The weather and the garden.

[poohbear 1,360]

My local estate shop buys several pallets of compost each year but this year his sales are well down...nobody is in the garden much or risking planting out with these temperatures.

Personally,by now I usually have hanging baskets and troughs planted with hardier plants,but keeping an eye on the forecasts so precautions can be taken if the weather turns nasty. Over the years it's worked for me to give the plants an early start......

This year I just haven't dared take the risk. Sales must be well down at the garden centres. How are others coping?....or are you just waiting till May?

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

My greenhouse is doing quite well with many bedding plants growing and pricked out. Also tomato and Runner Beans waiting for frosts to clear. Front garden a profusion of Bluebells, Muscari with Heuchera and Solomon's Seal waiting in the wings for their turn. I have jet washed the coloured slabs all that is needed in the front are containers of summer flowering bedding plants.

The back garden is alive with Snow in summer, Red Hot Poker and Bleeding Heart preparing for the Summer show. Strawberry plants, Rhubarb and fruit trees all waking up. Other herbaceous perennials showing through. Nature soon catches up.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

I am late getting my peas in this year its usually mid March when they go in.

Still I started today in bright sunshine and got ...............snowed off, It's he last week in April FFS in the Trent Valley not the Scottish Highlands...

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Been rototilling the veggie garden over, soils really a bit to wet , but has to be done, I want a plot for my strawberries, about 26 plants we have now, weather permitting, I'll have another session with the rototiller tomorrow.

I must get a rototiller for my tractor, might be a lot easier having the tractor doing ALL the work, bit on the very warm and extremely humid side here at present.

[Compo 10,328]

Not been able to plant anything here in Caithness yet; the winter is lingering longer than usual. The weather forecast is for temperatures well below seasonal average to continue until at least early next week.

[FLY2 10,108]

Hailing here at the moment. You wouldn't believe that this time last week, I was sunning myself on the patio.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Hail is pretty common here in summer Fly2!! Usually it's pretty big stones when it happens, I saved one in the freezer for the wife after one storm, so she could see how big they were.

In fact hail was forecast last night, 80F temps too! Warnings were out for severe thunder storms, we got those in the early hours of this morning, I heard hail hitting a metal flashing in the roof last night, sounded like small sized hail.

I drove through heavy hail near Christmas in Australia, passing through Lithgow, NSW on my way home from the coast. ground was white just looked like snow...Remember that was mid summer, and it's normally very, very hot!! Although, it was extremely warm when I was driving through the hail storm.

[loppylugs 8,429]

I was just watching an item on youtube last night. There have sure been a lot of hailstorms here already for the time of year. I don't like the way things are going. More severe weather possible in our forecast today and Sunday.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

The El Nino changes world wide weather patterns.

[Guest]

Put loads of gerrainiums in this evening.. hail stones then battered 'em.

[Cliff Ton 10,467]

It gets weirder.

Just been a five minute fall of sleet which left the cars covered white.

Five minutes earlier I saw lightning and heard thunder.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Your not far from me then Cliff exactly the same here

[poohbear 1,360]

The El Nino changes world wide weather patterns.

How can a Mexican bandit change anything?

[loppylugs 8,429]

Cliff, NBL That's the kind of weird things I'm going on about. Strange weather combinations. When I was a kid in the fifties we never heard any thunder through the winter and certainly not with snow. Now it is referred to here as thundersnow and it was happening back in January never-mind April.

Today it was 85 and humid here, more like July. Chance of severe thunderstorms tomorrow. You don't know whether to plant beans or build a tornado shelter.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Peruvian bandit, it's off the coast of Peru in the Pacific..

Dave, aren't thunderstorms normal your way in winter?? We have the odd T/S during the winter months, tornado season starts in February, so T/S are a warning of nastier weather here.

We get wary when the winds come from the south/south west in winter, bringing warm moist air up from the Gulf, then dangerous cold winds from the Rockies in the west, then severe T'S's which can lead to tornadoes.

[loppylugs 8,429]

I was thinking of the fifties in Nottingham, John.

Here in Ga. You can get a Tstorm almost any time, but they used to be rare in winter.