JUNE 2019

Saturday 1st

 12 to 22 to 17 7.44kWh 1.5kW max. A mainly cloudy day with a blustery wind.

Hopefully the risk of frost has passed so planted out the celery. For the Starburst blanching celery I dug out a trench 50cm deep and 80cm wide, forked over the base and planted three rows of plants. These will need slowly earthing up till the mound is at least as high as it was deep. The green celery only needs planting in deep holes as it is self-blanching if you plant them, close together.

Also finished potting on the seedling dahlias and moved the Cosmos into 20 cell trays. This is later than usual, the first sowing failed to germinate. I am not sure why but the varying heat over the last few weeks might be part of the cause; I have also had problems with germinating the runner and dwarf beans.

Sunday 2nd

14 to 18 to 13°C. 6.15kWh 800W max. Started off clear and bright but soon clouded over with black clouds in the afternoon but, despite the forecast of heavy rain all we got was a 3 minute shower.

Moved the petunia seedlings into 3L pots and started moving the Phlox seedlings into 1.5L pots.

Monday 3rd

 8 to 19 to 13°C. 13.44kWh 2.2kW max. Sunny with thin clouds. Less wind so felt warmer.

Dug over an area in the vegetable garden to plant the runner and dwarf beans. Didn't need it all so moved the wire mesh to let the chickens into the rest. They will do a good job keeping the weeds down; just as useful as the eggs they lay each day.

Picked the first strawberries and there should be some broad beans later this week. We have been eating the Casablanca and Abbot new potatoes for several days already.

Tuesday 4th

 8 to 14 to 11°C. 3.14kWh 800W max. Bright cool start but soon clouded over with light rain by mid-morning. Started to rain more heavily in the afternoon with some very heavy showers overwhelming the gutters on the roof and the diverters on the down-pipes so couldn't collect it all. 16mm in total which is more than fell in the whole of May.

Planted out the Alicante and Bejbino tomatoes in the polytunnel.

Wednesday 5th

 10 to 14 to 10°C. 6.27kWh 1.2kW max. A mainly cloudy day with a cold westerly wind.

Planted the aubergines.

Thursday 6th

8 to 16 to 10°C. 12.08kWh 2.1kW max. Sunny with a two heavy thundery showers with some hail;2mm rain. Heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow.

Planted out the Purple Teepee dwarf beans. Started to plant out the summer beddinh down the side of the drive starting near the road. Helichrysum at the back, Salvia, Statice, Clary and Phlox in the middle and Mesembryanthemum along the front.

Friday 7th

 8 to 12 to 11°C. 2.45kWh 350W max. Steady rain for most of the day amounting to 13mm. Finally died down in the evening.

 During intervals of lighter rain moved more pots of summer annuals out of the polytunnel to clear most of it but didn't plant them outside. Planted the rest of the tomatoes, Bejbino and Bloody Butcher.

Saturday 8th

 8 to 12 to 10°C. 2.02kWh 300W max. Rained overnight and drizzled most of the day for a total of 7mm rain.

The water stores were overflowing so used 300L to give the beds inside the polytunnel a good watering.

The drizzle didn't stop me continuing to plant out the bedding down the side of the drive. In the evening the weather cleared and I moved more of the remaining pots of bedding out of the polytunnel so I can finish planting the the peppers, cucumber and squashes.

Sunday 9th

 6 to 14 to 8°C. 9.51kWh 2kW max. Sunny breezy start with sunny intervals during the day with several short spells of very heavy rain, some with small hailstones, amounting to another 7mm. More spells of heavy rain are forecast in the next few days.

Planted out the peppers in the polytunnel. Moved another 300L of water into the polytunnel.

Monday 10th

 3 to 17 to 8°C. 11.41 1.9kWh 1.9kW max. Mainly sunny but turned cloudy in the evening with 7mm of heavy rain by midnight.

Finished planting the cucumbers and squashes in the polytunnel. Gave them another good watering. A lot more rain is forecast for most of this week.

Tuesday 11th

8 to 8 to 8°C. 1.24kWh. Rained all day to a total of 30mm. Moved more rainwater into the polytunnnel, two lots of around 250L. The tanks and tubs were filling up nearly as fast as I was taking it.

Pat went shopping and bought us both some new wellingtons; the old ones are leaking.

Wednesday 11th

 8 to 12 to 9°C. 2.08kWh 400W max. Another 7mm rain overnight then cold grey and drizzly all day.

Thursday 13th

 7 to 13 to 10°C. 3.31kWh 400W max. Some more rain overnight then cold and grey with some drizzle until early evening when it became brighter.

Friday 14th

10 to 17 to 10°C. 8.12kWh 1.7kW max. Mainly sunny with a few short showers. Feeling warmer.

Today is our 50th wedding anniversary.I seem to remember the weather was a bit more settled and warmer than it has been recently.

We are not into celebrations but Sarah decorated a cake. See below for pictures

Saturday 15th

8 to 17 to 10°C. 5.82kWh 1.9kW max. Variable cloud with some sunshine but also some heavy showers, particularly in the evening.

Removed the winter pansies and stocks from the planting troughs and replaced them with summer flowers, coleus, phlox, mesembryanthemum, lobelia and marigold.

Sunday 16th

7 to 18 to 14°C. 8.79kWh 2.2kW max. Another day of sunshine and heavy showers.

