At long last

Thursday was wet and windy making for a thoroughly miserable day. It did bring to an end our long spell of months with below average rainfall with the 7.8mm of rain today taking us just above December’s long term average of 73.4mm. This ends a spell of below average rainfall going back to last February. 

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I know that the second half of December has been mild but our crops certainly aren't showing any of the effects listed in this online newspaper article.

Harvesting our Christmas vegetables on the plot last week I didn’t notice any of our crops in a state of early production. All our over-wintering vegetables looked to be doing just that. Spring cabbage and cauliflowers looked okay but there weren’t any signs that they were ready to be picked. 

Our leeks looked in good condition along with the sprouts we picked. Parsnips and carrots were in good condition although the slugs had nibbled some of our carrots but that’s to be expected when they’re left in the ground to over-winter.

We’ve had a few rose flowers lingering into December but I put that down to them hanging on in a late autumn rather than being early for next year. 

Lets not forget that officially we are only a few days into winter proper so I’m sure that there’s still plenty of time for some cold and frosty weather. Meanwhile it’s best to make the most of the mild weather whilst it’s here.