I put this post together because I was beginning to describe the local weather conditions etc within another post I'm preparing about the new fruit trees we've just bought, but such information is also very relevant to growing anything at all here and so I've made it a standalone reference.
Location
Our home is located in
As best as I can determine from online resources, our property elevation is 111 metres (365 feet) above sea level, which is somewhat higher than I'd previously thought.
The nearest comprehensive weather station to our home that has data stretching back several years, is located around 11 miles to the south of us and some 61 m below our elevation. It's also more urban than where we are, so perhaps not an ideal basis for direct comparison but unfortunately it's the best data we have.
Temperature & Hardiness Zones
At the weather station location, the mean daily maximum temperature from May to September inclusive is +19.7 degrees C, and the mean minimum is +10.5 degrees. So not what you'd call tropical.
The mean winter daily low temperature from December to February inclusive is +2.0 degrees C, and the mean daily high during the same months is +7.8 degrees. So not what you'd call arctic, either.
According to RHS classification criteria, we're in UK hardiness zone H4 (equivalent to USDA 8b) so any of the more tender plant species we grow (i.e. rated at H3 or below) will require some form of winter protection.
H3 rated plants can usually take light frosts, but not sustained periods of very low temperatures.
Most true exotics will be damaged or killed by any sub-zero temperatures at all, and the likes of our banana plants really need minimum temperatures exceeding +10 degrees.
Our greenhouse is unheated and only offers protection from ice crystals forming on plant leaves, not from the cold itself. On frosty nights, the air temperature inside the greenhouse is usually the same as outside.
Our new conservatory is generally unheated but shares a 7.5 m long brick wall with the heated house. It's very early days of monitoring conditions in the conservatory, but so far the temperature has not fallen below +2 degrees.
Wind
We're somewhat sheltered from northerly and southerly winds by densely wooded areas, and from the rare easterlies by neighbouring houses.
But we're regularly subjected to the very strong prevailing westerly & south-westerly winds, being quite exposed on the west of our site. However, since we moved here we've been growing windbreaks around all sides of the garden, and in a few more years expect to have decent all-year round wind protection as the evergreen hedges grow and fill out.
Light & Sunshine
At our latitude, we have around 17 hours of daylight at midsummer and 7 hours at midwinter.
However, in common with the UK in general, and at our region in particular, annual hours of sunshine are extremely low compared to just
about everywhere else in the inhabited world.
Even most of Scandinavia receives far more sunshine than the
In the last three years, total annual sunshine here has averaged less than 1,300 hours.
I think this lack of strong light will likely be the limiting factor in our ability to ripen some types of fruits.
Rainfall
Contrary to the general perception of the north of
Our average annual rainfall is around 600 mm and there's no discernible pattern as to which are regularly the wettest months of the year - sometimes it's summer, sometimes it's winter.
Soil Condition
The soil quality is variable across the garden. There are a few rocky and stony areas and there's a band of heavy clay across the front garden.
Generally it's decent enough, although we imported several tonnes of topsoil in the early days of landscaping and we regularly try to improve the soil by spreading any used compost from our tomato and cucumber containers.
We've also recently started making our own compost. This year's batch will mainly be used to fill large containers, but in future our compost will be spread around where required, as a mulch.
We haven't (yet) tested the soil pH anywhere in the garden, but expect it to be neutral to slightly alkaline. All our acid-loving plants are grown in containers with ericaceous compost.
Microclimate
I have several max-min thermometers around the garden, and the usual winter minimum we record ourselves is -6 degrees C during nights of heavy frosts. The same low temperature has been measured at various locations all across the 600 square metre plot. However, it's a very rare day indeed, typically occurring only once or twice a year (if at all), when the temperature during daylight hours does not rise above freezing at some point.
(Update:- shortly after we posted this, we recorded -11 degrees C during the early hours of 12-Feb-21, making it the coldest night by far since we moved here ten years ago).
The extreme minima reported by the remote weather station over the last few years is one degree lower than our own observations.
Just outside of the back door, on the patio in front of the kitchen window, the area is sheltered on three sides and exposed to the sun in the south, so can get very hot around midday in bright sunshine.
This is a concreted pad - we don't grow anything in the earth - and we have a large palm that lives here permanently plus others in smaller containers that are brought around for the summer.
Elsewhere, the north-west corner of the garden is the warmest in summer, forming a sheltered sun trap when the deciduous hedges are in full leaf.
The most southerly end of the garden is shaded by our shed & hedges, with taller trees behind, receiving direct sunlight in the early morning & late afternoon, and only during the summer months.
This is an ideal area for full & partial shade loving plants. Our rhododendrons in large containers do very well here.
It's also a place where we can keep trays of young seedlings etc out of direct sunlight.
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