Trimmed back the hedge along the road. This is important as we are on a bend so being able to see as far as possible both ways is essential not just for other road users but for us when turning out of the drive either in the car or on a bicycle. The blackthorn in the hedge has done really well this year with lots of flowers in the warm February and now lots of sloe fruits ripening. It would be a shame to cut these back and they don't offer much of an obstruction, being higher than you would look along the road, so I have left them for the thrushes and blackbirds when they ripen. Just like the wild cherries they are very bitter for humans but the birds love them.

Trained the tomatoes and squashes with strings hanging from the frames in the polytunnel.

Monday 17th

 12 to 18 to 14°C. 4.03kWh 400W max. A mild humid miserable day with periods of fine drizzle or light rain.

My 76th birthday. Not the usual weather for it. I have finished all the jobs in the polytunnel and the ground is too soggy to do anything outside even during the drier periods. But at least everything is growing well, especially the brassicas and potatoes. There are plenty of strawberries but 75% are rotten or moldy or eaten by slugs; there is just about enough for a bowl for each of us most days but not enough to make some jam.

Tuesday 18th

 12 to 19 to 11°C. 7.51kWh 1.8kW max. A very humid day with variable cloud and some periods off fine drizzle with some rain showers in the evening.

Continued planting out the summer bedding down the side of the drive. When it started to drizzle I decided to start moving the chrysanthemum cuttings into 7cm square pots. A little earlier than usual but most of them are well rooted.

Wednesday 19th

12 to 18 to 13°C. 5.44kWh 1.4kW max. A more comfortable day with less humidity and a slight breeze.

Continued potting on the chrysanthemums and both of us trying to remove the enormous weeds that have grown in some parts of the garden following all the recent rain.

Thursday 20th

 12 to 19 to 11°C. 9.48kWh 2.1kW max. A more settled day with periods of sunshine and only a few very short showers.

Finished planting out the summer bedding down the drive apart from the very top where wee still have the pots of sweet william and canterbury bells. Also finished potting on the chrysanthemum cuttings.

Friday 21st

8 to 18 tto 10°C. 11.13kWh 2.2kW max. Clear overnight and mainly sunny most of the day though not as warm as you would expect on the day of the summer solstice. The weather forecast is for a couple of days of warm sunny weather followed by warm and humid with a risk of thunderstorms early next week.

Something very curious happened this morning. A courier delivered a large bunch of lilies addressed to both of us. There was no card attached so we are intrigued as to who they could be from; perhaps a late golden wedding gift? Pat investigated further e-mailing the florist but just got the reply they had been ordered through Amazon using a name none of us know. Not many people know our name and address, other than close relatives so this is a complete mystery. It would be nice to be able to thank whoever it was.

Once they have opened I will take a picture of them, though personally I prefer flowers growing in the garden rather than in a vase.

The picture below was taken on the  following Friday. We still have no clue as to who sent them.

Saturday 22nd

 8 to 21 to 15°C. 14.03kWh 2.2kW max. A very sunny day.

Dug over the ground on the far side of the polytunnel and planted the Cargo pumpkin plants. 7 of them in an area 2m x 8m. That should give them plenty of room to spread and grow extra roots and it is very sheltered.

Sunday 23rd

13 to 21 to 15°C. 6.32kWh 2.1kW max. Started off clear and sunny but clouded over by late morning. Some showers in the afternoon and light rain in the evening but not the heavy rain we were warned about, only 1mm.

Managed to start cutting the privet hedge before the rain arrived.

Monday 24th

 15 to 22 to 17°C. 5.01kWh 1.2kW max. Cloudy start, remaining dull till after lunch then brightened for a time before high humidity and black clouds heralding a thunderstorm. Thunder and lightning all round but it hardly rained here.

Tuesday 25th

 16 to 18 to 14°C. 2.48kWh 600W max. 15mm of rain overnight and into the morning. Grey and humid for the rest of the day with some light showers.

Wednesday 26th

15 to 16 to 13°C. 4.02kWh 800W max. Cloudy and dull but with only a few spots of drizzle.

Thursday 27th

7 to 22 to 15°C. 14.21kWh 2kW max. Sunny all day but very humid making it feel very close.

Found some shade to continue training the chrysanthemums.

We are still getting a lot of rotted strawberries but there are plenty of raspberries and the desert cherries are starting to ripen. We are also getting at least one calabrese head every and plenty of broad beans. Also peas but a lot them have been eaten by mice. I am wondering whether it is worth growing peas at all. We can't sow them outside because the mice dig them up and we can't grow them to flower between June and August because they are ruined by maggots.

Friday 28th

13 to 23 to 17°C. 12.32kWh 2kW max. Another sunny day apart from some cloud in the morning.

The temperature reached 42°C in the polytunnel in the afternoon, much too hot to work in, but we heard on the news that some parts of France and Spain were even warmer, up to 44.1 in the shade outside.

Saturday 29th

 16 to 26 to 17°C. 10.16kWh 1.9kW max. A warm humid day but quite pleasant because the thin cloud stopped it feeling too hot in the sun.

Too warm for anything strenuous so I decided to start painting the outside walls of the house which have become quite grubby since we had them insulated with cladding. This has definitely worked both in the winter and summer. Today, for instance the temperature inside the house was a cool 18°.

Sunday 30th

 15 to 20 to 17°C. 8.67kWh 1.8kW max. Variable cloud with a westerly breeze.Feeling much fresher.

Back to cutting the privet  hedge now that it is cooler and not raining.