By mid morning on Thursday I thought I was going to be able to record the warmest day of the year, however I was saved from announcing anything on Twitter or Facebook as the temperature rise suddenly came to a stop.
The temperature to beat is 12.5°C on 23 February and with the temperature rising rapidly to 12.4°C by just after 10:00 that record seemed sure to be about to be beaten. It wasn't!
It’s unusual for us not to have reached 13°C by March, especially as we’ve had a mild winter. In 2011,2012 and 2013 we recorded a temperature of 13°C before the end of January. The cold winter of 2010 was an exception when we didn't make 13°C until the 17 March 2010.
If you follow Sue’s blog you will know that we've got quite a lot planned for this spring. The two major items are refurbishing our old cedar greenhouse and sorting out the area at the back of the greenhouse to accommodate a new cold frame and raised bed supplied by WoodBlocx. Down on the plot one of the areas that was in need of a sort out was outside our shed as the grass from the path was rather rapidly taking over some of the patio area and the grass beneath the tayberry had got somewhat out of control. When I was down on the plot on Tuesday I made a start on sorting out this area.
Above are a couple of before shots showing the unkempt area beneath the tayberry and the grass growing between the paving slabs making a bid to cover the patio area. The aim was to use some weed control fabric held down under the row of paving stones adjacent to the tayberry and spread the fabric around the roots of the tayberry and smother out the grass that is growing. The fabric will join up with a piece of fabric laid last year around the greengage tree next to the wheel barrow in the photo.
Getting the weed control fabric around the roots was a little tricky and it needed some convincing to lay flat but some wood chipping from the allotment supply persuaded it to play ball in the end. I’ll have to finish the job off on my next visit as one of the paving flags needs breaking into two to make it fit better.
All we need now is some better weather before opening up the plot shed for coffee through the season. My excuse for not starting on the greenhouse is that I'm still awaiting delivery of the replacement polycarbonate sheeting which has now been on order since 20 February. I've been promised it will be delivered before the weekend. Time will tell. I'm not very impressed with “shedwindows.co.uk” although they've been okay when I've used them before. In the meantime I need to think about how to reach and stain all the greenhouse timbers to give it that cared for look again
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A lovely neat job, and that's a really nice big space outside of your shed, it must be very handy. Is it a bit of a meeting place for allotmenteers? I can see it would be a good spot to sit down with a hot drink for a bit of a chat. I hear warm weather is on the way, so no doubt I shall finally get down to my plot next week. Hope you and Sue have a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteThe world has been put to rights over cups of coffee a few times on that patio. Wet this morning here but the forecast for next week looks good. Hope they're correct. I guess you'll be footballing this weekend.
Delete12 degrees C here today 20C inside my shed but still struggling to turn saturated soil.
DeleteIt's been in the mid teens in the greenhouse at times this week - very tempting to get sowing. It's also been down to below 1°C twice this week so sowing might not be a good idea. Still to test the soil condition on the plot. Hope the forecasts for some settled dry weather are correct to dry the soil out ready for sowing and planting.
DeleteA bit of football, but less than usual, and the sun makes it all so much more bearable. I actually squeezed in an hour at the allotment today.
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