Emz by the Thames

Went to the allotment at 7.30am his morning as I didn't fancy digging in the heat of the afternoon. But at just 8.30am, the sun was burning my skin and I was sweltering, sure is a hot one out there folks! Our outside thermometer (in the shade) started to fall...then went back up again - weird.

Well...I'm sure this should have warranted a yellow as driving conditions are poor, A road is really slow. Dread to think how my allotment is getting on. (ok, it was nice going to sleep listening to the wind in the trees last night..but it's pretty wild out there this morning). @stainesbloke @lassie23 Had no intention of buying a melon but we went for a country drive and ended up in this garden centre where people were just snapping up these melon plants for a pound and I though what have I got to lose!!

We are outside the warning area by a smidgen...but if I hadn't see a forecast, I've have thought storms were imminent...hot sun, cloud, instability, now darker cloud. Woo... @Dami Maybe we should do a stormdance? Like a raindance I guess - anything to break the northern home counties storm shield.

Thunder woke me up just after 2am and there was another loud rumble half am hour later. My partner says as it didn't wake him up, it was probably a dream...righto!!! It's horribly muggy out there, dull and just horrible. It's bank holiday and it's so oppressive that I can'y be arsed to even go for a walk!

Very windy, cloudy, a bit humid...bleugh. And I have storm envy too...especially when ones family is Whatsapping your from the north with stormungus stuff every 5 minutes.

Woohoo! First thunder in ages! Ten minutes rain shower...rain stopped, thought that was it - and then thunder!!

Oh that rain was lovely...it's been so long since I've seen a raindrop in a puddle! My allotment is going to love it!! Can see a giant sky cauliflower to my ssw. Mmmm...cheese sauce.

Not had a chance to go upstairs or outside but by 'eck it feels clammy indoors. The air had that kind of hazy/steamy tint to it at 6am. Finger's crossed, eh? What is different this year is we have an allotment on top of a hill from which you can seemasses of sky and 20 miles of land towards Bracknell/Bagshot. Now just got to figure out a safe viewpoint.

Meto Twitter: Thundery showers in southeast England bring the risk of downpours and hail for this evening's rush hour, but they'll fade away after dark. Ooh!

Well the skies at the allotment this evening have been a delight! Light rain now but nowhere near enough. Can't explain those lines in the raincloud over the houses, not very clear on camera but beautiful.

I'm loving today - so nice to see clouds rather than sun or murk. View from stairwell just now. I've left my chilli seedlings on the car bonnet - they are going to roast as that sun is hot!!

Yeah, it was so crumbly that I had to eat it over the kitchen sink. Mixed feelings about the next few days with regards to my allotment - yay for rain...boo for cold temps as I've a lot of seedlings in a rickety cold frame and my plot is on top of a very chilly hill.

Every day seems to be better than the forecast at the moment. Must admit though, this lack of rain is already an issue. There seems to have been so little rain that the rainwater butt at my allotment is already empty. If there is hosepipe ban, I guess our water supply will be switched off (hopefully limited to watering cans only). On to other things,this is happening opposite our flat. The swan is only 3 years old (I watched her hatch!) so it's only 50/50 if she is sat on eggs or just practicing. But it will be interesting to watch and wait and see!

Drip, drip, drop BIG April showers...la la la la la la la la la. No thunder, just heavy rain with hail mixed in. Lovely!! Never seen the allotment vacated so fast, I did see some interesting cloud activity beforehand, though so I packed up just in case.

Windy!! Opened a packet of salsify seeds..and the wind kindly planted them in the allotment next door! It's mild - but the wind made it feel colder.

Beautiful blue skies here, after an early family pick up at airport, I had the rest of the day on the allotment and it was more like early summer - 17.c!

It might surprise us yet!...possibly!! My tatties are chitting (that seems to be going ok) and I've sown leeks indoors, did manage to get some garlic in in late autumn, my boyfriend's dad gave me a champagne rhubarb crown that he's halved, I bought Autumn raspberries - that's it so far. I went to a garden centre in November and they were selling off packets of seeds for 50p and I went a bit crazy and bought everything . So I'm growing courgettes, 'cinderella' pumpkins, 'sunshine' squash, sweetcorn, 5 types of chilli, radishes, parsnips, spring onion, runner beans, 10 different herbs and sweet peas. For pure novelty value (not expecting anything!) I've got hops growing, giant pumpkin seeds and loofah seeds. The latter needs a greenhouse really - but unfortunately we aren't allowed closed structures of any sort or indeed glass. There's much talk on this forum of melons!! I've love to grow some - but given my very unsheltered position with no greenhouse, I don't know if I'd just be wasting space. And now I'm wondering if this cold spell mid month will happen an what that means for my 'lotty'. What are you (and another forum members!) growing this year - anything new or unusual?

Gentle roar of trees in the wind out there now...rather pleasant. I too an disappointed in the 'front loaded' winter that never arrived, although the fog and frosts were very atmospheric. I don't want a cold spell mid March as there is loads to do on the allotment! Oh well, the weather doesn't care what we want!!

Fence panel 0 - Doris 1.

First season so it's all trial and error! But have gone for King Edwards maincrop and Abbot and Charlotte earlies. Haven't chitted the Edwards yet, they're still in the box. If there's one thing I've discovered about this gardening malarkey, it's that for every question, there appears to be a million different answers!! We're not allowed any structures other than a lockable box on the allotment, so I'm having to chit them in a 21.c office...don't know if that's ok, either as it's meant to be in a 'cool' place. Apart from the usual stuff, we're going to try and grow loofahs for a laugh, and those meter long courgettes Chiltern Seeds is quite good for weird stuff. Having an allotment does give you mixed feeling about late winter cold, that's for sure. Not sure if I'm looking forward to a possible Beasterly...or whether I just want a reasonable day to get digging!!

Problem solved, if they freeze, I'll just pass them off as Auntie Bessies! And February hope and fears, allotmenteers? I've ordered loads of stuff - but I'm wondering if the ground will be too cold to plant my potatoes (which are happily chitting in my office!!)

Love these. I bought book on weather lore recently, haven't had time to read it yet but it looks interesting. Possible cold mid to late Feb has been mentioned for some time - it does give us notice allotment holders a headache though. No idea what happens if the ground freezes after your parsnips are planted! I see a yellow warning is extended to all of the S/E for wind on Friday.

Love these. I bought book on weather lore recently, haven't had time to read it yet but it looks interesting. Possible cold mid to late Feb has been mentioned for some time - it does give us notice allotment holders a headache though. No idea what happens if the ground freezes after your parsnips are planted! Enjoyed the rain last night and not being cold. Today is 8.c of meh though.

Light flurry of very small flakes here!

I don't know about October Fog Index, I've actually lost count of the January Fog Index. Our 30 year old panel heaters can't seem to bring the temp in the flat above 18.c Ok when you're moving about but when you're sat down, it's chilly! Yesterday, black ice was a problem around here, there was a car crash, then the ambulance called hit one of the cars involved! Madness. I walked into town on the grass lll the way as the pavements were lethal. As it's my first spring with an allotment, I'm finding I wish this cold but boring winter would magically become spring!!