Worse Than I Thought

Thursday was another lovely sunny day. However, it was spoilt in the morning by a gale force wind which abated through the early afternoon.

Remember back in early January I blogged that we had one of those storms with "no name" but it did more damage in the garden than any of the "named" storms. It left one of our fence panels looking a bit worse for wear.

Damage from storm on 11 January 2017

I didn't think at the time it would be too much of a job to do a repair. My intention was to remove the panel and replace the broken willow filling before reinstalling the panel. That idea didn't last very long once I began trying to remove the panel. Most of the screws holding it to the posts came out without too much trouble but there's always one or in this case two, one in each post where the head of the screw had burred and there was no way of unscrewing it. After a bit of messing about it was obvious that most of the framing timbers in the panel had seen better days and were now rotten.

Fencing panel removed 09 March 2017

As you can see there wasn't much that resembled a fence panel by the time it was removed. There's now a gap in the border that needs filling.

I've recycled any half decent pieces of timber to use down the allotment. They will be used for labelling up our rows of vegetables.

Not much to show considering I originally thought that I'd be able to repair the damaged fence panel. My thoughts are now turning to how to replace the panel. The easiest option is to just buy a new panel but I'm not sure how easy it will be to get one into position without doing too much damage to the planting around it. My other idea is to build a new panel in situ which I think is my favoured option at the minute.

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

First Fruit Blossom Out

After a little bit more overnight rain it brightened up towards lunchtime with some lengthy sunny spells. There was a strong breeze which took the edge off the temperature.

In the greenhouse our first fruit blossom of the year is out. Our peach, nectarine and apricot have all come into flower at the same time.

Nectarine - Fantasia

Apricot Flavourcot

Peach - Avalon Pride

Of course no self respecting pollinating insect is going to be flying around the greenhouse so early in the year so Sue will be very busy with her pollinating brush.

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

Daffs In Full Swing

Monday was a lovely March day with some long sunny spells and no rainfall. Luckily we missed any showers that were forecast. In our small front garden the daffodils are at their best.

I've finished editing a video of our other activity on the plot from our visit on Saturday.

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

A New Wildlife "Pond"

After a bright start to the day on Sunday it soon clouded over with rain starting around lunchtime and continued into the evening.

It never rained all that heavily but falling onto already soggy ground won't have helped the soil on the allotment dry out.

When we visited last Saturday the ground was already soggy and rather than try to do any cultivating I decided to sort out a new wildlife area.

We've been planning to incorporate some sort of wildlife area just outside our plot greenhouse in this grassy and neglected spot.

We thought a little pond might be a good idea to give the birds somewhere to drink. We'd be able to watch them from our shed patio as we drank our afternoon coffees. It all needed sorting out and last Saturday I decided to get started. The video below shows the "construction.

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

Wouldn't You Know It

Saturday turned out to be a lovely sunny March day and with only a gentle breeze it felt mild in the sunshine. It tempted us down to the plot. We've had a fairly dry winter and that has meant that the soil had remained workable and we've managed to renovate some areas of the plot. However, now sowing and planting time is upon us the weather's decided to turn a bit wetter.

Temperature & Rainfall 02 February - 04 March 2017

As we walked on our grass paths there was a rather unpleasant squelching noise. The result of the recent rainfall is that the soil is too wet to cultivate and we'll need a spell of dry weather before we can get any beds prepared. Our well trodden path to the shed is now not much more than a muddy and slippery path rather than a grass path. I've started tipping some wood chippings  onto it to make it a bit easier and safer to walk on.

I found a couple of old unused concrete paving stones and incorporated them into the newly laid wood chips. I'll cover the rest of the muddy path on our next visit. Well that's the plan. I'm sure grass will soon grow through the chippings once some better weather arrives.

We did do a little bit of harvesting to keep us supplied for a few days. Our parsnips have been very good this year. Saturday's specimens were dug out of very muddy soil and need a good wash before they were ready for the kitchen.

Parsnip - Gladiator

I shouldn't complain about the weather too much though. It is only early March after all. Here's a photo of our daffodils on 04 March this year.

04 March 2017

This is how they were suffering last year on the same day.

04 March 2016

Unfortunately the forecast for the next week doesn't look like that spell of drier weather is on its way just yet.

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

Sowing & Planting

March got off to a bright but rather chilly start but since then it's turned dull and damp.

Temperature, Solar Radiation & Rainfall 01-03 March 2016

Thursday was bright and sunny, if a rather chilly March day. In the greenhouse it felt pleasantly mild as the sunshine lifted the temperature inside at the least. We decided to make a start on sowing and planting some broad beans, onion sets, shallots and a bag of early Casablanca potatoes.

We always sow our broad beans in modules and plant them out as plants in the allotment. We've done this for many years now and had good results so I see no reason to change our method.

Our onion and shallot sets are planted in a similar manner. However, the left over onion and shallot sets will be planted directly into the plot later in the season.

We haven't tried to grow early potatoes in bags for a couple of years now. I'm not sure why as we've had some success in the past. We're planning at least one bag growing at home, initially in the greenhouse, before it moves outside by the cold frames as space in the greenhouse is needed for more tender crops.

I'd like to get a couple of bags planted up in the plot greenhouse too if I can get round to it.

We made a video of our sowing and planting done on Thursday.

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

February 2017 Dull and Mild

February finished up dull and mild. For the first time in the seven years I've been keeping records the temperature didn't fall below 0°C or 32°F during the month. Of those seven years only 2011 was milder with an average temperature of 6.6°C (43.9°F) compared to 6.4°C (43.5°F) this year.

Ossett Average February Temperatures 2010-2017

As you can see three of the average February temperatures out of seven years have been more or less the same around the 6.4°C (43.5°F) so nothing unusual about this year's value.

Using solar radiation values as a measure of brightness we haven't done very well with this year finishing up sixth out of seven years. Rainfall for the month has been very slightly above average with 47.2mm (1.86in) against an average of 43.6mm or 1.72in.

I've now got to resist the temptation of sowing seeds too early as we head into March. If we get some nice sunny days it's difficult to resist the temptations of getting off to an early start. The exceptions to this will be leeks, broad beans, onion sets and early potatoes in bags. We're hoping to get these sown and planted over the next few days. They will be left to germinate and grow on in our cold greenhouse before moving outside into the cold frames before eventually being planted out on the allotment.

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

Behind Already?

Sunday finished up not being too bad a day. The trouble was that even though we had some sunny spells there were very dark clouds about threatening a downpour. The dry weather won out and we didn't have any more than a few spots of rain through the daylight hours. It was another very mild and breezy day.

Temperature, Solar Radiation and Rainfall Records for 26 February 2017

If you're not sure of planting dates for your crops in the UK, I came across a link to this web site that may be of some use to you. It's called GardenFocus.co.uk.

If you are in the UK there are option to select which varieties of fruit and vegetables you are growing and also where you are growing them. Once you've done this you can produce a month by month listing broken down into weeks of what you should be sowing, planting out, harvesting and pruning.

Planting, Pruning, Sowing, Planting and Harvesting Tasks for Wakefield West Yorkshire

I've had a look through the timings for Wakefield, based on my typical dates for the tasks, and they seem reasonably close and certainly act as a reminder of what jobs need doing at any time of the year.

I really need to get our leeks sown. Perhaps as a result of sowing a bit later over the last few years our leeks have been a bit on the small side. I think the other tasks are all in hand as I prepared our early brassica bed last week and our early cauliflowers will arrive as plug plants next month.

I must admit it might be a few weeks before I get round to preparing our autumn cauliflower bed. For one thing I haven't got as far as working out which bed it will be under my crop rotation system.

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