A Gardener's Weather Diary: August 2018

Friday 31 August 2018

Beginning To Feel a Bit Like Autumn

August began with lovely hot sunny weather but that certainly hasn't lasted and the last week or so has had a distinctly autumnal feel about it. Early on Thursday morning the temperature dipped down to 6.4°C (43.5°F) making it a very chilly start to the day and on Friday morning even lower at 5.2°C or 41.4°F.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 29-31 August 2018

At the allotment there's a bit of an autumnal feel too as we clear away summer crops and begin to harvest apples and plums. However, the allotment remains very dry and although crops can be cleared away to the compost heap the ground is far too hard to dig over. After rain last weekend I though I'd dig over the summer onion bed.

The onions had been lifted a few weeks ago and placed into boxes to be stored over winter. I thought the rain would have softened the soil up and it would be easy to dig over. I was wrong, in fact, it was difficult to tell there had been any rain. I did manage to turn over a couple of spades of soil but it was tough going and I didn't think it was worth carrying on.

The problem is that the number of beds that we are clearing are mounting up and ideally they all need digging over before any bad weather sets in. To make matters worse there's still no "proper rain" in the forecast for the next week to ten days so our drought conditions look as though they will continue on into the first weeks of September.

However, the good news is that the fine sunny weather looks set to return and we may well be in for a very nice spell of September weather. Apart from the possibility of a few showers there's certainly no prolonged wet weather in the forecast.

Ten Day Forecast Based on GFS Weather Model from http://www.wetterzentrale.de

If you choose your photographic location carefully the plot still looks summery especially our perennial bed.

Rose - Jacqueline du Pre

Our roses have seemed to enjoy the long hot summer and have been flowering since the end of May. However, our cardoons are now looking very sorry for themselves.

The bees are now having to look elsewhere for their nectar fix as the flower heads have now died off. It's been windy enough to break some of the thick stems so the saw will have to come out and they will be removed to the compost heap. At least it's a job that doesn't depend on it raining.

Monday 27 August 2018

I'm to Blame

It was only on Friday that I posted that it was absolutely ages since we'd had a thoroughly wet day and then a couple of days later one comes along. To make matters worse it's waited for a holiday weekend.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 01-27 August 2018

As you will notice from the chart above not only have we had some rain but the temperature has been much cooler too which means that the rainfall isn't drying up as quickly as it falls.

Bank Holiday Monday hasn't started off very well either with a dull damp start to the morning. It's forecast to be much brighter with some sunny spells though. There isn't much rain in the forecast for the next week to ten days but hopefully Saturday’s total of 9.4mm(0.37in) will save us watering duties at the plot for a few days.

Friday 24 August 2018

Forgotten What A Wet Day's Like

Not for the first time this summer we've got caught in some rain at the allotment. In fact it was the second time this week. It's a long time now since we had what I'd call a thoroughly wet day. I imagine it was sometime back in April, when it seemed the allotment would never dry out, since then we've really had nothing but showers. So far this month we've had some rain on 10 of the 23 days but on 6 of those 10 "rainy days" the amount has been less than 1.0mm or 0.04in. That doesn't have any effect on the dry ground at the allotment or in the garden.

Rainfall Totals - Summer Months 2010 - 2018

It's easily the driest summer I've recorded although there's a week or so of August still left and rain is forecast for Sunday but we'll have to wait and see if that forecast turns out to be correct or it becomes another day with just a few showers.

Bed Prepared for Planting Over-Wintering Onion Sets

The very dry ground makes preparing beds for more crops very time consuming as the ground needs to be well watered before any attempt can be made to dig it over. The patch above has been prepared ready to plant some winter onions. The potatoes which occupied the bed over summer had been watered on a regular basis since the middle of July, more in an attempt to keep the ground moist enough to dig out the potatoes than increase the size of the crop. Our watering did at least make it easier to dig up the potatoes but the ground was still very dry. The soil got another good soaking once the potatoes were out before it was dug over once again and broken down with the cultivator ready for planting. Now all we need are the onion sets.

If you'd like a look around our plot I've included a video taken in the middle of August.

Monday 20 August 2018

A Return To Watering Duties

The rainfall last Monday was most welcome but since then it's been dry. Not only that we've had a blustery wind and some sunny spells most days which has soon dried out the ground. So it's been necessary to resume watering duties.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 01-20 August 2018

Summer seems to be gradually fading away, or at least the heat is, but on a positive note any watering we do at the allotment lasts a bit longer.

