Lockdown Day 28 - Our New Web Site Is Live

Our new gardening and weather web site has gone live. You can find it by following the link below.

                                http://ossettweather.com/gardening2020/

If the link has worked you should finish up looking at a web page that looks like this.

It is by no means the finished article but it's been a bit of a steep learning curve to figure out exactly how Wordpress works. The main pages more or less contain the information we want them to and the weather and gardening pages can be updated as the year progresses. We need to work out how to link with our now defunct web site in order to access archive material going back over the last 10 years.

In the meantime, the weather continues to be mainly dry and sunny although with an easterly breeze it can feel rather chilly at times. There's a discrepancy now in the forecasts for early next week. The GFS model is suggesting rain for next weekend and the last few days of April whereas the GEM and ECMWF models are forecasting dry weather through until the end of the month. If the latter two models are correct we are in for the driest month of the last 11 years!

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

Lockdown Day 24 - Does Any Software Work?

You'll know if you follow our blog posts that, thanks to Adobe, we can no longer manage our web sites. They didn't give us any notice, just pay up £40 each month or we are cutting you off as of yesterday. We've been hard at work since then finding an alternative. However, as I'm writing this post I'm unable to see any of the photos I've uploaded to Blogger. All I can see is a no entry sign. Is it something I've done or is it a blogger issue? So my pictures will be done by guesswork today!

Anyhow, as we move into the second half of the month April might manage two records by the time we get to the end. Firstly there’s the lack of rainfall. The driest month I’ve recorded was April 2011 with just 2.4mm (0.09in) of rain. So far this month we’ve had a meager 0.8mm (0.03in) giving us a chance of this month becoming the driest of the last eleven years. That would be quite remarkable as February this year was the wettest month of the last eleven years. Of course, it would only take one wet day to scupper that record chance. There isn’t much rain in the weather forecast for the next week to ten days. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.

It’s also been a very mild April and if the warm spell continues it could finish up being the warmest April I’ve recorded too. However, as all gardeners will be aware at this time of the year it’s the coldest temperatures that we need to be aware of.

At the allotment, the new tender shoots on our buddleias have been caught by the frost earlier this week. 

Some of the new shoots on our Tulameen raspberries have been caught by Jack Frost too.  

Each year we go through a spell of weather with overnight frosts when all the fruit blossom is at its best. Our quince is the last of our tree fruit to flower and some of the earlier flower buds are beginning to open. 

Hopefully, if we’re lucky that will be the last frost we get this spring.

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

Lockdown Day 20 - Continuing Dry But Much Colder

After some lovely warm sunny days it’s suddenly turned much colder. The overnight temperature fell to -1.3°C (29.7°F) in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It’s just as well I haven’t got any tender plants growing in the greenhouse.

Temperature Record 12-14 April 2020

We haven’t visited the allotment for several days now. The weather has continued dry with no rain to speak of since the middle of March. The onion and shallot sets planted a week or so ago probably need a drink but I don’t particularly like watering if there’s a  chance of overnight frosts. The forecast is for a couple of cold nights before the temperature warms up a little bit.

I’ll have to start thinking about sowing some tomato seeds along with a few other vegetable seeds which require sowing now we’re into the middle of April.

Opinion at the moment is that the lockdown will continue for another three weeks at least. That means we’ll be keeping visits to the allotment to an absolute minimum.

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

Lockdown Day 19 - Broad Bean Problems

A few weeks ago I sowed a couple of modules of broad beans called De Monica. It’s a variety we haven’t tried before as an early variety. I know I could have sown them in autumn to overwinter but I’ve never had much luck doing that.

Broad beans De Monica sown 22-March-2020

By the looks of it my early spring sowing hasn’t been very successful either. Both trays were sown on exactly the same day with compost from the same bag. As you can see germination has been excellent in one tray and almost a total failure in the other one. I’ll leave them another week to see if any more germination takes place but I think I’ll sow another couple of trays to see if they perform any better.

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

Lockdown Day 18 - Watercress Takeover

The weather over the Easter period has so far been exceptionally nice which is unusual for a Bank Holiday. You might think there’s a lockdown going on and that we’re all supposed to stay at home rather than making the most of the brilliant weather. Anyhow, Saturday became the warmest day of the year as the thermometer reached 22.7°C (72.9°F) which is very pleasant for the middle of April.

Temperature Records 06-12 April 2020

In our pond the Marsh Marigold has come into flower. I didn’t think it was going to manage to overcome the watercress which is taking over the pond.

Last spring I cleared out nearly all the watercress and the little bit I left in appeared to die off. Clearly it didn’t and it has returned with a vengeance. It’s days are numbered though as I intend to remove most of it again.

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

Lockdown Day 17 - Garden Progress

The change in the weather has been exceptional as the dry spell continues into the Easter weekend. Good Friday was another day when the temperature made it into the low twenties Celsius. We are keeping trips to the plot to a minimum in light of the lockdown. It’s normally a very busy time there but this year all that has changed. Life as we knew it has changed in a way we could never have imagined, even a few weeks ago, and it’s not going to return to anything like normal very quickly. I imagine the current three week lockdown will be extended.

However, the lack of activity at the allotment has meant more progress in the garden.

I was originally intending to sort out the border I am renovating at home once the bulk of the work at the allotment was completed. The lockdown made me change my plans and as I’d already got the replacement fencing I decided to get that erected before getting as much as is practical done at the allotment in the current circumstances. Having erected the fence I managed to dig over the soil to prepare it for planting.

I’ve now got one small section of border to sort out to join up last summer’s renovation with this spring’s. I’m not intending to replace the fencing but if I do a bit more cutting back I should be able to dig over a patch of ground to join up both sections of renovation.

All we need to do then is decide exactly what to grow in this cleared patch this year.

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

Lockdown Day 15 - Warm Weather Continues

Wednesday was another lovely sunny and warm day. The afternoon temperature reached 22.1°C (71.8°F) making it our warmest day of the year.

Temperature Record for 08 April 2020

We’ve slowly been renovating one of our garden borders. It had gradually been over run by a variety of bushes. These had avoided serious pruning for a few years and the result was that they had taken over the border completely.

A Section of the Border Before Renovation Started 

It was early last summer when I began cutting back all the shrubbery. It was amazing how much garden it revealed. Part of the bed was cleared last summer and after digging it over it was planted up with variety of perennial plants and spring bulbs.

One part still has a lot of work to do to make it acceptable.

This part needed the old timber paling fence replacing. I’d got all the materials I needed before the lockdown started. I thought it was about time I made a start. There was still some more shrubbery to cut back before I could get the old fence pulled down. The truth is that it was the shrubbery that was holding the fence up as the posts had rotted at ground level many years ago.

The new fence panels are now erected. The ground needs digging over before we can do any planting. This year because of the lockdown we are contemplating growing some vegetables in this little area as trips to the plot are being kept to an absolute minimum.

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

Just Managed A New Warmest Day.

Tuesday became our warmest day of the year as the temperature made it to 19.7°C (67.5°F) beating the previous high of 19.5° (67.1°F) set on the 24 March.

Temperature and Rainfall Records 09 March to 08 April 2020

Through winter it seemed like it never stopped raining. From the middle of last September through to the middle of March we struggled to get a couple of dry days in a row. That pattern changed in the middle of last month and since then we’ve had no rain at all. The tap has been turned off. 

The mild days have been accompanied by some nice sunshine and it’s brought out our cherry blossom.

Cherry- Summer Sun 

Of course the clear skies overnight have brought some chilly temperatures with 0.6C° (33.1°F) early  on Tuesday morning. It’s a reminder that despite the lovely pleasant days it’s far too early to risk any tender plants outside.

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