View from the Rear Window - April 2024

 April - originally the second month of the year (Aprilis) in the old Roman calendar (after March), its origins are a bit hazy. Possibly named after Aphrodite though the more widely accepted origin is from the Latin word aperire meaning 'to open' signifying the start of Spring when flower buds burst open.

A couple of photos from the daily garden pictures this month: the first (Photo 1) on the 6th with its fine display of tulips, and the second on the 26th (Photo 2) where the wisteria and acer take centre stage.

Photo 1: Rear Garden (6th April 2024)

Photo 2: Rear Garden (26th April 2024)

The daily garden photos are presented in Video 1:

Video 1: Daily Photos of the Rear Garden (April 2024)

The Met Office's summary for April 2024 was unsettled, wet and dull. While generally true for Hereford, the details are more nuanced. The table below summarises the weather statistics for a city-based garden in Hereford (i.e. my Davis Weather Station). Overall, not too bad and a reasonable one for gardening and vegetable sowing and planting where the absence of April frosts (unlike 2020 - 2023) helped greatly.

April 2024

Weather Parameter

Value

Dates

Average Monthly Temperature 

10 oC


Maximum Monthly Temperature

21 oC

12th

Minimum Monthly Temperature

0 oC

18th & 20th

Number of Air Frost Days

0


Number of Hot Days (> 25 oC)

0


Monthly Precipitation

55.4 mm


Greatest 24 h Precipitation

10.2 mm

4th - 5th

Number of Dry Days

12


Monthly Sunshine Hours (estimated)

146



Highest Wind Speed

48 km/h

15th

Heating Degree Days

236.7


Cooling Degree Days

0.4



Daily maximum and minimum temperatures are plotted in Figure 1 (click on the figure to see a larger version). The month started reasonably warm but cooled off towards the end and meant I had to bring some of the vegetable plants in(doors) from the polytunnel because of the cooler nights.

Figure 1: Min/Max Daily Temperatures (April 2024)

In Figure 2, rainfall and solar radiation (proxy for sunshine hours) are plotted. Most of the rain fell during the first part of the month - a sort of extension to wet March. The final two thirds of the month were moderately sunny and dry though not especially warm (Figure 1).

Figure 2: Rainfall & Sunshine (April 2024)

How does April 2024 compare with the same month in 2020 to 2023? See Figure 3 and Figure 4.
Figure 3:




Figure 4: 








Jobs in the Garden
  • Disinfect plant pots, seed trays, Quadgrow planters, etc with Citrox P
  • Pot up cucumbers, tomatoes, chilli peppers, courgettes & aubergines in 9 cm pots and harden off in the polytunnel (April 7th)
  • Sow celery and celeriac in seed trays (April 11th)
  • Sow French Beans (Cobra) in Root Trainers, a few at a time for succession sowing (April 11th)
  • Direct sow chard, parsnip & beetroot (April 11th)
  • Sow chard, perpetual spinach & beetroot into Salad/Veg Planter (April 12th)
  • Possible frost on the 18th; transfer polytunnel plants indoors and return to polytunnel on 28th.
  • Asparagus cropping; 20 spears
  • Sow parsnip in Salad/Veg Planter seed bed after potting on beetroot, chard and spinach (April 22nd)
  • General weeding and composting

Flora & Fauna (seen in the Garden)
  • Unidentified (moved too fast) 'white' butterfly (April 7th) & this one on the 12th
Photo 3: Small/Large White (male) on 12th April?
  • Red Admiral butterfly (April 9th)
  • Holly blue butterfly (April 11th)
Video 2: Recently Emerged Holly Blue Butterfly (11th April)
  • Bat seen in the evening (April 11th)
  • 2 x Blackbirds (male & female)
  • 2 x Blue Tits
Video 3: Blue Tit Singing (16th April)
  • 2 x Collared Doves
  • 1 x Crow
  • 1 x Dunnock
  • 2 x Great Tit (male & female)
  • 7 x House Sparrows
  • 2 x Herring Gulls
Photo 4: Herring Gulls
  • 1 x Lesser Black-backed Gull
  • 1 x Magpie
  • 8 x Starlings
  • 3 x Wood Pigeon
  • 1 x Wren
And, finally, a few pics from the garden:

Photo 5: Snake's Head Fritillery (3rd April)

Photo 6: Our Small Garden Pond (3rd April)

Photo 7: Bluebells (3rd April)

Photo 8: Holly Berries on a Sunny Day (3rd April)

Photo 9: Tulips

Photo 10: Front Garden (3rd April)

Photo 11: Front Garden (3rd April)

Photo 12: The Art Shed

Photo 13: Aster (Leopard's Bane?) - 12th April

Photo 14: Saxifrage

Photo 15: Forget-me-nots

Photo 16: The Paradise Garden (23rd April)

Photo 17: Wisteria (30th April)

Photo 18: Acer

Photo 19: The Secret Garden

View from the Rear Window - March 2024

 March - derived from Martius (named after Mars, the Roman God of War) and was the first month of the earliest Roman calendar.