Last week's rain has started to green up our grass paths at the allotment. The last couple of months on the plot have all been about watering and harvesting with little time for other jobs. Now there's some time to catch up it suddenly seems a bit autumnal as the job of tidying up beds from summer crops begins.

I managed to clear our early brassica bed of the old roots of cabbages, calabrese and cauliflowers. I always inspect the roots of brassica plants to see if there are any signs of clubroot. As all the varieties in this bed were clubroot resistant ones I wasn't expecting any problems and indeed there weren't any signs of the disease at all.

I managed to dig over the bed even though the ground was very dry. There are other beds that are ready to be cleared and dug over once the old pea haulms are cleared away. Our onions have been lifted and stored in boxes to finish drying off leaving another couple of beds to be dug over. I'd like a drop more rain to make digging easier before I tackle them. However, there's only the promise of showers in the next week to ten days so I might have to wait a little longer. Much cooler weather is forecast over the Bank Holiday weekend so at least our watering duties will be reduced.

Thursday 16 August 2018

Wrong Sort of Rain or Soil?

The rain on Monday afternoon was very welcome and it's given us a rest from watering the plot. The rainfall over the last four weeks, added together, is now beginning to look like it might manage to make a full column of blue equivalent to about an average month's rainfall.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 17 July to 16 August 2018

Before the rain arrived on Monday afternoon I'd just managed to sow a crop of green manure then the heavens opened. If there's one thing that's bad for our soil it's heavy rain. It's not just heavy rain though as the same problem occurs using a watering can. Our soil is clayey and, after heavy rain or after it's been given a good watering, it soon starts to form a hard crust on the surface. This is especially so if it gets a bit of warm sunshine to help the baking process.

Wednesday 15 August 2018

Watering's Not Required

After a very long spell of dry weather necessitating watering the allotment every few days we can at last have a week off after the allotment got a good soaking from a storm on Monday afternoon. I'd finished sowing some Buckwheat, as a green manure crop, where our trial potatoes had been lifted. The seed packet said to water the seeds in well. I look northwards into the sky.

Monday Afternoon, 13th August 2018

To water or leave, hoping we'd get some rain. As we seemed to have missed most of any storms around this summer I decided to water. By the time I'd emptied a couple of watering cans full over the bed it was spitting with rain. I headed for the shed and just made it in time before the torrential rain arrived.

We had a cup of coffee and watched the rain come down for about half an hour. The Buckwheat was certainly watered in well by the time the storm had passed. It did stop raining but threatened another downpour so we did some very quick harvesting before it began raining again.

It looks like we're going to have a bumper crop of Oullins Gage plums this year. There's still lots to pick so we might be giving a few punnets away.

Sunday 12 August 2018

Was That It!

I posted earlier in the week about the weather forecast for rain over the weekend. The total amount forecast to fall over the weekend was 21.3mm (0.84in) which also included a spell of rain on Monday. By the middle of Sunday morning, that forecast isn't looking all that accurate as so far we've managed only 3.8mm (0.15in) and it's not raining at present. There's the possibility of a few light showers in the forecast for Monday but nothing substantial.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 10-12 August 2018

On the allotment I'd planned for a good downpour. The weed control fabric covering the bed where the Casablanca potatoes had been dug was removed to let the rain at the soil so that the top could be raked over and allow some green manure to be sown.

Bed on Plot 42 Ready For Sowing With A Green Manure Crop

Our trial bed of potatoes was cleared and I reckoned a decent amount of rain would also allow this bed too to be tilled and planted up with a green manure crop.

Cleared Trial Potato Bed On Plot 29

The trial potatoes deserve a post of their own but it's worth noting that our efforts at watering what appeared to be dead potato tops did at least keep the soil moist enough to allow the potatoes to be dug out of something more resembling soil than concrete.

As we approach the half way point of the month, the total amount of rainfall for August is now 4.6mm (0.18in). Our average rainfall for August is 64.4mm (2.54in) so we've a bit of catching up to do to meet this month's average. Our rainfall total for May, June and July this year was 50.4mm (1.98in) set against an average for those three months of 160.9mm or 6.33in.

Saturday 11 August 2018

Still Waiting!

The forecast earlier in the week for rain on Saturday has changed with the wet weather delayed until late on Saturday night and more rain to follow on Sunday and Monday.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 01-11 August 2018

The last couple of days have seen some very light drizzly showers which have managed to wet the plant leaves but do nothing at all for the drought conditions.

However, I have managed to plant out our cabbage and cauliflower plants at the allotment.

