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weather: july 2004
Bath weather station

Week beginning Thursday 1st July - the start of July is cool and breezy. Often - especially on the 2nd and 3rd, the wind is very strong. The wind ensures a changeable weather scene: dark clouds, some heavy showers are interspersed with sunny spells. On the 4th the wind finally drops and there is some sun; monday the 5th is lovely and it looks like staying like this for a while....but on the 7th the weather changes again, as another storm reaches the south of England.

Week beginning Thursday 8th July - it poured with rain overnight of the 7th/8th, and the rain was accompanied by strong winds. It was bad here, but not as bad as some areas of England. By the evening of the 8th the wind has eased and the rain reduced to drizzle. On the 9th, 10th and 11th we have plenty of showers, some heavy, and occasional spells of sun. Generally it is quite cool. By the evening of sunday 11th the sun comes out, and during the next two days the temperature rises, and on the 13th there is a decent amount of sunshine. The 14th is drizzly and cloudy.

Week beginning Thursday 15th July - The 15th is cloudy and drizzly again. On Friday it is gloomy with some heavy showers. Things improve slightly on Saturday, but the wind picks up. Sunday is sunnier again, and then monday is positively pleasant, before it clouds over again on Tuesday the 20th, and although we miss the rain, we get some on the morning of wednesday.

Week beginning Thursday 22nd July - heavy rain early morning on the 22nd then later in the afternoon. The forecast is for dryer, calmer weather: it is drier and there is some sun from Friday through Sunday, but it is still windy and there is plenty of cloud too. So warm when the sun is out, quite cool when it is not, like sunday afternoon when we get a few unexpected minutes of rain. Monday and tuesday are a mixture of gloom and occasional sun. The wind has finally died down. Wednesday the 28th is pleasant.

Week beginning Thursday 29th July - On the evening of the 29th is throws it down; according tot the forecasts, this will be the last rain for a while, and sure enough the last couple of days of the month are the best for 6 weeks or so. The month as a whole has had it's share of damp and gloom, and a great deal of sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the garden diary: july 2004

rog's garden diary page - achillea This diary is simply my record of what I did in the garden and why. Maybe at the end of this year I will find it useful to read back through the diary.
I like to think I write in the spirit of the old gentlemen amateurs.
Perhaps, if I should happen to keep this going for many years (and this is very unlikely), the diary will serve some obscure function as the documentary record of how a gardening novice learned about the subject and developed his garden(s).


July 2004

Saturday 31st July 2004 : evening

So that's July over: it has ended with some beautiful weather, and as Junior shows no sign being ready to enter the world, and my having no committments this weekend, I have been able to spend a leisurely day outdoors today. When I'd had enough sun in the late afternoon I went for a long swim. It has been the sort of day that one should treasure.

July as a whole has been damp, often gloomy, and rarely sunny. And By God, that wind! Only this week has it finally died away completely. The storms of June and July have savaged the garden at times and in mid-July it looked a bit tatty, and to be honest I have been disappointed with some aspects of the garden, examples being the sweet peas, dead helenium, dampened nicotiana, a dead mallow that I cut back (obviously too hard), 'difficult' lettuce, and the complete inability to grow herbs from seed.

These 'failures', however, are all part of the learning experience, and in the last few days the garden has really come on again and patches of colour are emerging everywhere and more annuals and later perennials come into flower. In my naturalistic sweep of garden I have had to cheat and add shop bought echinacea and another achillea. But a couple of days ago the first of the reudbeckia that I raised from seed has flowered, and there are swathes of them ready to join in. Last night I spotted the first aster about to flower, and the echinacea I planted as small plugs are on the way.

Sunday 25th July 2004 : evening

I wrote 10 days ago that I might not be writing for a while as it looked as if Junior might arrive sooner than expected. That has not happened, and it looks now like it might be a couple more weeks before the baby is born. I've had a couple of busy weeks, frantically getting stuff done at work, and getting prepared for the baby's arrival.

The weather hasn't been great to be honest. July has been damp throughout and there has not been much sun. Even this weekend, when the it was expected to get much warmer, we have had loads of cloud, and this afternoon a few drops of rain. The wind has never stopped blowing. Today the back garden was buffeted by the wind, making it cold, so my plans for a leisurely day outside have been thwarted. I did mow the front lawn, and having secured a hedge trimmer from Deborah's dad, I savaged the hedge that runs alongside the front path (at Deborah's request I might add). I think in the autumn I might get rid of that bit of hedge - it is untidy and ugly to be honest. I might replace it with a short fence with something growing over it.

A blast of heat and sun would bring on the long border, much of much I have planted with sun loving plants grown form seed and small plugs - echinacea, rudbeckia, asters. etc. The first rudbeckias I raised from seed are about to flower: I have several plants that have grown healthily and it will be a lovely moment when they start flowering. For colour in the garden now I am indebted to various achilleas, cosmos, phlox, verbena and swathes of coreopsis, but in another week, with a touch of sun, there should be much more.

Compared to last year - when the garden was bathed in sun for weeks on end - there has been a conspicuous lack of insect life. I remember in the early weeks of May seeing the first butterflies, since when I have seen only a handful, along with a few bees and yesterday, a lone grasshopper. This is disappointing, as to me an English garden is not complete without it's wildlife. Even my frog has gone (definitely this time..). Still, there is still plenty of summer and autumn to come.

a gourd in early July 2004 What have been totally successful, and have grown with almost tropical abandon are the gourds. From the two seedlings that Mum gave me I have two plants climbing up[ the fence at the back of the terrace and cascading along the gravel. I have 8-10 fruits which I cans see growing on a daily basis.

