Friday morning has begun on a brighter note after a prolonged spell of rain through most of Thursday.
Thursday's rainfall amounted to 29.2mm (1.15in) the most we've had in one day this year and it took over the record from 25 October, only a couple of weeks ago, when we had 25.8mm or 1.02in.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 06-08 November 2019
Thursday became the eighth wettest day of the last 10 years displacing 29 September this year, from the table, which saw 20.4mm or 0.80in. Each of the last three months has had one very wet day.
Top Twenty Wettest Day 2010-2019
Towards the end of September the ground at the allotment was very dry but since the weather turned, at the end of September, we've managed a total of 234.0mm (9.21in) of rainfall with only a few totally dry in amongst the prolonged spell of wet weather. Our average rainfall over the year is 600mm or 23.6in.
Wednesday morning saw our first below zero (Celsius) temperature of the autumn as the early morning temperature fell to -0.4°C or 31.3°F.
Temperature Records for 04-06 November 2019
However, it's the amount of rain that keeps on falling that is preventing us from doing any gardening. After a very wet September and October the rain has kept on coming through the first week or so of November. It's being raining for most of Thursday and by the middle of the afternoon the day's rainfall total is up to 21.0mm (0.83in) bringing November's total up to 41.0mm (1.61in) not far short of an average November's total amount.
Today's rain shows no signs of abating and it has already moved into the table of top twenty wettest days over the last 10 years.
Temperature & Rainfall Records Thursday, 07 November 2019
I think that it's fair to assume that autumn activities in the garden and allotment can be put off until spring. Hopefully, we'll get to the allotment to harvest fresh vegetables but any thoughts of autumn and winter digging are now out of the question. The ground will certainly be too wet and soggy and digging it over will do more harm than good.
I wonder how those dahlia tubers are getting on in the plot greenhouse. They were left there on Sunday in the hope that they would dry out a little bit before they go into potato sacks for winter storage.
I thought with a little bit of sunshine the temperature in the greenhouse would be high enough for them to dry out but with all the wet weather about sunshine has been almost non existent. At least I think they are better lifted and in the greenhouse than remaining in cold wet soggy ground.
There’s no doubt about it October has been a cold and wet month. It’s almost the coldest October we’ve had in the last 10 years. The only other October on a par with this one was in 2012 which although it was just as cold wasn’t anything like as wet.
October Average Temperatures & Rainfall Records 2010-2019
This October was the wettest of the last ten years by a considerable margin with 106.6mm of rainfall making it the third wettest month I’ve recorded.
Top Ten Wettest Months 2010-2019
It follows on from a wet September and has brought garden and allotment activities to a grinding halt.
The temperature fell to 0°C or 32°F this week which was enough to finish off our late French beans, dahlias and oca.
The French beans, Safari had just about come to the end of their cropping but we’ve been pleased with the results from sowing them to follow on from early potatoes. The remains can now be cleared away to the compost heap and in an ideal world the bed dug over ready for spring crop. That’s not going to happen because the ground is far too soggy.
Only a week ago Sue was cutting dahlia flowers for home but this week’s frost has turned all the stems black and like the French beans they can be consigned to the compost heap.
The tubers will need to be lifted and stored in a frost free location over winter. Last year they were stored in potato sacks alongside our potatoes in the garage. The tubers will need to be cleaned and dried before going into the sacks.
I suppose we were anticipating the demise of the beans and dahlias but the frosting of the oca plants was a surprise. From reading up about growing this vegetable it seems that oca produces tubers very late in the season and needs leaving in the ground through November for the tubers to swell.
However, if the plants succumb to the first frost they are not going to be very successful on our allotment. Whilst we sometimes get through November and maybe even the early part of December without a frost that’s certainly not guaranteed so ocas have had their chance and failed miserably. We won’t be growing them again.
I’m not sure we have enough tubers for a taster. Don’t be fooled by the large potatoes in the bucket like we were initially. Not only are the tubers tiny they look like a nightmare to prepare for the pot.
Finally, the video below is a look around our plot at the end of October.
If I had any doubts about the ground being too wet to dig over, rain on Friday and Saturday has put an end to them. It began raining on Friday lunchtime and it continued unbroken until the middle of Saturday afternoon.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 25-27 October 2019
Friday's rainfall amounted to 25.8mm (1.02in) making it the tenth wettest day I've recorded over the last 10 years.
Top Twenty Wettest Days 2010 - 2019
After Friday's rainfall October becomes the wettest October I've recorded and a further 14.6mm (1.59in) on Saturday before the rain eventually stopped was enough to move it into third spot in the table of wettest months.
Wettest Months 2010-2019
The daytime temperature on Saturday only made it up to 6.7°C (44.1°F), the equal lowest for October since 2010, tying with 27 October 2018.
It's difficult to believe now but three quarters of the way through September the ground at the allotment was too dry to dig over. Since then we've had 182.2mm (7.2in) of rainfall and the ground has gone from too dry to waterlogged in a little over 4 weeks. I've a feeling the ground won't really dry out until spring making for an extremely busy spring next year, weather permitting of course.
Before the last bout of rain I managed to make this birds' eye view of our plots.
Tuesday morning's temperature was the lowest of this autumn as the temperature fell to 1.4°C or 34.5°F.
Temperature Records 20-22 October 2019
Daytime temperatures haven't been all that impressive either with Monday's reaching a high of 11.0°C or 51.8°F. We needed to harvest some fresh vegetables so in a very light drizzle, we set off for the allotment not intending it to be a long visit. However, the drizzle stopped so we decided to clear a few beds and see if they would dig over.
