June 09 - not so great

Damn Weather

Oh dear - we had 2 weeks of glorious sunshine. Which was a must, as the previous 2 weeks had been cool and damp. Lots of my seeds rotted off, so had to re-sow courgettes, squah, beans etc..

Anyway, we had an amazingly hot week (end of

May) - temps getting up to 26 degrees - and very dry - superb. But, as of wed last week (around 3rd June) all things fell apart. Now, you are lucky to see the sun and temps

are around 10 degrees tops (oh and how wet is it?!)

Mice & Rats

Bloody mice (& rats) keep diggin up my bean and courgette/squash seeds. So have re-planted some for the 3rd time. Have used netting - but don't know how good that will be.

Anyway - again - the weather has not helped - but I have some plants to put out.

Rest of the plot

Well - actually things are going ok:

• Peas recovered after a mauling from the pidgeons
• Beetroot doing well
• Potatoes are gigantic
• Broad Beans are looking the business
• Tomatoes are hanging in there
• Swede, Turnips and Brussels are doing rather well
• Cabbaages are glorious
• Strawberries are the biggest plants I have ever seen
• Flowers going well and there are some nice things to see (Lupins esp.)

Just need some good weather now.

New Videos

Trip down to my lotty

A quick look round lotty

May Posting

Sorry not posted for a bit - has been windy and chilly at times - but sunny. Now warming up nicely.

Have basically sown everything now - just waiting for them to pop up!

• Have planted broad beans, peas, cabbage and beetroot.
  
• Have sown turnip and swede
• Carrots are up - bit patchy though
• No sign of much herb action!
• Planted the sweet peas and nasturtiums
• Broccoli and caulis are ok-ish
• Some sweetcorn are up
• Fruit looking healthy and good

Will post some photos soon.

Warm and summery - wow!

Highs of 18 degrees - all very warm and sunny!

Got the peas in and some bamboo canes up and ready.

All in all - all going well.

Perfect Spring??

Well the temps have been up to about 16 degrees and very sunny - if not a bit dry.

Have been busy:

• rat proofing and turning my compost
• sowing flower seeds
• sowing more carrots
• thining cabbage seedlings

Mad March

Been a busy month - dry and sunny (with some warmth):

Month	CET	Anomaly	notes
January	3.0	-0.8
February	4.1	0.4
March	7.0	1.3	provisional, to the 30th

Not bad figures and + 1.3 degree over is quite some jump (March 2008 was -0.4degrees). Although, must remember the -1.0 degree drop in December 2008 ; an up and down year.

2007 was up and down too, and March 2007 had a +1.6 degree jump but and -0.4 degree drop for August. And just for good measure, in 2006, March had -0.8 degree drop but was a lovely hot year with jump in July of +3.7 degrees.

Overall, if you want a bell-weather prediction - it seems the higher the jump in March CET from average then the gloomier and wetter and cooler the summer.

Onwards to April....

Last 24 hours Max = 13.6 Min 5.7 (degrees)

Cool & Rainy March

Not bad - highs of 8 degrees and lows of 5 at the mo.

March 2009 - The Video!

Its Lovely Boyo!!!

Picked my leeks - finally. My lovely girlfriend took me posing with Daffs for that Welsh atmospheric shot.



Happy Equinox - spring has sprung!

New Aerial Map - you can see my beds!

View Larger Map

Lovely Start to Spring 09

Had weekend away Dahn Sarf!! The weather was lovely - topping 17 degrees. t'up North it has been around 12 degrees but dropping to a chilly 2 degrees over night.

All in all - not bad. Have been sowing:

• Broad beans
• Peas
• Parsnip
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Tomatoes (window sill)
• Brussel Sprouts
• Broccoli...and more

Something about the weather

2008 was a cool year all in all - here are the mean stats about the Central England Temperatures (source: MET Office):

Month	CET	Anomaly	notes
January	6.6	2.8	Warm
February	5.4	1.7	Warm
March	6.1	0.4	Cool
April	7.9	0.1	Cool
May	13.4	2.2	Very Warm
June	13.9	-0.2	Damn!!
July	16.2	0.2	Rubbish
August	16.2	0.4	Cack
September	13.5	-0.1	Pants
October	9.7	-0.9	Very Pants
November	7.0	0.5	Ok
December	3.5	-1.1	Rubbish

As you can see the stats were very poor - however the current stats are following last year's trend - although even cooler - oh dear - we will have to wait and see.

Generally, if you look at my blog - I pretty much stopped blogging my excitement after June 08 - the stats match that. Will this years be as dull and rainy - dunno - but I would assume just as cool.

Last 24 hours - the daytime temp: Max = 6.2 ℃ Min = 2.4 ℃

2009 is here!!!!

Well 2008 was a bit of a write-off - almost.

The courgettes and squashes did badly and it was pretty cool and damp - just aweful.

So here we are again - a new year with new hope!

p.s. I didn't get such great brussel sprouts.