Odd Weather Day

Sunday was another mild day. Once again it was a rather strange sort of a day. There was plenty of sunshine but it was accompanied by a strong to gale force wind for most of the day taking the edge of the temperature. It was the sunniest day of the year and the windiest day of the month a rather odd combination.

Temperature & High Wind Speed Records for 19 March 2017

Just like Saturday, all day it tried to rain in the wind. The actual rainfall didn't amount to anything but added to the day's unpleasantness.

For the last week the weather forecast has suggested rain for the following day which hasn't, for us at least, ever arrived. The soil on the allotment has dried out well over the last couple of weeks and was in excellent condition for cultivating. As it's been continually forecast to rain I've tried to get as much digging done on the plot as possible whilst the soil is in good condition and before we get any heavy rain.

Sunday saw some more beds dug over and prepared for planting. The top left hand corner bed is for our new black raspberry called Jewel. The bed on the bottom left will be planted up with our trial potatoes Cara, Innovator, Isle of Jura, Osprey, Rooster and Saxon. We have four tubers of each variety to plant. I've still to decide on the crops to be planted in the beds on the right hand side of the image. The bed in the centre will be planted up with broad beans Witkeim Manita, which were sown in pots in the greenhouse at the beginning of the month, and Robin Hood which will be sown in a few weeks time to provide a successional crop.

Broad Beans Witkeim Manita Sown On 02 March 2017

These will soon be moved out of the greenhouse and into the cold frame so that they can become acclimatised to outdoor conditions before they are planted out in the allotment.

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