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weather: may 2004

Bath weather station

Week beginning 1st May - we carry on where April left off, with a grey, cold morning and a couple of hours light rain. Sunday the 2nd , though, is a cracking day, dry and sunny. By monday, it's back in with damp weather. On wednesday evening it is still damp, and we have had heavy rain and very heavy winds. But that's the last of it - it drys up and gets a bit warmer.

Week beginning 8th May - not a great start, damp and grey on the 8th, and more of the same on sunday, although less wet. There is some late rain overnight on Monday, but generally it is drier and much warmer, although cloudy. Evenings are best, ther is some lovely sun then. By Friday it is very warm and looks settled.

Week beginning 15th May - dry, sunny, quite hot. This is only mid-May. Sunday is hot again. It stays sunny and very warm. I don't remember such prolonged period of such high temperatures in May before. On the 20th it cools a bit, and there is a short heavy shower in late afternoon. Friday is cool but dry.

Week beginning 22nd May - a dry start, but much cloudier and cooler than a week ago. Sunday the 23rd is dry, warm, with not a cloud in sight. Monday is cloudier, but still warm and dry. Tuesday more of the same, Wednesday cools down and there is a light shower in the afternoon. Rain is predicted for the end of the week, but we only get the tail end of the rain: maybe of hour of light stuff.

Week beginning 29th May - dry, cloudy, quite breezy and cool to start the week. Sunday threatens a shower none arrives and the day with beautiful clear sky. On monday rain is expected..

 

 

 

 

 

 

the garden diary: may 2004

rog's garden diary page - alliums 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).

may 2004

Monday 31st May 2004 : morning

So that is almost it for May. After a wet start, summer has come very early, and it has been very sunny and extremely shy. As I write this now, rain apparently on it's way from Cornwall, but that has been said before. We end up with a dribble of rain. The garden really needs it, as parts of it are bone dry. Generally it is doing marvellously well and has looked lovely. Now we wait for summer plants to really unfurl.

I shall, today, try some strawberries from the garden - the plant I kept in the cold frame until two weeks ago has plenty of red fruit. I look forward to it.

Sunday 30th May 2004 : early morning

Nicotiana: I had a letter yesterday from Mr Fothergills seeds, saying that the tobacco plants I'd ordered from them could not be supplied due to production problems. They enclosed a cheque for £7.95. I was disappointed to lose the nicotania, but I bought myself a couple of trays from Prior Park for £6, one of Nicotiana Affinis, the other Domio Mix. I've planted up the Affinis in a contianer, but need to find somewhere for the Domino Mix.

Sunday 30th May 2004 : early morning

The rain at the end of the week ended up being pretty feeble - from Friday evening until Saturday morning we had about 2mm. So the garden got a freshen up but not the soaking it really needs. Today we may get a shower, and tomorrow some proper rain is forecast.

Parts of the garden that are rarely watered or in rain shadows are bone dry. An example being the front garden. I decided to plant up a small reclaimed patch - only 2ft by 2ft - beside the honeysuckle that borders the front lawn, in order to try to get some colour into that dreary space. The soil was like concrete, so I soaked it with washing up water and a final watering can's worth of water form the waterbutt. I planted some asters - mine, not Mums, to accompany the cosmos I planted there a couple of weeks ago.

Those asters have been grown from seed in a box,made from old wood, that I leave on the terrace. I also sowed in there some seed form a T&M hardy annual mix, that has produced 3 or 4 rapidly growing plants about which I know absolutely nothing. I planted a couple with the asters and cosmos in the front, and a couple more I moved into the long border. I've had success too, in this box, with rudbeckia. I'm going to end up with loads of rudbeckia actually: another sowing of rudbeckia prairie sun is bearing fruit now, and I planted some on yesterday.

