Very late. For many years, the green outer husk has started splitting on 1st April, almost to the day. Last year they were a little late, but this year they've only started splitting in the last few days, nearly a month late.
It's been quite wet the last few months, but I don't remember it having this sort of impact in the past. Compared to last year, there's a good crop of nuts, and they're larger than usual - to the extent the top branches are bending over under the weight and breaking. Last year was really bad, with next to no rain.
Could the delayed ripening be an indicator of some sort of global cooling?
Showing posts with label cold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cold. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 May 2018
Thursday, 11 May 2017
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Snow in November near Grahamstown
Late morning... I've just been on a short drive out on the Highlands road to fetch a desk that has to go to Cape Town, and there's a lot of snow visible in the distance on the Katberg, about 100km to the north north west of here. Nothing in the Hogsback/Gaika's Kop area.
http://snowreport.co.za/snow-report-tiffindell-e-cape-02-november-2015/
https://www.facebook.com/snowreportsa/photos/a.312313212229373.1073741828.312197008907660/754818754645481/?type=3&theater
It's a bright sunny day today, not exactly cold, but with a weird sort of nip in the air. It's hot sitting in the sun, but the breeze is icy. Sauna effect...
Forecast for today is about 20C max, and tomorrow, when we'll be on the road, about 35C.
Update 2015/11/22:
There's probably been more snow in the local mountains, cold rain and wind here. Didn't see snow, but could feel it. Had to use the gas heater yesterday afternoon and last night.
https://www.facebook.com/snowreportsa/posts/761564383970918
https://www.facebook.com/snowreportsa/photos/a.312313212229373.1073741828.312197008907660/761555290638494/?type=3&theater
This is the equivalent of snow in late June in the Northern hemisphere.
It's all George Bush's fault!
http://snowreport.co.za/snow-report-tiffindell-e-cape-02-november-2015/
https://www.facebook.com/snowreportsa/photos/a.312313212229373.1073741828.312197008907660/754818754645481/?type=3&theater
It's a bright sunny day today, not exactly cold, but with a weird sort of nip in the air. It's hot sitting in the sun, but the breeze is icy. Sauna effect...
Forecast for today is about 20C max, and tomorrow, when we'll be on the road, about 35C.
Update 2015/11/22:
There's probably been more snow in the local mountains, cold rain and wind here. Didn't see snow, but could feel it. Had to use the gas heater yesterday afternoon and last night.
https://www.facebook.com/snowreportsa/posts/761564383970918
https://www.facebook.com/snowreportsa/photos/a.312313212229373.1073741828.312197008907660/761555290638494/?type=3&theater
This is the equivalent of snow in late June in the Northern hemisphere.
It's all George Bush's fault!
Sunday, 1 November 2015
Weekly status of tyre garden - update 8
Everything doing OK other than the Okra and one of the brinjals - no other fatalities despite high temperatures early in the week. Mostly overcast with fine drizzle once or twice. Heavier rain expected this evening.
Need to supplement tyre numbers, and dig holes in order to plant grapes.
21h00 - It's raining reasonably hard, and there's a lot of wind. Hopefully nothing gets too damaged.
Update 2015/11/02:
02h00 Still raining, windy.
06h30 Weak sunshine and light breeze, but more rain predicted for mid day.
10h00 Intermittent sunshine. Just finished tidying up the (easterly) wind ravaged garden - tomatoes, globe artichokes, horseradish, and bush beans knocked over.
Even the beetroot had a hard time.
Tied up what I could, pruned the rest to decrease wind loading, still blowing but not as strongly as last night.
Unopened pecan nut catkins strewn all over the place. Will this affect their fertilisation?
13h40 - A bit of rain, but didn't amount to much.
Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Transplanting "Powder Blue" blueberry into large pot
The second specimen, purchased because "Powder Blue" looks promising, and blueberry plants aren't commonly available in Grahamstown. See if you can make out the price tag to see why.:
This will need to be irrigated, so all the fittings to do it automatically need to be set up. My previous erratic hand watering regime in the garden was probably the main reason for a high attrition rate, and I can't afford these exotic berries going belly up on me.
The spray head that'll keep everything inside a large pot damp. Obtained from BUCO, but other, earlier. similar, components were obtained from Builders Warehouse in Port Elizabeth over the last few years. It appears there are different but compatible components available.
I was doing drip irrigation into a black plastic bag of compost growing broad beans at this location, but they need more room, so they'll be grown in tyres from now on. The drip head, with the "help" of one of my assistant gardeners, Ixia,, was snipped off, then the
end of the 6mm tube dipped into a cup of hot water for 30 seconds or so to make the next step easy.
New spray head fitted onto tube. Builders gravel in the bottom of the pot, which was recycled from an unsuccesful Cape Gooseberry attempt elsewhere in the garden.
The planting pot is filled with acid compost (obtained from Builders Warehouse earlier this year).
The plant is neatly dug in, then the micro-spray head lined up more or less in the middle. This sector, getting continuous direct sun from mid morning to late afternoon, has it's own controller and is given 3 minutes of water once a day just after 07h00. It's too much water in winter, but about right in summer. To the right are raspberries, also lovers of acid compost and irrigation.
Now to sit back and see what happens.
Update 2015/10/16:
I've seen a lot of these on sale over the last few weeks. The ones at Builders Warehouse in Port Elizabeth are about R50 cheaper than the local ones. It was a similar thing with Sharp Blue a year or so back, and those are doing very well in pots so I'm optimistic that Powder Blue will also suit local conditions.
Update 2015/11/11:
This will need to be irrigated, so all the fittings to do it automatically need to be set up. My previous erratic hand watering regime in the garden was probably the main reason for a high attrition rate, and I can't afford these exotic berries going belly up on me.
The spray head that'll keep everything inside a large pot damp. Obtained from BUCO, but other, earlier. similar, components were obtained from Builders Warehouse in Port Elizabeth over the last few years. It appears there are different but compatible components available.
I was doing drip irrigation into a black plastic bag of compost growing broad beans at this location, but they need more room, so they'll be grown in tyres from now on. The drip head, with the "help" of one of my assistant gardeners, Ixia,, was snipped off, then the
end of the 6mm tube dipped into a cup of hot water for 30 seconds or so to make the next step easy.
New spray head fitted onto tube. Builders gravel in the bottom of the pot, which was recycled from an unsuccesful Cape Gooseberry attempt elsewhere in the garden.
The planting pot is filled with acid compost (obtained from Builders Warehouse earlier this year).
The plant is neatly dug in, then the micro-spray head lined up more or less in the middle. This sector, getting continuous direct sun from mid morning to late afternoon, has it's own controller and is given 3 minutes of water once a day just after 07h00. It's too much water in winter, but about right in summer. To the right are raspberries, also lovers of acid compost and irrigation.
Now to sit back and see what happens.
Update 2015/10/16:
I've seen a lot of these on sale over the last few weeks. The ones at Builders Warehouse in Port Elizabeth are about R50 cheaper than the local ones. It was a similar thing with Sharp Blue a year or so back, and those are doing very well in pots so I'm optimistic that Powder Blue will also suit local conditions.
Update 2015/11/11:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)