ABC of Weather: eXtreme Weather *

Worst flooding on the Wiltshire Avon since 1947: Lacock 16th January 2008

As we're a nation obsessed with the weather, any story about its extremes always hits the headlines. In contrast to the above scene, we're currently being bombarded with news of how dry the past few months have been and the north west of England in particular may need to have a hosepipe ban if there's no significant rainfall in the next few weeks.

They've had around 38% of their usual rainfall so far this year, so reservoirs in the area are already looking rather low. They must be pleased rain is forecast for tomorrow, but according to this article in The Telegraph, they're going to need lots more to make up the 4 inches of soil moisture deficit they currently have. It's rather ironic the north west is experiencing drought conditions, as it was here in the Lake District where the highest total of rainfall ever in 24 hours was recorded only last November. It shows how quickly the situation can change.

I've compared my rain gauge readings with the 30 year average available for my nearest weather station at Lyneham. The situation's not so bad here (around 80% of usual rainfall), though it still means I haven't been able to do any digging on my allotment for many weeks. The clay is solid and cracked and I'm wondering whether I'll ever be able to plant the squash, pumpkin and cabbage seedlings I'm so carefully nurturing at home. I believe the unusually strong winds we seem to be getting more regularly on fine days here is contributing to the situation being worse than my rainfall statistics would suggest.

So far I've resisted doing lots of watering both at home and on the plot as I believe in tough love with my plants thus encouraging them to grow deep strong roots so they can forage for water themselves. However, this morning I've had to start some watering at the allotment as my potted blueberries were in a most sorry state. We have hard tap water here because its mainly drawn from chalk and limestone sources, so I've had to choose between not watering and them dying, or watering them and their leaves turning a sickly yellow colour due to an iron deficiency. I've told them they're going to get a juicy seaweed feed with sequestered iron next time, to try and redress the balance of this morning's lime application a little. It's about time I put my allotment water butt by the shed so I can start collecting some nice soft rainwater for these plants...

For you stats fans out there, the Met Office has lots of extreme weather information for you and reports on various past extreme weather events in the UK.

How's the weather with you today? Have you ever experienced any extreme weather?

Do visit the ABC Wednesday Blog for more information of the eXcellent kind.

* Yes I know I've cheated a little for my letter X, but I did say at the outset this was the one letter I was struggling with for my weather ABC. I did think of Xeriscaping - as did some of you when I announced my theme for this round of ABC Wednesday - but that's more of a gardening technique in reaction to climate rather than a direct aspect of the weather itself. Besides, I wanted to talk about weather records at some point and this seemed the ideal time to do so!

Comments

  1. Roger Owen Green30 June 2010 at 17:08

    Yes, I think your word works better for your theme.

    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nutty Gnome30 June 2010 at 18:28

    It's been stonking hot here today - so much so that I actually had to give up gardening and come inside as it was all a bit much!Unheard of!:(

    I confess that I have been watering my plants a bit - but only where the hosepipe will reach. The other stuff has to fend for itself as I'm not lugging heavy watering cans uphill in this heat! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous30 June 2010 at 19:35

    Well done, this has proved to be a fascinating series of posts.
    It certainly seems that our weather is getting more extreme more often which is a worrying trend, especially for us gardeners! Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Monica the Garden Faerie30 June 2010 at 19:37

    eep! We're had a lot of rain too bt no flooding (knock wood).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tumblewords:30 June 2010 at 20:38

    Wild photo! Weather records here for the winter and spring months have been broken one after another. Amazing. Wonderful post!

    ReplyDelete
  6. dianasfaria.com30 June 2010 at 23:23

    I like your 'X' solution.
    & oh my this weather looks quite serious. We've had some extremes this year too with high winds and falling trees.

    ReplyDelete
  7. jay30 June 2010 at 23:38

    You'll have to start planting xerophytes - but as far as I know, they don't produce blueberries!

    On behalf of the team, thanks for taking part in ABC Wednesday this week! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. VP1 July 2010 at 09:42

    Roger - thanks

    Nutty gnome - it's been too hot to garden most days here too recently. I try to do a couple of hours in the cool of the morning

    Flighty - Glad you're enjoying it. Sadly (for me) there's just 2 posts to go and lots more I could have rambled on about!

    Monica - we're due some rain today

    Tumblewords - it's now officially the driest its been since 1929 and that follows on from the hardest winter for 30 years!

    Lily - luckily no high winds here - yet. We did have a couple of trees fall into our garden a couple of years ago...

    Jay - no they don't produce blueberries! I do have xerophytes in some parts of my garden, but draw the line at my edible endevours ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Juliet3 July 2010 at 14:08

    A suggestion for your blueberries -

    Put a couple of teabags (or a day's worth of used teabags) in a big jug. Pour on boiling water and leave overnight. Use to water acid-loving plants the next day. The acidity of the tea is supposed to neutralise the alkalinity of the hard water.

    If it doesn't work, blame Alan Titchmarsh, from whom I got the idea!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Terra Mirabilis5 July 2010 at 04:23

    I remember one day in 1985 (I think) in Bath when the temps were way up around 30 C and I thought I would die. Here in Miami I routinely garden in 32+ during the summer months. We don't have extreme amounts of rainfall, but we do get deluges -- 4" last night, for example. It's so flat here that we don't have the kind of flooding that you get.

    ReplyDelete
  11. VP10 July 2010 at 15:23

    Juliet - great tip thanks :)

    Penny - I think we get higher humidity (usually) over here which is what makes it so unbearable compared to where you are in Miami

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more