Lockdown Day 37 - Some Rain Arrives

Early on Tuesday evening, we had what seems like our first rain in ages. The drizzly rain continued into the early hours of Wednesday morning. It wasn’t a great amount moving our monthly total up from 0.8 to 4.4mm or 0.17in.

Temperature & Rainfall Records for April 2020

However, it was enough to ensure that April 2011 holds on to the record of the driest month with just 2.4mm (0.09in) of rainfall. The next lowest amount occurred in March 2011 with 7.2mm or 0.28in of rainfall.

I wonder how we got on at the allotment that year.

April 2011 turned out to be a record breaking month. It will go into the record books as the warmest April on Record since 1659. Many days in the month were like summer days as the temperatures climbed into the low twenties with clear blue skies and almost no breeze. 

March was very dry and April even drier again breaking into the record books as we had just 2.4mm of rain. That gives us only 9.6mm in total for the last 2 months when we would normally expect 100mm of rainfall. The result is that the plot is very dry and young plants and seedlings need constant watering for them to survive.

From April 2011 post click here to read full post 

The forecast is for more rain before the month is out, and the weather models are suggesting a cool and changeable May.

I don’t think we’ve had enough rain yet to make digging over the allotment any easier but it's probably enough to keep the surface moist enough to avoid us having to make a trip to water the carrot and parsnip seeds which haven't germinated yet.

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

Lockdown Day 36 - Will Anything Grow It’s That Time of Year?

The weather continues to be sunny and dry. The last few days have been warmer but the wind is still from a cold easterly direction. Today, Tuesday, 28 April 2020 has started off dull, cloudy and cool. The forecast is for some light showers later today and maybe some more prolonged periods of rain before the end of the month. Our monthly total stands at 0.8mm (0.03in) which will be a record low if we don't get any rain before the end of the month.

It’s that time of year on the plot when there appears to be lots of bare ground and nothing is growing. This year I think it looks even more pronounced with the dry bare ground.

All our fruit bushes and trees are doing their thing, greening up and flowering but it’s the ground where the onions, shallots, peas, carrots, parsnips and potatoes are planted that are all still bare. 

What happens if they don’t grow? They always have in the past in varying degrees of success but it always crosses my mind that they might not especially during this dry spell of weather. Other beds need digging over but the ground is now a bit too dry and I've decided to wait until we get a drop of rain before digging over any more beds. The job will be so much easier after a spell of rain. The plot has gone from being waterlogged in the middle of March to very dry by the end of April. Since the 16th March we have had a total of 3.2mm (0.13in) of rain and in the 6 week period up to the 16th March we had 196.0mm (7.72in) of rainfall. A little bit of consistency would be welcome. 

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

Lockdown Day 30 Watercress Carnage

For some time now I’ve been thinking about removing a load of watercress from the pond. Our poor fishes haven’t had much open water for a while. Although it’s been nice and sunny, a cold wind has taken the edge off the temperature putting me off messing about in the pond. Not that I actually need to physically get in to remove the watercress.

I couldn’t put it off any longer. It’s not particularly difficult to remove the watercress but it does make a mess. It’s a question of grabbing a handful and pulling and hoping that all that gets pulled out is watercress.

The lovely clear water in the pond turned cloudy as I heaved out long strands of watercress along with its roots. I’ve left all that I pulled out on the lawn. Hopefully, any creatures hauled out by mistake will have time to find their way back into the pond before all the debris is cleared away to the compost heap.

At least the fishes have more open water now. It will take a few days for the remaining watercress to sort itself out. I still might have to remove some more but I’ll leave it for a few days before deciding.

Once the water clears, the filter will need cleaning out as it will have collected all the floating debris out of the water. With a bit of luck, the water will clear overnight and in the morning the fish will emerge from the depths of the pond ready for breakfast.

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

Lockdown Day 28 - Our New Web Site Is Live

Our new gardening and weather web site has gone live. You can find it by following the link below.

                                http://ossettweather.com/gardening2020/

If the link has worked you should finish up looking at a web page that looks like this.

It is by no means the finished article but it's been a bit of a steep learning curve to figure out exactly how Wordpress works. The main pages more or less contain the information we want them to and the weather and gardening pages can be updated as the year progresses. We need to work out how to link with our now defunct web site in order to access archive material going back over the last 10 years.

In the meantime, the weather continues to be mainly dry and sunny although with an easterly breeze it can feel rather chilly at times. There's a discrepancy now in the forecasts for early next week. The GFS model is suggesting rain for next weekend and the last few days of April whereas the GEM and ECMWF models are forecasting dry weather through until the end of the month. If the latter two models are correct we are in for the driest month of the last 11 years!

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

Lockdown Day 24 - Does Any Software Work?

