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Tuesday 15 May 2012
A Productive Day
Tuesday had some short sunny intervals but was once again disappointingly cold with the maximum temperature only 11.4°C.
A very short shower in the morning kept us in and Ossett bakery took over for the morning producing some breadcakes and rhubarb muffins for lunchtime.
The afternoon sunshine tempted us out into the garden where I managed to do a little more tidying up work around the summerhouse base while Sue was busy sowing and pricking out in the greenhouse.
Find out more about our rhubarb muffins on Sue’s blog here and our sowings for May are listed on our web site.
Wednesday 16 May 2012
Remember That Coldest In 100 Years Forecast?
Wednesday had plenty of sunny intervals again but down on the plot in the afternoon the sunshine disappeared for an hour or so and it really did feel cold in the strong breeze. Still I managed to get the grass cut and tilled those beds cleared of weeds last weeks.
Remember that report forecasting May to be the coldest in 100 years. Well as we’re half way through May I thought I’d have a check and see how that prediction is looking. Unsurprising it’s looking rather good which is bad news for us gardeners but then I guess we all know just how cold the last two months have been.
The record is currently 1996 with an average temperature for the month of 9.1°C. At the midpoint of the month the average is exactly the same at 9.1°C. If we’re lucky though the temperature will warm up a little for the last two weeks and we will not set a new record.
Whilst the nights continue to be as cold as they are the strawberry harvest is on hold as all the flowers are showing black centres from the cold nights indicating that these flowers wont set fruit. The temperature last night fell to 2.8°C so at the moment there is not a let up in the bitterly cold nights.
Thursday 17 May 2012
Tropical Fruit?
Thursday was dull, cool with a little drizzle in the morning.
As I blogged yesterday, our strawberry flowers are black eyed meaning they’ve been frosted and won’t produce fruit. So what chance our more tropical fruit, peach, nectarine and kiwi? Of these 3 only our peach is outside and at the moment dare I say it, it looks like a few peaches may have set.
Our nectarine only arrived early this spring and since it was potted up it has remained in the greenhouse. Although it did produce some flowers it doesn’t look as though these have set fruit but the tree itself is looking very healthy.
Finally to our kiwi which is also in the greenhouse. The tree is covered in flower buds and some of these are now starting to open. Pollination could be a problem as it’s inside but even in this cool weather the greenhouse windows or door is open for ventilation most days giving pollinating insects a chance to do their thing.
The kiwi spent last summer outside and in the good weather early on last summer it set plenty of fruits but these didn’t like the much cooler summer weather that followed. So this year the jury’s out as to whether it should spend summer outside or in the greenhouse. At the moment I think I favour the greenhouse.
Friday 18 May 2012
Cloudy and Cool
Friday was a dull and cloudy day staying dry well into the evening when light rain began.
I’m not sure we’ve had as much rain as lots of other areas of the UK this month. At the moment our May rainfall looks to be coming in around average or a little below. At last the forecast is for some warmer weather next week with temperatures recovering to what we might expect for late May.
The early indications are that this warm spell will continue at least until next weekend so with a bit of luck those rather more fussy vegetables that prefer some warmth might start to grow a little quicker.
Saturday 19 May 2012
Rock Bottom
Saturday must be the day that the temperatures for May hit rock bottom. It was a dull cold day following some overnight drizzle. There wasn’t a hint of brightness all day producing the coldest daytime temperature for the month of 8.7°C.
That means that the average temperature for May of 8.8°C is just 0.1°C above the average for March which was 8.7°C!
However the forecast for next week is much better so it’s unlikely that this May will be the coldest in 100 years but 20 days in it’s a very close run thing.
Despite the weather it looks like our Conference pear has set fruit in the garden. I’m hoping we’ve now seen off the last of the cold days and overnight frosts and the allotment year can get underway at last. It feels as though it’s been on hold for the last couple of months.
Sunday 20 May 2012
A First for Me!
Sunday was an improvement on yesterday with a hint of brighter weather in the afternoon which tempted us out into the garden and greenhouse.
I’ve always found that the most difficult garden bird to get a photograph of is a wren. It’s so difficult in fact I haven’t managed to get a picture of one until today. It’s so small and moves about so quickly it’s almost like trying to photograph a mouse. Most often I see one on the back fence a little out of camera distance in any case. Usually as soon as I spot one in the garden by the time I’ve reached for my camera it’s disappeared. Today luck was on my side. I managed to grab my video camera and just managed to get focused on a wren before it and its mate disappeared into the bushes.
I managed to get a couple of still images off just a few seconds of video. Most of the footage was just a blur of wren. These were the best two pictures I managed to get.
I've posted the few seconds of video on YouTube which can be viewed by clicking here.