On the subject of growing form seed: my acquilega have now failed. I sowed a load of seed that I collected last year. Most germinated, but my attempts to pot on the tiny seedlings with my sweaty, pudgy fingers must have done for them. I have more phlox than I can shake a stick at, and put some in the ground yesterday, in a 'difficult' patch along side the house that was mass planted with daffodils, which I've only just cut down. This is a shady spot, so whether the phlox will like it I don't know. I bought a 'Iron butterfly' from the Farmers Market to put there, and moved some clumps of geranium form other parts of the garden.

Peonies: We have two peonies, and I've mentioned them before. One is in the sunny border, near the patio, and is one of the first plants to push out of the ground come the end of winter. It's initial growth is lush and strong. But for the second year in succession it's leaves have become twisted and brittle; it has produced three big red flowers which drop off after a few days. It may have to go: it's just too blousy even at the best of times. I often wonder whether it suffers from dryness, but the other peony, which is embedded in awful soil at the front of the terrace, has been given no artificial watering this year and it looks perfectly healthy. It has just started flowering with big pink blooms.

Thursday 27th May 2004 : evening

Apart from some drops of rain yesterday, it has been dry all week again, though not as warm as it was two weeks ago. Apparently there is rain on the way for the west tonight and into tomorrow. The land has begun to look dry, although walking around it is noticeable how resplendent many gardens look now, these three weeks of sun following on from a wet April. I'm looking forward to the rain now, to freshen up the garden, but more just so that something happens. And to give my filthy car a wash. The last week or ten days has felt so still, and after the first flush of May flowering, the garden appears to be in a state of stasis. On Tuesday I got the hose out and watered the garden (guiltily), but I've been trying to reuse and save water as much as possible.

The garden does look lovely though. The alliums are a real bonus, as last year they did nothing.

First flowering foxgloves - May 2004 Foxgloves have started flowering this week: there are two areas of them - my woodland strip alongside the house, and a clump in a dry, shady spot by the fence and overhung by bushes and the branches of the too-quick growing eucalypt.

The terrace is filling out: the cordyline, blackcurrant bush and bamboo we planted there last year are growing quite big. By the end of the summer part of the back fence should be covered with the foliage from the gourds. My little pond is brimming with little animals - God knows what, but hopefully not mosquitos.

My little veg patch seems to be thriving. I eat wild rocket every day, and in a few weeks I may be eating strawberries.

I have some photos to put on the site too...

Sunday 23rd May 2004 : morning

We are back with very warm, dry weather again. There is not a cloud in the sky this morning. It will be a good day to take some photos. Having done so much in the garden last weekend, at the moment there are no big jobs to be done: yesterday I mowed the lawn, weeded the borders, re-potted a miscanthus silensis into a massive pot to sit against the patio wall, and generally just mooched around in between watching bits of cricket and the FA Cup final, whilst nursing a hangover sustained during the Bath Festival opening night celebrations.

Thursday 20th May 2004 : evening

Unexpectedly (no forecasts predicted any rain in the west), we had some rain this afternoon. It cooled down during the day, and then in the late afternoon the sky darkened and it rained heavily for 15 minutes or so. I got home just as the rain was stopping: the smell generated by the rain on dry ground was lovely. The rain should refresh some of the drier parts of the garden. I think by saturday it is going to be dry and hot again.

Wednesday 19th May 2004 : evening : heat wave

I can't remember ever experiencing such a long period of high temperatures in May before. May is often pleasant, but this feels like August. This prolonged period of sun, following a reasonably wet spring, has caused the garden to explode with colour. Even since Sunday, in just three days, swathes of the garden have started to flower. I was sat on the patio last night, with a beer, letting the evenings sounds and sights flow through and over me. These are the best times of day, as the sun wanes, traffic noise gradually ceases, and a sense of relative peace pervades the world. I was thinking that maybe this moment might herald the gardens 'peak', a time when everything is growing and is fresh.

