July 2017

Saturday 1st

 12 to 20 to 14°C 7.71kWh 1.9kW max. Drizzly start clearing by mid morning to sunny intervals with a few short showers.

Mainly general tidying up, clearing weeds and digging over vacant areas.

Sunday 2nd

 11 to 22 to 14. 12.36kWh 2.2kW max. Sunny all day, clouding over as it came dark.

Pat went out for the day with Sarah and Kirstin. I stayed at home digging over some more clear areas including the around the Bramley apple tree. We usually grow parsnips here but for some unknown reason they never germinated. They take such a long time to show that when you finally realise nothing is growing there it is too late to sow again so we won't have any parsnips next winter.

Monday 3rd

13 to 20 to 15°C. 8.57kWh 2.1kW max. Sunny intervals. Feeling quite warm out of the westerly wind.

Planted out the mid-season Tornado leeks in the usual way making a hole 8" deep and 1" wide with a dibber, shaking off the roots and puddling them in.

After nearly 2 years since I crushed my hip I decided to try riding my bicycle again. It needed some work doing on it first. Both the gears and the brakes were sticking and the wheel bearings needed some lubrication too. I can only just get my leg over the crossbar but once I was on I was fine, though it will take some time to get back to my fitness before the accident; maybe I never will.

Tuesday 4th

 14 to 22 to 16°C. 7.49kWh 1.7kW max. Cloudy morning, becoming sunny in the afternoon.

Dug over the remainining beds inside the the fruit cage and started to plant the sprout seedlings into them.

Wednesday 5th

 12 to 26 to 17°C. 10.47kWh 1.9kW max. Sunny morning, becoming cloudier and very warm and humid in the afternoon.

There are warnings of thunderstorms tomorrow and Friday. We could do with some heavy rain to fill up our stores.

Continued planting out the sprouts. Pat picked some plums. The strawberries and cherries are nearly finished but we still have raspberries.

Already looking ahead to next year I pricked out the sweet william and wallflower seedlings into trays and also the late leeks.

Thursday 6th

 16 to 28 to 17°C. 11.26kWh 1.9kW max.  Reached 39°C in the polytunnel.  Very sunny in the morning with very little wind but became more pleasant in the afternoon with broken cloud and a cooling breeze. There were dark clouds and some distant thunder to the east but only a few drops of rain fell here. 

Started rearranging the pots of flowers now that the short stemmed lillies and sweet william have finished.

Friday 7th

 13 to 22 to 15°C. 7.11kWh 1.9kW max. Variable cloud with some warm sunshine but also a few spots of rain in the evening.

Finished planting out the brussel sprout plants; it was too warm and sunny yesterday. Started potting on the chrysanthemum cuttings into 2L pots.

Saturday 8th

 10 to 22 to 14°C. 10.15kWh 1.9kW max. Variable cloud with hazy sunshine.

Sunday 9th

 17 to 25 to 15°C. 11.03kWh 1.9kW max. Variable cloud.

Monday 10th

14 to 18 to 14°C. 4.63kWh 700W max. A very different day with heavy rain most of the morning and dark clouds and heavy showers in the afternoon into the evening.

At last some proper rain to water the garden and replenish our stores. Moved over 300L of this water into the polytunnel to give everything a a good water and 150L into the reserve butts outside the polytunnel which I had needed to use when the main 3000L store was nearly emptied. It is now half full and a lot more rain is forecast for the next 36 hours.

Tuesday 11th

 12 to 15 to 13°C. 3.06kWh 400W max. Rained most of the day but mostly light rain or fine drizzle. The forecast is better for tomorrow.

Continued repotting and/or training the chrysanthemums.

Wednesday 12th

 12 to 20 to 14°C. 11.69kWh 2.2kW max. Hazy sunshine and broken cloud. Feeling wam when sheltered from the breeze.

Dug over the patch where we had grown the early peas and beans and planted 3 pumpkin plants.

Thursday 13th

 14 to 20 to 14°C. 9.6kWh 2.1kW max. Variable cloud with some sunny intervals but also very dark clouds and a few spots of rain in the afternoon.

Friday 14th

 13 to 17 to 13°C. 4.89kWh 800W max. A dull day with dark clouds and a cold northerly wind and a few spots of rain in the morning. Not a typical July day.

Planted out the bed next to the drive nearest the road with zinnias, chrysanthemums, rudbeckia, salvia and tagetes. I couldn't do this earlier because it was very dry but now it has rained it is still quite dry but it should be possible to water them in.

When I went for my usual bike ride in the evening it was so cold I needed a sweater over the shorts and tee shirt I have been wearing on previous days.

Saturday 15th

 13 to 23 to 17°C. 5.79kWh 1.4kW max. Cloudy start with some drizzly rain and a cold wind but warmed up by the afternoon. Some dark clouds in the evening produced a few more spots of rain.

I was relieved to see that yesterdays planting had not been eaten by rabbits in the early morning.

I am now back to doing the medium 8 mile ride on my bike most days.

Sunday 16th

 16 to 18 to 13°C. 3.89kWh 600W max. Rather dull with some drizzly rain in the morning.

