A Window of Opportunity

Friday was a lovely sunny June day with the temperature reaching a very pleasant 20.9°C and more importantly it was dry for the second day in a row.

On Thursday afternoon I’d gambled on being able to cultivate one of our allotment beds ready to plant out our runner bean plants. It was only possible to cultivate the top few inches of soil which had dried out a bit but lower than that the soil was still very wet and claggy. The tiller dealt with the top few inches of soil pretty well but if the tines were allowed to go any deeper then they just became clogged up with extremely wet soil. 

Once tilled and edged the bed looked neat and tidy and the soil looked pretty good belying the fact that a few inches below the surface it was still saturated with water. The bed was covered with weed control fabric which was held down around the edges with wood chippings and four barrowfuls of manure were tipped on the bed to spread out around the runner beans when they were planted to stop the fabric from lifting or blowing about in the wind. This was how the bed looked when we left on Thursday night ready for planting up.

So Friday’s lovely weather allowed us to get our runner beans planted out although I'm not sure what they’ll make of the very wet ground. Normally we grow our runner beans up a wigwam of bamboo canes. This works well even though once the beans reach the top of the wigwam they continue to grow upwards before collapse back down the wigwam. I decided to try to avoid this by planting out our beans in rows this year as seen in the photo below.

I’m not particularly happy with the way this has turned out as the beans have taken up far too much space. Normally when we've grown our runner’s up wigwams we've had space in the centre of the bed for our sweet corn crop but that’s not the case with them planted like this. We did have space to plant a row of Inca berries across the middle of the bed. I think it might be back to wigwams next year.

In the plot greenhouse the tomatoes were provided with some supports in anticipation of the weight of tomatoes they are going to produce. So far they seem to be growing very well and have recovered from any minor set back when they were planted out into their grow bags.

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

A Cold One for June

Thursday improved as the day went on, so after a dull start with drizzle in the air, it brightened up considerably by the afternoon. It was a little bit breezy but that should help to dry out the soil ready for planting out our runner beans.

Overnight into Friday the temperature fell to a low of 5.2°C the lowest June temperature I've recorded since 12 June 2011 when it fell to 4.7°C.

The clear skies overnight and into Friday morning have resulted a bright sunny start to Friday. Our osteospermums are putting on a stunning display in the greenhouse in their pots around our fig trees.

They should really be outside now but they fully deserve their spot in the greenhouse whilst they continue to put on a display like this.

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

You've Guessed It - More Rain but a Fox

Wednesday was another wet day with mostly light rain all day. The total only came to 6.0mm but on top of all the other rainfall it just keeps the ground continually saturated.

In a way it didn't bother me too much as I was on a “Springwatch” mission making a visit to Leeds to photograph and video some urban foxes.

Well to be honest I went to Leeds to help a friend sort out a couple of computer problems and right on cue, as we'd finished sorting out the software, look who came looking for a meal.

Foxes are regular visitors to the garden and she was looking a bit worse for wear as she’s busy bringing up some cubs. I've added a video clip below of her crossing the garden for food. I wasn't using my camera so it’s a bit more juddery than I would have liked.

I might have to revisit just to check if the computer issues really have been resolved and take along my camera too, just in case.

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

Strimming and Strawberries

Tuesday morning was dull and damp with a little bit of rain but the afternoon brightened up with even a few short sunny spells. It remained mild.

Over the weekend the grass paths on the allotment had been mowed but the grass under the fruit trees had been left uncut. As we've a few spring flowers under the fruit trees the grass gets left uncut to allow the flowers to die back naturally. It was now time for a tidy up.

The long grass hadn’t dried out and there was still plenty of moisture left which created a fine mist as the strimmer wire cut through the long grass. Our plum trees still haven’t leafed up properly following the early spring attack from aphids. I’m hoping the plums still left on the tree will make it through to maturity.

We also decided it was about time to net our strawberry bed. The first few fruits are just beginning to turn red which is sure to attract the attention of the birds.

There were four fruits ready for picking. It seemed such a shame to leave them as it’s so much easier to pick them before the net goes over. It turned out that there were just three ripe strawberries for us to share as one had been eaten by slugs who kindly left a lovely red fruit on display that was almost totally eaten away inside.

Before we left for home the strawberries had been netted to protect them from the birds but if this damp weather persists we might loose a lot more fruits to the slugs and snails.

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

The Year’s Record Intensity

After such a good start to June we only had to wait one day to find out that it wasn't going to last. Monday was a mild muggy day with the threat of rain never very far away. 

By tea time the cloud looked fairly menacing and at first it was a scattering of heavy raindrops which turned into a deluge for a couple of minutes. The rainfall intensity of 111.8mm/hr was the highest of the year and would produce about a month’s rainfall in 15 minutes.

