Summer has all but disappeared as we've entered July. This year the first week of July is the coldest start to the month I've recorded in 10 years.
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| Rolling Average Temperatures July 2010 - 2020 |
As you can see from my table above, the average temperature for the month at the end of the first week is 14.5°C the lowest I've recorded. It needs to be around 17.4°C for the expected temperature so it's about 2.9°C below average.
At the allotment, some things seem to be enjoying the cool and wet weather. Our brassicas and potatoes are growing really well.
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| Cabbage - Cabbice |
It the first time we've tried the cabbage called Cabbice and it looks to be growing well. Last year our potatoes never grew very well at all and never produced any decent haulms. That's not the case this year as they're producing lots of greenery.
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| Potatoes - Apache, Elfe, and Osprey (from left to right) |
If the potatoes under these three rows are anything like the tops we should be in for a bumper crop. However, I've been growing potatoes for long enough now to know not to count on too much until the roots are lifted towards the end of August or beginning of September.
Of course, there has to be a downside and squashes, beans and courgettes that would like some conditions more akin to July are struggling in the cool temperatures.
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Same thing happened here with my artichokes which I grow for the flowers for the butterflies mostly swallowtails. The stalks got so tall and so heavy that they fell over just as the flowers were forming. I had debated whether to prop them up or not. I lost. Next year will be different.
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