Every cloud has a silver lining...

Sunday was cloudy and cool with just a little drizzle now and again. After yesterdays wet trip to the allotment it was a day for being indoors. We had good reason though. We spent much of the day trying to take photographs and video of our siskins which seem to have arrived in the garden from nowhere. We are not expecting them to stay around for too long and want to make the most of the opportunity.

There was a little action for nest box cam to record which can be viewed on the link to next box cam at the top of the page.

More rain

There had been some rain overnight but it started to clear up on Saturday morning. We had a little sunshine and it tempted us to visit the plot. No sooner had we arrived before it started to rain. It was pretty wet and soggy when we arrived and more rain didn't help. Ground preparation will have to wait awhile for some drying out to take place.

From 2011 Weather Pictures 1

This was how the rain left the plot. Working on the soil in this condition will cause more harm than good. I know I've made the mistake. We have had approaching double the amount of rainfall for February so it's not to be unexpected that the ground is extremely boggy.

We will soon have some rhubarb for crumble by the look of this clump. We can afford to be ruthless in harvesting early from this root as we have other later varieties to follow on. Our much maligned sprouts are doing their best to produce us a least one helping in the next few weeks. Our over wintered carrots and parsnips are still in good condition as are our leeks which are rather small this year as they were sown much too late last year. Must remember to sow them earlier this year!

From 2011 Weather Pictures 1

Disappointing

We were back to dull and cloudy for Friday a big disappointment after such a glorious day yesterday. Just for good measure it started to rain late in the evening.

The weather did continue mild but this might have brought on some early problems. Who ate these flowers slugs or birds?

From 2011 Weather Pictures 1

Brilliant

Thursday was a beautiful mild and sunny day letting us know that spring is just around the corner. It turned out to be the mildest day of the year. In the greenhouse the temperature was into the 20°C's in the afternoon and I took the chance to get my potatoes out of the garage and into some trays for chitting. The raspberry replacements (Glen Moy) from Keepers Nursery were put into a pot until we can get them planted out on the plot.

From 2011 Weather Pictures 1

Mild

Wednesday was a much milder day but still no sunshine. The forecast towards the end of the month seems to be for the milder weather to continue with the possibility of cooler weather at the beginning of March.

From 2011 Weather Pictures 1

Following our nest box cam problems the pictures can be viewed by clicking on the picture below which is also located at the top of my blog.

From 2011 Weather Pictures 1

The web site is under development and will be added to over the coming weeks and months so be prepared for the odd link to take you into the ether. Hopefully we will be able to keep these to a minimum as the site is developed.

An improvement of sorts

Tuesday was a better day but in all honesty it didn't have to be great to do that. It was milder and there was even a hint of sunshine just before lunchtime. It was spring like in the greenhouse so I made the most of it and potted up our strawberry plants which had arrived from Marshalls.

From 2011 Weather Pictures 1

Our greenhouse now has lots of plants awaiting an improvement in soil conditions to get them planted. March good be an extra busy month.

We had our first offer on nest box cam today with a particularly fussy viewer. The bad news is that my nest box cam page in blogger has disappeared. I'm not at all sure what happened but we're working on an improved page.

Bleak

The bleak weather continued on Monday. It was another sunless and cold day. After the warm start to the month the last week of cold weather has brought the monthly average down to that expected for February. Some warmer weather is forecast for the end of the week.

The continued cold weather meant no nest box cam visitors again on Monday.

Drab

Sunday continued the spell of dull and cold weather. Since last Wednesday it's true to say that we haven't any brighter spells of weather let alone sunshine. This plot of solar radiation indicates just how dull the last few days have been.

A little disappointing too in that there were no nest box cam visits to report.

All the weather charts have been updated to 20th February on the 2011 Weather Chart Page.