September - As the name suggests, it was the seventh month of the Roman calendar when there were only ten months in a year. It retained its name after January and February were added to bring the annual complement up to twelve months.
All of the daily photographs for September 2024 feature the gazebo in the foreground; this photo is from the 24th day of the month (Photo 1). The overall impression is of a green foliage with the first signs of autumn starting to appear.
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| Photo 1: The Rear Garden on 24th Sept 2024 |
All the daily photos for September can be seen in the short video below ...
Video 1: Daily Photos of the Rear Garden - September 2024
What does a Scottish soft rock band have in common with September 2024? They were both Wet Wet Wet! A distinct lack of sunshine but generally warm. Weather stats for our Hereford garden are summarised in the Table below:
There were one or two hot days at the beginning of the month before settling down to pleasantly warm. Apart from the middle and end of the month, night temperatures held up well.
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| Figure 1: Min/Max Daily Temperatures for September 2024 |
High pressure over England in the middle of September gave rise to the only period of dry weather in September. The start and end of the month were wet with particularly heavy rain in the final third resulting in heavy floods in the Midlands.
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| Figure 2: Rainfall & Sunshine for September 2024 |
With five or so years of data for Hereford from our Davis Weather Station, it is interesting to look for patterns in the weather data. All three temperature measures (mean, maximum and minimum) alternate between warm and hot (Figure 3). Should we expect September this year (2025) to be hot? Insufficient data to be making those sorts of predictions!!
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| Figure 3: Temperature Data for September (2020 - 2024) |
Figure 4 summarises the rainfall, sunshine and to wind speeds for the past five Septembers (2020 - 2024). The unusually high rainfall in 2024 is certainly put into context. Worryingly, there seems to be a downward trend in sunshine hours - not good for grape ripening, electricity generation from our solar PV array, or late summer holidays.
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| Figure 4: Rain, Wind & Sunshine Trends for September (2020 - 2024) |
The next three figures are taken from the UK Met Office's monthly report for September 2024. In agreement with the weather data provided by my backyard Davis Weather Station, we can confirm that September in Herefordshire was average (temperature, Figure 5), excessive (rainfall, Figure 6) and dismal (sunshine, Figure 7),
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| Figure 5: UK Mean Temperature Anomalies for September 2024 |
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| Figure 6: UK Rainfall (relative) for September 2024 |
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| Figure 7: UK Sunshine Hours (relative) for September 2024 |
Jobs in the Garden
- Harvesting cucumbers (x8), aubergines (x6), sweet peppers (x6), tomatoes (4 kg), potatoes (7.6 kg), butternut squash (x5), chard, leaf spinach, raspberries (0.5 kg), blackberries and grapes.
- Picking pears and storing in fridge
- Carry on Composting
- Green manure sown in vegetable plots (field beans and peas, rye grass
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| Photo 2: Rye Grass (Green Manure) Winter Cover Crop |
- Less time spent in the garden because of trips to the Isle of Wight, Bicester (including Snowshill Manor, Waddesdon Manor and Chastleton House), and Knighton (including Westonbury Mill Water Gardens)
Flora & Fauna (seen in the garden)
- Blackbird (x1)
- Blue Tits (x3)
- Buzzards (x2)
- Collared Doves (x3)
- House Sparrows (x24)
- Jackdaws (x9)
- Herring Gull (x1)
- Robin (x1)
- Starlings (x30)
- Wood Pigeon (x1)
- Common Frog (x1)
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| Photo 2: Common Frog in Garden Pond (26th Sept 2025) |
- Field/wood mice (x3, deceased)
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| Photo 3: Field/Wood Mouse, RIP (18th Sept 2025) |
And finally, a few photos of the garden ...
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| Photo 4: Giant Chard Plant |
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| Photo 5: Secret Garden (16th Sept 2025) |
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