ossettweather.com
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Some planting - but Indoors
Tuesday was cloudy and cool and a bit breezy at times.
I planted up our onion sets and shallots into pots in the greenhouse. Details of the varieties are listed here. The thinking is that left in their net bags the bulbs will begin to grow as a matter of course before I get chance to plant them out. At least in pots they have some compost to grow some roots into by the time I can get them planted out.
It’s probably just as well I’m happy to do this as in the afternoon we made a visit down to the plot. Sue listed our exploits here but whilst we were there I harvested a few vegetables, parsnips, leeks and Brussels sprouts. The one thing I learnt from digging up the parsnips and leeks was that our heavy clayey soil was in no fit state for digging. A wet December and January followed by 2 weeks of below freezing weather in February have left the ground saturated. I know from bitter experience in this condition our soil is best left to dry out before digging. So all in all our shallots and onions are probably better off in their pots and trays rather than net bags for the next few weeks.
Our garlic is managing to survive in the cold and saturated soil and this is typical of our soil condition at the moment.
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Two fences done
Wednesday morning was sunny and felt mild as there was no wind. It clouded over in the afternoon and there were just a few spots of rain in the gentle breeze.
As it was nice in the morning I decided to make the most of the weather and buy some more timber posts for the fence required for supporting our autumn raspberries, new blackberry and Japanese Wineberry. By the time I got down to the plot in the afternoon the weather had changed but I still managed to get the posts in and wires fastened. I’ve still have to erect some old fencing panels to improve our composting area for
the summer so I’m hoping to get that done in the next couple of weeks before the allotment season begins in earnest around the beginning of April.
The sunny weather at last brought our snowdrops into flower. They aren’t fully open yet but if this weather persists they should be looking good for the weekend.
Last year they were fully out on the 8th February so they’re just a little later this year. Maybe that the cold start to February delayed them. I'm not sure why but I always find snowdrops one of the more difficult flowers to take photos of. No matter how many pictures I take I don’t seem to be able to get a really crisp image of the flowers. I'm never 100% happy with the end result. Maybe I’ll try again today once the flowers open up. I’m not sure why but I always find snowdrops on of the more difficult flowers to take photos of. No matter how many pictures I take I don’t seem to be able to get a really crisp image of the flowers. I’m never 100% happy with the end result. Maybe I’ll try again today once the flowers open up.
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Construction Continues
Thursday was almost a repeat of yesterday with some morning sunshine and a cloudy afternoon. The temperature managed 10.0°C but it felt cold in the rather blustery wind.
We made the most of the weather getting some more construction work done on the plot. I’d acquired some old interwoven fence panels to use to improve my compost bins. So my sledge hammer was in use again knocking in some more posts for erecting the panels.
This was the composting area to be improved. It really is just an area for tipping our weeds on but surprisingly enough with enough care and time it does produce some pretty good compost. It was a bit tricky lining up the panels for fixing to the posts as in the breeze the panels took on a life of their own.
This is the improved area taken from its best side with the new panelling erected. I’m going to use the remaining timber pallets to make a removable front to the compost bins for both easy emptying and that wonderful task of turning the compost.
Friday, 17 February 2012
Almost Spring but Not Quite
A bright sunny start to Friday didn’t last as by early afternoon once again dark clouds rolled in which were enough to give some very light drizzle. It continued mild but a bit breezy at times. As this recent mild spell of weather continues I keep expecting it to set a new mildest day of the year but it hasn’t. That record is still the 3rd January at 07:20 when the temperature reached 12.3°C.
The morning sunshine brought these crocuses into flower hot on the heels of our snowdrops which also came into bloom earlier this week.
Saturday, 18 February 2012
Salad Crops in the Greenhouse
Saturday started off cloudy and mild with some light rain. This soon passed and the sun came out and the temperature dropped.
As you can see Saturday was a real mixture of weather especially with the the afternoon showers falling as hail. It was windy too but I thought that was too much information for one chart.
