A Gardener's Weather Diary: Lockdown Day 71? - Brilliant May Weather but Maybe Not For Gardening

Tuesday 2 June 2020

Lockdown Day 71? - Brilliant May Weather but Maybe Not For Gardening

Generally the weather throughout May has been very good. The UK Met Office has reported it as one of the sunniest Mays on record. My sunshine records don’t necessarily back up that statement but it was certainly sunnier than any of the summer months of last year.

It’s also turned out to be a mild May too, although not as warm as the Mays of 2017 and 2018 making it the 3rd hottest of the last 11 years.

Although we've had all this lovely weather it’s not been so brilliant for the garden or allotment. Since the middle of March, there has been no rainfall of any note, meaning the garden and allotment are now bone dry and in desperate need of some wet weather. They’ve gone from waterlogged in the middle of March to parched by the end of May. As a result, nothing is growing very well at the allotment despite lots of time spent watering.

It's not surprising then that this May has finished up the driest of the last 11 years.

Lots of grassed areas look as though they've come through a long hot summer rather than it being the beginning of meteorological summer. The weather is set to change this week becoming much cooler with the possibility of some welcome rain.

Despite finishing with an above average temperature, this May had the latest spring frosts I’ve recorded with a temperature of -0.4°C (31.3°F) recorded on 14th May. It meant making sure our potatoes and strawberry flowers were protected from the frost but unfortunately, our kiwi and grapevine left unprotected were damaged.

Around the same time as the frost, we managed to have one of the windiest May days I’ve recorded as well as the hottest May Day I’ve recorded when the temperature reached 29.3°C (84.7°F) on 20th May. I also keep a check on the average monthly high and low temperatures and, whilst this May had the second highest average high temperature of 19.4°C (66.9°F) beaten only by 2018 with 20.5°C (68.9°F), it had the second lowest night time temperature of 7.0°C (44.6°F) with only 2013 colder with 6.8°C (44.2°F). There's no wonder plants at the allotment have been struggling to get a foothold.

These broad bean plants have struggled to come to terms with the lack of rain, warm daytime temperatures but cool nights and the odd windy day didn't help either.

We'll now have to see if the lovely weather of May turns out to be the best of the year. It's rather disappointing to see an end to the lovely sunny weather but hopefully, some welcome rain will get the allotment season restarted. It's on hold at the moment with lots of plants at home waiting to be planted out. It will be made so much easier after a decent day's rain.