May Weather

The weather was warm and sunny, for the most part, but more unsettled than April and generally drier that usual, especially at the beginning of the month, continuing the dry conditions that have been affecting the growing conditions since the middle of March.

A total of 53mm of rain fell (recorded at the closest weather station in Birr), which is slightly less than normal. The mean temperature for the month was only slightly above normal at 11 degrees C. The mean soil temperature was almost 2 degree higher than normal at 14.5C and the total amount of solar radiation for the month (intensity of energy from the sun including overcast days) was slightly higher than normal (53560 Joules/sqcm). The wind levels for the month were normal and there were a few episodes of hail. All of these conditions affect the growth rate of the plants, and the limiting factor was still the lack of water in the soil.

In the temperature charts above (extracted from the Met Éireann summary) the maximum temperature ranged in the mid teens for most of the month, but the low temperature dropped significantly at the end of the month, creating frost conditions on the night of May 29! This was a very late frost, and hit many of the potatoes hard. Fortunately we had not yet planted any other tender plants.

The top graphs shows the general lack of any heavy rainfalls for the whole month, with much of the rain evaporating from the surface before it could seep in and replenish the moisture in the soil. The bottom graph shows a couple of spells of strong sunshine!

Week 22 - Bed DD1 Planting

We prepared this bed by double digging this week and sowed:

• True Gold Sweetcorn (27 stations with 3 seeds each) - a heirloom variety with golden yellow kernels and rich buttery flavour, which will grow to 180cm tall and mature in September

Week 21 - Bed EX3 Planting

This bed was dug and worked down into a fine seedbed into which we sowed:

• Halblange White Parsnip (2 long rows) - a thick, pointed, half length root variety, which does well in shallower soils
• Danvers Half Long Carrot (south 1/3 of a long row) - a broad shouldered, short, maincrop variety
• Chantenay Red Cored Carrot (middle 1/3 of a long row) - an early maincrop variety with smooth stump roots, fine taste and texture
• Autumn King Carrot (north 1/3 of a long row) - a thick pointed half length maincrop variety which does well in shallower soils and is frost hardy

Week 21 - Bed EX2 Planting

We finished preparing this bed as a rough lazy-bed (not worked down to a fine seedbed) and sowed:

• Neckargold Climbing French Bean (2 seeds at 12 stations) - high yield medium-late variety, with long round yellow beans.
• Blauhilde Climbing French Bean (2 seeds at 10 stations) - maincrop variety with long oval purple pods.
• White Emergo Runner Bean (22 seeds) - an attractive and vigorous variety with white seed and flower.

The two varieties of climbing french beans were planted in a circle at the base of a 'tipi' of long tree branches. String will need to be added (tied at the top and to a stake at the ground) to make sure that each of the plants has a support to climb up.
The runner bean seeds were also planted in a circle, in the center of which a dead tree was planted. The top branches of the tree were trimmed and rocks were piled up around the base to help stabilize it. Lengths of twine will be tied to the branches of the tree and then to stakes driven into the ground beside each seedling, so that the plants have something to climb.

Week 21 - Bed EX1 Planting

We prepared this bed as a rough lazy-bed and created 4 small mounds onto which we sowed:

• Nero di Milano Courgette (1 station of 4 seeds) - a dark green variety with lightly mottled fruits
• Genovese Courgette (1 station of 4 seeds) - a pale, early variety with fine lightly mottled green fruit
• Yellow Straightneck Courgette (2 stations of 4 seeds each) - an early maturing yellow variety with smooth yellow fruits

The raised hills were used to warm the soil to help germination. All but the strongest seedling will be removed to leave 4 plants with lots of room in the bed.

Week 20 - Bed DD7 Planting

We finished double digging this bed and sowed:

• Bastion Dwarf Peas (approx 160 seeds in a double long row) - a mid season main crop variety, with a high yield and up to 10 very sweet peas per pod
• Record Maincrop Potatoes (13 seed potatoes in one long row) - an oval potato variety with mealy yellow flesh

The peas will need a structure of chicken wire or similar for support.

Week 19 - Bed PC5

Dug bed and in prepared seedbed we scattered a polycrop mix of seeds including:

• White Globe Turnip
• Helenor Swede
• Early White Vienna Kohl Rabi
• Cherry Bell Radish
• Minowassi Radish
• Storuman Beetroot
• Rainbow Chard
• Perpetual Spinach
• Chicory
• Spinach
• Mizuna

Week 19 - Bed DD6 Planting

At some point over the last week, a large animal (possibly a calf from the neighboring farm) walked across several of the beds in the allotments, including this one, leaving depressions and gaps in the grid planting of the bed. There are also spaces where some of the beetroot seeds failed to germinate. We leveled some of the parts of the bed and re-sowed the two varieties of beetroot. The 4 week gap between this and the original planting will definitely show later in the season, but given enough space these later plants will still produce roots.

Week 19 - Bed DD5 Planting

This bed was double dug this week, incorporating some chopped sod between the two soil layers, and into it we planted a variety of fast growing crops (listed from north to south):

• Sugar Loaf (Pain de Sucre) Chicory (30 stations covering 20% of the bed) - a large leafy self blanching variety, excellent winter salad crop with a bitter taste
• Matador (Atlanta) Spinach (15 stations covering 20% of the bed) - an all year round variety with dark green leaves
• Rucola Coltivata Rocket/Arugula (25 stations covering 20% of the bed) - a refined variety with rich dark leaves and wonderful spicy taste
• Larno Kohl Rabi (20 stations covering 25% of the bed) - a pale green variety with swollen edible stems, which can be grown outside from spring to autumn
• Mooli Minowase Radish (25 stations covering 15% of the bed) - a long large crisp tender white radish variety with a sweet mild flavour, which is very quick growing

All of these crops will do well if we get cooler conditions with more rain than we have had recently.

Week 19 - Bed EX6 Planting

In the remaining space at the north end of the brassica and leek seedbed, we sowed:

• Rocket/Arugula Rucola Coltivata (2 short rows) - a superior form of this popular salad crop with rich dark leaves with wonderful spicy taste
• Matador Spinach (2 short rows) - all year round variety with dark green leaves