Never Caught Up

Monday morning got off to a fine start with some sunny periods and feeling quite warm. By lunchtime all that changed as dark thunderclouds started to develop resulting in some heavy afternoon showers. The rainfall amount didn't come to anything like Sunday's downpour and amounted to 2.2 mm.

I was fairly sure that in previous years we had already started picking plums by the time August came around. However, our plums were off to a bad start this year due to the very cold spring and they haven't recovered. Looking back in 2011 we picked our first plums on 24 July.

This was our Oullins Gage harvest on the 01 August 2011. Not just a couple of plums as we picked 17kg leaving loads on the tree for later. 

In 2012 our plum trees took a year out and didn't produce much fruit and were a little later as we didn't start picking our small crop until 16 August 2012

Whilst we didn't have many plums they were still well worth waiting for and vastly superior to normal shop bought ones.

Now onto this year. I reckon this fruit still has a way to go before it’s anything like ripe.

The good news is that we have many more plums on all our trees this year compared to last so we will just have to be patient and wait for the fruit to ripen. I’m surprised that with the very hot July weather we’ve experienced over the last three weeks that the fruit didn’t catch up with previous years 

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Almost Record 24 hour Rainfall

Sunday turned out to be the wettest day since last July. We had a total just over 36 mm of rain in 24 hours. That's the wettest day since 6 July last year with 39.2 mm. Sunday itself turned out to be a day of short sunny spells interspersed with some heavy showers. 

During the last three weeks it's been difficult to keep our plants watered enough in the cold frame but today, after last night's torrential downpour, it was a case of emptying out the containers that the seed trays were sitting in .

We still seem to have lots of young plants in the cold frame waiting to be planted out on the plot. Amongst these plants are parsley, sweet Williams, wallflowers, sweet rocket, dog daisies, alpine strawberries and  lettuces and violas for garden tubs. I'm not sure where they’re all going to fit in the plot.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Dry becomes Wet - Overnight

Friday and Saturday were very nice summer’s days with long sunny periods and the temperature up into the mid to high twenties centigrade.

With just 14.2mm of rainfall this month by Saturday morning it was looking as though it would be much drier than the average 42.7mm we can expect to fall in July. All that changed overnight Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday morning. Checking my weather station on Sunday morning I couldn't believe my eyes as the rainfall total for Sunday already showed 28.6mm.

Added to Saturday evening’s rainfall it amounts to 34.0mm, the best part of a months rainfall in 9 hours. I don’t think the plot will need watering today.

The month’s total now stands at 48.2mm making it wetter than an average July.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Courgette Glut Coming On

Thursday was a very pleasant summer’s day with some sunny spells after a little rain overnight. It only amounted to 0.4mm which wasn’t enough to benefit the garden or plot. 

Our weed control fabric experiment extended to our courgette bed this year. Our pot raised courgette plants were planted through crosses cut in the fabric. I admit to being a little worried as to whether the plants would grow well enough restricted to just this cut ‘hole’.

This was how the plants looked after planting out on 13-06-2013. The rather un-rotted manure was there just to stop the fabric in place and prevent any damage around the base of the plants from the fabric moving about in windy conditions.

For a few weeks the courgettes didn't make any progress and I thought our experiment might reduce not only the weeds but our courgette crop too. By early July the plants were starting to look a bit more at home and the leaves were starting to take on a much darker green and looking much healthier.

Now the plants have put on lots of growth and are looking very healthy. Looking at the bed you wouldn't know that they're planted through those little crosses in weed control fabric.

And as for the glut - bring it on. Thursday’s cutting produced 30 courgettes weighing in at 9.5kg. As this bed hasn't required any weeding I think it’s turned out a success. 

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Are Your Blossom Ends Rotting?

Wednesday was a warm muggy day with a light shower late in the afternoon.

I noticed that one of our garden greenhouse tomatoes has a bad attack of blossom end rot. I think that’s what it is and it does look like a serious problem. This variety is Sioux and it’s the only plant of this variety in our home greenhouse. 

Thankfully all our other tomatoes in this greenhouse seem unaffected. It did set me thinking though that in the plot greenhouse we have three Sioux plants in one growbag and these might be badly affected too. Having checked them out they don’t appear to have any damage at all.

I've always understood that blossom end rot is due to irregular watering but if anything the plot greenhouse plants would suffer first rather than the ones at home which are watered more regularly. Perhaps it’s too much water but during the hot spell of the last few weeks that seems a bit unlikely to me.

There’s no saving the fruit so I’ll remove all the damaged tomatoes and see what happens.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Thunder and Lightning

Thunderstorms in the morning and then again in the evening brought some welcome rain. The heaviest rain fell through the morning before it brightened up for the afternoon. It was a very warm muggy afternoon and the threat of a storm never seemed far away.

