Rainfall monitoring in Grahamstown - Oregon Scientific wireless device

I miss the rainfall and temperature graphs that used to be available online from the Rhodes University weather station, so I lashed out and bought an Oregon Scientific wireless rain logger at the beginning of August. (Thanks to Chris Duncombe-Rae for planting this seed last year).

I ordered the device from Takealot.com, and it was delivered in a few days. It's quite elegant, and has adequate monitoring/display capability but it's not a data logger where you can download data to a computer. I'm retired and on a fixed income, after all... so visually checking and transcribing numbers every now and then is something I have time for.

It consists of three components (batteries included for all of them):

The temperature sensor, about a metre off the ground in an area that gets no sunshine. It's just leaning against the wall outside our kitchen door behind a rainwater tank.

The rainfall sensor, about 1.5m off the ground. Quite tricky to find a suitable place for this. Also, as with all tipping bucket devices, it registers rainfall if you bump it, for example moving or installing it.

There were pole and tree issues, so it was moved to the north side of the pole late this afternoon, close to the end of the month so that bumping it wouldn't pollute my data. It didn't register any false readings, and is much more level.

The display panel. The time/date are displayed on the bottom line, just before moving the tipping bucket around outside.

The temperature display (second from bottom) gives an instantaneous reading, with no history, which is good enough for my purposes. The rainfall displays, resolution 1mm, are more sophisticated and consist of two readings. The top one rolls over at midnight and is accumulated into the second. This accumulated number can be reset manually, and gives the capability of accumulating monthly rainfall, provided you remember to reset it at the appropriate time and day and that it's not bucketing down at midnight at the end of the month. You can't really get a sense of the rate at which rain is falling, which you'd get from a data logger that could populate a graph, but daily and monthly rainfall figures are a hell of a lot more than I have now. The 1mm resolution isn't that helpful in the case of a long light drizzle.

It also monitors the battery levels in the sensors and the wireless signal strength.

There's a limited scroll back capability for daily readings, allowing you to step back 9 days.

Anyway, I've had it running for a month, so here's the first data:

2016/08 - total of 08mm of rain, in two events of 5mm on 08/03 and 3mm on 08/24.
2016/09 - total of 09mm of rain.
2016/10 - total of 07mm of rain.
2016/11 - total of 24mm of rain
2016/12 - total of 13mm of rain
2017/01 - total of 39mm of rain
2017/02 - total of 42mm of rain
2017/03 - total of 19mm of rain
2017/04 - total of 11mm of rain - getting colder so less evaporation
2017/05 - total of 14mm of rain
2017/06 - total of 00mm of rain!- night time temps around 10degC
2017/07 - total of 03mm - night time temps dip to about 6degC
2017/08 - total of 38mm of rain - night temps about 10degC
2017/09 - total of 10mm of rain - night temps about 12-15degC
2017/10 - total of 41mm of rain - night temps about 15degC
2017/11 - total of 27mm of rain - night temps mostly above 15degC but below 20
2017/12 - estimated 15mm rain - night temps about 20degC
2018/01 - total of 64mm - night temps above 20degC. Relocated rain gauge.
2018/02 - total of 78mm - night temps just below 20degC. Relocation sorted out rain shadow.
2018/03 - total of 62mm - night temps 15 to 20degC
2018/04 - total of 15mm - night temps 12 to 17degC
2018/05 - total of 15mm - night temps 9 to 15degC
2018/06 - total of 07mm - night temps 7  to 12 degC
2018/07 - total of 11mm - night temps 10 to 12 degC
2018/08 - total of 39mm - night temps 8 to 10C
2018/09 - total of 48mm - night temps up to 15c
2018/10 - total of 30mm - night temps up to 17C
2018/11 - total of 33mm rain
2018/12 - total of 04mm rain
2019/01 - total of 26mm rain
2019/02 - total of 18mm rain
2019/03 - total of 77mm rain
2019/04 - total of 49mm
2019/05 - total of 12mm
2019/06 - total of 15mm (est)
2019/07 - total of 03mm
2019/08 - total of 0mm
2019/09 - total of 6mm
2019/10 - total of 6mm
2019/11 - total of 3mm
2019/12 - total of 6mm
2020/01 - total of 68mm
2020/02 - total of 90mm
2020/03 - total of 49mm
2020/04 - total of 30mm

Contender bush beans

These are nice beans which I've planted often.

Misplaced the dried beans I'd harvested last season, so bought two packets. Five tyres each with five beans planted out.

Update 2016/09/15:

Sprouts have just broken the surface. Forgotten how big they are.

