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A Gardener’s Weather Diary - September week 1
Thursday, 01 September 2011
A taste of summer
Not sure the forecasters got this one right but it was just like a summer’s day. Plenty of long sunny spells and the temperature just nudging 20°C.
I decided it was time to transplant our cauliflower plants received from Marshalls a few weeks ago which have been carefully nurtured at home in an attempt to revive the plants.
Once again we decided to wait for better weather to visit the plot, although as we’re on part time chicken duties this week we will have to visit on Wednesday in any case whatever the weather. Our plot neighbour is on holiday and we are helping to look after his chickens.
In one of the calmer spells of weather I decided to harvest some of our cooking apples before they were blown off the tree and bruised.
These apples which we think are Peasgood Nonsuch cook really well and have grown to a good size. I didn’t manage to pick all the apples before it started to rain again. Most of the apples were in excellent condition although a few had been damaged by the pesky codling moth.
Wednesday, 07 September 2011
More showers but less windy
It was another showery and blustery day. We didn’t see much sunshine either and whilst we didn’t end up with a large amount of rainfall it somehow felt like a wet day.
We needed to pick some fresh vegetables and as mentioned previously we are helping to look after our neighbours chickens so we visited the plot in the afternoon. It was a case of picking quickly and dodging the frequent showers in the dryness of the shed. Our apples and pears are ripe and some were picked yesterday, the remainder left for a dryer day.
These are pears (Invincible), and apples Fiesta and Golden Delicious. All taste really good and the Golden Delicious taste nothing like those bought in the supermarket.
A number of the plants were in much better condition, but were very leggy and have been planted very deep to try to overcome this. This is fine if you have a fantastic depth of top soil but on our plot digging a deep hole soon reveals the rather clayey sub soil. However there were some seedlings which I didn’t consider planting out.
This leggy specimen had refused to produce any new leaves at all and as it had no centre it was never going to produce a cauliflower. I finished up with four plants that were consigned to the compost heap. I don’t want to spend lots of my time looking after plants that are never going to produce a crop. I’m still amazed that Marshall think these were good quality plants.
Friday, 02 September 2011
Two in a row
It was another sunny and mild day so we made the most of the weather to do some more harvesting, planting and clearing on the plot.
After a slow start our runner beans are now prolific. The plums from our broken section of plum tree have ripened well and are being picked and frozen.
Our three old strawberry beds are now cleared although the middle one of the three still needs digging. Despite the return of summer for the last couple of days the plot is certainly in autumn mode now.
Saturday, 03 September 2011
Confusion wet or dry?
September has started pleasantly mild and for us like the months before it is dry. Some reports I’ve seen suggest August was a wet month and I’ve no doubt that in some places it was. Here the whole of spring and summer has been very dry and we are awaiting some autumn rains to replenish the dry soil. At least now, once watered, the ground stays damper. I’ve produced some charts showing the different conditions recorded between Ossett and Edinburgh throughout 2011. I’ve used Edinburgh because the figures are readily available from Edinburgh Royal Botanical Gardens.
The same theme continued for August with Ossett experiencing higher maximum temperatures but with little to choose between the two minimums.
Edinburgh wins hands down again this month on rainfall receiving more rain in August (149.6mm) than Ossett managed in the last 6 months (134.9mm).
We wait to see what September has in store for us.
Sunday, 04 September 2011
Being watched
A dull, cloudy but mild day although it did brighten up late afternoon to give a bright and sunny end to the day.
I picked some tomatoes from our home greenhouse to cook to make tomato sauce for using in warming winter dishes.
I was well aware that as I picked the tomatoes I was being watched by this pretty large garden spider perched on the greenhouse roof. I think she might have got a little upset if I’d spoilt her carefully constructed web amongst the tomato foliage.
I’ve done a little more analysis on the weather comparison between The Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh and my weather station in Ossett. The graph shows the daily maximum and minimum temperatures and the daily rainfall total at both sites. Whilst Ossett has recorded slightly higher daytime temperatures the minimum temperatures are quite similar. The difference in rainfall is astonishing.
Monday, 05 September 2011
Easy decision
It was a dull showery morning and it was an easy decision to give the plot a miss. It seems ages since we had anything like a wet morning but a few reasonably heavy showers late morning and into the early afternoon gave the impression of a wet day. It was a cold morning too with the temperature struggling to just 13°C by lunchtime
Altogether we had 4.8mm of rain to get our September total up and running. The newly planted out brassicas on the plot will manage for a few days without any watering. The forecast for the week ahead isn’t too good with lots of windy weather forecast.
Tuesday, 06 September 2011
Autumn’s here
It was a miserable day with a strong to gale force wind blowing all day. The temperature managed around 17°C which I suppose isn’t too bad but the wind took the edge of the temperature. We had a scattering of showers throughout the day.
