Monday, 28 September 2020

Coldest September Night

We left the allotment at about 17:30 on Sunday afternoon. It had been a dull and chilly afternoon even for late September. However, in the hour or so before we left the cloud cleared and the cool breeze disappeared as it became quite calm.  If conditions remained the same, it had all the feelings of a cold night to come.
As it turns out they did, leading to the coldest September night in the last eleven years with the temperature falling to 2.5°C or 36.5°F. 
Temperature Records 26-28 September 2020

The previous lowest September temperature was 3.1°C (37.6°F) on 25 September 2018.

Tuesday, 22 September 2020

Unusually Calm

At breakfast time on Monday the sky was blue and normally at this time of year that a sign that we’ve probably just had a cold night. I decided to have a quick look at my weather station to see if we had indeed had a cold night.


The table above shows that it had been a chilly night with the temperature falling to 5.4°C. Then I noticed the wind speeds which I’ve circled in red. From midnight to around 08:00 there hadn’t been the slightest gust of wind. A look outside and the trees and bushes in the garden were very still. It was just after 08:00 when there was enough breeze to register on my weather station.


Last year at this time in September we were just about to move from a dry spell of weather into a wet one. I’d put any winter digging on hold until it rained because the ground was so dry. That digging didn’t get done until the start of spring when we eventually got some dry weather. This year the weather has been kinder and we’ve got most of our beds that have been cleared of summer crops dug over. 

It looks as though it’s in the nick of time as cold, wet and windy weather is due to arrive later this week.

Saturday, 19 September 2020

Growing Winter Onions Two Different Ways

All through the gardening year, it’s been difficult to know if we’d be able to find some compost, plants or seeds for the allotment. This was true when I was looking out for winter onion sets. I saw that winter onion plants could be ordered online and, as I didn’t know if we’d be able to find some sets, I ordered some plants. As it turned out I managed to buy some sets from our local garden centre.
We collected our onion sets early in September before our plants arrived. I’d dug over a bed that we’d grown potatoes in over summer and we decided to get our onion sets into the ground. I think that the sooner they are planted the better the chance of a good crop. It gives the sets a chance to get established before the onset of any bad winter weather.
Our winter onion plants arrived a week or so later and we wasted no time in getting them planted. However, it was difficult to decide exactly how they should be planted. We decided the best method would be to plant them in compost filled trenches rather than trying to plant them directly into the soil.
It was difficult to decide how deep to plant the onions. Hopefully, we’ve got it about right. We’ve planted a few of our leftover onion sets in a row between the plants as a direct comparison of how the sets and plants compare.

We’ll now have to see how they all get on over winter. For the next few days, the forecast is for the weather to remain decent but by the middle of next week, it looks like autumn will arrive bringing some much colder temperatures accompanied by spells of heavy rain and gale force winds.

Thursday, 17 September 2020

Another Short Lived Hot Spell

All through this year, we’ve had the occasional day or couple of days of very warm weather. The last couple of days have been very warm and it’s probably the last time this year we will get some hot weather. The temperature on Tuesday reached 27.7°C (81.9°F) pretty warm for September but Wednesday turned cool and cloudy with a temperature only managing around 15.5° C (59.9°F) through the day. 
Temperature & Sunshine Records 11-17 September 2020

We made the most of the good weather and had a couple of days visiting some National Trust properties. Our first visit was to Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Gardens. We weren’t all that sure about how a visit would go taking into account the coronavirus restrictions. When we arrived the car park was very busy. In the large grounds of Fountains Abbey, there didn’t seem to be all that many people and we enjoyed our wander around the abbey and water gardens.


Our second visit out on Tuesday was to Clumber Park. Rather than make our usual walk around the more formal gardens we decided to find the path that led to the far side of the lake. This involves crossing Clumber Bridge which has recently been restored after vandals destroyed it.

Ruby enjoyed her visit on both days and it’s probably the longest walk she’s been on so far. She seems to enjoy a picnic lunch provided it was followed with a few pieces of apple for dessert. 

Although the weather has turned cooler there is no sign of any rain in the forecast so with any amount of luck we will be able to get some tidying up and digging done down at the allotment. It might even be the case that we need to water some of the brassicas and leeks that were planted recently.





Sunday, 13 September 2020

Busy Time Harvesting

How time flies. I hadn’t realised how long it had been since my last post. That’s partly because there’s been nothing particularly unusual with the weather during the first part of September and because we’ve been busy harvesting and planting at the allotment.

It’s that time of year when we dig up our maincrop potatoes. They’ve done well this year and we should have enough potatoes to see us through winter. They’ve been sorted and dried and are stored in paper sacks in the garage. We’ve started picking apples although some need a little longer before they’re ready. The same is true for our pears. The ones we’ve picked are now boxed up and stored in the summerhouse. 


We were trying to dry our summer grown onions at the allotment but decided they would have more chance in the cold frame at home. The day after bringing all our summer onions back home our winter onions sets were planted.

With potatoes and onions harvested it now means we have plenty of beds ready for autumn digging. Last year at this time the ground was so dry we couldn’t get any digging done and once it did start to rain in the middle of September it didn’t stop all winter. Hopefully, this year we’ll get our autumn digging done and we’ll be better prepared for spring next year.

The forecast is for some warm weather over the next few days so I’m hoping to get some digging done as well as harvesting our remaining apples and pears.


Thursday, 3 September 2020

Summer 2020 - Good or Bad?

Firstly let's consider the temperatures and rainfall for August.
Average Temperature & Rainfall Records August 2010 - 2020
As you can see from the table above it turned out to be a fairly average August, although it managed this with extremes of high and low temperatures. August 2020 recorded both the highest August temperature of 31.2°C (88.2°F), and the lowest of 3.9°C (39.0°F). Rainfall too was around average. We certainly had enough rain through August to keep the plot and garden watered.

Summer 2020 hasn't been one of the best. We've had a few very hot days but they have been just that a hot day rather than a prolonged spell of hot weather.
Average Temperature & Rainfall Records Summers 2010 - 2020
Summer 2020 finished 8th equal out of 11 summers which is rather disappointing. Rainfall over summer was above average but at least it meant we had very little extra watering to do. Certainly, the rainfall has no doubt helped towards a good potato harvest this year although we still have some maincrop potatoes left to lift.

We're only a couple of days into September but the rather cool trend has continued into the new month.