Wednesday 2 May 2012

A Poor Gardening Month


After a nice day to end last month May started off dull and cool.

There’s no getting away from it April was wet. Last year in April we had just 2.4mm of rain compared with 120mm this year. That’s certainly good for the garden but we need some dry weather now to be able to actually cultivate the soil. 

Last year we had 157.6 hours of sunshine compared to just 90.4 hours this year. That lack of sunshine has taken its toll on temperatures as well. Last year the average daily temperature was 12.1°C down to just 7.1°C this year. That’s colder than March this year which averaged 8.7°C. I thought the months should be getting warmer now not cooler! Our warmest day of the month last year reached a very pleasant 24.7°C against a pretty poor 17.1°C this year. Indeed last year we had 17 days where the temperature exceeded 17.1°C little wonder that this year is a bit of a struggle to get plants growing well in the garden and greenhouse.

At least all the rain means the plot doesn’t need constant watering and we’ve a few excellent cauliflowers ready for cutting as they don’t seem to mind the cooler wet conditions. I’m looking forward to an improvement in the weather in May so that the gardening year can get well and truly underway.

1 comment:

  1. That's a cracking cauliflower. I don't grow them anymore as the rest of the family aren't very keen.

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