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Visit the UK’s leading indoor agricultural event, with eleven packed halls of the very latest in agricultural machinery and equipment. Now at the NEC, Birmingham this is free to attend and free to park.
At the time of writing it is still very dry in East Anglia and some growers are even suggesting it’s worse than the long hot summer of 2018, which seems incredible.
September was always known as the month for harvest festivals, symbolising the end of 12 months hard work with all the produce safely gathered in store.
We’ve not got as many apples and plums as last year, but the pears are pretty good and the rain over the summer has not only helped the wheat and barley harvests but also the fern growth on our asparagus which is much bigger than last season.
With many growers likening the weather conditions of the last twelve months to the drought of 1976, I think many of us had convinced ourselves that we would be experiencing another hot and dry start to the summer.
As I write this article on June 24, I must admit to feeling somewhat tired of listening to the rain battering off my bedroom window at 5am, an occurrence that has been quite regular over the last month.
I was all gung-ho about the merits of drilling spring crops early. In the back of my mind was the hangover fear of last year’s drought repeating itself.
Some very valuable rain fell this week after the prolonged cold and dry spell which has held our crops back here in the North East. The rain is well timed for all winter crops and will hopefully set up many of the spring drillings too.
Just before Easter, we experienced a succession of frosts, with the grass in the garden white and crispy to walk on at first light caused by the dawn dip when the temperature drops as dawn breaks.
We had some reasonable early April rain in most places. In complete contrast to this time last year, we could do with a good bit more rain to keep everything on-track.
Agronomist, Ken McTaggart says rapid N uptake means crops are particularly lush and reasonably thick, presenting a good environment for disease development.