Gardening.

Cold Anticyclones

High pressure or an ‘anticyclone’ usually brings a variety of settled, dry weather, depending on the season. During winter the weather under high pressure over the UK can be often cold and cloudy during the daytime with nights often cold enough to allow frost to form.

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How does your garden grow?

For those in the village of Lympsham and Eastertown, gardening and growing vegetables might have been somewhat challenging so far this year. In the early part of the year, just getting out between long periods of rain to attend to the basics was a problem. Now it seems that plant growth is very much behind.

Large parts of northern Europe experienced a distinct cold spell at the beginning of the New Year. According to the January edition of the JRC MARS Bulletin crop monitoring in Europe, strong weather contrasts have mixed effects on crops in Europe.

A distinct precipitation surplus occurred (or continued) in large parts of central and eastern Europe, as well as in the Benelux countries and central parts of the United Kingdom. The UK had its sixth wettest spring on record and its wettest since 1986 in a series which goes back to 1836.

The UK had its warmest May and meteorological spring on record according to provisional Met Office figures in what was also a wet and dull season for many. A Met Office Spokesperson said: “While it may not have felt like it for many, with sunshine in relatively short supply, provisional figures show May was the warmest on record in our series back to 1884. This warmth was especially influenced by high overnight temperatures, with the average UK minimum temperature for May 1.2°C higher than the previous record.

That said, sunshine hours were below average for each of the three months of spring, resulting in a dull period for many, though not record-breaking. The UK had 377.4 hours of sunshine, 17% fewer than average.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) ‘early bird survey’ – which asks farmers what their cropping plans are – in March 2024 suggests a marked reduction in many key winter crops such as wheat and barley. They project a 17.5% reduction in overall production compared to 2023 for winter wheat, winter barley, spring barley, oats and oilseed rape. Taken together, they estimate that the decline in production of all five of these arable crops will be around 4m tonnes, from 22.8m tonnes in 2023 down to 18.9m tonnes in 2024.

How are you getting on with your plants this year? Let us know and if you have any useful tips, feel free to share them through this website. Links:

Strong weather contrasts in the beginning of 2024 have mixed effects on crops

Analysis of UK farm cropping plans and estimated impact of the wet winter on production

Warm May and spring for the UK