Unfrosted parsnips

Wednesday continued in much the same vein as the rest of the month, mild and cloudy.

We dug our first parsnips on the plot last weekend. I was a little dubious about digging a few roots to test for a couple of reasons. Firstly they hadn’t made their usual amount of top growth, a bit like this year’s potato crop, and secondly they haven’t had a frost to sweeten the roots.

I needn’t have worried as the roots were a decent size. I’m not going to suggest they were the largest specimens I've ever grown but they were plenty big enough. These Gladiator roots were completely free of canker which sometimes damages our crop. They tasted nice and sweet when cooked too. These roots have reminded me to place some straw around the remaining parsnips so that I can harvest the roots once the weather turns cold and snowy.

Mixed messages

Tuesday was the umpteenth dull day of the month. It might have been a mild month but it’s certainly lacked sunshine. Once again it was mild keeping up our high average daily temperature for the month.

In the pond our water hawthorn (Aponogeton distachyos) has decided to flower. It normally starts to flower in late spring but has obviously decided a few late flower will do no harm, maybe due to the mild weather.

Down on the plot at the weekend it was a different matter. It might have been mild but it’s been damp and horrible even though we haven’t had a great deal of rain. This has finished off our crop of lettuce (Red Iceburg) which have turned into a soggy mush in the damp conditions.

It’s much the same story with our Flamenco strawberries. They're still doing their best to produce fruits but in the damp weather these are going mouldy before they ripen. Never mind I don’t really expect to be picking strawberries at the end of November. 

Another cloudy miserable day

Monday was like many of the days this month, cloudy and dull all day. As I made space for another week’s weather to be added to my charts I couldn't help but notice the dramatic drop in temperatures at the end of November last year. The snow arrived as well. We were heading into winter without any hint of how the weather was going to turn. Temperatures fell and the snow arrived and stayed. This article in the local Yorkshire Post looks back at that spell of weather from last year. 

Click here to read more

Along with the rest of the country we didn’t expect the weather to turn as it did. I’ve just looked back at my blog postings for this time last year. My entry on the 21st November hinted there might be some cold weather on the way. How accurate that American forecast turned out to be. 

Click here to link to my blog article

That same American forecast doesn't have any snow predicted for next weekend just wet and windy weather.

Misty day

The mist never cleared all day so it was a miserable cold day.

The temperature only managed a maximum of 7.7°C so in the Central England Temperature Record it means 2011 moves down into 4th place. Some milder days are forecast later on in the week so it is still possible that the average temperature for the month might improve. It’s probably going to be dependant on over night temperatures remaining mild and frost free.

Plum tree sorted

Saturday started off misty and murky but by late morning the mist disappeared and the sun came out leaving us with a lovely afternoon.

On the plot I decided it was about time I got round to sorting out our Marjorie’s Seedling plum tree. Back in the summer under the sheer weight of plums one of its branches broke. The break wasn't all the way through and the plums on the broken branch did go on to ripen. Although its not the right time to be cutting back a plum tree I decided I wanted to tidy the tree up for winter.

This was our tree in the height of summer laden with plums. It looked a little different yesterday before I set to with my saw.

This is how it looked with our old steps still in place trying to support the broken bough.

It looked much better once all the broken branches and twigs had been removed. I'm a little bit concerned about the actual  point where the branch broke. I can’t really see how it can be cut back to give a smooth cut without destroying the whole tree. I might try gunging up the whole area with one of those compounds for protecting cut surfaces of trees. As you can see the actual break point still looks very messy.

As for the cut back branches they’re just a small pile of twigs and branches ready to be burnt to produce some potash which is good to spread back on the plot. Not that these few twigs will produce very much.

Mostly cloudy but mild

Friday started off with a little sunshine which soon gave way to clouds for the rest of the day. It was another very mild day for November with a high of 13.9°C.

The newspapers are already discussing the possibility of November being the warmest ever recorded in the Central England Temperature Record which dates back 350 years. 

Click here to read full story

We’re located just outside this area, but not many miles north of it. Today our average temperature for the month is 9.6°C lower than the figure needed for us to break this record. 

So whilst we wouldn’t break the record we’re still in with a chance of it being the second warmest November based on this old record.

Surprisingly the records from 3rd to 7th warmest have all been in place for many years with 3rd place dating back to 1818 over 190 years ago. So mild Novembers aren’t really a recent phenomenon.

Glorious

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Thursday was glorious, sunny and mild and hard to believe it was the middle of November. There was just a gentle breeze and it was still possible to feel a little warmth in the afternoon sunshine. A real bonus day for the time of year.

So far this month we’ve had just 16.2mm of rain and with a long term average of 64 mm we could be in for yet another dry month. At this time of year the rainfall we are having seems enough to keep the soil in our garden and on the plot on the wet side even though the amount of rain we’ve had is relatively small.

Cold and dull

Wednesday was cool and cloudy all day. With the temperature not even making double figures, 8.3°C was our maximum it certainly had a November feel to the day.

We harvested our medlars this week, much later in this autumn than over the last few previous years. The tree had just about lost all its leaves but all the medlars were still hanging on.

I’m still looking for a good way to use medlars. I’ve not come to terms with this idea of bletting or almost allowing the fruit to start rotting before its ready to eat. It looks like some of our fruits have bletted on the tree. It’s a bit like trying to decide whether or not to eat “shaggy parasols” - well maybe not at least we may decide to eat the medlars!