The aquilegias look stunning now; I have five different plants in the garden. They are all different colours - red & yellow, blue, two shaded of purple, pink. This is their time, for they will be gone soon. The various gerania are flowering, pink and purple. The peony has three huge blowsy red flowers.

Amazingly, yesterday evening I found a first, purple, sweet pea flower, on one of the plants I started from seed way back last autumn. Today, the first foxglove flower, white and faint pink emerged. In a few days the foxgloves will all be flowering.

Some of the foxgloves are in my shady 'woodland' strip, or fernery, that runs down the side of the house. This looks lovely now, whilst it still holds some moisture. I am amazed by the ferns that are growing new, feathery fronds of the most vibrant green.

water
Of course if this fine, dry weather continues then the garden will start suffering form lack of water and the question of water usage will raise it's head. The sunnier side of the garden is very dry now. Any bare soil is grey with dryness. I didn't mulch much of this side as I still had a lot to plant. If we get some heavy rain I will mulch immediately afterwards. The north is expected to get cooler and more showery in the next few days, but there is no sign of rain down here.

The water in the water butt won't last long in dry conditions. So I've been thinking about how we might keep the garden watered, without resorting too much to tap water (if it stays very dry then surely there will be hosepipe bans anyway). I was talking last night with Deborah about building some sort of irrigation system using stored rainwater - the amount of water that falls on an average house roof during the winter is staggering. The problem, though, is how to store water. I have, for the short term, pledged to use water much more wisely around the house, and try to reuse it whenever possible. I've started this evening by saving the washing up water.

As for the garden, I think, if the summers continue to be warmer an drier, that we have to be realistic about what we can grow. I don't see the point in filling window boxes and containers with plants that need constant watering. Maybe I am an idealist, but I think we should grow according to conditions, and not in contradiction to them. This weekend I am going to buy some drought tolerant plants for containers. Maybe a sure sign that it will rain.

Now, I must go out and water the strawberry plants...

Sunday 16th May 2004 : evening

Garden wildlife

It has been fascinating watching the bird life in the garden this weekend. Yesterday, as I worked in the garden, the birds only really came out in force when I popped indoors. Today, as Deborah and I quietly sat reading, there was no such reticence. The wood pigeon(S), that a year ago would fly away in a burst of frenzied flapping, was today happily pottering around in full view of us. Today's was even showing he has learned considerable skill in hopping along the fence top from post to post, looking for the seed I leave there for the smaller birds.

Yesterday, to a certain amount of horror on my part, I saw two different cats in the garden. The morning cat was after two wood pigeons that were engaged in a rather camp squabble over some seed. At the sight of the cat they forgot their differences and got their fat bellies off the ground in time. Later, I spotted another cat lurking in the bush near the bird table, ready to jump. I realised the table was too near the bush, so have moved it to a more open area.

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, we had a squirrel, skillfully leaning form fence top to gnaw at the peanut feeder. Although we are not far from woodland, any squirrel would still have to come across roads and through at least two other gardens to get to ours. It was interesting to watch it feed, but I am aware that squirrels are generally considered pests these days. I haven't seen it today, but Deborah mentioned seeing it a few days ago, so this was not a one off.

The sparrows have chicks now; we watched a mother feeding her chick this afternoon. I need to keep an eye out for those cats.

Sunday 16th May 2004 : early morning

The day has started sunny again, so yesterdays superb weather looks set to continue. Only just over a week or so ago it was damp and cold, now I'm thinking that only a week or two of this and there will be talk of water shortages, given the last 12 months have been relatively dry.

I had a wonderful, busy day yesterday, and have just been into the garden to feed the birds and check yesterday's work hasn't been somehow destroyed overnight. Slugs and snails, of course, have had a go at the Asters I planted out, and too at the Coreopsis (remember a new beer trap tonight). But it is all still there, and looks lovely in the early morning, as the sun starts to illumine the terrace and long border.

