Didn't See This in the Forecast

Saturday continued our spell of very warm weather which didn't really seem to be forecast. It became our warmest day of the year as the temperature reached 27.4°C.

Temperature and sunshine record for Thursday 11 to Saturday 12 July 2014

We've had three lovely sunny days in a row. Thursday was the sunniest of the days and Saturday the warmest. Late on into the evening on Saturday the fine spell came to an end with some rain which continued into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Rainfall July 2014

Our rainfall total for the month has now reached 52.0mm already a little above what we might expect in the whole month.

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

Winter Brassicas Planted on the Warmest Day of the Year

Friday wasn't as sunny as the last two days with much more light cloud about in the afternoon. It felt very muggy as the temperature reached 25.6°C to become the warmest day of the year taking over from 18 May’s 25.2°C.

We managed to finish off planting out our autumn and winter brassica plants. We've planted cauliflower Clapton, Savoy’s Wintessa and Resolution together with calabrese Green Magic to hopefully keep us supplied with greens through the autumn and winter.

I think this season’s planting is just about completed now apart from successional sowings of some salad vegetables. I might try a late sowing of french beans to crop into the beginning of autumn provided the weather doesn’t get too bad.

It’s mostly a case of harvesting for the next few weeks.

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

A Garden Centre, Nature Reserve and a White Cloud

Thursday was another lovely summer’s day with almost unbroken sunshine from dawn to dusk.

In the morning we had a trip to Wentworth Garden Centre. Only around half an hour away it was the first time we’d visited. It had an impressive display of plants for sale and was very busy. It has its own gardens which for a small charge you can explore.

After a look around the gardens we headed for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s nature reserve at Potteric Carr. From previous visits we know that many of the birds test out the maximum zoom range of our cameras. One hide is suitably supplied with bird feeders to attract in the garden birds and on our previous visits this is a popular location for the squirrels looking for an easy meal. Thursday was no exception. 

I've had my Sony DSC HX300 camera set so that only the optical zoom of the lens is used. Today I decided to let the zoom operate in its digital range too and see if any worthwhile shots could be obtained.

Obviously there is some deterioration in the quality of the shots in the digital zoom range. The camera in this mode can be used as a telescope to scan the reserve for birds and at least get a picture even if only for identification purposes once downloaded onto a computer.

And the White Cloud, well you wouldn't expect us to come away from a garden centre well stocked with plants empty handed. 

This fragrant climbing rose White Cloud will be a new addition to our border. 

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

Blossom Ends Looking Good so Far - Fingers Crossed

Wednesday was a lovely summer’s day following on from yesterday’s thunderstorms.

Last year our crop of tomatoes growing in our home greenhouse were a complete disaster. Virtually all the tomatoes managed to finish up with blossom end rot. Fortunately as if to make up for this our tomatoes in the plot greenhouse produced a bumper crop. 

Home greenhouse tomatoes in July 2013

This is how our tomatoes looked last year. It wasn't as though we had to wait for them to turn red to know they weren't going to be any good. Once they’ve got blossom end rot that’s really the end of the story.

So far this year’s tomatoes in the home greenhouse are looking okay and haven’t yet started to develop the tell tale signs.

Home greenhouse tomatoes in July 2014

Last year’s disaster has made me a little bit paranoid and I keep having a look to make sure the tomatoes are okay. Then there’s the irregular watering that’s supposed to cause blossom end rot. What’s regular and what’s irregular watering? Should I water or not? I haven’t really got a system. I don’t like to let them get too dry especially if the weather turns sunny as temperatures in the greenhouse are suddenly in the high twenties centigrade even with the door and windows wide open and the plants dry out very quickly. I’m going on gut instinct and hoping that this year we get some ripe tomatoes from our home greenhouse.

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

It Started off so Well

Tuesday got off to a beautiful sunny start. It was just the sort of morning for having a stroll around the garden taking a few pictures.

The plan for the afternoon was to plant some winter brassicas on the allotment. By the time we got down to the plot in the early afternoon some dark clouds were brewing out in the east over the motorway.

