September 2018                                                                                            Back to August

Saturday 1st

 12 to 24 to 19°C. 9.5kWh 1.9kW max. Mainly sunny with a warm southerly breeze.

Finished training the chrysanthemums and started moving the pansies from their 12 cell trays into 7cm pots.

Sunday 2nd

17 to 24 to 19°C. 7.47kWh 2kW max. Sunny intervals with the same warm southerly breeze.

Everything needs watering again. At least our water stocks were replenished by the rain last week.

Monday 3rd

17 to 15 to 13°C. 2.78kWh 700W max. It was still 18°C at 4am this morning but by dawn the wind had moved to the north and the day was much coooler and cloudy with a few spots of drizzle.

I decided to have one last go at trying to revive the dahlias. By this time they are usually in full flower but, despite constant watering during the hot weather in July and most of August they have died back. So I have cut back the dead stems and hopefully they will at least grow some new shoots and leaves to store energy in tubers before the winter. It would be a shame to loose them; some of them are more than 6 years old.

Tuesday 4th

 6 to 17 to 9°C. 8.44kWh 1.6kW max. Sunny intervals with a westerly breeze.

Continued cutting hedges and cleaning up the area between the lawn and the wood shed.

Wednesday 5th

10 to 15 to 9°C. 2.83kWh. Cloudy and humid.

Cut some more hedge. A 3.7 cubic metre load of logs was delivered late in the afternoon. We spent the rest of the day and into the evening moving it from the drive into the woodshed; around 50 barrow loads. Good quality dry hardwood, most of it oak, ash and sycamore and no softwood. With what I take from the trees and hedges in the garden there should be enough to keep us warm this winter.

Thursday 6th

6 to 13 to 8°C. 2.17kWh 400W max. A miserable cold day with some fine drizzle which only amounted to 1mm of rain. Pat made some leek, sage and potato soup. The early leeks are looking good and solid despite the dry weather.

Finished potting on the pansies and started on the autumn stocks.

Friday 7th

 8 to 17 to 10°C. 6.85kWh 500W max.

Cloudy with a few spots of drizzle but feeling less cold than yesterday

Saturday 8th

12 to 18 to 14°C. 2.37kWh 400W max.

Rained most of the morning and showery in the afternoon total 4mm.

Sunday 9th

12 to 19 to 13°C. 8.44kWh 1.3kW max

A better day feeling quite warm out of the wind.

Finished potting on the autumn stocks. Placed overwintering Valeciana broad bean seeds in 9 cell trays. They will go into 2L pots to overwinter in the polytunnel and planted out in the Spring. I tried this last year and we got a better crop from these than the Spring planted ones but this might be because of the very strange weather we have had this year. Same applies to the overwintering Douce Provence peas which I will sow again in the autumn but not yet.

Monday 10th

10 to 17 to 16°C. 4.06kWh. Cloudy but stayed dry, warming in the afternoon with some periods of sunshine.

Dug up the Sarpo Kifli, Sarpo Blue Danube and Sarpo Axona potatoes. Quite a good yeild of 10 to 12kg of each despite the very dry summer.

Tuesday 11th

 14 to 17 to 13°C. 3.42kWh 600W max. A useful 5mm of rain overnight followed by a cloudy damp morning and a drier but dull afternoon. More rain is forecast again during the night.

Back to cutting hedges, including inserting some hawthorn wands in the ground to fill some gaps if they take root in the Spring. Some of the older parts of the hedge are only held together by ivy.

Wednesday 12th

 11 to 17 to 8°C. 7.41kWh 1.6kW max. Another 3mm of rain overnight has replenished our stores. Much brighter in the afternoon and the sky this evening is clear. It could be quite cold by the morning.

Thursday 13th

 8 to 17 to 12°C. 8.19kWh 1.9kW max. The wind changed to the south and it actually came warmer overnight with plenty of sunshine for most of the day, feeling quite warm out of the wind.

More hedge cutting, more like felling small trees in some parts. My hip replacement and hernia operation has allowed some of them to grow very high and dense, especially along the road. The reciprocal saw is proving very useful, getting into spaces where a bow saw or chain saw won't go.

Friday 14th

 12 to 16 to 12°C 2.46kWh 400W max. A cloudy damp miserable day with occasional light drizzle.

Saturday 15th

12 to 17 to 13°C. 3.3kWh 600W max. Another cloudy day but dry apart from a short shower in the early evening.

Opened up part of the area near the chicken house, keeping the celery fenced in, though the chickens have never shown any signs of being interested in it. Pat noticed one of the savoy cabbages was about to burst so she picked it and we had half of it with out evening meal. Quite early in the year for a winter cabbage but it made a change from the summer Golden Acre and Minicole cabbages which are past their best. The hens will be pleased, cabbages are their favourite treat whatever condition they are in.