Down on the plot, another 10.1mm of rainfall isn't going to help the soil dry out ready to cultivate. Besides keeping a check on the precipitation the software supplied with my weather station calculates the amount of evaporation that takes place each day based on temperature, sunshine and wind speed. I've tabulated these values below since the end of that brilliant spell of weather in the middle of May.

As you see we've had 51.6mm of rainfall over evaporation which is why the ground is a bit on the wet side for digging. At home the plants in the greenhouse aren’t getting through enough water to prevent my water butt from overflowing and causing a rather large puddle outside the greenhouse doorway.

At least I'm not having to water the pots outside which seem to be managing very well without any additional help.

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

Crocus Snatcher

June was off to a wonderful start with a day of long sunny spell and a temperature up to 24.3°C. I wonder how long it will last?

We had left a pot of crocuses to do their own thing after flowering. The pot was left by the bird bath for the plants to die back naturally and hopefully go on to produce a good display next spring. However, over the last week or so something had been rooting the bulbs out of the pot scattering the compost everywhere. The blackbirds got the blame for this. Our assumption was that the birds were tugging at the drying leaves for nesting material and uprooting the bulbs. Then the crocus snatcher made an appearance on Sunday.

A look of “what me - never?” didn’t convince us of its innocence. The squirrel soon moved into the Magnolia tree to check out the bird feeders.

It couldn't find a way to get to the “squirrel proof” feeder full off sunflower hearts and the favourite of our goldfinches. However, it had more luck on the peanut holder sampling a few nuts before moving off through the magnolia tree and having a face to face with a young blackbird. 

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

Making Pea Sticks

Saturday was a big improvement on the last few days. We managed a few short sunny spells. Although it remained mostly cloudy, the clouds weren't so dark and ominous. It was another dry day to help the ground dry out a bit more.

We used up the last of the prepared ground on the plot to plant out some courgette plants. The ground is still far too wet to use the tiller. I know from past experience that tilling our clayey soil when its too wet creates almost unworkably hard ground once the soil does dry out. It’s far better to leave well alone just now and hope that it will dry out and be ready to cultivate towards the end of next week.

Under our environmesh carrot frame we now have two generations of carrots coming along nicely. The larger seedlings are from a first sowing made on 23 April 2014. These all germinated successfully but large numbers of the seedlings were decimated in a slug attack. The only option was to resow which was done on 17 May 2014. These seeds have germinated successfully too so I'm hoping that the slugs won’t get to these too. 

I'd used up all our pea sticks from last year and still had more peas that needed supporting. I’d left a pile of prunings from our blackcurrants, elder, hazel, and laurel in a heap ready to be sorted out. Most of our woody prunings, provided they aren’t prickly, are made into pea sticks after a little more careful snipping here and there. The left overs are added to the compost heap.

I’m hoping that this little collection will keep me in pea sticks for a while. I still have more laurel prunings to sort out if I need more.

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

Well at Least It Didn't Rain

I've said it in the title at least it didn't rain on Friday but it was another dull and miserable day without any sunshine. We seem to be living under everlasting cloud at the moment. A bit of brighter sunny weather would be very welcome.

We decided on an afternoon visit to the plot to get some of our vegetable plants moved into their final positions. The ground was very wet and I think it was probably a bit too wet for planting out but things are getting a bit desperate at the minute so cabbages, Brussels sprouts and squash were planted out.

We were able to plant up these beds because the soil had already been prepared earlier in the spring. The beds had been given a quick tilling followed by the addition of some fish, blood and bone fertiliser and in the case of the brassica bed some lime. The beds had then been covered with weed control fabric.

Now we have the additional problem that we are rapidly running out of prepared beds. Two large beds were waiting for conditions to improve so that the soil could be tilled but some dry weather is needed for that to happen. Two other large beds had been covered with weed control fabric since last autumn. I had considered the possibility of planting these two beds without first cultivating the ground beneath. I had a quick peek under one corner of the fabric and it was obvious that this wasn't going to work. The ground under the fabric was saturated. 

These are the two beds in question. The weed control fabric has done its job but it is worth noting that any potatoes left in from a previous crop will do their best to find their way out from under the fabric growing long white haulms attempting to find daylight.

I've decided to leave the weed control fabric off these beds for a few days hoping that the soil might dry out a little quicker. This bed is due to become home for our runner beans and sweet corn so I really need it prepared quickly. I can't see it drying out over the weekend and more unsettled weather is forecast for next week so I'm not too sure when this bed will be ready for our crops.

I don’t think the situation has been caused by the weed control fabric. Since the spell of fine May weather broke on the 20th May we've had 58.8mm of rain far more than we might expect in the whole month. Our runner bean crop might be a little late this year.

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