Yesterday was the planned day for organising the garden ready for summer. I wanted to get the patio ready for using as a sitting area, which would mean sorting through all the seed and plugs in the cold frame and mini greenhouse so that I could take these off the patio. I planned to plant up new containers and freshen up some existing ones.

For the borders, the plan was to clear out untidy daffodil foliage, clear out anything else dead or dying (or that I simply didn't like), and plant out small plants that I'd either grown for seed or had bought as small plugs and had been hardening off. I needed more space for everything I wanted to plant, so had spent Friday evening extending one of the borders (again) by cutting into the lawn and hastily digging in compost and grit into the hardened clay beneath the grass. I also wanted to add something to garden at the front of the house, that, apart form the gravel garden, tends to be ignored.

My day started early with a trip to the Farmers Market by Sainsburys, to stock up with a few containers plants. I also had to pop to Homebase; as usual, they didn't have want I needed , and I normally don't buy plants from there but I have to admit to buying a strip of gazanias for £2.99. In sunshine, the flowers are wonderful. From the farmer's market I bought some fuschias for pots at £1 each and some Alpines, as I wanted a low-maintenance, drought resistant container for the front.

It was lovely to be in the garden all day, unencumbered by the need to do anything else at all. Deborah had gone out for the day so I was entirely alone. I had a couple of breaks to check football scores and get a bite to eat, but other wise I did not leave the garden. When baby is here, maybe days like yesterday will become just a distant memory. I shall have to get baby used to the outdoors.

I'm still aiming for a naturalistic feel to the garden, and have set aside most of the right hand border for prairie style plants. At the moment there is a massive peony right in the middle of what should be a prairie drift. This is obviously incongruous, but then the peony is likely to flower early and then wither way by late summer, when the prairie plants should be at their peak. Actually the peony is, like last year, showing signs of distress already: where two weeks ago it was a mass of expanding, lush foliage, now some of the leaves are twisted and browning and the whole thing appears to be shrinking. I gave it a long water and feed the other night to see if that would boost it. Realistically, the 'prairie' will be mixed with more traditional English cottage garden style plants - asters, cosmos, verbena bonoriensis, achilleas. Adjacent to that sweep of flowers is the sweet pea wigwam - about as English as it gets. The echinacea I planted out are doing well and I look forward to seeing them flower. I lost all the gallardia goblin plugs I bought from J Parkers - too wet, too cold?? - and they are proving hard to raise from seed, but I hope to get a few plants. I may, too, have lost some of the helenium I planted out as plugs in February (too early?). I'm hoping that some of the rudbeckia I have grown from seed will come good - I have a few decent sized seedlings now.

If anything, it is the long border that at the moment has the more naturalistic feel - with my small but thriving veg patch at the bottom end, herbs, a few shrubs, wall flowers, poppies growing from seed, and now aquilegia in full glory with alliums just about flowering. These alliums are a pleasant surprise. They were planted last spring but never flowered.

Back to yesterday: I ripped out a few things - some geranium lumps (it is great for groundcover, but it is everywhere, and I have left the flowering clumps), some old scraggly wall flowers, all the daffodil foliage, one hydrangea (I left the other in, as I felt I must, but I am not happy with the image it fires in me of 55 year old suburban accountant). There is more I'd like to rip out - little shrubby things that don't do anything - but feel I can't, as I don't know who gave me these plants, or whether Deborah planted them. I planted coreopsis early sunrise (from plugs), cosmos sensation, nigella, phlox, some rudbeckia, a couple of gallardia goblin (all raised from seed), and Mothers tray of asters.
I planted Mums gourds on the terrace, to grow up the trellis there. I planted up new pots with verbena, fuschias, petunias, and the gazanias; potted up Simon's chilli plant that has spent the last two months on the kitchen window sill; and created a container of grit topped alpines for the front. For the pots I used water retaining gel and slow release feed.

So, a busy day, enjoyable day. To top it all, the strawberry plants have their first, small, yellow-green fruits. And I finished with a few stubby bottles of stella artios.

Wednesday 12th may 2004 : evening

I'm just about recovered now from my boozy weekend away in Cornwall. I've enjoyed some tome in the garden these last few days just pottering around: weeding and watching.

These May evenings are wonderful. After the rain of the last couple of weeks we are now enjoying a spell of dry days. Now things really are growing in the garden; the most astonishing growth is a container grown hosta I have, that by the end of last summer was shrivelled by drought and shredded by slugs. At the moment - no slugs have got to it yet - it is a growing cascade of succulent green.

I have big plans for this weekend. I intend to plant out plants I've been 'hardening off', and am going to pot on a stack of seedlings and then see what I've got. I'll create some pots, tidy the patio, and generally get everything ready for the summer. I'm looking forward to it, and I will write it all up on sunday.

Friday 7th may 2004 : early afternoon

No weekend in the garden this week. In an hour or so I am off down to Cornwall for the weekend on a football trip. I have instructed Deborah to feed the birds, as I can't have them going without. In a way I feel a little sad about having to leave the garden on a May weekend. It will next weekend a big one.

The weather has improved in just in time. The garden looks lush after all the rain, which bodes well for the summer. Was chuffed to see that animals (albeit minute ones) have appeared in the mini-pond.

Wednesday 5th may 2004 : evening

rain and wind
As I write it is chucking it down again; since I got home from work it has barely stopped. We've had awful weather since late Monday afternoon, when, for a few hours, the sky was blue and the air still. I mowed the lawn, put up a bit of trellis - actually an old trellis gate I picked up at the tip a few weeks ago - against the fence at the back of the terrace, and dug out a patch on the terrace for mothers gourds. I replaced the old clay soil with a mix of soil, compost, chicken shit and grit. Knowing that gourds need water, I added some of this water retaining gel to the soil. At the moment, as the early evening sky is blackened by driving rain, this seems a little superfluous.

The 'fernery' is at least thriving in this moist environment, and the water-butt is full (to overflowing). Some sunshine on the back of this rain and the garden will explode. There is plenty of summer to come and I am sure some of it will be warmer and drier.

For the garden, far worse than the rain and even the cold had been the wind. It was howling yesterday, and today the wind has only been moderately calmer. I cam home tonight to fin the peony somewhat dishevelled, and a couple of aquilegias, about to flower, have have stems snapped by the wind. In between the showers this evening I have been out staking vulnerable plants: too late some might say.

Monday 3rd may 2004 : morning

Bank Holiday Monday and within minutes of waking up this morning it is throwing it down with rain. Now, two hours later, it has stopped but it looks like being a grey, cold day. This is a far cry from yesterday, which was dry and sunny. I spent most of the day in Wells, helping repair a couple of Mum's fence panels. Mum gave me a tray of asters, some clumps of lobelia, which will probably go in the cold frame for a couple more weeks.

rog's garden diary page - gourds Mum also gave me three gourd plants. When we first moved to Wells in the early 1970s, mum always grew these, and the huge, wonderful but useless fruits sat in our living room for years. I thought they were a 70s thing, long since banished to the dustbin of cultural history, along with brown wallpaper and fondue sets. I can't wait to get them planted and get the critters growing. I think I will have to find a place on the terrace for them, grow them up the fence where they will get plenty of sun.

Just had a quick look on the web for information about gourds. Found a couple of sites: this one has a brief history of the gourd, and has this to say:

Mammoths were eating them in Florida 10,000 years ago. And while they have no definite proof plant geographers believe they've been cultivated by our species for a minimum of thirty thousand years - making it by far the oldest cultivated plant on earth.

I kind of like the image of herds of Floridan mammoths gorging on gourds thousands of years ago.

first swallows
Saw the first swallows of the year on saturday, May 1st. Yesterday afternoon in Wells there were loads of them. I think this might be a couple of weeks later than has been recorded.