Dug up the maincrop Vales Sovereign potatoes. Despite the wet start and then the long hot dry weather we got a good yield of around 18kg from the original 1.5kg seed. The Cara looks just as good.

Sunday 17th

 13 to 19 to 14°C. 1.88kWh. A very dull day with grey clouds and drizzle only amounting to 1mm rain. In the afternoon it felt very warm and humid.

Monday 17th

 13 to 21 to 14°C. 3.21kWh 600W max. 1mm of rain overnight then cloudy breezy warm and humid most of the day. Clear in the evening, warm and humid with no breeze.

Removed the butterfly netting and polycarbonate side sheets from the brassicas. The summer cabbage and calabrese are nearly finished and the kale, sprouting broccoli and savoy cabbage don't need protection and are too large for the nets.

Tuesday 18th

 15 to 21 to 14°C. 5.41kWh 1.9kW max. The temperature rose during the night and was above 18 at 7am. Quite bright but very windy during the day with some sunshine in the morning but dark clouds in the afternoon. It started raining just after dark, quite heavily for a couple of hours to a total of 6mm.

Started picking the Bramley apples. A good crop and quite a lot of large fruit but a lot of them have cracked skins and won't keep; that is probably caused by the dry weather stopping them growing for a time in the summer. The smaller ones are sounder so it looks like we will be having stewed rather than baked apples this winter.

Wednesday 19th

 11 to 17 to 15°C. 3.98kWh 800W max. Very windy.

Continued potting on the wallflowers. Pat picked some more Bramley apples before they were blown off/

Thursday 20th

11 to 17 to 15°C. 970Wh. Heavy rain most of the day amounting to 44mm by 11pm and it is still raining.

One of those days when you are glad you live on the highest point rather than down by the river.

Friday 21st

 6 to 12 to 8°C. 4.18kWh 2kW max. Clear overnight and quite cold by the morning with strong sunshine tempered by the wind which was still quite strong. Calmed down in the afternoon with a few spots of drizzle but cleared after dark with a bright almost full moon. More rain is forecast for the weekend.

There was very little sign of the heavy rain by the morning. The drive and paths were dry and it had all soaked into the ground which was still very dry when I dug over the some of the vegetable garden only a couple of days ago.

Autumn is here; some of the chrysanthemums are starting to show signs of flowering.

Saturday 22nd

6 to 11 to 7°C. 2.25kWh 400W max. A drizzly grey cold day.

The only highlight was us going for our annual 'flu vaccination.

Sunday 23rd

 7 to 11 to 7°C. 5.28kWh 1.7kW max. Sunny intervals with a few showers (2mm) but with a very cold north westerly wind.

Planted some pansies and some spare chrysanthemums (which never got potted on) in the bed at the far end of the drive.

Pat picked the pears and stewed the (wasp) damaged ones for our dinner. Plenty sound large ones left for later.

Monday 24th

 5 to 12 to 5°C. 7.66kWh 1.4kW max. Mainly sunny and feeling warmer because the wind has dropped.

Looks like it will be even colder to night with a completely clear sky and a full moon.

Gathered the squashes and pumpkins and took them inside the house in case it comes really cold. Not as many as usual. I tried to keep them watered in the very hot weather but every afternoon they were wilting. There should be enough to keep us going till next summer but none left to give away.

Tuesday 25th

 3 to 17 to 11°C. 8.26kWh 1.8kW max. Cold misty start then sunny all day with just a few wispy clouds. Felt quite warm out of the wind.

Harvested the rest of the Cara potatoes; another 8kg to add to the the 8kg we dug up a couple of weeks ago.

Started the last training of the chrysanthemums which are looking really good this year. No rust, long stems and large healthy buds.

Wednesday 26th

 11 to 20 to 13°. 5.77kWh 2kW max. Another mainly sunny day feeling warmer as the wind moved to the south.

Thursday 27th

 15 to 20 to 12°C. 8.76kWh 1.7kW max. Clear and sunny all day. Felt warm sheltered from the wind which has moved to north west again.

Pat dug some of the early Elefant leeks for our dinner. They are very good and pest free unlike last year. Maybe the hot weather was good for them so long as they were one of the crops I did keep watered.

Friday 28th

 5 to 12 to 6°C. 8.71kWh 1.8kW max. Another sunny but rather cold day.

Saturday 29th

3 to 11 to 8°C. 8.72kWh 1.8kW max. Sunny all day but with a northerly wind.

A good day to cut some more of the hedges

Sunday 30th

8 to 11 to 7°C. 2.64kWh 400W max. A damp cold day with the same northerly wind.

Transplanted the primroses from their 12 cell trays into 11cm pots.

October