We'd had 9.6mm of rainfall by the end of the day. I’m hoping the plot got at least the same amount but as it’s a few miles away I can’t be really sure how much fell there due the showery nature of the rainfall. Perhaps it got even more - that would be good. 

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Not Just Any Old Fig

The forecast for Monday seemed way out in the morning as it was cloudy and on the cool side, but in the afternoon the sun broke through the cloud and the temperature was soon up to the forecast 26°C.

Back at the end of September 2011 our pot grown fig tree looked like this.

It hadn't had any leaves all summer and to all intents and purposes it was dead. Never too keen to discard a sick plant we kept on feeding and watering and our Brown Turkey fig tree came back to life. This year it’s had a cosseted life in the greenhouse and it’s rewarded us with plenty of green figs. One or two had turned yellow and fallen off and I was hoping that this wasn't going to be the fate of all the crop.  

Well I’m sure this fig is almost ripe the only problem now is how do I know when it’s fully ripe? I’d hate to remove it from the tree too early after all the effort of looking after it.

The forecast of thunder storms and heavy rain for Tuesday has proved correct with early morning thunder and rain. The allotment and garden will be enjoying the wet weather after a very hot and dry three weeks.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

It’s Gone

The forecast was correct and for us the hot weather moved away and cooler conditions arrived for the weekend. The cooler weather meant that we could do a few more energetic jobs down on the plot. We needed to dig some more potatoes and as our Swift have suffered badly in the hot dry conditions and the foliage has turned brown or disappeared I decided to lift what remained of the row.

As you can see the soils is very dry. The potato tubers planted back in April hadn’t rotted and in most cases were far larger than the potatoes I harvested. The crop weight for this 5.0m long row came to just 4.9kg which I reckon is pretty poor. 

On the brighter side apart from one tuber which has some scab all the others are undamaged and the potatoes do have a good flavour. I’m hoping the other varieties with tops still in good condition will provide us with some heavier crops to last us through winter. 

Now that the “heatwave” is over it’s about time we had some rain as we’ve had only 4.0mm this month. From the forecast at the moment it looks like things are about to turn much wetter this week.

A good rain would be most welcome for both the garden and allotment.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

A “Heatwave” and Broad Bean Success

Friday was another hot day although there was more cloud about but the temperature still reached 29.7°C. With Thursday’s 30.2°C and an intervening night time low of 15.6°C we met the heatwave criteria for Yorkshire and Humberside. Although there’s much in the media about the heatwave continuing and for even hotter weather next week that isn't forecast for us as we are due some cooler weather but that much needed rain doesn't appear to be in the forecast.

If you read our blogs on a regular basis you will know that we have been using weed control fabric on the allotment to cut down on the amount of weeding Sue has to do. Last year we'd tested this out successfully on our carrot crop and this year one of our first crops for the fabric test was our early broad beans Witkeim Manita. 

The last of the beans were picked on Friday and they have produced a good crop without too much effort from us. We have done a little weeding around the edges of the fabric where the soil is used to hold things in place but that’s all. Perhaps because of the hot dry weather the beans haven't cropped over a long period but as they’re good for freezing that isn't too much of a problem. 

The harvesting details are shown above where the weight is for broad beans still in their pods as picked from the plants. If our Masterpiece Longpod and Crimson flowered varieties do as well we will have plenty of broad beans stored in the freezer.

This is the 5.84kg of beans picked on Friday. 

Once all the broad beans are picked the next decision to make will be whether or not to leave the fabric in place. It may well depend on whether or not we get some rain. If we do and this bed can be dug over which I may do before replacing the fabric and using the same holes in the fabric to grow a late crop of lettuce.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Into the 30’s But Only Just

The hot sunny weather continued on Wednesday and Thursday with Thursday becoming our hottest day of the year with a high of 30.2°C or 86°F.

That’s not quite the hottest day I've recorded which still remains 27 June 2011 with 31.6°C.

Our rather more exotic fruit and vegetables are enjoying the heat. Our pot grown kiwi Issai growing outside in the garden has set fruit unlike its full size cousins on the allotment. 

There’s obviously still a long way to go before we get anything that’s suitable for a taste test. We've never managed to produce a kiwi of any size or description at home or down on the plot so this would be a first for us.

In the greenhouse I’m trying to decide if this fig is about to ripen. It’s certainly starting to change colour but one or two figs have turned yellow and fallen off rather than ripening.

The plant certainly looks healthy enough so I’m hopeful of some fruit being suitable for eating.  