Cauliflower "Aalsmeer" & Cabbage "Sabrosa"

The planting process involved copious amounts of water. My original plan was to dig a hole with a trowel and fill it with water before planting but digging a hole wasn't possible in the dry ground. The dry soil just fell back into the hole as quickly as it was dug out. The ground had to be watered first before it was even possible to dig a hole with a trowel. What is normally a fairly quick planting job took all afternoon although that did include fixing the hoops in place for the environmesh. Making holes in the ground for the ends of the hoops to slot into wasn't the easiest of tasks in our dry and very hard ground.

Once planted they got another good soaking to settle them into their winter quarters. A nice drop of rain over Sunday and Monday will do them very nicely.

Tuesday 7 August 2018

Rain On The Way?

Although we are only one week into August it has already been the hottest and driest start to August that I have recorded.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 01-07 August 2018

Sunday saw the temperature reach 29.3°C (84.7°F) making it into a new last place 20th in my list of top twenty hottest days. This exceptionally hot summer has certainly left its mark on the list, with a total of six entries in the table, it equals the summer of 2013 which also has six entries.

We'd some late winter vegetables growing on at home which were devastated by caterpillars when we were concentrating on watering the plot and not giving enough attention to plants growing at home. That's my excuse anyway. We had enough time to sow another batch of seeds and these have been carefully inspected most mornings for any signs of pests.

Cauliflower "Aalsmeer" Left & Cabbage "Sabrosa" Right of Picture

These plants are now ready for planting out in the allotment. They're growing quickly at the moment so I'm going to have to work out a way of planting them out even though the ground is very dry. There is some rain in the forecast for next weekend but that would mean holding the plants back for another week and I'm not sure that's a good idea.

10 Day Weather Forecast from Web Site http://www.wetterzentrale.de/

If my adding up is correct that's 21.3mm of rainfall forecast over next weekend and including Monday too. That would be most welcome for both the garden and allotment even if it's a bit late for getting our cabbages and cauliflowers planted out. The rest of this week looks to remain sunny although cooler than the last few days. After the wet weekend forecast, the sunny weather looks set to return later in the week so perhaps the lovely summer isn't going to end just yet.

Saturday 4 August 2018

What Heatwave?

Weather on the TV and in newspapers was all about heatwave conditions in the UK and abroad but not everywhere in the country was basking in glorious sunshine and near record summer temperatures. We headed to the North Yorkshire Moors on Friday and it rained.

It wasn't the best of mornings for shooting video with cameras that don't really want to get wet. A bit of experimentation from the car was required but the clarity was a bit less than perfect. Never mind though we thought that we'd be getting some similar weather at home and it would be good for the garden and allotment so it wasn't all bad news. The weather did brighten up in the afternoon.

It was noticeable how green the fields and road side verges were compared to the fields of brown around us. Of course there hadn't been any rain at home and there doesn't appear to be any in the forecast for the next week to ten days.

Thursday 2 August 2018

Hottest July I've Recorded

This July finished up the hottest I've recorded since 2010.

Average July Temperatures 2010-2018

It's certainly continued the brilliant summer weather which started in May and has continued through June and July. As far as my records go May, June and now July have all recorded the highest temperatures of the last nine years, resulting in some gorgeous summer weather.

RSPB Bempton Cliffs

However, whilst the lovely, sunny weather has been great for days out, with no issues about whether it's going to rain, that lack of rainfall has had consequences at the allotment. It's meant lots of watering and some crops that we didn't get around to watering have certainly suffered. The worst affected are our potatoes and it's been a case of quarrying our early Casablanca potatoes out of rock hard ground.

July Rainfall 2010-2018

July's rainfall was the second lowest of the last nine years and follows on from a dry May which was 8th driest and June 9th driest since starting my weather records. Over the three months we've managed 50.4mm (1.98in) rather than an average of 148.6mm (5.85in) or about a third of what we might expect. To make matters worse much of that rainfall has come in dribs and drabs, a few millimetres or fractions of an inch at a time, doing no more than wet plant leaves and not get down to soil level where it's required. Some beds on the plot have remained uncultivated throughout summer due to the dry conditions.

Our efforts at watering some crops have turned out to be very productive and on most visits to the plot we return home with a variety of fruit and vegetables.

Allotment Harvest 31 July 2018

The forecast for August is for some more hot weather early next week which quickly breaks down with a return to more average temperatures and more unsettled weather for a time. Maybe the lovely summer weather is coming to an end.