Wednesday & Thursday 22/23 October 2014
Accidental Selfie
Wednesday was dull and drab with some spells of light rain and drizzle. It continued dull but dry on Thursday and pleasantly mild with the afternoon temperature reaching 17.3°C which is not bad for late October.
I tend to forget all about my web cam which sits in the window looking up the garden day and night. It produces a video which appears in a little window on my desktop PC. It can be quite handy for spotting birds making use of our birdbath. Every hour though it captures a still image which it loads up to the web and appears on my blog page.
On Wednesday morning it captured this accidental sefie (if that’s possible) as I topped up the bird bath.
It was our first trip to the plot since the gales of Tuesday. Our almost over sweet peas hadn’t survived intact.
I’m not too sure where the dust bin has come from. The damaged plants and support were pulled over onto the plot to leave the road around the site clear. At least the sweet peas are almost finished and it did make it easier for Sue to pick a few surviving flowers for home.
Friday 24 October 2014
Autumn Digging
Friday wasn’t a bad October day and certainly nothing like the forecast which was for a pretty wet day.
We made the most of a decent day doing more tidying up on the plot and getting a little bit of autumn digging done. The ground is in lovely condition for digging at the moment and certainly nothing like a few weeks ago when it resembled concrete rather than soil.
I watched the last episode of Beechgrove Garden for this year and they were cutting back roses ready for winter. A sort of precautionary measure against any damage caused by windy weather over winter before receiving a “proper” prune in spring.
On the plot our roses are still producing flowers like this. I can’t see them getting the winter chop just yet.
Saturday 25 October 2014
A Day of Mixed Photography
Saturday remained dry although some early morning sun soon disappeared to leave us with a cloudy and windy day.
Late morning we set off on the first of our photographic locations to capture a mainline steam train on the East Coast Main line. This was a charter train from London (Kings Cross) to Newcastle. Sue was in charge of the stills whilst I did a little bit of video.
After this we heading for the the Yorkshire Wildlife’s Trust nature reserve at Potteric Carr.
The birds had a mind to be anti-
So bird wise it was a bit of a disappointing day but I did manage this picture of a moorhen from one of the hides.
To me it does have a bit of a “did somebody just take my photo” appearance obviously rather surprised that someone would want to take its photo.
Then as we made our way around the reserve we came across the star subjects of the day. If anything they wanted to get up too close but these cattle made fantastic subjects.
Sunday & Monday 26/27 October 2014
A 5th Anniversary
Sunday and Monday were both very mild for the end of October with the temperature reaching 18.4°C on Monday afternoon. It was a little bit disappointing that we didn’t have any sunshine to go with the mild weather.
My first blog post was written on the 27 October 2009 so its now five years old. I thought it might be interesting to compare the photos on my blog in late October 2009 with the plot today.
30 October 2009
27 October 2014
There’s not been a great deal of change in this part of the plot. These beds are treated to normal good practice crop rotation. The hazel trees by the car are larger today but one of these is due to be coppiced this winter to provide us with some good home grown supports for our sweet peas next year.
The next photos show some real changes to the plot over 5 years.
30 October 2009
27 October 2014
The development of this part of the plot was just getting under way in 2009. That newly dug over bed in 2009 is now planted up with three pear trees and our quince tree blocks the view of the back of the shed. Our grape vine hadn’t been planted very long and although this now covers one side of the shed we are still waiting to eat our first bunch of grapes.
30 October 2009
27 October 2014
It’s a reminder of how things move on. The raspberry canes growing on the far left of the picture in 2009 died off and new canes were planted in a different part of the plot. The large rectangular bed became our strawberry patch and this is now going to be replaced as the strawberry plants come to the end of their productive life. They will be left in place for one more summer until our new bed is established. The two cardoon plants have been moved to make way for our quince tree and cobnut tree both of which produced some excellent crops this year.
I’ve noticed that there looked to be a lot more leaves left on the trees in 2009. The plum trees and hawthorn by the greenhouse are now leafless and ready for winter.
Tuesday 28 October 2014
Cardoon Storm Damage -
Tuesday turned out to be incredibly mild for late October as once again the thermometer hit the twenty degree Celsius mark.