There are some Rolet summer squash ready to eat. Only the size of a medium orange but delicious when sliced and fried in a little olive oil.

Monday 17th

 8 to 24 to 16°C. 13.28kWh 1.9kW max. Cool clear night followed by hazy sunshine all day. Very little breeze so feeling quite warm.

Tuesday 18th

 11 to 26 to 14°C. 11.05kWh 1.9kW max. Another warm day, more pleasant than yesterday as thin cloud blocked some of the sun's power.

Went for my annual health check with the nurse at the local surgery. Everything was fine except for my asthma which I know how to cope with.

Wednesday 19th

 16 to 25 to 15°C. 6.04kWh 1.1kW max. A cloudy muggy day especially in the afternoon. Thunderstorms were forecast but all we got was some drizzle in the early evening.

I have nearly finished potting on and training the chrysanthemums. Pat picked the first of the Golden Acre cabbage today. We should soon be able to pick some Bejbino tomatoes and the Alicante also appear to be starting to ripen.

Thursday 20th

11 to 18 to 12°C. 6.11kWh 1.9kW max. Some fine drizzle in the morning, clearing though still mainly cloudy till the evening when there were a couple of short showers. Some proper rain is forecast for tomorrow.

Started cutting back some of the hedges.

Friday 21st

14 to 19 to 14°C. 4.18kWh 1.7kW max. Very windy morning with some light drizzle from time to time. Cleared in the afternoon with some brief sunshine before dark clouds brought heavy rain from the south west around 4pm and this continued late into the evening.

Saturday 22nd

 11 to 16 to 13°C. 7.33kWh. Sunny intervals with several heavy showers and a cold wind.

The rain and wind damaged some of the plants in the new bed running down the side of the drive so spent some of the time between the showers tidying and tying up. The annual bed on the other side is now well enough established to resist nibbling by rabbits so I removed the wire mesh which was protecting it.

Sunday 23rd

 11 to 18 to 14°C. 8.25kWh 1.9kW max. A better day with more sun and less showers but still with a cool northerly wind.

Removed the butterfly netting from most of the brassicas. They are getting too tall. So we will need to watch out for caterpillars, though a few won't do than much harm now they have grown quite large.

Unfortunately we also discovered that nearly all the heads on the calabrese have been eaten, presumably by rodents. This is becoming very annoying; there are around 20 calabrese plants and we have only picked 4 of the heads and the only 2 left are quite small. We are seriously considering whether we need to get another cat.

Monday 24th

 15 to 21 to 15°C. 7.63kWh 1.8kW max. Broken cloud in the morning and some sunshine in the afternoon. Feeling warmer now the wind has moved from the north and is less strong.

Tuesday 25th

9 to 23 to 16°C. 12.00kWh 2.1kW max. Asunny day with wispy clouds and less breeze. Rain is forecast overnight.

Spent most of the afternoon tidying up the bed to the north of the drive. As you can see from the picture I took earlier in the month there are a lot of large daisies which were no past their best and took a lot of cutting down. There are too many of these and I need to dig a lot of them out later in the year.

On my bike ride this evening I caught up with and passed two cyclists who were out for the exercise not just for a gentle ride in countryside. Both were probably half my age and tried to catch me after I went past but only for half a mile or so. I am surprised how quickly I am getting back to the fitness I had before my accident.

Wednesday 26th

 14 to 22 to 14°C. 5.54kWh 1.8kW max. Started raining around 6am and continued quite heavily until 11am. The rest of the day was sunny intervals with a couple of short heavy showers and quite windy.

Too windy to sow the purple top turnips I usually start at this time of year; the seeds are more likely to be blown out of the drill rather than fall in it. Maybe tomorrow will be less windy. The gages look as if they are nearly ready to pick.

Thursday 27th

 10 to 17 to 13°C. 6.02kWh 1.9kW max. Another day of sunny intervals and blustery heavy showers.

Sowed the purple top turnips in the bed next to the Bramley apple. Picked the greengages from the tree near the woodshed and the small black plums (Shropshire damsons?) from the trees in the hedge at the back of the garden.

Friday 28th

 13 to 16 to 14°C. 4.37kWh 600W max. Rained nearly all day. Mostly light but with some heavier periods in the afternoon and evening.

Saturday 29th

 12 to 18 to 14°C. 5.45kWh 1.8kW max. Mainly cloudy with a few sunny periods but also some light showers.

Sunday 30th

 11 to 17 to 12°C. 7.55kWh 1.6kW max. Sunny intervals with many short, blustery, heavy showers and consequently several transient incomplete rainbows. Not very warm for what should be the middle of summer.

Monday 31st

 11 to 17 to 14°C. 9.45kWh 2kW max. Sunny intervals with a few short light showers but still with a cold westerly wind.

Transferred the wallflower and sweet william seedlings into 7cm square pots.

Pat picked more peas for the freezer. Unfortunately a lot of them had pea moth maggots in them and took a long time to sort through. This doesn't happen with the early varieties so we are seriously considering stopping growing the maincrop peas next year.

August