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A Gardener’s Weather Diary - June week 4
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Long overdue
Wednesday continued in the same set pattern. An occasional light shower, some sunny spells and dark clouds hinting at a heavy downpour that once again never materialised.
One of the most important jobs on the plot that I find I can easily overlook is turning my compost heap. I decided that today was to be the day and set about moving the compost from one bay to the next. The most difficult job was making sure that all the toads, frantically trying to get out of harms way once the heap was disturbed came to no harm. The material was really dry making the task of moving it from one bay to the next quite easy. I think a good watering will be necessary to get some composting action going.
The remains of the empty bay will be added to the plot as necessary to keep up the soil fertility. Any new composting material will be added to the new pile ensuring a good mix of materials.
Isn’t it amazing how long old interwoven fencing panels last before they eventually break down. These panels have been giving me years of service on the plot long after their use as fencing panels ended.
Our sowing and harvesting web pages have been upgraded and I hope that they will now load much quicker than before. Our web page for our June 2011 harvest can be found by clicking here.
Friday, 24 June 2011
Caught one
We managed to catch one of those heavy showers that everyone else is getting all the time, or so it seems, on Thursday. Most of the rain fell in a short burst mid-afternoon followed by a few more light showers adding up to 3.8mm.
This continues a rather amazing sequence of rainfall. It’s rained on 12 of the last 14 days yet we’ve only managed 27.2mm around half the monthly rainfall expected in June.
I think our broad beans will be ready for picking by the weekend. I tested one pod and the beans inside were extremely small. Don’t want the beans to get large and tough so a tasting will be required over the weekend.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Best crop ever!
Friday wasn’t too bad a day with some sunny spells and not too windy. Although we had some rain yesterday the ground was dry and the sprinkler was set to work on the plot.
Our crop of potatoes planted in bags in the greenhouse on 1st April have produced our best ever crop from a potato bag. Normally I expect a rather small crop of at the best medium or egg size potatoes but consider it worthwhile because of the flavour and earliness of the crop.
This bag of Winston emptied yesterday was my best ever weighing in at 1.45kg. The largest is the size of a fine jacket potato.
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Chickweed heaven
Saturday was another alright sort of day with some sunshine but plenty of cloud in the afternoon when we visited the plot.
Some more overnight rain had done wonders for the top few inches of soil on the plot and it was a good chance to do some weeding or more to the point chickweed removal.
The amount of chickweed had rather sneaked up on us and our carrots had disappeared under a blanket of the stuff. There was lots around our peas but they were coping well although it was starting to take over the lettuces next to the peas.
These peas and lettuces now have a fighting chance as the strangle hold the chickweed had has been removed. Why can the weeds manage so well without much water.
Our carrots had certainly suffered the worst of all our crops from the chickweed. Perhaps covered in environmesh the weeds are hidden from view. I’m wondering about sowing some more carrots and testing out the left over mulch from the strawberries to protect the seedlings from weeds.
After all our weeding it was a bonus to have our first picking of broad beans which went from plot to plate in about an hour. The beans were young and sweet and certainly didn’t need skinning after podding.
Monday, 27 June 2011
That was hot!
Sunday produced a scorcher out of the blue although it had been accurately forecast.
It was warm from early morning and just kept getting hotter. By early afternoon it was just over 29°C. We’d planned a BBQ on the allotment with our plot neighbours on the strength of the forecast. What a result!
Our gazebo was hoisted for the first time this year to give us some shade to enjoy our late afternoon BBQ.
As I threatened yesterday I sowed some more carrots (Early Nantes). Sowing seeds involved just about the right amount of effort on such a hot day.
As you can see from the temperature chart the temperature was above 28°C all afternoon yesterday only falling back to 16°C overnight. Looks like the forecast for another hot day for Monday will be correct - after that it’s back to more usual temperatures.
The high of 29.1°C at 13:15 is the highest temperature I’ve recorded since October 2009.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
A hot coincidence and a Battle of Britain fly past
Monday was even hotter than yesterday reaching 31.6°C in the early afternoon. On the same date in June last year we recorded our highest temperature of the year and by coincidence it looks like that will be repeated this year. Locally it was the hottest day since 2006 as it’s not often we manage 30°C or above. I’ve shown yesterday’s temperature chart for posterity.
As we were preparing for our BBQ on Sunday we were treated to a Battle of Britain fly past. I’m not an expert on second world war aircraft but I think one was a Spitfire and the other one a Hurricane, but that’s just a guess. The film is short and a bit wobbly as I didn’t really have time to sort out my camera. It was a case of run for the camera, turn it on, point and hope for the best.