Having just celebrated five years of weather recording, 20.2°C on 28 October is the latest in the year that temperatures have managed the twenty degree level. The first few spots of rain arrived around teatime but it never amounted to much with a total of only 1.0mm for the day. The temperature plummeted overnight to an early morning low of 3.4°C on Wednesday morning.
Back in that pretty poor August one of our cardoon plants was badly battered by the winds whilst one which has some protection from a neighbouring plot holders shed survived intact.
Storm damage 16 August 2014
Cardoon protected from storm damage 16 August 2014
There wasn’t any way the plant on the left could be saved so all the broken stems were removed to the compost heap. The trouble is as you can see from the photo below that didn’t leave much of a plant.
Since August this little area has been left to do its own thing. Whilst I can happily report that the cardoon is well on its way to recovery it did give all that couch grass time to spread and grow into a tangle of weeds.
The couch grass has been dug out (well as much as was possible) and the area around the cardoon dug over and this little area now looks much tidier. As you can see on the right of the picture the cardoon that survived August’s gales is ready for the compost heap. Once all this year’s dead growth is removed there’ll be very little plant left. Maybe I should leave all those seed heads in place over winter for the birds and only tidy up around the base of the plant. In any case a couple of months on from the storm damage it’s the storm damaged plant that looks in much better condition.
Temperature, Sunshine and Rainfall Monday 27 Oct 2014 -
Wednesday 29 October 2014
Bucking the Trend
Wednesday was a lovely sunny day until late afternoon when it clouded over. It was certainly much cooler than of late and it was slow to warm up after an early morning low of 3.4°C.
As we seem to have a tendency to do, Ossett must be bucking the national trend of October being a continuation of summer although it’s been a nice month and we’ve made steady progress tidying up on the plot mixed in with a few days out.
The chart shows the daily running average temperatures for the last five Octobers. The purple line with crosses marked on it shows this year which isn’t anything special compared with the last few years. To all intents and purposes the average for the end of the month looks like it will be the same as 2011 and 2013 around the 12.0°C mark. The warmest October average from Met Office records is 2001 with an average of 13.33°C.
Last year the roses were still managing to put on some flowers at the end of October just like this year as this photo taken on 30 October 2013 shows.
On a different note I see that some of the forecasting models are suggesting a short cold snap around bonfire night with the first frosts of the autumn for most of us. It’s a reminder that I’d better get our carrot duvet of straw in place in case the forecast turns out to be correct.
Thursday 30 October 2014
Banana Protection
We swapped the sunny and cooler conditions of Wednesday back to milder, duller and damp conditions on Thursday. A little overnight rain brought our monthly total up to 40.8mm a little bit less than we might expect in October.
Our banana plant musa basjoo has spent the last couple of winters outdoors with very little protection. It’s reckoned to be hardy down to -
The border where the banana was growing is undergoing a refurbishment and I’m not too sure our banana plant will fit in any more so it’s been potted on and moved into the greenhouse for over winter. Although the plant survives outside it can be late starting into growth in the spring and early summer and it might struggle to justify its place in our new border. Its future at the moment is unsure. It may well become an extremely large pot plant.
Our greenhouse is now filling up nicely with plants that are either making it their new home or finding a more protected spot in which to spend the worst of the winter weather. I’ve still got to find space for another two large tubs of parsley and mint which will be used to provide us with some fresh herbs through winter.
Friday 31 October 2014
Hottest Halloween Ever -
As widely forecast it turned out to be the hottest Halloween ever for some. While London managed 23.6°C we managed a very respectable 19.3°C. Friday morning was lovely and sunny to go with the mild temperature but the afternoon spoilt itself by clouding over.
Unfortunately these temperatures aren’t here to stay and there’s still a forecast for some cold frosty weather by the middle of next week. With this in mind we decided to make the most of the pleasant weather and get our carrots, parsnips and beetroot wrapped up for winter under a protective duvet of straw.
On the way to the plot we called in at the local farm for a couple of bales of straw which nicely fit in the back of the car.
Carrots and Parsnips
Beetroot
Unless we have a really severe winter our vegetables will be fine and should keep in good condition right through to next spring. It seems the easiest way to protect them over winter and certainly far less trouble than digging them all up and storing in boxes of damp sand.
The mild spell has meant that our raspberries Joan J and alpine strawberries are still producing a few berries which are a real treat this late on into autumn.
