January 2020

Wednesday 1st

3 to 6 to 6°C. 1.03kWh 500W max. Cloudy with a few brighter intervals but still with windchill from the the southerly wind.

Quite a few tulip, narcissus bulbs are coming through in the pots and bluebells and daffodils are poking through the soil in the bed behind the conservatory but there is no sign of any aconite or snowdrop flowers this year so far.

Thursday 2nd

4 to 11 to 9°C. 340Wh. Another grey day. Despite the mild temperature the strong wind made it feel quite chilly and I cut short my bike ride when I was struggling up hills against the wind which normally I can manage in top gear.

Rain is forecast for tonight.

Friday 3rd

 7 to 8 to 3°C. 1.6kWh 500W max. It did rain but only a light shower. Still quite mild for January and there was some sunshine in the afternoon. Stayed clear into the evening

Back to cutting back shrubs and hedges.

Saturday 4th

3 to 9 to 4°C. 1.43kW 500W max. Chilly start but no frost then sunny intervals with some black clouds in  between but didn't rain.

Suffering from asthma most of the day but did manage, with Pat's help, to cut down and cut up two wild cherry trees in the wild garden which were getting too big and causing too much shade.

Sunday 5th

 6 to 10 to 6°C. 1.71kWh 400W max. Variable cloud moving across the sky with a westerly wind making it feel colder than the thermometer would suggest.

Continued cutting back in the wild garden.

Monday 6th

6 to 8 to 3°C. 178Wh. Dark cloud with a strong blustery wind and some fleeting showers though not enough to record in the rain gauge.

Not a day to be working outside.

Tuesday 7th

 5 to 14 to 12°C. 85Wh. A very dark overcast day. Mild and humid with very little wind and the odd spot of rain.

Continued cutting back the wild garden. The warm weather has caused the snowdrops and daffodils to start poking through so finishing this has now become urgent.

Wednesday 8th

8 to 10 to 6°. 665Wh. A brighter day but the wind was back. Later in the evening it started raining quite heavily with 7mm recorded by 11pm.

I have nearly finished cutting down the rest of the self-seeded cherry and hazel trees in the wild garden.

Thursday 9th

 8 to 7 to 4°C. 889kWh. Continued to rain after midnight with a total of 13mm. Another overcast day with a few brighter periods and less wind. The temperature was slowly falling over the day.

Friday 10th

 3 to 8 to 7°C. 1.76kWh 800W max. Cool misty start but cleared by lunchtime to an almost cloudless afternoon and evening lit by a full moon. Further east there was a penumbral eclipse but not here.

Spent part of the aftenoon helping Pat install her new washing machine.

Saturday 11th

8 to 12 to 9°C. 100Wh. Back to overcast and mild. Started raining in the evening though only light.

I have almost finished cutting the hedge along the road behind the wild garden. I just need to get at some of it from the road side, hopefully tomorrow.

Sunday 12th

 9 to 7 to 6°C. 1.15kWh 700W max. Fairly bright start but soon clouded over with some dampness in the afternoon.

Planted the first of the germinated peas Douce Provence in 9 cell trays, 3 to each cell. They will stay in the polytunnel till late February or even later depending on the weather and may need moving to pots before they can be planted out. I will start anotherr third of the packet between wet kitchen towels once they are through.

Then back to cutting back shrubs.

Monday 13th

4 to 8 to 5°C. 1.05kWh. Mainly overcast with some brightness mid-morning before storm Brendan moved in. Quite windy with some rain though only 2mm in total.

Tuesday 14th

 6 to 12 to 5°C. 128Wh. A dark windy day with heavy rain and showers to a total of 5mm. Despite the wind it felt quite warm in the morning and early afternoon.

Wednesday 15th

6 to 8 to 5°C. 2.17kWh 700W max. Sunny morning with clear skies until early afternoon when it became cloudier with some very light showers.

At last a day for Pat to start shredding all the brash from the shrubs and hedges we have been cutting. I started turning the compost heaps to make room for the new shreddings; a warm job for a colder day.

Thursday 16th

 6 to 10 to 7°C. Another damp windy day with some brightness in the morning but showers in the afternoon. Still feeling warm for January.

Tidied up the rest of the pots of chrysanthemums in the polytunnel. They need to be kept dry and free of botrytis to survive the winter so healthy cuttings can be taken in the spring. I have also ordered some new varieties of early spray and incurved chrysanthemums.

Friday 17th

 4 to 5 to 1°C. 661Wh. Damp (5mm rain) and windy for most of the day, clearing in the evening to a colder night than recently.

Continued cutting back shrubs and hedges with Pat shredding the debris.

Saturday 18th

-1 to 5 to 2°C. 3.63kWh 900W max. Cold with a slight frost overnight then clear skies and sunshine all day. This is more what you expect in January.

Sunday 19th

 -3 to 4 to 0°C. 3.85kWh 900W max. Cold frosty start followed by sunshine all day but not warm enough to thaw the frost in shaded areas so I decided going for a bike ride on recently flooded roads was not a good idea.

Turned another compost bin and then did some more shredding.

Monday 20th

-3 to 6 to 0°C. 3.81kWh 900W max. Very similar to yesterday though feeling warmer as there was no breeze.

More shredding but run out of fuel so the rest will have to wait.

Tuesday 21st

-1 to 5 to 6°C. 422Wh. Back to damp and slightly warmer as the temperature continued to climb into the evening.

Wednesday 22nd

6 to 7 to 6°C. 218Wh. Another damp day, quite misty especially in the morning.

The seed potatoes and onion sets came in the post so I have set them in trays to chit and ripen.

Thursday 23rd

 6 to 6 to 6°C. 450Wh. Another dull misty drizzly day.

My turn to do some shredding.

Friday 24th

 4 to 6 to 6°C. 425Wh. Grey, damp and drizzly.

Saturday 25th

5 to 6 to 6°C. 373Wh. More grey damp weather. A change to brighter, windier, wetter weather is forecast for tomorrow. It might even snow.

My asthma has been very bad today. I don't think this weather helps.

Sunday 26th

 6 to 9 to 2°C. 622Wh. A slightly brighter day with some rain later in the afternoon and into the evening (2mm).

Monday 27th

2 to 6 to 3°C. 2.84kWh 800W max. Another 2mm rain overnight then a much brighter day.

I have been very unwell over the last three days but I seem to be recovering.

Tuesday 28th

 0 to 6 to 3°C. 2.63kWh. Sunny intervals and showers with a chilly breeze.

Feeling better. Even did some digging but gave up after less than an hour.

Wednesday 29th

1 to 8 to 7°C. 2.53kWh. Similar to yesterday but the wind felt cold despite the thermometer saying it was mild.

Thursday 30th

 4 to 11 to 6°C. 660kWh. Another mainly cloudy day feeling mild for January.

Started cutting more hedges and shrubs now that we have nearly finished shredding the debris from earlier.

Friday 31st

6 to 13 to 10°C. Cloudy with some showers in the morning. Still very warm for January.

A lot birds, blue and great tits especially, have started singing and the sparrows have been gathering the hens moulted feathers. They think it is spring.