ossettweather.com
A Gardener’s Weather Diary - July week 3
Friday, 15 July 2011
Just kidding
Friday had the promise of rain but as usual didn’t deliver. Harvesting and weeding on the plot felt like a race against the rain which from the black clouds over the plot looked like it was about to bucket it down at any moment. The total by midnight just 0.4mm and as usual this year the rain didn’t arrive.
Our Charlotte potato haulms are starting to turn yellow. I don’t expect this to happen until the first weeks of August normally but the long spell of dry weather has taken its toll. Obviously as our potatoes beneath are not going to do any more growing we decided to see if we actually had any potatoes under the haulms at all. While the crop was certainly disappointing at least we had some decent sized potatoes. I half expected to just have a few very tiny immature potatoes so at least we have some harvest to look forward to. A bonus of the dry weather, well there was absolutely no slug damage.
The remaining crop might as well be left in the ground to do any extra growing they can before they are lifted for winter storage.
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Growing on
Some welcome rain today although to be honest not enough as a dull damp day resulted in only 3.6mm from a few spells of light rain. It wasn’t a day for visiting the plot.
Our grapes are starting to swell nicely. The root to the vine is planted just inside the greenhouse but it’s never watered and yet it’s still producing an excellent crop once again this year. I hope the grapes will be ready for eating by the middle of August.
Is this an adult robin or one of our juveniles who has now got its adult plumage. For the last few weeks we’ve seen a few juvenile robins about just stating to get their adult plumage but no adults.
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Cloudy but no rain
A damp and cloudy day. The weather has turned poor for the middle of July. At least if we have to have dull weather some decent rainfall would help to make up for the dull overcast conditions. Sunday had short spells of drizzle on and off all day giving the day a totally damp feel yet only 0.8mm of rain fell.
Unfortunately the forecast for the next few days is for little change with predominantly cloudy and cool conditions. Despite the conditions our nectarines are not only hanging on but continuing to get bigger. I wonder if they have any chance of ripening if the weather doesn’t improve?
Monday, 18 July 2011
Miserable Monday
The spell of poor weather continued today with the lowest daytime temperature of the month just 16.9°C. Once again a cloudy day, low temperatures and just 0.2mm of rain to show for it.
The cool weather hasn’t stopped the duckweed spreading in the pond. It’s almost taken over the entire pond surface so much of it was cleared out today to allow the fish to see daylight.
It’s early days in my slug deterrent trial but so far things are looking good. My latest lettuce sowings are just starting to germinate and along with the other seedlings in this tray they have escaped any starving snails looking for an easy meal.
I’m surprised we haven’t had more rain as I felt sure once I placed the tray outside it would pour down and the tray would fill with water. So far just enough rain to keep the seedlings watered.
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
A job and a half
Today’s weather was a big improvement, warmer with some spells of sunshine and just a light mid morning shower.
I’ve been putting off digging our winter brassica bed for a while now, hoping for some rain to soften the dry rock hard soil up a little. It look like that’s not going to happen so as my plants are on order I couldn’t put the clearing off any longer.
Last summer this bed was filled with potatoes and a selection of sunflower weeds. The potatoes didn’t produce much of a crop maybe due to being crowded out with sunflowers. Part of the crop didn’t get lifted and was left in the ground over winter.
In spring the bed was full of foxgloves all self sown and with plenty of other jobs to get on with the foxgloves were left to their own devices. At the height of flowering they looked very attractive.
Now the foxgloves have finished the bed was left with a mixture foxgloves, fennel, teasels and plenty of weeds all needing clearing to allow the bed to be dug and allowed to settle before our brassica plants arrive. The ground was hard and very dry.
After removing many barrow fulls of weeds the bed was at least clear of vegetation. The task remaining is to dig over the bed. That’s easy to say but I reckon it’s going to be a tough job. A day of rain would do much to help but that doesn't seem to be in the forecast for the next few days. I feel some more hard work coming on.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Wettest day of the month
It was another cloudy day with only a few brief spells of sunshine. The clouds got darker during the afternoon to give a series of heavy showers around 17:00 enough to make it our wettest day of the month.
This picture doesn’t do the clouds much justice as they looked far more ominous as the rain headed our way.
I was expecting our cherry tomatoes to produce the first ripe fruits of the season but at the moment it looks like German Red Strawberry is going to take the honours in the plot greenhouse.
Just in case you were wondering the tomato is growing at this strange angle and the picture doesn't need rotating through 90°.
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Gardeners Delight
After a cloudy start it brightened up and we had a pleasant sunny afternoon. The only light showers was in the very early hours of the morning. We’ve had rainfall on 12 of the 21 days of July but in relatively small amounts so it could well be another month with below average rainfall.
Our German Red Strawberry has been overtaken at the last moment by this Gardeners Delight tomato to be the first ripe tomato of the season. There’s not much to a Gardeners Delight tomato to share between two but quality will make up for quantity.