I have been somewhat lax in doing my monthly updates. My only new year resolution is to try and catch up. This is largely for my benefit so I can maintain a long term phenological record. The monthly reports may be somewhat briefer than usual.

The month was dull and wet with middling temperatures. It was nice to see the cherry blossom though (Photo 1).

Photo 1: March 20th 2024

The usual video showing the daily photos of the rear garden ...

Video 1: Daily Garden Photos (March 2024)

Weather data recorded by my garden Davis Weather Station are summarised in the table below:

March 2024

Weather Parameter

Value

Dates

Average Monthly Temperature 

8 oC


Maximum Monthly Temperature

18 oC

9th

Minimum Monthly Temperature

-2 oC

3rd & 4th

Number of Air Frost Days

4


Number of Hot Days (> 25 oC)

0


Monthly Precipitation

99.2 mm


Greatest 24 h Precipitation

23.0 mm

27th - 28th

Number of Dry Days

12


Monthly Sunshine Hours (estimated)

102



Highest Wind Speed

39 km/h

23rd

Heating Degree Days

311.5


Cooling Degree Days

0.0



Daily minimum/maximum temperatures are reproduced in Figure 1. Daytime temperatures held up well but the nights were cold overnight for the first 7 days of the month.

Figure 1: Minimum & Maximum Daily Temperatures (March 2024)

Significant rain at the start, middle and end of the month (Figure 2): 

Figure 2: Daily Rainfall & Sunshine (March 2024)

I now have 5 years of weather data from my Davis Weather Station and it is possible to discern some trends in the weather. Of course, it will need much longer records (10-20 years) to positively identify climate changes. While the mean daily temperatures have been constant over the last 5 years (Figure 3), this may be hiding a trend towards lower daytime maxima and higher night-time minima.
Figure 3: Temperature Data for March (2020 to 2024)

The trends in rainfall and sunshine seem clearer though the timescale is too short to be certain (Figure 4). In this location, the month of March is getting wetter and duller (less sunshine).

Figure 4: Rain, Wind & Sun Trends (March 2020 - 2024)

The three figures below are taken from the Met Office's Monthly Report for March 2024. Herefordshire, where we live, is marked on the maps. March 2024 was just a little bit warmer in Herefordshire than the 1991-2020 average (Figure 5) but, as Figure 3 showed, this March's mean monthly temperature was not especially warm for Hereford and was, in fact, typical of the current decade (2020s).

Figure 5: UK Mean Monthly Temperature for March 2024

The UK map (Figure 6) for rainfall shows significantly higher than normal precipitation for parts of England, including Herefordshire. Thus confirming the local data recorded by the Davis Weather Station (Figure 4).


Figure 6: UK Monthly Rainfall (March 2024)

With much higher rainfall comes lower sunshine hours (Figure 4 & Figure 7).

Figure 7: UK Monthly Sunshine Hours (March 2024)

Jobs in the Garden
  • Hand weed and shallow dig (six inches) the potato and onion beds incorporating sieved home-made compost/soil improver
  • On March 9th, plant out red & white onion sets plus garlic started off in the greenhouse
  • On March 14th, plant out the chitted seed potatoes (Foremost & Nadine)
  • Start off tomatoes, sweet peppers, aubergines, chillies and cucumbers ready for planting out in the polytunnel in April/May. Cucumbers germinated.
  • Plum and pear trees start to flower. The plum flowers were the first ones for these trees planted about 5 years ago. Unfortunately, the fruits did not set.
Photo 2: Plum flowers (March 25th)

Photo 3: Concorde Pear Flowers (March 25th)
  • General tidying up and all-year-round composting
  • Empty Hotbin that had been running continuously for 874 days (2½ years)
  • First asparagus spear appeared on March 25th
Photo 4: First Asparagus Spear Appears (March 25th)

Flora & Fauna (seen in the Garden)
  • 2 x Blackbirds (male & female)
  • 4 x Blue Tits
  • 2 x Collared Doves
  • 3 x Crows
  • 1 x Dunnock
  • 1 x Great Tit
  • 11 x House Sparrows
  • 1 x Magpie
  • 5 x Starlings
  • 2 x Wood Pigeon
  • 1 x Wren
  • Numerous Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls
  • Bombylius major (the bee fly) - the long proboscis is the giveaway
Photo 5: The Bee Fly (30th March 2024)

Finally, a few photos from the garden ...

Photo 6: Snowdrops in our mini-wood

Photo 7: Crocuses and Daffodils in the Fountain Garden 

Photo 8: Tulips in the Paradise Garden

Photo 9: Hellebores on a rare Sunny Day

Photo 10: Crow with Tasty Morsel?

Photo 11: Table of Delights (March 13th)

Photo 12: Tulips in Late March

Photo 13: Grape Hyacinth

Photo 14: Tulips Galore (Late March)

Photo 15: Osteospermum (Late March)

Photo 16: Plum Flowers in Late March

Photo 17: Tulip Flower (29th March 2024)

Photo 18: Tulip Flower (29th March 2024)

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