You'll know if you follow our blog posts that, thanks to Adobe, we can no longer manage our web sites. They didn't give us any notice, just pay up £40 each month or we are cutting you off as of yesterday. We've been hard at work since then finding an alternative. However, as I'm writing this post I'm unable to see any of the photos I've uploaded to Blogger. All I can see is a no entry sign. Is it something I've done or is it a blogger issue? So my pictures will be done by guesswork today!

Anyhow, as we move into the second half of the month April might manage two records by the time we get to the end. Firstly there’s the lack of rainfall. The driest month I’ve recorded was April 2011 with just 2.4mm (0.09in) of rain. So far this month we’ve had a meager 0.8mm (0.03in) giving us a chance of this month becoming the driest of the last eleven years. That would be quite remarkable as February this year was the wettest month of the last eleven years. Of course, it would only take one wet day to scupper that record chance. There isn’t much rain in the weather forecast for the next week to ten days. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.

It’s also been a very mild April and if the warm spell continues it could finish up being the warmest April I’ve recorded too. However, as all gardeners will be aware at this time of the year it’s the coldest temperatures that we need to be aware of.

At the allotment, the new tender shoots on our buddleias have been caught by the frost earlier this week. 

Some of the new shoots on our Tulameen raspberries have been caught by Jack Frost too.  

Each year we go through a spell of weather with overnight frosts when all the fruit blossom is at its best. Our quince is the last of our tree fruit to flower and some of the earlier flower buds are beginning to open. 

Hopefully, if we’re lucky that will be the last frost we get this spring.

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

Lockdown Day 20 - Continuing Dry But Much Colder

After some lovely warm sunny days it’s suddenly turned much colder. The overnight temperature fell to -1.3°C (29.7°F) in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It’s just as well I haven’t got any tender plants growing in the greenhouse.

Temperature Record 12-14 April 2020

We haven’t visited the allotment for several days now. The weather has continued dry with no rain to speak of since the middle of March. The onion and shallot sets planted a week or so ago probably need a drink but I don’t particularly like watering if there’s a  chance of overnight frosts. The forecast is for a couple of cold nights before the temperature warms up a little bit.

I’ll have to start thinking about sowing some tomato seeds along with a few other vegetable seeds which require sowing now we’re into the middle of April.

Opinion at the moment is that the lockdown will continue for another three weeks at least. That means we’ll be keeping visits to the allotment to an absolute minimum.

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

Lockdown Day 19 - Broad Bean Problems

A few weeks ago I sowed a couple of modules of broad beans called De Monica. It’s a variety we haven’t tried before as an early variety. I know I could have sown them in autumn to overwinter but I’ve never had much luck doing that.

Broad beans De Monica sown 22-March-2020

By the looks of it my early spring sowing hasn’t been very successful either. Both trays were sown on exactly the same day with compost from the same bag. As you can see germination has been excellent in one tray and almost a total failure in the other one. I’ll leave them another week to see if any more germination takes place but I think I’ll sow another couple of trays to see if they perform any better.

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

Lockdown Day 18 - Watercress Takeover

The weather over the Easter period has so far been exceptionally nice which is unusual for a Bank Holiday. You might think there’s a lockdown going on and that we’re all supposed to stay at home rather than making the most of the brilliant weather. Anyhow, Saturday became the warmest day of the year as the thermometer reached 22.7°C (72.9°F) which is very pleasant for the middle of April.

Temperature Records 06-12 April 2020

In our pond the Marsh Marigold has come into flower. I didn’t think it was going to manage to overcome the watercress which is taking over the pond.

Last spring I cleared out nearly all the watercress and the little bit I left in appeared to die off. Clearly it didn’t and it has returned with a vengeance. It’s days are numbered though as I intend to remove most of it again.

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

Lockdown Day 17 - Garden Progress

The change in the weather has been exceptional as the dry spell continues into the Easter weekend. Good Friday was another day when the temperature made it into the low twenties Celsius. We are keeping trips to the plot to a minimum in light of the lockdown. It’s normally a very busy time there but this year all that has changed. Life as we knew it has changed in a way we could never have imagined, even a few weeks ago, and it’s not going to return to anything like normal very quickly. I imagine the current three week lockdown will be extended.

However, the lack of activity at the allotment has meant more progress in the garden.

I was originally intending to sort out the border I am renovating at home once the bulk of the work at the allotment was completed. The lockdown made me change my plans and as I’d already got the replacement fencing I decided to get that erected before getting as much as is practical done at the allotment in the current circumstances. Having erected the fence I managed to dig over the soil to prepare it for planting.

I’ve now got one small section of border to sort out to join up last summer’s renovation with this spring’s. I’m not intending to replace the fencing but if I do a bit more cutting back I should be able to dig over a patch of ground to join up both sections of renovation.

All we need to do then is decide exactly what to grow in this cleared patch this year.

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

Lockdown Day 15 - Warm Weather Continues

Wednesday was another lovely sunny and warm day. The afternoon temperature reached 22.1°C (71.8°F) making it our warmest day of the year.

