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A Gardener’s Weather Diary - October week 2
Saturday & Sunday, 08 - 09 October 2011
Slipping into winter mode
Saturday and Sunday were both miserable days remaining cloudy with outbreaks of light rain on and off throughout Saturday. Sunday was drier and milder but once again the clouds never lifted all day.
At least the rain of the last few days should mean that our recently planted winter onions should be able to manage without any watering. It’s not that we’ve had much rain but with the dull overhead conditions the top layer of soil won’t be drying out too quickly.
The plot has suddenly gone from that plentiful supply of summer and early autumn into a much more conservative mode. Crops are suddenly starting to grow much slower. I thought a few days ago these broccoli, Green Magic, would be ready for the pot by now.
That’s what would happen in the height of summer but not now, their progress is much slower. Something to look forward for next week perhaps.
Monday, 10 October 2011
Another miserable day
Monday continued in the same vein as the last few days giving us another cloudy day with outbreaks of light rain or drizzle throughout the day.
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The rain was pretty consistent all day, never really becoming heavy but after our long dry spell it’s very welcome. It’s now a week since we had a dry day but strangely we are still below the average value for the 11th day of the month.
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Whilst the above little chart doesn’t show any rain on Tuesday that’s because it only updates at midnight. We’ve managed 0.8mm so far on Tuesday and it’s forecast to be like this all day. It must be doing the garden and plot some good even if it keeps us inside.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
A frog in the tank.
Tuesday continued the gloomy and overcast weather with a little more drizzle in the morning. The afternoon was dry and overcast. Despite the gloomy weather the temperatures remain just a little above average.
I noticed that the outflow from the pond filter had been reduced to a meagre trickle. I haven’t covered the pond so I guessed it was probably leaves or even the little fruits from our crab apple tree causing a blockage in some part of the filter.
Once the blockage was removed I decided to clean out the rest of the filter. To my surprise as I was emptying water out of one of the filtration tanks a little head bobbed up to greet me.
I’ve got no idea how this frog got into the filter tank but it’s not the first time it’s happened. I took him out of the tank and placed him on the pond wall where he quickly took a mighty leap into the pond and disappeared, appearing none the worse for his adventure. I’ve no idea by the way whether it was an him or an her.
The frog was in the tank on the right. I removed the brushes for cleaning, it was then as I emptied the water that I found the frog. Before anyone has any really awful thoughts it’s not possible for the poor frog to have been pumped out of the pond and through the filter system. There’s a filter on the pump and a venturi in the system with a width of just a few millimetres where incidentally the blockage had occurred. This frog must have done some serious mountaineering.
Blockage sorted and frog rescued my pond filter was restored to full working order.
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Continuing dull and wet
We’re just not used to this after our rain free summer. Gloomy again today with more rain on and off through the day.
Wednesday became the eighth rainy day in a row although the amounts of rain for any one day have never been great. It does mean that the monthly average rainfall is just about on target to be met which seems a bit at odds with the dull, overcast and rainy weather we’ve had over the last week and a bit.
On the chart the dark blue line shows the rainfall expected as the month progresses and the light blue line the actual cumulative total.
Surprising with all this overcast weather it’s not been a cold start to October. After our exceptionally warm start to the month temperatures are still above those recorded for our warmest October on record which was in 2006.
At the moment there doesn’t seem to be any exceptionally cold weather forecast in our part of the world during the next week we’ll just have to wait and see.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Better late than never
It was a little brighter for a short time on Thursday afternoon but not really much different to the gloomy past few days.
At last our Tequila Sunrise peppers have started to turn yellow. They’re many weeks, later than our first Jimmy Nardello’s which were picked on 4th September. At least we’ll have a few yellow peppers to try.
Is it a bad year for yellow as our tomato Blondkopfchen was also very late producing. Early in the season many of the flowers on this small fruiting variety didn’t set but some of the later trusses set pretty well as this bunch below shows.
Friday, 14 October 2011
It’s gone
Friday was another overcast day until late into the afternoon when the cloud started to break up and some blue sky appeared. The clear sky remained into the evening and the temperature fell away rapidly and was down to just over 6°C at midnight. Over night the temperature fell to 2.5°C giving a cold start to Saturday.
We also started planting our new garlic cloves. Some have been started in pots and tubs to grow at home and the remaining cloves will be planted at the allotment. Full details are on our October planting list.
In the pond our water hawthorn produced a last flower of the season before the pond goes into its winter hibernation.