Monday, August 17

A week of Sunshine, a Damp squib and Happy Surprises

Weather continued to dominate our activities last week.

We continued to take our walks in the mornings, trying to avoid the hottest part of the day. Thursday was particularly hot and, much to Ruby’s disgust, the heat forced us to have a lazy day indoors.

Torrential rain had been forecast for Sunday, but in the end we were treated to little more than a light dampening. With the thermostat finally turned down, we decided we could ease up on the watering and turn our attention to some other jobs.

We also had the much-hyped solar eclipse, which, for us, turned out to be something of a damp squib.

The previous eclipse had been much more dramatic, plunging us into total darkness. A chill descended, accompanied by an eerie silence. This time the light dimmed slightly and… that was about it. I’m rather glad I hadn’t bought eclipse glasses or, worse, gone to stand in the garden with a colander on my head!



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Posted by Sue Garrett at 1:40 pm 0 comments

Monday, August 10

Watering,Walking and Waiting for Rain


Still no rain here. About ten miles away, there was some rain, and when Martyn was watching cricket at Headingley, about fifteen miles from us, when play was stopped because of it.

The nearest we have come to having rain was a day when it felt as though we were actually sitting in a low cloud.

The temperature has been up and down too. Some days I have needed to dig out a fleece, while on others I have been back in a T-shirt.

To be honest, I don’t have very much to write about. After all, reading yet another account of constant watering would be unimaginably boring, so I’ll try not to make this entirely about the weather!



NB: Sometimes comments made here rather than on my main blog often are overlooked and languish in a moderation list. Sorry if this happens - I'm honestly not ignoring you
Posted by Sue Garrett at 2:30 pm 0 comments

Monday, August 3

Our Driest July Since 2009


It's been our driest July since 2009, when Martyn set up a weather station in our garden. Our records, of course, only relate to our own garden, but it's fair to say that conditions on the allotment have been much the same.

This July we have recorded just 0.6mm of rainfall. The average July rainfall is 56.9mm, so it's been an exceptionally dry month.

The dry weather follows on from two equally dry months, May and June. Earlier in the year, wherever we travelled, flooded fields and reservoirs filled to the brim were a common sight. It's such a pity we couldn't have stored some of that excess water, as hosepipe bans are already in place in some parts of the country. We'd optimistically thought that the wet winter would replenish the soil and set us up for a good gardening season, but nature has a habit of throwing us a curveball.

The heat and persistent wind have only made matters worse. The highest temperature we recorded this July was 34.8°C. Although we've experienced hotter Julys in the past – our record is 40.4°C in 2022 – the prolonged dry conditions have made this our most difficult growing season yet.



NB: Sometimes comments made here rather than on my main blog often are overlooked and languish in a moderation list. Sorry if this happens - I'm honestly not ignoring you
Posted by Sue Garrett at 2:07 pm 0 comments
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