Seasonal Changes in the Garden - May 2021

 January, February, March and April are history and it has been a slow start to the gardening season. January and April were cold while February and March were cool. If you are planting seeds indoors or in a propagator then the weather in the first 2 months of the year is not too critical. However, you soon run out of space to grow on the tomatoes, cukes, squashes, chillies, peas and beans, etc if it is too cold even for polytunnel. Onions were planted in mid-March and main-crop potatoes at the beginning of April - they both got off to a slow start but did not seem to suffer too much.

On the first day of May, it is apple blossom time and the sun is shining. 


It is now May 17th; the sun is still shining and Mary is enjoying the Paradise Garden. The apple blossom has gone but there is plenty of fruit on the trees. The wisteria and mountain ash (rowanberry) are now in flower.





The red berries that follow the flowers on the mountain ash will provide plenty of food in the autumn for the blackbirds and starlings. The pigeons also seem to like this fruit but they are too heavy for most of the branches - it is amusing to see them try, however.

Our red Acer is also looking good - it provides plenty of colour and only needs the occasional trim to keep its shape. I think we put it a root bag to resrict its growth. The spade handle was painted narrowboat-style by Mary.


It is now the end of May and there is a bit of a lull in the flowers as we await the summer season. Although not easy to see from this vantage point, the medlar (left foreground) is flowering and will provide enough fruit for a few medlar pies.




A summary of weather data from our Davis Weather Station is presented in the table below along with the comparative data from May 2020 (in red). May (2021) followed the same script as the first 4 months of the year being cold and wet with conditions far from ideal for gardening. A permanent low pressure system seemed to hang over the UK all month bringing in the cold and wet from the North Atlantic.

Whereas in 2020 I was able to plant out tender vegetables (e.g. sweetcorn, peas, beans, courgettes, squashes) in late April, this year I had to replant towards the end of May because the cold just did for the young plants. Similarly, in the polytunnel early cukes and tomatoes plants failed and new sowings were made. Such is the life of a gardener - you try to get a head start but nature doesn't follow our rules.

May 2021 (2020)

Weather Parameter

Value

Dates

Average Monthly Temperature 

11 oC (15 oC)


Maximum Monthly Temperature

24 oC (27 oC)

31st

Minimum Monthly Temperature

0 oC (0 oC)

1st, 2nd

Number of Air Frost Days

0 (1)


Number of Hot Days (> 25 oC)

0 (12)


Monthly Precipitation

94.6 mm (4.6 mm)


Greatest 24 h Precipitation

15.8 mm (2.8 mm)

12th - 13th

Number of Dry Days

12 (27)


Monthly Sunshine Hours (estimated)

186 (240)


Average Wind Speed

4 km/h (4 km/h)


Highest Wind Speed

43 km/h (45 km/h)

3rd, 4th

Maximum Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)

1037.7 hPa (1049.6 hPa)

30th

Minimum Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)

994.4 hPa (985.0 hPa)

21st

Average Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)

1009.6 hPa (1022.1 hPa)





Seasonal Changes in the Garden - April 2021

This series was intended as a regular monthly post! If I manage to whizz through the year to date then November and December might be reported in a timely manner! I have also decided to add a few weather details for each month so this becomes more of a phenological record; see end of post for this information. When I get time, I will update the earlier posts for January, February and March.

April 1st in the Garden. The flowering cherries, daffodils, tulips and primulas add colour and important nectar sources for bees and other pollinating insects. The small Stella cherry tree (left of the flowering cherry) is also in bloom promising sweet cherries in summer.

By April 20th, the cherry tree blossom is past its peak and it is apple blossom time. The Rev W Wilks apple tree (front left) is biennial and this is its fruiting year. It produces a heavy crop of cookers/eaters, which cook to a pale yellow froth with a delicate aromatic flavour, on a small compact tree. In front of the flowering cherry, the crab apple tree is just starting to flower and the red acer begins to leaf up.

A week later (27th April) and our miniature Golden Delicious (next to the Rev W Wilks) is now in full flower along with the crab apple. The Golden Delicious tree is the oldest and smallest fruit tree in the garden. We bought it in 2003 or 2004 specifically for a wassail party; its stunted growth is at least partly down to spending quite a few years in a pot before a place could be found in the ground. The red acer is leafing up nicely. In the background, beyond the green shed, is our red crab apple tree in full bloom. The daffodils have finished but the tulips continue to give excellent value.


Finally, it is the end of April (30th) and the garden is looking very different to the beginning of the month; lusher and greener but still developing.



 Weather data are from my Davis Vantage Pro 2 Plus weather station. Sunshine hours are estimated using monthly total solar radiation values.

Here is the April 2021 weather summary for a Hereford (UK) town garden. Equivalent weather values for April 2020 (last year) are in red for comparison.

April 2021 (2020)

Weather Parameter

Value

Dates

Average Monthly Temperature 

8 oC (12 oC)


Maximum Monthly Temperature

20 oC (30 oC)

19th, 20th, 23rd

Minimum Monthly Temperature

- 1 oC (-1 oC)

6th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 17th

Number of Air Frost Days

9 (1)

4th, 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th

Number of Hot Days (> 25 oC)

0 (7)


Monthly Precipitation

8.0 mm (73 mm)


Greatest 24 h Precipitation

5.2 mm (48.4 mm)

27th - 28th

Number of Dry Days

26 (22)


Monthly Sunshine Hours (estimated)

180 (174)


Average Wind Speed

3 km/h (3 km/h)


Highest Wind Speed

35 km/h (39 km/h)

5th, 6th

Maximum Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)

1035.5 hPa (1031.5 hPa)

15th

Minimum Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)

1006.5 hPa (990.7 hPa)

28th

Average Barometric Pressure (Sea Level)

1023.6 hPa (1017.4 hPa)


In comparison to 2020, this April (2021) was a cold, dry month with a significant number of Air Frost Days. Overall a difficult month for gardeners lacking both warmth and rain. 

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