A Cold Snap

Early on Friday morning was our lowest autumn temperature this year as the thermometer fell to 0.1°C (32.2°F) just short of giving us our first air frost.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 15-21 November 2020

However, like our hot spells in summer, it was over very quickly only lasting for around a day before we returned to rather mild November temperatures. We've had some rain most days in the form of showers keeping the ground damp even though no great amount of rain has fallen.

Even when the sky has cleared there's still been some threat of rain around. 

Our magnolia tree has now lost most of its leaves. There are just a few stragglers left to fall. The path at the side of the house is now covered in leaves.

I'll have to gather up the leaves and add them to the compost heap. Left on the path they make it very slippery. Added to the compost heap they will make good material for mulching around shrubs in the garden. Whilst the magnolia has lost all its leaves we have one rose bush in the front garden refusing to accept the onset of winter.

There are still more buds left to follow on. Will they make it before some real winter weather arrives?

  

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

A Mild Start to November

The first half of the month has turned out to be reasonably mild considering it's November. Unlike the last couple of months, we've had a reasonable number of days with temperatures above average for the time of year.

Temperature Records for November 2020

The chart above shows that for the last week the daytime temperatures have been above the red line indicating the 10 year average high temperatures for November. Of course, milder temperatures don't tell the whole story. We've also had lots of damp, wet weather. It hasn't involved any great amount of rain but just enough to stop even the top of the ground from drying out. 

Thursday afternoon was one of our better spells of weather and we made the most of it with a walk around Nostel Priory grounds with Ruby.

Some trees are now in full winter mode having lost all their leaves, whilst others still have enough leaves left to show off the last of their autumn colours.

Like us, Ruby likes to relax when she's not out walking.

We now seem to be back to dull and dreary weather for the next few days. I've seen talk of a cold spell towards the end of the month. I hope it brings some bright and sunny weather with it.

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

It’s Gone – Mid Post

This morning (Tuesday) I snapped the view from the bedroom window. The mist and fog that had descended late last week were still here. We'd had a few drops of rain on Monday night but the mist and fog stubbornly remained.

Then as if by magic by an hour later the mist had disappeared and the sky was visible for the first time in days.

It's also fairly mild at the moment for early November. The only problem is that everything is sopping wet. If it stays fine we might spend the afternoon at the allotment doing a bit more tidying up.

We visited the plot on Sunday afternoon to do a little bit of harvesting. It was a bit bleak so we didn't stop any longer than necessary to harvest a few vegetables.

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

Murky Days - When Are They Bletted

After a lovely day on Wednesday, the weather turned murky with mist and fog in the morning only slowly clearing, leaving the afternoon dull and cloudy.

On Saturday there was very little difference between our daytime high temperature of 7.1°C (44.8°F) and night time low of 5.2°C or 41.4°F. 

Temperature & Rainfall Records 02-08 November 2020

I always think of our quinces as being the last fruit of the season. This year they were picked at the beginning of October.

They are a little bit different from all our other fruit in that they cannot be eaten raw.  The fruits only soften on cooking and are delicious added to apples or eaten on their own. However, we do have another fruit, growing on a tree in the garden, which is still to be picked.

These are medlars and the fruits are still very firm. The fruits have to blet before they can be eaten. I'm not sure whether the fruits are best left on the tree for this to happen or whether they should be removed and stored inside until they soften. I've read that once softened the fruit tastes a little bit citrusy but to be honest, we've never got that far. I find it very difficult to tell difference between bletting and rotting. Maybe I'll give them another week or so on the tree before deciding what to do.

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

More Winter Days Like This Please

Wednesday turned out to be a very nice autumn day. After the dull and dreary weather of October, Wednesday showed us how nice autumn can be. It wasn’t a particularly warm day with the temperature reaching 11.4°C (52.5°F) about average for early November. We had a pretty chilly start to the day although we avoided having a frost. There was plenty of sunshine on offer and very little breeze making it feel quite pleasant outside in the afternoon sunshine.

In the morning we’d taken Ruby for a walk in Rothwell Park. There were plenty of other people making the most of a lovely sunny morning. Ruby still isn’t too confident about meeting other dogs out for a walk.

Sometimes if Ruby’s feeling particularly brave some nose touching might take place but more often than not there’s a little bit of a standoff. She’s gradually getting better though so hopefully if we can keep taking her for walks and meeting other dogs she’ll become more confident.

Despite not being too happy about meeting other dogs, Ruby really seems to enjoy going out for a walk. It keeps us active too even if the weather’s not all that good.

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

A Wet, Windy But Mild Start to November

It’s been a rather strange start to November. The first day of the month was wet and windy but very mild. 

Temperature and Rainfall Records 27 October – 02 November 2020

As you can see from the temperature trace above the mildest part of the day was around midnight on Sunday, not really the sort of time when I expect the highest temperature. However, as there was a gale force wind blowing at the same time as well as intermittent showers the temperature was a little bit irrelevant. For the records, the temperature reached 17.4°C (63.3°F) just short of the highest November temperature I’ve recorded which was 17.9°C (64.2°F) on the 10 November 2015 at 13:55.

We did manage to visit the allotment on Sunday afternoon between the showers. It was a case of harvesting a few fresh vegetables as quickly as possible before any more rain arrived.

Looking in one direction the weather looked fine but unfortunately, this was the weather we had just had, and looking in the opposite direction the weather approaching didn’t look all that promising.

I picked a cauliflower and a cabbage whilst Sue picked over the last of the peas and French beans. I picked the remaining tomatoes from the plot greenhouse and Sue picked a few cut flowers. By this time it was just beginning to rain again.

As darkness fell the wind picked up to gale force and we had some more rain but the temperature continued to rise.

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

Cool and Wet October

It’s taken a while to get there but this October has now become the second wettest I’ve recorded in the last eleven years. The total has now reached 74.2mm (2.9in) still some way short of last year’s 106.0mm (4.2in) which is easily the wettest October I’ve recorded.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 23-29 October 2020

Temperature-wise too this October is following a similar pattern to last year in that we are having another cool October. The average temperature for the month currently stands at 9.9°C or 49.8°F dropping this year into the bottom three of the last eleven years.

Most of this month’s rainfall has come in the form of showers rather than prolonged spells of heavy rain. The rainfall over the last week has probably been enough to make the ground at the allotment too wet to do any more winter digging. 

We managed to clear this bed of its summer crops of runner beans and courgettes this week. We managed to dig over the ground but it was right on the limit of being too wet.

However, we’ve made much better progress than last year when virtually all our tidying up and digging over beds was left until the spring because of that very wet October.

The plot is now taking on a very autumnal look. The weather forecast is for a very wet and windy weekend.

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

We Missed The Showers

Last week was a showery one with a couple of cold nights thrown in.

Temperature and Rainfall Records 20-26 October 2020

We didn’t have any great amount of rain on any particular day but the showers tended to be spread out through the day. We fancied visiting Fountains Abbey to see it lit up by floodlights. Of course in these Covid times, that means booking in advance so it’s not a case of being able to wait for a good day and just go. At one point the weather forecast suggested that Monday would be the best day of the week and so we booked a visit. By the time it got to Monday the forecast for the day wasn’t as promising as when we booked. We headed off in any case hoping we’d miss any showers that were forecast. Our arrival time was 15:00 giving us plenty of time to wander around the lakes at Studley Royal before it got dark.

As dusk fell the floodlighting of the Abbey began to take effect. Extra evening catering facilities had been arranged and we enjoyed a teatime coffee and cake as we waited for darkness to fall.

Both the inside and outside of the Abbey was lit by floodlights.

As we made our way back to the car park it was beginning to rain so we’d been rather lucky with the timing of our visit.

We did manage a couple of trips to the allotment. Fortunately, we don’t have to book them in advance. We managed some more tidying up, removing the remains of our runner beans and outdoor tomato plants to the compost heap.

It’s all starting to look a little bit bare now as more and more beds are cleared of their summer crops.

It was a case of hoping any showers would miss the allotment. The threat of a heavy downpour was never very far away.

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