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Taking Its Toll

The hot spell of weather continued on Monday and Tuesday with temperatures approaching the 30°C mark. In this “heatwave” we've had four days with the temperature above 29°C but none have yet managed 30°C. The highest still remains as Tuesday 9th with 29.6°C.

This spell of excellent summer weather is starting to take its toll down on the plot. Our early potatoes Swift never seemed to put on much top growth compared with our other varieties and the hot weather of the last couple of weeks has finished them off completely. 

At least there is a crop on them so I mustn't complain too much. Whilst some of the vegetables might not be enjoying the hot weather too much our fruit is giving us a bonanza crop. Harvests like the one below are one of the main reasons for all the effort put in over the rest of the year.

Details of all our harvested crops can be found here.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

What a Difference

Sunday was a lovely summer’s day with the temperature making it up to 25.9°C but feeling far more comfortable than Saturday’s 29.4°C. Although we didn't get heatwave conditions by day we did by night with the temperature not falling below 15°C.

What a contrast this July is with last. By mid month last year we'd had 83.0mm of rain compared to this year’s 3.4mm and I’d recorded just 32 hours of sunshine against 85 hours this year.

For a change we had a day off from doing our own gardening and visited Boundary Cottage to look around the garden created by Roger Brook which was open for charity in conjunction with The National Gardens Scheme. We both enjoyed looking around Roger’s garden and a little banter with Roger too. If you would like to know more about our visit and Roger’s garden Sue has posted more details here.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Is It a Heatwave?

Saturday was another scorcher of a day with the temperature reaching 29.4°C. There was more cloud about but it didn't cool the day down at all. 

Strangely we often talk about heatwaves but what exactly is a heatwave. Other countries such as America and Australia where high temperatures are more extreme than the UK do have definitions. It seems that here in the UK we don't have a precise definition.

The best I’ve been able to find is this Guide to Heat-Health Watch. This system operates in England and Wales from 1 June to 15 September each year in association with the Department of Health and the Welsh Assembly. Details are available on the Met office website here.

Earlier in the week Yorkshire and Humberside was put on a level 3 alert and whilst we had two consecutive days above 29°C night time temperatures have fallen back to below 15°C

Temperatures and Sunshine records for Thursday, Friday & Saturday 11 to 13 July 2013

That means we haven't had a heatwave because it’s been too cold during the night. However heatwave or not it’s certainly been the best summer weather since July 2006 and it’s forecast to continue well into next week.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Patience Rewarded

Plenty of sunshine again on Friday with the temperature reaching 29.2°C at 16:00. It’s forecast to be a little bit cooler over the next few days.

I noticed today that a second Mimosa Pink Sparkles has germinated. These seeds were sown on 09 April 2013 and after spending some time under the indoor growlight were eventually moved into the greenhouse. We had a few false alarms as various strange little seedlings emerged from the compost but none of them turned out to be mimosa seedlings. Then after 83 days on 01 July 2013 our first true Mimosa seedling pushed through the compost.

This little seedling is growing well and from its true leaves it really does look like mimosa. Then today I noticed a second seedling has emerged that’s 94 days after sowing. Who knows perhaps in time a few more might germinate before any colder weather arrives. 

So patience really has paid off in this case as I could have easily discarded or stopped watering this seed tray. The vermiculite too has done a good job as it’s prevented the top of the seed compost from going green. Once that happens the contents of my seed trays are normally consigned to the compost heap. 

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Winter Brassicas

After the dull weather of Wednesday, Thursday was another brilliant summer’s day with almost unbroken sunshine once again. The temperature was pleasant reaching the low twenties.

On such a lovely summer’s day it’s a bit odd thinking about winter brassicas but our plants were certainly ready for planting out on the plot. Plenty of water was required to ensure that the plants will become accustomed to their new conditions as quickly as possible.

Last year’s weed control fabric was reused with the plants placed in the same holes in the fabric as last year. This worked really well for and we were expecting a bumper harvest until we decided to remove the protective netting over winter allowing wood pigeons to decimate the crop. I’m sure it took longer to sort out the protection than it did to plant up the bed. In the bed are cauliflowers Aalsmeer, cabbages Tundra & January King, and some broccoli Early White Sprouting. This year the netting will be staying on! 

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

No Show

After a long sunny day, Wednesday it was all change as the sun didn't manage to make an appearance at all. It was a much cooler day too with the temperature not quite making it to 20°C.

This chart of our sunshine hours for the last three days clearly shows the contrast. Monday the first day on the chart was fairly cloudy especially in the morning before the sun came out in the afternoon. Tuesday was sunny all day and then finally Wednesday with no recorded sunshine at all.

The garden and plot really do need some rain now. We've had just 3.4mm so far this month hardly enough to dampen the top of the soil let alone give our crops a good watering. The ground where I dug up our first root of early potatoes Vales Emerald didn't have any sign of moisture down to a fork’s depth.