The sunshine of the last few days encourage me to sow some salad crops in the greenhouse. On a sunny day greenhouse temperatures get up to around the 20°C mark plenty warm enough for some salad crops. The downside is with no heating temperatures below freezing can’t be ruled out so I wouldn’t want to be sowing anything too exotic or too expensive to loose on a cold night. So some salad leaves seemed a reasonable compromise.
We are trying to grow celery and celeriac this year. Having tried unsuccessfully in the past we thought it was time to have another go. An early start and plenty of water are perhaps the things we got wrong last time. The watering bit comes later but with lots of seeds in each packet we thought we could try an early start with some seeds under our grow light with a back up of sowing later if our early sowing doesn’t come up to expectation.
In the morning rain the male and female bullfinches made a visit to the bird tables and I just couldn’t turn down the opportunity of attempting some better video. Well the video still needs some editing before posting to YouTube but I have managed to grab some still images from the video.
Top pictures: Male bullfinch eating black sunflower seeds.
Bottom pictures: Female bullfinch tucking into sunflower hearts
Sunday, 19 February 2012
It’s Just Testing
Sunday morning was sunny and frosty. The bird bath was once again frozen over although the temperature managed to remain fractionally above zero degrees. The 3.6 hours of sunshine I recorded made it the sunniest day since the 20th October last year. Obviously the weather was in the ‘know’, that I’d now moved all my seed potatoes into the greenhouse to chit and only yesterday planted some salad leaves. Having fallen to 0°C overnight the daytime temperature in the greenhouse managed 26°C in the sunshine.
As it was such a sunny day, we decided on an afternoon walk around Anglers Country Park. It was certainly a crisp afternoon as we wandered around the lake with lots of other visitors making the most of the beautiful day. In the shade the grass was still white from the overnight frost but out of the wind and in the sunshine it felt pleasantly mild.
It’s our first winter visit to the Country Park and our first visit on a weekend. It was difficult to find a spot in the car park. It was like the supermarket just before Christmas. Our future visits are more likely to be during the week but we wanted to make the best use of such a nice day.
Monday & Tuesday, 20 & 21 February 2012
Cold and Dull on Monday but better by Tuesday
What a contrast Monday was as the sun failed to make an appearance. It was dull and cold with a strong cold breeze blowing. Still milder weather is forecast for the end of the week.
Tuesday on the other hand was much better. It was brighter and produced the mildest day of the year so far with 12.9°C. Our snowdrops are now in full bloom.
Over the last few days there seemed to be plenty of news items about drought conditions in certain parts of the country. This is how the BBC reported covered the story on their web site.
So how do we match up locally. Well I’m not sure winter has been dry as both December and January were wet with more than expected rainfall. February has so far been dry with hardly any rainfall. Over the 3 winter months our average rainfall would be 165mm and so far with just a week of February to go we are up to 150mm, not far short of what we might expect.
However the previous 9 months up to December were dry with every month producing less than average rainfall. So December and January’s rainfall hasn’t gone anyway to making up for those 9 dry months and a dry February has put us back to square one again.
Our location is south of Leeds located in the 60-69% of long term rainfall and at moderate drought risk. By my calculations and rainfall measurements over the last 12 months we’ve received 59% of our long term average rainfall in close agreement with the Met Office.
Strange then that down on the plot it’s wet and the soil needs to dry out a little before it’s dug. The wet months obviously replenished the soil moisture and whilst February has been dry the soil spent the first two weeks of the month frozen solid. Some of that rainfall needs to dry out before the ground is suitable for digging.
My weather station does a calculation to evaluate how much moisture is lost from the soil due to temperature, humidity and wind. Very little moisture has been lost during the last 3 months but once March arrives then the amount of moisture lost increases quickly drying out the soil. Without additional rain this summer it might well be that the true effects of last year’s very dry summer will start to kick in.
