of some refurbishment. The same is also true of our large tub of mint at home which is now positioned in the slowly materialising coldframe courtyard.
The picture shows the tub of mint before and after its refurbishment. The old mint was still producing a few sprigs but the plants had lost their vigour. The tub was absolutely packed tight with mint roots. I think I managed to reclaim some roots of each of the varieties of mint originally planted in the tub but I’m by no means certain of that.
I replanted some of the old mint roots in the tub after replacing the old compost and took some cuttings of the mint too so I’m hoping that the one or both my methods of renewing our supply of mint work.
For now our supply is limited to the tiny sprigs of mint growing in one of our grass paths down on the plot. Perhaps I’ll be a bit more careful mowing that particular path for the next few weeks.
Monday 07 July 2014
Some Useful Rain
Monday was a nice summer’s day feeling much warmer in the afternoon sunshine than the 22.1°C registered by the thermometer.
The ground was beginning to get a bit dry on the plot and I was considering giving some of our crops a drink on our next visit. Fortunately we had some heavy rain into the late evening so it’s probably saved me a job.
Some running repairs were made to the allotment powerhouse or compost heap. Some of the old fencing panels were starting to show their age by turning into compost themselves. Our plot neighbour Jan had noticed I could make good use of some old fencing panels he had spare so with thanks to Jan these three panels have given our compost heap a rather “posh” look -
In the autumn the rose will be cut back and a replacement panel inserted to complete the job.