Why Isn’t It Warmer?

We had over 6 hours of sunshine on Monday but it was still the coldest day of the month with the temperature managing only 13.1°C. I thought the idea was that the weather got milder through May not colder. Not only was it cold we also had gale force winds to accompany the occasion heavy squally showers.

In the greenhouse I managed to transplant some of our squash and courgette seedlings which are growing quickly now. These will certainly need the weather to improve before they are planted out on the plot.

Our sweet peas had their tops pinched out to encourage them to grow into bushy plants instead of producing one long main stem. The before and after pictures are below.

So far this year we haven’t suffered from slug and snail damage in the greenhouse. A warning yesterday not to let my guard down as under one of the trays of sweet peas I found this menace in hiding. 

After suitable butchering it was put out of the greenhouse for an easy meal for our resident blackbirds. I had a look under all the other trays and a check in the cold frame but didn't find any more slugs or snails. I’m not expecting this pest to be about in such limited numbers for much longer. Perhaps the last few weeks of dry weather have reduced their numbers for a while.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett