End of a spell??

Saturday might have seen the end of our fantastic spell of April weather. It started off sunny and warm with the temperature reaching 24.7°C a new high for the year by lunchtime

Then a rather dramatic change. It suddenly clouded over, as you can see from the graph the sunshine disappeared and the temperature suddenly fell. There was the sound of thunder rumbling in the background. A few rather large spots of rain fell - this was it some rain at last!

In the end it just never happened and all we had was enough rain to wet the patio but never enough to wet the surface of the soil. By late afternoon we had some more pleasant sunshine but no real rain. The rainfall for the day was a pretty measly 0.6mm. Our monthly total now stands at only 2.6mm after a record dry month for March.

Warmest this year

Friday started with something like an inland sea fret and it seemed the weather might just have changed for the Bank Holiday as usual. It wasn't long before the sun broke through and we had another superb day with the temperature reaching 22.8°C the warmest of the year so far. It's just possible that the fine weather will bring out our bluebells in April.

Bluebells in our wild area

I tilled a couple of plots and our soil is extremely dry even below the top couple of inches. Perhaps we will be treated to some heavy showers as forecast over the weekend but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Tilled plots

Normally the soil turns over much darker but at the moment the soil seems just as dry underneath and in any case dries out in a few minutes in the warm sunshine.

Summer in April continues

Thursday continued the spell of summer weather with another cloudless day with the temperature reaching 21°C. In the garden our tulips seem to have lasted well despite the warm dry weather.

Garden tulips

On the plot our fruit trees continue to come into blossom. It seems to be a good year for blossom on the plot and we can only hope that this produces a bumper fruit crop.

Quince (Meeches Prolific)

Not so glorious cardoon

The great spell of weather continued on Wednesday with another sunny warm and dry day. Spot the difference in my afternoon picture on the plot.

Another sunny afternoon on the plot

Cardoon plant in summer

Our magnificent cardoon plant has been reduced to a virtually dead stump by the cold winter weather. There is just the odd sign that the stump has survived and is beginning to show signs of life. I decided it was time to remove the old dead stump and plant a new off shoot in a new location. This would leave more space in our new fruit bed and the cardoon transplanted into one of our flower beds.

Cardoon

The cardoon roots find there way deep into the soil to it's not an easy job to dig out the root. Hopefully the barrow full is all the old root and the little off shoot will soon grow into a spectacular new plant!

Probably summer!

The fine spell of weather continued on Tuesday. I just hope that this isn't summer! The forecast is for the weather to continue like this over the holiday weekend.

A cloudless sky on the plot

The blossom on our plum trees is now fading but we're hoping that the fruit has set. Certainly there's been plenty of bee activity on the flowers. Our young apple tree Egremont Russet is full of blossom. If the blossom sets we might have to remove some of the fruits as such a small tree cannot possibly carry so much fruit. Perhaps that's just wistful thinking at the moment.

Young apple tree Egremont Russet

A visit to RSPB Old Moor

Monday was another lovely April day although the afternoon was rather cloudy. The dry spell continued too and with the temperatures continuing above average for April there is now the distinct possibility that we may exceed the record high temperature set in April 2007. 

RSPB Old Moor   The were lots of cowslips in flower as we wandered around the reserves paths and popped into each of the hides to look at the birds.  Cowslips at RSPB  Old Moor

Glorious April continues

Sunday saw a continuation of the glorious April weather with a day of almost unbroken sunshine and temperatures just nudging 20°C.

The only downside is that the plot is dry so today our new strawberry bed received a good watering and hopefully that should keep them happy for a few days.

New strawberry bed

Whilst the strawberries were getting their watering we sowed our first row of peas, Feltham First and Progress No 9. The shallow trenches that the peas were sown into were given a good soaking before the peas were sown and covered with compost. The row was then given some protection as newly sown beds seem to attract unwanted attention and finish up with paw prints in the compost or even holes excavated along the rows.

Peas Feltham First and Progress No 9

Watering in April!

Saturday was another fine spring day with long sunny spells and the temperature just managing to notch 20°C. This is very good for April. Unfortunately the downside to this excellent spring weather  for us gardeners is that down on the plot it's really dry and all the crops could do with some rain. Parsnips and carrot seeds need to be kept moist to get them to germinate successfully so watering has become a regular job. Watering is not normally a problem in April - it is after all supposed to be the month of showers - spectacularly untrue so far this year.

Dry weather means seeds need watering regularly

The fine weather has started the duckweed growing rapidly in the pond. It's rather invasive if not kept under control. I think it's worth the effort to remove some each week as I think it sets a pond off well.

Duckweed is growing rapidly in the pond