December 2109

Sunday 1st

 -4 to 4 to -3°C. 3.17kWh 700W max. Frosty start and stayed sunny but with a cold breeze for most of the day and a clear frosty night.

Removed the begonia corms from their pots and moved them into the conservatory where they will be protected from the frost, though some of them already look damaged.

Monday 2nd

-4 to 5 to 4°C. 930Wh. Frosty start but overcast with very little wind so felt warmer. Some light rain in the evening.

Moved the rest of the useful chrysanthemums into the polytunnel. I am going to order some new stock of early flowering varieties.

Tuesday 3rd

-1 to 7 to 2°. 2.8kWh 600W max. Cold misty start with a slight frost but the sunshine soon cleared this and it felt quite warm in the afternoon with only a very gentle breeze.

Back to cutting back shrubs and hedges.

Wednesday 4th

-1 to 4 to 5°C. 3.22kWh 600W max. Cold and misty start with a slight frost and sunshine till late in the afternoon but not feeling as warm in the easterly wind. Clouded over in the evening as the temperature started to rise.

Thursday 5th

 4 to 12 to 10°C. 391Wh. Damp and cloudy with blustery wind. Feeling quite mild for early December.

My asthma was not very good today so didn't get to do anything much.

Friday 6th

 6 to 10 to 7°C. 1.09kWh. Cloudy with some brighter periods in the morning but then showery in the afternoon(3mm rain).

Started moving the wallflowers from their cell trays intto 1.5L pots. A lot later than previous years when they were already producing flowerbuds in late November. That is because of the cold grey weather which we have had nearly continously all Autumn. The pansies and dianthus are even further behind.

Saturday 7th

8 to 11 to 9°C. 882Wh. More dull weather with a southerly wind so it was very mild for December. Started raining late in the evening. Strong winds and heavy rain are forecast for tomorrow and Monday.

Finished moving the rest of the chrysanthemums I want to keep into the polytunnel, this time the short stemmed ones.

Sunday 8th

 5 to 9 to 5°C. 2.03kWh 800W max. A windy day with some sunshine. Clouded over in the evening.

Continued potting on the wallflowers.

Monday 9th

6 to 7 to 0°C. 2.63kWh 800W max. 3mm of blustery rain overnight and remained windy till late in the day when the wind dropped and the sky cleared to what might be frosty by the morning.

Tuesday 10th

6 to 12 to 3°C. 212Wh. A very windy day with light showers and one spell of heavy rain (3mm) in the early evening. Very mild for December even with the wind chill

Wednesday 11th

 2 to 6 to -1°C. 864Wh. Cloudy and windy with some showers (1mm rain)

Thursday 12th

-2 to 6 to 3°C. 104Wh. Another dark wet miserable day with drizzle and heavy showers (6mm rain) .

This is the first time in over 40 years when we didn't walk to the polling station to vote in an election. It is only about half a mile away but part of that is on  a main road with large puddles and spray from lorries and cars. So we went in the car though it was hardly worth the bother since it is a very safe seat.

Friday 13th

2 to 6 to 2°C. 1.65kWh 600W max. A slightly better day with a few sunny periods but also some heavy showers (2mm rain).

Looks like another 5 years of fat cats in the city, food banks, queues in A&E and zero hours contracts on the minimum wage for millions of hard workers. Meanwhile those same fat cats don't care about global warming so long as the money continues to pile up in their offshore accounts.

Saturday 14th

1 to 6 to 2°C. 1.56kWh 400W max. A brighter day with a cold wind and some scattered showers.

Sunday 15th

2 to 5 to 2°C. 1.24kWh. Feeling slightly warmer with very little wind. Some rain in the afternoon and evening though only 2mm.

Took the chance to clean out the gutters while it was less windy and rainy. The trouble with having a lot lof trees in the garden is you get a lot of leaves in the autumn and these block the gutters, especially the conservatory and the utility extension. My hands were very cold and wet when I finished.

Monday 16th

 2 to 6 to 0°C. 1.26kWh. Cold cloudy start coming brighter by the afternoon. A clear night means frost by the morning.

Finished potting on the pansies.

Tuesday 17th

-2 to 3 to -2. 899Wh. Frosty mistly start then a cold mainly cloudy but with very little wind.

Too cold to do anything standing around so kept warm moving the pots of tulips, narcissus and hyacinth to their places round the patio.

Wednesday 18th

 -2 to 6 to 9°C. 189Wh. Cold frosty start and remained cold until late in the morning when a warm south easterly wind with some showery rain arrived and continued to warm up late into the evening.

Thursday 19th

 10 to 11 to 8°C. 1.17kWh 600W max. 8mm of rain overnight and another 3mm during the day with one brighter period late morning.

Friday 20th

8 to 5 to 2°C. 50Wh. A damp miserable day getting colder as it progressed.

Saturday 21st

 5 to 8 to 6°C. 2.52kWh 600W max. A brighter day with some hazy sunshine but rained later in the afternoon but only 2mm.

Tidied up the old vegetable beds inside the fruit cage. There are some winter cabbages still to come and maybe some more kale might sprout. The trench celery hasn't been damaged by the frost yet. I can't dig over the empty beds as they are very waterlogged but we are much better off than along the south coast where there has been heavy rain and more flooding, even a tornado.

Sunday 22nd

5 to 7 to 3°C. 1.31kWh. 2mm of rain overnight then mainly cloudy but dry during the day.

Pulled up the old summer bedding down the drive but it is too soggy to dig over. Gave the roses their half prune. Usually we still have a few flowers left late into December. The buds are there but they have rotted away.

Monday 23rd

 4 to 9 to 5°C. 1.14kWh. Dull but quite mild for the end of December

My asthma has been very bad so didn't do much today.

Tuesday 24th

5 to 10 to 5°C. 684Wh. Another mild dull day.

Feeling a little better and managed to put some mulch on the narcissus bulbs which are coming up between the the roses rather too early.

December 25th

 -1 to 7 to 3°C. 2.5kWh 600W max. Cold sunny start and remained sunny till late in the afternoon.

Despite it being Christmas Day I took the opportunity to dig over some land in the back garden which is no longer waterlogged.

December 26th

2 to 4 to 3°C. 89Wh. Back to cold grey damp and miserable.

Friday 27th

 5 to 6 to 6°C. 264Wh. Another cloudy day but feeling slightly warmer.

Continued the heavy digging in the back garden.

Saturday 28th

7 to 9 to 7°C. 776Wh. Slightly brighter. The thermometer shows higher but this was tempered by a stronger breeze.

Sunday 29th

 6 to 8 to 3°C. 1.56kWh 600W max. A much better day with some sunshine in the late morning and herring bone clouds in the evening causing the sky to be red all over.

Monday 30th

2 to 11 to 7°C. 2 to 10 to 7°C. 2.95kWh 600W max. Clear skies overnight with a slight frost by the morning then sunny for most of the day with thin cloud in the evening.

Kirstin and Sarah and our two youngest grandchildren Anna and Euan came to visit for the day. It was such a nice day we went for a long walk round the back lanes in the afternoon.

Tuesday 31st

 6 to 7 to 6°C. 576Wh. Mainly cloudy with a few brighter periods around lunchtime but with a chilly westerly wind.

Clouded over in the evening which actually made the fireworks going off all round us at midnight reflect off the clouds making them seem even brighter.

Another year comes to a close.