Seasons at the allotment: April 2022

April tends to bring mixed weather to our part of the world, but in many ways the month was fairly average.

However it was another dry month. The third month this year so far to have less rainfall than we'd expect. Could this contribute to problems later in the year?

The UK had around a third less rainfall than its average. Although not record breaking - it was still an issue for farmers and gardeners.

At the allotment, water butts had to be topped up with the hose, unusual for spring months.

High pressure dominating for much of the month kept things calm, dry, and often clear.

That led to a sunnier than average month for many areas. With the sunshine daytime temperatures were above average, but clear skies in spring do allow temperatures to fall away overnight.

Overnight frosts to end the month meant those who gambled by planting out delicate seedlings early paid a price

There were an average of 5.9 days of air frost, the average for April is four days.

Interestingly, April 2022 had more days of air frost than February this year.