Temperature Record for 08 April 2020

We’ve slowly been renovating one of our garden borders. It had gradually been over run by a variety of bushes. These had avoided serious pruning for a few years and the result was that they had taken over the border completely.

A Section of the Border Before Renovation Started 

It was early last summer when I began cutting back all the shrubbery. It was amazing how much garden it revealed. Part of the bed was cleared last summer and after digging it over it was planted up with variety of perennial plants and spring bulbs.

One part still has a lot of work to do to make it acceptable.

This part needed the old timber paling fence replacing. I’d got all the materials I needed before the lockdown started. I thought it was about time I made a start. There was still some more shrubbery to cut back before I could get the old fence pulled down. The truth is that it was the shrubbery that was holding the fence up as the posts had rotted at ground level many years ago.

The new fence panels are now erected. The ground needs digging over before we can do any planting. This year because of the lockdown we are contemplating growing some vegetables in this little area as trips to the plot are being kept to an absolute minimum.

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

Just Managed A New Warmest Day.

Tuesday became our warmest day of the year as the temperature made it to 19.7°C (67.5°F) beating the previous high of 19.5° (67.1°F) set on the 24 March.

Temperature and Rainfall Records 09 March to 08 April 2020

Through winter it seemed like it never stopped raining. From the middle of last September through to the middle of March we struggled to get a couple of dry days in a row. That pattern changed in the middle of last month and since then we’ve had no rain at all. The tap has been turned off. 

The mild days have been accompanied by some nice sunshine and it’s brought out our cherry blossom.

Cherry- Summer Sun 

Of course the clear skies overnight have brought some chilly temperatures with 0.6C° (33.1°F) early  on Tuesday morning. It’s a reminder that despite the lovely pleasant days it’s far too early to risk any tender plants outside.

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

Lockdown Day 14 Web Sites Killed Off

Two thirds of the way through the lockdown and thanks to Adobe we can no longer update our web sites. We used Adobe Muse software to create and edit our websites. Some time ago Adobe said they were no longer developing Muse but users could continue to use the software. Then a few days ago, without any prior warning, they demanded that to continue to use Muse we had to subscribe to their full package of software at £40 per month. That seemed over the top to us for what is now unsupported software. Obviously, we are now looking around to find some software to replace Muse. The favourite looks as though it will be Wordpress. Of course, there will be a bit of a learning curve as we slowly move to the replacement software.

We had a trip to the allotment on Monday afternoon as our daily exercise.

We certainly maintained our social distancing at the plot as despite the rather nice weather there weren't too many other plotters at the allotment.

I'd normally add what we sowed and harvested to our web sites but that's now not possible. Sue planted more onion and shallot sets as well as picking some broccoli. 

Last year we planted some parsnip seeds in one of our old recycling crates. To be honest it wasn't very successful and we decided that we'd clear away the old parsnips and reuse the recycling crate. The plan was to bring it home to look after during the lockdown as we are never sure whether or not we will be able to continue with trips to the allotment. Last year's parsnips were beginning to regrow but as I dug them out some did have some tiny roots.

It's difficult enough at the moment to order food and in the spirit of not wanting to waste food I decided to take the largest of the roots home and see how they tasted. As it turns out they tasted really good but there wasn't an awful lot to them but they went okay with some of the broccoli.

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

Lockdown Day 10 - March's Weather Summary

Covid-19 Pandemic to one side, I thought I'd post a summary covering our weather for March 2020. The first thing to say is that it eventually turned out to be much drier than February. However, as February was the wettest month of the last 10 or so years that isn't saying a great deal. March started off a bit like the previous several months with low pressure systems coming in off the Atlantic Ocean bringing gale force winds and heavy rain.

Temperature & Rainfall Records for March 2020

The middle of March saw a distinct change in the weather as high pressure began to dominate bringing us a much drier second half of the month.

March Rainfall Records 2010-2020

By the time the end of the month arrived, we'd only had 30.0mm of rainfall, all of it falling in the first half of the month. That's below average for March, with only 2012 and 2011 having less rainfall over the last 11 years, but I for one aren't complaining as it has helped dry out the allotment.

The last week of March was been on the cool side and strangely we've had colder days in March than we had through the winter months. March has the coldest days of 'winter' and the warmest day of the year on 24 March when the thermometer hit a very pleasant 19.5°C. It wasn't a particularly long spell of fine weather and it also coincided with the start of the lockdown due to Covid-19. In the end the final average for the month turned out to be just that about average.

March Temperature Records 2010-2020

We've had more frost in March than January and February combined, although I think that is due to those two months being exceptionally mild rather than any unusually cold March nights.

The frosts have coincided with the first of the fruit blossom opening. On our last visit to the allotment around a week or so ago the greengage and plum blossom was just beginning to open.

I'm guessing that by now the greengages and plum trees will be in full flower. Hopefully, the frost won't have damaged the blossom and we can look forward to harvesting some fruit in August and September.

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