The winter solstice which took place a couple of days ago marks the official start of winter but to me it marks the first milestone of winter as the daylight hours are now increasing each day. Imperceptible at first, especially on dull winter days like we've been having, but nevertheless daylight hours are getting longer by the day.
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| Solar Radiation Levels for 21 June & 21 December 2018 |
As gardeners will be aware light levels have a great deal to do with how plants grow. For comparison purposes the chart above show the solar radiation values for 21 June 2018 and 21 December 2018. Values in summer exceed 1000W/sqm whereas in winter they struggle to reach 100W/sqm. Whilst not a direct comparison of light levels it shows how much less energy we get from sunshine on the shortest and longest days of the year.
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| Temperature & Rainfall Records 17-23 December 2018 |
As I mentioned above it's been a dull miserable week, or more, weather wise. We haven't been to the plot for a couple of weeks now but we'll have to fit in a visit to harvest some fresh vegetables for Christmas dinner.
Everywhere is now very wet and soggy so it's going to be a messy job digging up carrots, parsnips and leeks. Still it's probably better than venturing out to the shops at this time of year!
There's been a challenge circulating amongst gardeners on YouTube to answer six questions regarding their gardening year in 2018. If you're interested our answers are covered in the video below.
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Well done on "facing the camera". I do find you inspirational - but I won't be following your example - when it comes to that aspect! If you are looking for paste tomatoes you must try San Marzano. Although Italian I can vouch that they can be grown even in Scotland - in a hot summer.
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