I thought this bed on plot 29, which grew some onions through summer, might be too wet to dig over but it was just about manageable. It was pleasing to make a start of getting some autumn digging done.
One of our winter jobs is to progress the rejuvenation of our old strawberry bed. It had been covered over with weed control fabric and wood chippings since spring. The ground had large cracks in it when the strawberries were cleared.
Strawberry bed spring this year
The weed control fabric and wood chippings were cleared away to reveal the ground beneath.
First impressions were that the ground was very wet but all those large cracks that had developed as a result of a long spell of dry weather had disappeared which was what we had aimed for when we covered the bed.
The next stage is to roughly dig over the bed and leave the winter rains and frost to break down the soil. Hopefully, in spring we'll be able to plant a crop of potatoes in this bed.
Gardening activities have gone on hold due to the wet weather. In the last 24 days we've managed just 3 dry days and a rainfall total of 129.9mm (5.11in) or the best part of 3 months rainfall in a little over 3 weeks.
The rainfall isn't the only thing though, as it's been an unusually cool start to the month as well. Daytime temperatures have really struggled to reach anything like average values for October.
High Temperature October 2010 - 2019
The image above shows part of my table of daytime high temperatures for the last 10 Octobers. The highest October daytime temperature for each year is shown in the red box. At the moment a value of 15.9°C (60.6°F) is the lowest value over those 10 years.
The second table below shows the temperature record for this year with the monthly high temperatures indicated in the red box.
Temperature Records for 2019
Amazingly, only January has a lower daytime high temperature with even February managing one day reaching 16.9°C or 62.4°F. At least, night time temperatures have held up reasonably well, with the exception of the third of the month when it fell to 1.6°C or 34.9°F. Perhaps this means we are due a couple of nice warm days before the month is out, however, the weather models are suggesting a cold snap towards the end of the month rather than any warmer weather.
We've had more rain over the last week, enough to put a stop to visits to the plot. We've managed only 2 dry days so far in October. Whilst we've had more rain over the last week it's not been in large amounts but enough each day to keep the already saturated ground saturated. By Sunday night October's rainfall has already amounted to 46.8mm (1.84in) and is already above October's average for the last 10 years.
Temperatures have staged a bit of a recovery over the last week but still only October 2012 remains colder at this point in the month. We've just had a couple of days where the daytime temperature has reached what we might expect at this time of the year. The recovery in the average daily temperature has been due to some milder nights.
We haven't visited the plot since my last blog post when we cut back the hazel and cobnut trees and began removing the honeyberry bushes. We'll need to visit soon to harvest a few fresh vegetables. There's plenty of jobs to be getting on with both at the allotment and in the garden but we need a spell of better weather before we can make a start on them.
We did have a day out on Saturday heading up to Cumbria and then to the Settle to Carlisle Railway line to do a little bit of steam train photography. We managed to find some heavy showers in Cumbria but at Ribblehead Viaduct conditions were much better with some sunny spells. I've included our video of 6201 Princess Elizabeth working hard on the climb up to Shap summit on the West Coast Main Line and then as she crosses the famous Ribblehead Viaduct on the picturesque Settle to Carlisle railway line.
It's been a cold and wet start to October in fact one of the wettest and coldest starts I've recorded.
October Average Temperatures 2010-2019
As you can see from the table above, colour coded red to blue indicating hottest to coldest, it's almost the coldest start to October with only 2012 marginally colder after the first 8 days of the month. It was cold enough on the third of the month for a touch of frost which finished off our courgettes.
It has been the wettest start to October I've recorded as indicated in the table below.
October Rainfall Totals 2010-2019
The rain has meant that the beds on the allotment have gone from too dry to dig to too wet in the space of about two weeks. Autumn digging is on hold until the soil dries out a little bit. I know that digging over the ground now when its too wet will lead to problems in spring and it will be difficult to prepare the soil for sowing and planting.
That doesn't mean that all allotment jobs are on hold and beds can still be cleared of their summer crops and the cleared vegetation added to the compost heap. We've been thinking all summer about clearing our honeyberry fruit bushes which over the last six or seven years that they've been planted haven't produced us a single honeyberry. They are going to be cleared to make way for some new gooseberry bushes.
It's a patch of the allotment that has become rather neglected due to the fact that it has been very unproductive. The cobnut and hazel tree growing nearby have been cut back. Both trees produce cobnuts but these are eaten by the squirrels long before the nuts are ready to pick.
Whilst the trees have been cut back the honeyberry bushes still need to be cut back and dug up. It's one of those jobs on the allotment where the cutting back doesn't take too long at all it's the sorting out of all the debris that takes the time.
I’ve now got a large heap of hazel and cobnut branches to sort out. Many of the branches will make some excellent sturdy bean poles for next year and the smaller branches will make some fine pea sticks. Any left over material that isn't suitable for the compost heap will hopefully be burnt on a bonfire later in autumn.
Meanwhile we need some decent weather to dry out the ground and dry off some of the prunings that will need to be burnt.
This blog records the local weather details near to my allotment plot in Wakefield. The details are gathered from a weather station which I set up in my garden during October 2009. Click here to read about set up.
Records of temperature, rainfall and wind speeds will be posted as recorded. A summary is posted each month on our website click here to view.
Click any chart image to view at 100%. Click on the magnifying glass to magnify and use the mouse to move the image.
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