I wasn't too concerned at first as most of our weather comes in from the west and we've normally missed anything that looks to be out in the direction of these ominous looking clouds. After another half an hour or so it was clear to see that these clouds were heading in our direction and we were in for a downpour.

We'd started planting out some of our brassica plants and at first as the rain started gently we decided to carry on, just get wet but have everything planted. As the heavens opened we put our optimistic planting plan on hold and headed for the shed as the thunder rumbled overhead.

We decided to sit it out in the shed hoping for a break in the rain to get our planting finished. It didn't really happen so in a lighter spell of rain we settled for finishing half of our planting and covering the calabrese and savoys with some temporary netting as pigeon protection.

More rain in the evening turned a day that had started off with so much promise into the wettest day of the year so far with the final rainfall total coming to 20.4mm. That’s on top of Monday’s 10.8mm bringing our monthly total up to a healthy 38.4mm. At least the plot won't need watering for a while.

It makes Tuesday our 12th wettest day since 2009 but still a little way short of the record of 39.2mm on 12 July 2012.

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

Some Useful Rain

Monday was a nice summer’s day feeling much warmer in the afternoon sunshine than the 22.1°C registered by the thermometer. 

The ground was beginning to get a bit dry on the plot and I was considering giving some of our crops a drink on our next visit. Fortunately we had some heavy rain into the late evening so it’s probably saved me a job. 

Some running repairs were made to the allotment powerhouse or compost heap. Some of the old fencing panels were starting to show their age by turning into compost themselves. Our plot neighbour Jan had noticed I could make good use of some old fencing panels he had spare so with thanks to Jan these three panels have given our compost heap a rather “posh” look - well for an allotment at any rate.

In the autumn the rose will be cut back and a replacement panel inserted to complete the job.

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

Minting My Bets

Sunday wasn't too bad a summer's day with some sunny spells and the temperature into the low twenties. It seemed that it was going to spoil itself around teatime when we had a very short shower but it soon cleared away leaving a nice end to the day.

This time last year in July was the start of three weeks of warm sunny weather with the temperature into the high twenties centigrade each day. A repeat of that fine spell of weather isn't in the forecast for this year.

On Saturday I mentioned that Sue dug up all our mint at the allotment as the bed was in need of some refurbishment. The same is also true of our large tub of mint at home which is now positioned in the slowly materialising coldframe courtyard.

The picture shows the tub of mint before and after its refurbishment. The old mint was still producing a few sprigs but the plants had lost their vigour. The tub was absolutely packed tight with mint roots. I think I  managed to reclaim some roots of each of the varieties of mint originally planted in the tub but I'm by no means certain of that.

I replanted some of the old mint roots in the tub after replacing the old compost and took some cuttings of the mint too so I'm hoping that the one or both my methods of renewing our supply of mint work.

For now our supply is limited to the tiny sprigs of mint growing in one of our grass paths down on the plot. Perhaps I’ll be a bit more careful mowing that particular path for the next few weeks.

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

A Taste of Casablanca

After the dull start to Saturday, as forecast  it brightened up around lunchtime and we had a lovely sunny afternoon.

We're continuing to harvest our first early potatoes that have been affected by blight. Our trial of comparing two varieties grown under weed control fabric compared to our traditional planting method won't be much use. Although the two crops are only a couple of feet apart the crops grown conventionally have suffered far more from blight. I dug up one root of conventionally planted Casablanca yielding 0.366kg of potatoes which were completely free of any slug damage. 

I only managed a few small sprigs of mint to go with our potatoes. Sue dug out all our mint a few weeks ago as the mint had gone rampant taking over the entire bed and we decided it was time for a fresh start. The mint managed to spread into the grass path next to this bed where there’s not much we can do about it. A few days after the grass has been cut it’s possible to harvest tiny sprigs of mint as it forms new shoots. There’s also a wonderful smell of mint every time the grass is cut and I think it’s a rather nice feature. Just walking on the grass has the same effect.

The potatoes did break down a little when boiled but had an excellent new potato flavour. Hopefully the ones grown under the weed control fabric which still have plenty of leaves will produce a bit heavier crop.

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