A Gardener's Weather Diary: Great Start

Wednesday, 1 June 2016

Great Start - Disappointing End

It's not been a very good end to the month. In fact it's been disappointing after such a good start to May. The first week was brilliant and although we had plenty of sunshine in week two the temperatures fell away. Since then it has been unsettled although we have managed a few nice days.

Temperature, Rainfall and Sunshine Records for May 2016

The temperature for the month will be about average for Ossett. The average daily highs have been on the high side but to balance this the average daily lows have been on the low side. Probably not what the gardener needs.

Over the past year we've had our fair share of windy months, but May 2016 has turned out to be the calmest May I've recorded with no gusts of note all month.

I have been trying to catch up on some digging down on the allotment. That rain in the middle of the month made it a bit wet for digging so it was left until Bank Holiday Monday for me to do a bit of catching up. Still after a busy Monday afternoon we have a few more beds ready for planting up.

Some beds on the plot were still a little too wet to dig whilst others were in just the right state. I have wondered how covering the ground with weed control fabric affects the state of the soil. Just when I'm starting to think that covering the ground might be the reason why some parts are wetter than others I find a bed covered with fabric digs much better than one that's been left uncovered. This leads me to think that whatever it is that results in some beds being wetter than others it's not down to weed control fabric.

As meteorological summer time starts we're looking forward to some better weather although judging from the forecast for the next few days I think it might be a little bit of wishful thinking.