Tuesday 13th July 2004 : evening

This could be the last time I write my diary for a while, as it looks like Junior might be born sooner than expected. It is time now to ready myself for the birth without other distractions. If I get the odd spare hour then maybe I will write. With Junior on the way, I have been leant a decent digital camera, which I will also be able to use to take some better photos of the garden.

Not feeling compelled to write will allow me to enjoy the garden without thinking: "what shall I write about this week" and by the time I get to write again maybe I will have loads to say. In the meantime, I have just spent a couple of pleasant evenings in the garden, as the weather has improved after 5 days of wind, heavy rain, then showers. We could do with a week or so of sun to bring the garden on again. I hear that temperatures will rise next week. At the moment it's all very different from 12 months ago, when we were well into a heat wave. The garden by now was well populated with bees, other insects, and butterflies. After some early sitings of butterflies way back in gorgeous May, these have been conspicuous by their absence.

Earlier this evening I fried some sardines in garlic from the garden, and ate them with wild rocket grown there too. Maybe it was too early for the garlic, which was small, but lovely and soft and very pungent, and there is something wonderful about eating your own food, even if it is just some garlic and salad leaves. About 10 days ago I sowed a load more seeds - various lettuce and salad leaves, and some more last night, so hopefully I will have something to eat from the garden from now until the autumn. A row of Little Gem lettuce are almost ready - they are just a little bitter yet.

Thursday 6th July 2004 : evening

storms again Just had 30 hours of strong wind and rain: apparently it has been even stormier than it was a couple of weeks ago when we were down in Cornwall. We've had about 30mm of rain here, but looking at the news and watching the rainfall radar on the met-office web site (as one does), it appears that some areas have had more rain and more wind. It's the wind that drives you mad. Tomorrow evening, after work, when hopefully the wind will have died away, I shall tidy up the garden again. I knew the storm was coming, so Tuesday evening I gave extra support to some of the more susceptible plants. It is all a far cry to late May and early June when there was barely a breath of wind and England basked beneath balmy sky's.

The brown and white pigeon, the godfather of garden pigeons, whom I shall call 'Liberace' he has gone..from whence and to where , who knows. He patrolled the garden for a week or so, like he'd lived there all his life, and then he disappeared. All of which means that the other birds, happy that the exotic intruder has vanished, have regained confidence and flocked back into the garden. The wood pigeons, who would surely be gay if they were humans, can engage in their 'handbags at dawn' fights atop the bird table: I can almost sense their relief that 'Liberace' for now at least, is no longer hogging the limelight.

Deborah says that one morning recently there were four magpies in the garden. With 'Junior' soon to arrive, is this a sign?

Monday 3rd July 2004 : evening

A lovely day today, following a reasonable day yesterday. Over the weekend I bought a few plants to plug some gaps in the garden. I'm a little disappointed with my 'prairie' planting so far, although this area of the garden may look at it's best in later summer. Certainly many of the rudbeckia I grew from seed are showing strong growth now and should flower later. However, other plug plants I bought have died: obviously I put them out too early instead of hardening in them off more gradually. I include in this an order for gallardia goblin and five helenium plants. Also, some of the echinacea I planted are moving slowly and I don't know whether they will flower this year.

So, I bought helenium 'Moerheim Beauty' and echinacea pallida from the Farmers Market. On sunday morning we went up to the car booter on Lansdown, where I bought Liatris Spicata and Coreposis Flying Saucers (apparently a new flavour of coreopsis, but to me they are all new). Seems to be the year for coreopsis: I already have plenty in the garden, all flowering, and this bloke at the booter had swathes of them laid out in front of his van. I'm sure he is the same bloke that was selling miscanthus last year.

Speaking of which (miscanthus I mean), I bought some seeds off eBay, of the silensis zebrinus variety. Call it an 'experiment'. I planted a few of the seeds yesterday: I am going to keep one pot beneath the cold frame and one not. I have plenty more, so may keep sow some indoors over winter. I could use more grasses on the patio - in big pots, they will mask the wall of next doors extension and provide some foliage, and coolness on the really hot days (remember those), when the patio is a furnace. A decent specimen of miscanthus at a garden centre can cost around £15. So if I happen to get some growing from seed it will be worth it.

What else: cosmos is flower. Lupins, unprotected, absolutely decimated by slugs. The gourds are ruinning rampant and small fruits have appeared. Achillea is such a greatplant. The achillea filipenda I planted last year is huge this year, but has been beaten by winds. Two new ones - one shadeds of terracotta, the other shades of red - look beautiful now. I love these plants: they are easy, colourful, they sway in the breeze, they last all summer and can be used in foreground or background.

Saturday 3rd July 2004 : afternoon

The month has started showery. It has been breezy for a couple of weeks and the wind has become annoying to be honest. It has caused some damage in the garden and it seems to have been the common factor in the weather over the past 9 months.

I haven't actually been 'doing' that much in the garden the last few weeks and most of the work was done in Spring. But to be honest I'm disappointed with some of my planting and will have to take some action to ensure the garden looks how I'd like it to for high summer. By the time Junior arrives in a few weeks I'll need to leave the garden to it's own devices.

A few of days ago a 'new' bird arrived in the garden and it has barely left since. The bird is another pigeon, but this was is white with brown patches. It has a blue ring around it's ankle, which makes me wonder whether it isn't a homing pigeon that has forgotten to 'go home'. It is remarkably confident (or stupid??)- from the start I was able to walk within two feet of it. When I wake in the morning it is on the bird table, it it is still there when I come home. I worry that it will take virtually all the food I put out. Most of the other birds seem somehow afraid of it, as if it is the Godfather of birds.