That's 16 days.

Update 2016/10/29

Update 2016/11/03:

Rhubarb

Previous entry here.

Slowly surfacing after winter. Quite dry, so not exactly flourishing.

There's 4 tyres of rhubarb in total, and I'd like at least one to produce heavily.

Update 2016/09/05:

Update 2016/09/30:

Update 2016/11/22:

Update 2016/11/29:

Update 2017/01/10:

Horse radish

Previous post here.

This is their second season in this tyre, and there's already an escapee.

Not long ago, this tyre looked completely dead.

Still haven't dug any up. Maybe next winter? Or maybe I'll cull the escapee...

Update 2016/10/12:

Broad beans - Long Pod Aquadulce

Previous entry on broad beans.

Have planted these before with moderate success. Problem has been quantity rather than quality. They're not prolific.

Already have two tyres with plants that are flowering, and today planted six more with about 5 seeds per tyre.

Interesting all the "green" hype on the packet. I suppose there's a market for it.

Update 2016/09/05:

One of the tyres that's had a head start.

Update 2016/09/07:

Newly planted beans are starting to sprout. That's ten days...

Update 2016/09/29:

The two tyres with larger plants have a head start of maybe 2 months on the other 6. But the smaller plants are starting to catch up.

Update 2016/10/02:

Small pods starting to show. Pollination rate seems OK compared to previous times.

Update 2016/10/12:

These are the crop of the season, so far.

Update 2016/10/30:

Update 2016/11/30:

Pretty much the end of the crop... they were planted too late and struggled in the heat.

Update 2017/05/11:

A packet of broadbeans coming up, planted in mid April. Another two packets planted a week back have not yet sprouted.

This is the right time of year to do this.

Sweet corn - Stowells Evergreen

Previous entry on mielies.

Haven't seen this variety before - promises to be "sweet and tender", and ready to harvest in 75 days. That would be mid-November.

Planted nine kernels in each of 8 tyres. Will thin them when they get going properly.

My previous attempt at mielies got chomped by bovine intruders at the critical point, so let's see how far these can get.

Update 2016/09/13:

Starting to sprout one or two in most of the tyres - still very thin and spindly.  That's 16 days.

Update 2016/10/29

Update 2016/11/22:

Asparagus

Previous entry on asparagus here.

I'm finally getting over the after effects of shingles, and energetic enough to start paying attention to the garden after, what, nearly three months flat on my back being a misery for everyone. It helps that spring is sprung, and things are beginning to show signs of life. Tomorrows high is forecast as 33 degC, but then August has always has patches of really nice weather, while September reverts a bit to uncertain spring weather.

Asparagus (Mary Washington) starting to come up - much bigger than the seedling size tendrils of last season - but not yet big enough to harvest, tempting as it might be. A few other spindly spears have come up through the 75mm thick layer of mulch put over the patches in late autumn, but this is the fattest spear so far. A bit thinner than a pencil (next time I'll use one to give some scale).

Incidentally, the fronds from all the seedlings did eventually die back in winter, even though new spears were sprouting well into autumn.

Most of these plants have been in for a bit more than a year, but there have been several renewals where transplanted seedlings failed, so some are only 6 or 7 months old.

This will be a good opportunity to see what sort of replanting/replacement is necessary.

I suppose another year of waiting is necessary... in the meantime, I've made the belated discovery that asparagus isn't exactly friendly to gout. Neither are liver or anchovies or sardines or beer - which sort of curtails my diet.

Update  2016/08/27:

The same spear, a day later.

Another, different spear.

Update 2016/08/28:

Other spears of reasonable size are starting to appear through the mulch. You have to look quite hard, though, in the early stages. Presumably the thin ones are from the supplementary plantings.

Update 2016/08/29:

Same spears as above, a day later.

Update 2016/08/31:

Another day.

Looks like they're taking three or four days to reach harvestable length. Pity about thickness.

Update 2016/09/06:

There are 12 sets of spears coming up, 6 in each bed. There should be 13 in each bed.

It's still early days I suppose, and more and more are popping up. Some have put up a second spear, others nothing.

Update 2016/10/02:

Replaced some of the missing plants with newly purchased seedlings. Let's see how these survive.

Update 2016/11/03:

A view of all 4 beds, the original 2 in the foreground.

The major new bed, 18 seedlings, all doing well.

The minor bed, planted with my own seedlings.

Update 2016/12/02:

Update 2017/01/11:

Just about every seedling seems to be growing - some vigorously, a few just hanging in there.