Thursday, 7 December 2017

Storm Caroline

Caroline passed through on Wednesday night and Thursday morning giving us nothing more than a typically windy December night with no particularly strong gusts of wind. However, following a few heavy showers as it got light on Thursday morning the temperature dropped considerably.
Temperature and Rainfall Records 07 December 2017
If the weather models are correct the temperature is going to fall even more over the next couple of days.

You may have watched the video that Sue posted yesterday of the birds devouring the sunflower hearts in our feeder.


Whilst I enjoy watching their antics there is a price to pay in that that the chaff from the seed collects below the feeder and needs to be removed. Watching the goldfinches you can see how they roll a sunflower heart in their beak to remove the seed coat which falls to the ground. I've found the easiest way to collect all the fallen waste is to keep some weed control fabric under the feeder so that the fabric can be used to collect all the waste and disposed of as necessary. 
On Wednesday afternoon I had a tidy up around the base of the feeder. The weed control fabric is held in place with some hefty prunings from our magnolia tree and covered with a few leaves for good measure. Surprisingly storm Caroline didn't blow them away overnight.  

Posted by Martyn at 10:15 0 comments

Tuesday, 5 December 2017

Before the Cold Spell

There’s not much to report on the weather front at the moment. The last couple of days have been pretty decent with around average temperatures. 
Temperature & Rainfall Records 02-04 December 2017
However, things are set to change as first, wet and windy weather arrives mid week to be followed by a spell of cold weather accompanied by snow showers due to set in over the weekend and into next week.

I made a short video of our visit to the plot last Sunday when we lifted our dahlia tubers.


Posted by Martyn at 13:15 0 comments

Monday, 4 December 2017

Dahlias Saved

Considering the time of year Sunday wasn't a bad day. After a bit of a cloudy start the sun broke through to give us some decent sunny spells and it was reasonably mild for December. We decided on an afternoon trip to the plot to lift our dahlia tubers and save them somewhere frost free and dry over winter.
Sue was hoping that our chrysanthemums had survived the recent cold spell and that they might provide us with a few cut flowers.
Unfortunately that wasn't the case and we decided that these too could be cut back and the roots lifted and protected again the worst of the winter weather.

Whilst I cut back and lifted the dahlias Sue cut back the chrysanthemums.
The last couple of months have been on the dry side with not a great deal of rain which meant the dahlia roots came out of the ground easily without too much soil clinging to the roots. Most of the soil was cleared off the roots with a small hand fork. The roots have been placed in a large potato sack and have gone into the garage to be stored alongside our potatoes. I'll leave them in the garage until around the beginning of March. 

The chrysanthemum roots were lifted too but these were placed in plastic tubs with the roots packed in wood chip. The tubs were placed in the plot greenhouse for protection.
After lifting the dahlias and chrysanthemums we decided we still had a little bit of time left before it got dark to do some harvesting. We managed to dig up some carrots, parsnips, leeks and beetroot as well as cut a couple of red cabbages and a green one. The main surprise of the day was that some tomatoes and a couple of red peppers in the plot greenhouse had survived the cold weather.
As you can probably tell from the photo by the time we'd finished harvesting it was starting to get dark.

Posted by Martyn at 10:51 2 comments

Sunday, 3 December 2017

It's Warmed Up A Bit

The start of meteorological winter has brought some slightly milder weather with it for a few days. Although last month had some cold days it also had some very mild days for November and at the end of the month these balanced one another out and the monthly temperature was around average for November. 
It was another month with considerably less rainfall than we might expect. as you can see from the table above only 2011 has been drier since 2010.
A Dunnock Checks Out a Weathered Log for Food
At least it looks like we might be getting a few milder days when the bird bath won't need de-icing. The forecast at the moment is for cold weather to return towards the end of the week. The good or bad news, depending on how you view snow, is that we could get some heavy snow showers on Thursday and Friday accompanied by some cold northerly winds. In terms of computer weather models Thursday is a long way off and there's every possibility that a different outcome will be predicted over the next few days.  

Posted by Martyn at 11:02 0 comments

Friday, 1 December 2017

Winter's Arrived - Meteorologically Speaking

It's definitely been a bit on the cold side over the last few days almost like winter has arrived a little bit early. It's been cold enough to put us off visiting the plot. On Thursday the temperature barely made it above freezing and combined with a strongish breeze it wasn't a day for being outside. It was the first time this autumn that the water in the bird bath has frozen over. The birds didn't appreciate not being able to get a drink.
Once filled up the birds were happy even if a very thin coating of ice began to form on the surface of the water.

Although it's felt cold it's been nothing like as cold as it was in November 2010. In that year I recorded a low temperature of -7.6°C (18.3°F) which still easily remains as my November record low.
Temperatures Records 23-29 November 2010 and 2017
The chart above shows the temperature records for the same weeks in 2010 and 2017.

We do really need to make an effort to get to the allotment to dig up our dahlia tubers and store them somewhere dry and frost free. I don't think it's yet been cold enough for any frost to penetrate down to the roots and do any damage. All the same, we're pushing our luck a little bit.


Posted by Martyn at 10:39 4 comments

Tuesday, 28 November 2017

Cold Weather Forecast

After a couple of days of fairly average November temperatures it appears that we're in for a couple of weeks of below average temperature but sprinkled in will be the odd milder day. Monday felt cold though as it was windy which took the edge off the milder temperatures.
 Temperature with Wind Chill Effects for Monday 27 November 2017
Of course, there's a chance that everything could change with the next run of the weather models and the colder weather might disappear from the forecast.
This campanula is still looking good despite some cold days and nights.

Posted by Martyn at 09:43 0 comments

Sunday, 26 November 2017

Coldest Average This Autumn

Based on average daily temperature Saturday turned out to be our coldest day of autumn. It wasn’t that we had a particularly cold night as the temperature fell to -0.2°C (31.6°F), it was more to do with the daytime high only reaching 5.7°C (42.3°F) that resulted in an average of 2.9°C or 37.2°F.
Temperature & Rainfall Records for 25 November 2017
It’s possible that it might be turning even colder as we progress through the rest of the week so it’s probably time for our agapanthus to be moved into the greenhouse for a little bit of protection. 
The greenhouse won’t give it much protection from the cold but it will keep it out of any rain and it’s often a combination of the two that some plants don’t survive.



Posted by Martyn at 10:33 3 comments

Saturday, 25 November 2017

Mild One Day, Cold the Next

After a couple of mild and windy days the weather has turned colder again. On Wednesday much of the north had lots of rain but luckily we missed most of it.
Temperature, Wind Chill and Rainfall Records 22-24 November 2017
The forecast for the rest of November is for the weather to continue cold and to be mostly dry. So despite some flooding, not that far away from us, we could finish up having a dry November. We have had 22.0mm (0.87in) of rainfall up to the 24th of the month set against an average of 66.0mm or 2.6in.

The milder weather was accompanied by strong winds which I expected would clear the last of the remaining leaves from the trees. It did its best but a few leaves have survived to be blown off another day.
We made the most of a sunny spell on Thursday to catch the first steam hauled Christmas charter train of the year heading to York. No sooner had 46100 Royal Scot passed by than the heavens opened.
Our next gardening task is to lift our dahlia tubers and store them somewhere dry and frost free over winter. It looks like it might be a cold job.

Posted by Martyn at 10:30 0 comments
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