There isn't much rain forecast although there is a possibility of some heavy showers on Saturday which would be very welcome.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

A Scorcher

The hottest temperature we’ve had this year increased still further on Tuesday reaching 29.6°C at 16:08. That puts Tuesday in second place in my high temperature records with the hottest day still remaining as 27 June 2011 at 31.6°C.  

The sunshine trace shows it was unbroken sunshine for most of the day. The morning blip is due to shading from our magnolia tree and the afternoon shade is from our crab apple tree. These trees might prevent me from obtaining a super accurate sunshine record but the shade provided was most welcome today.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

What’s In a Potato Top

Monday was another fine day although there was a little bit of cloud at times and it wasn't quite as hot.

On the plot we've been comparing the tops of our early potatoes Vales Emerald and Swift. Both were planted on 15 April 2013 but Vales Emerald has grown much stronger than Swift leading us to think that Vales Emerald would produce by far the larger crop.

This was how the crops looked just before we decided to harvest one root of each variety to satisfy our curiosity. Each variety has had 84 growing days.

The harvest from each root wasn't too different weight wise with Vales Emerald yielding 0.642kg and Swift 0.509kg. The taste test is still to come but clearly the amount of tops on potatoes isn't much of a guide as to what’s below ground.

The ground the potatoes came out of was very dry. I’m sure with a little bit more rainfall over the past month the harvest would have increased the considerably. The upside is that because it’s so dry there isn't any slug damage.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Been Missing Out

Sunday continued the spell of hot weather nudging this year’s high temperature up to 28.8°C.

Our elderflower cordial was given the taste test today. All that needed to be done today was to strain the mixture through a muslin cloth and the cordial was ready. It was surprising how just a couple of pink flower heads coloured the mixture.

It was left in the fridge for a couple of hours to cool before the taste test. Diluted with some water it made an excellent refreshing drink on a hot summer’s afternoon. It’s especially good with strawberry and white chocolate muffins but that’s another story. 

We've certainly been missing out on a simple to make delicious cordial. We might just have time to collect another 30 heads of elderflowers before they go over. 

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

No Half Measures

Saturday was another glorious summer’s day bringing with it another hottest day of the year as the thermometer hit 28.5°C late into the afternoon. It was our hottest day since 27 June 2011 when we reached 31.5°C the hottest day I’ve recorded. 

We did visit the plot but it wasn't a day for doing anything too energetic. We've reached the time of gradually change on the plot from planting up to harvesting. Whilst we still have more planting to do, leeks, winter brassicas and more french beans we can at least pick a little fruit or harvest some vegetables on each visit to the plot.

Our complete harvesting record for July can be found here.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Phew!

As forecast Friday was a gorgeous summer’s day. It was the warmest day of the year with a high of 24.4°C making it the warmest day we've had since 09 September 2012 when the thermometer touched 26.2°C.

Our garden mint bought on 06 June and planted in a large pot at home has grown really well. It seemed a shame to let all that mint go to waste so I decided to try this recipe to preserve some for use through the winter.

I harvested 50g of mint leaves from just our Apple mint so I might produce another jar using another variety of mint. That amount of mint does take some chopping so I might consider using a food processor for the next batch instead of chopping by hand.

We'd also been thinking about having an attempt to make some elderflower cordial. As the flowers are just about at their best now I popped down to the plot to pick some flower heads. The recipe says 30 flower heads but once you start picking them and realise how the sizes of the heads vary so much this becomes a tricky amount to judge. If you fancy having a go the recipe I used is here. 

You may notice that I sneaked in one or two sprigs of pink from the sambucus nigra just to add a tinge of pink to the cordial.

If the taste is anything like as good as the aroma that is filling the kitchen this should be excellent once the steeping is finished. Updates on the results will follow.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

First Pods

Thursday was another so - so sort of a day with some sunny periods and once again a strong breeze at times. For the fourth time in five nights this month the overnight temperature fell into single figures including Friday morning.

We picked our first peas on Thursday. These were Meteor sown in our home greenhouse back in April. Their sowing and subsequent growing history is below.

Not a large first picking but they tasted very nice as we ate them au natural in a salad. I’d normally expect our early spring sowing of broad beans to be ready before our peas. Our Witkeim Manita have some very nice looking pods but the beans haven’t swelled up inside and will need a few more days to fill out before picking.

Also on the soon to be ready for picking list will be courgettes. Tondo Chiaro di Nizza a round variety we are growing for the first time looks like it will be ready first. A couple of days and this one should be big enough to pick. 

At last the spell of no fresh vegetables to harvest is coming to an end.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett