Stormy Weather II

[oddoneout]

Nowt to beat it. And you can supplement your wood supply by skip-diving if push comes to shove.

I know folks do but I'm afraid I can't bring myself to burn painted or treated wood, and cutting waste wood into pieces of a size to fit my small stove isn't feasible. I can specify to the firm that I get my wood from that I need small split logs.

[oddoneout]

Well that plan didn't work, definitely a case of NAF! The rain started just as I got to the shop, when it shouldn't have been here for another few hours. Got home cold, wet and windswept. The pavements are littered with the tender tips of tree new growth which have been snapped off - I'll need to clear beech twigs from the hedge off my salad seed bed in due course, as being smothered and chafed won't do them any good and will also provide cover for the slugs and snails which were also on the move as I came home.

[DracoM]

Sun here NOW, but the wind is WILD and VERY cold and easterly.
Have had to stake plants.

[Serial_Apologist]

Temperature now down from 19 C 5 hours ago to 9 C now - that's a big drop by any standards... and, with a fresh north-easterly it certainly feels like it.

[ardcarp]

Gales in the Channel...possibly going up to F9.
Isobars squeezed by High to the North and Low to the South.

[gradus]

Snow in the garden turns out to be copious May blossom. Small branches and twigs everywhere along with prematurely remove walnut 'flowers' - not sure what the tech term is but they look like large catkins.

[oddoneout]

Snow in the garden turns out to be copious May blossom. Small branches and twigs everywhere along with prematurely remove walnut 'flowers' - not sure what the tech term is but they look like large catkins.

They are catkins, the male flowers. There may well be female flowers knocked off as well but as they are very small and don't have petals you probably wouldn't see them.

[BBMmk2]

Mostly cloudy today, with sunny intervals. 11C down to 1C! Yikes!

[DracoM]

Vicious ENE wind here this a.m. Temp here at the mo 4C!!

[Serial_Apologist]

Not quite a cold as that here, but still parky with a strong to gale north-easterly. They're talking on UKweatherworld about the big drop in temperature yesterday afternoon as that cold front introduced the P2-type airstream: snow showers this morning as far south as the Brecons!

I see one good bit of news is that garden centres are going to be permitted to open, subject to that silly term "social distancing"*. We could all be in for some ground frost this week - growers please note.

*A reporter on Indian radio the other day was asked from this end why they prefer the term physical distancing to social distancing there - to which he replied, "Well, we don't do social distancing in our country". A comment which could be untouchable!

[oddoneout]

Not quite a cold as that here, but still parky with a strong to gale north-easterly. They're talking on UKweatherworld about the big drop in temperature yesterday afternoon as that cold front introduced the P2-type airstream: snow showers this morning as far south as the Brecons!

I see one good bit of news is that garden centres are going to be permitted to open, subject to that silly term "social distancing"*. We could all be in for some ground frost this week - growers please note.

*A reporter on Indian radio the other day was asked from this end why they prefer the term physical distancing to social distancing there - to which he replied, "Well, we don't do social distancing in our country". A comment which could be untouchable!

Repeat business for the garden centres...
It was spiteful out this morning - grey and very windy/cold, with sprinkles of rain on top. As the sun managed to make more of an appearance during the afternoon things improved a bit and I ventured out for some gardening. A brief hiatus to add another layer of clothing and I managed about an hour until more wet stuff started stinging my face and I admitted defeat. This will not be good for the apple crop I fear - a dearth of bees this year and the wind keeping other insects away, coupled with the wind ripping the blossom off and the risk of frost in some places(which is likely to get at least some of my strawberries I fear, so a late crop this year)

[Serial_Apologist]

Repeat business for the garden centres...

Yes. "For every frosted new shoot we have one ready and open to sell you a replacement".

It was spiteful out this morning - grey and very windy/cold, with sprinkles of rain on top. As the sun managed to make more of an appearance during the afternoon things improved a bit and I ventured out for some gardening. A brief hiatus to add another layer of clothing and I managed about an hour until more wet stuff started stinging my face and I admitted defeat. This will not be good for the apple crop I fear - a dearth of bees this year and the wind keeping other insects away, coupled with the wind ripping the blossom off and the risk of frost in some places(which is likely to get at least some of my strawberries I fear, so a late crop this year)

I've been noticing, in recent years, that certain gardens have been displaying nets, which are stretched over fruit-type trees, and are presumably obtainable from such places as garden centres, though whether this is for protecting trees against birds or frosts I am not sure.

[LMcD]

Cloud has mostly cleared, wind is less blustery - could be a nice evening.

[oddoneout]

Yes. "For every frosted new shoot we have one ready and open to sell you a replacement".



I've been noticing, in recent years, that certain gardens have been displaying nets, which are stretched over fruit-type trees, and are presumably obtainable from such places as garden centres, though whether this is for protecting trees against birds or frosts I am not sure.

Nets would be for keeping birds off(although very fine anti-insect net such as enviromesh can be used like fleece as frost protection), but some also use fleece to keep frost off, especially early flowers such as peaches.Having said that, I used to peg a rough tube of fleece around a cherry on the allotment, which had been trained into a narrow upright form, to keep the birds off because using netting meant the fruits were still on view. Blackbirds would sometimes get entangled, and pigeons just did their usual crash land and break the branches technique - and then would strip off all the fruit they could get at, mostly before it was ripe and mostly not eaten, just dropped on the ground. The fleece tube was quite effective although it did encourage earwigs who were not averse to having a nibble at the ripe fruit.

[DracoM]

Up here, the outset cruel wintry day is ending in still air, and cloudless, brilliant light. Ahem.
Where next?