A Broad Bean Experiment

The last week hasn’t been anything special weather-wise for the middle of August. It’s been cloudy with temperatures hovering around average. However, we haven’t had any rain which is good in some respects, allowing us to get out and about, but the allotment could do with some good rain.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 01-15 August 2021

We are trying some autumn cropping broad beans again this year. Last year I bought some plants but they didn’t arrive until the end of August and they never managed to get established before the weather turned very autumnal. The plants were on the leggy side when they arrived which didn’t help. 

Last year's broad beans were planted on 20 August 2020

So this year I decided to try growing the same variety from seed. The variety is Luz de Otono. I sowed them on 3rd July almost as soon as suggested on the seed packet. They germinated well and were growing outside in the cold frame at home.

Plants were grown at home in 2021

They were planted out in the allotment a few weeks ago now, and having got established are beginning to flower. Last year at this time we were still waiting for the plants to be delivered, so this year’s plants are a few weeks in front, but will it be enough.

Beginning to flower on 15th August 2021

As it happens one of our plot neighbours has sown some normal broad beans, probably around the same time as our autumn cropping broad beans were sown. This will be an interesting comparison to see if either crop goes on to produce some beans.

Normal broad bean seeds sown to crop in autumn

There’s a video below showing both broad beans in each plot in the middle of August.

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

A cool start to August

August has started off on the cool side with plenty of showers thrown in for good measure. On the 3rd August, the overnight temperature fell to 7.6°C, the lowest early August temperature I’ve recorded in 12 years. In fact, since our mini heatwave finished in July our daytime temperatures have generally been below expected for around midsummer and this is the coolest start to August since 2010.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 09 July to 09 August 2021

The showery nature of the weather means it seems like we’ve had more rain than my rain gauge has measured. Although we’ve had showers nearly every day, so far this month our total rainfall is 15.6mm which can be considered around average for the first week and a bit of the month.

We have a stack of jobs beginning to pile up at the allotment. There are beds that now need clearing of their summer crops and potatoes to be lifted. The grass paths haven’t been strimmed for several weeks now and are very unkempt. It’s going to take a good afternoon’s work, perhaps even longer, to get them tidied up. I’m not too keen on strimming wet grass as it sticks to everything.

Some beds need clearing so the ground can be prepared for more planting. One bed needs digging over ready for some dwarf French beans to be planted out. These were sown in pots at home several weeks ago and will soon be ready for planting out. We’ve also got to prepare a bed for some sweet Williams which like the French beans were sown a few weeks ago.

Sweet Williams ready for planting out

I’m in the process of lifting some Apache and Osprey potatoes from one bed and hopefully this bed will then be prepared for a crop of overwintering onions.

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

July - A wet month with a drought

July has been an odd month. It started off on the cool and wet side before turning dry and hot. 

Through the middle of the month we had our heatwave with 7 consecutive days above 25°C and this coincided with 13 days without any rain.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 01 - 30 July 2021

This combination was enough to dry out the ground, and certainly the allotment and garden were in need of some wet weather. The drought was broken by thunderstorms, which arrived on the 27th of the month bringing some much welcome rainfall.

I was expecting the ground at the allotment to have had enough rain to make it much easier for digging, but I was surprised at just how dry the ground remains when I lifted some Casablanca potatoes on Saturday the last day of July. I did manage to dig over the bed ready for planting out some late cropping French beans plants.

For the records here's how this July compared with those since 2010.

July average temperatures and rainfall 2010-2021

In summary then, a wet month with above average temperatures and a drought in the middle. I've included a video showing how dry our ground was when I lifted our Casablanca potatoes.

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