When I was a boy "March dust was worth a guinea an ounce". In other words dry land allowed early drilling of spring crops and maximum growing time. But when I was walking behind a sugar beet drill this morning, the earliest we have ever started drilling them, I was more concerned about whether there was enough moisture in the topsoil to germinate the seeds.
OK, there will probably be rain at the weekend and my worries for that particular field will be over. But will there be enough to germinate later drillings? Or are we in for a repeat of last year when only the first ones grew at the right time with the rest waiting for rain that didn't come until June?
I know I am trying to farm this year on the basis of last years weather and that is always a risky thing to do. After all, the ability to get onto land this early should be a good thing according to ancient lore as stated above. But the climate is different these days and maybe a different pattern is establishing itself. We've had a very dry February - a month that usually "fills dykes" and who knows what the rest of March and April will bring?
In any event I think we will push on with beet drilling as fast as possible just in case its like last year. And having said that, if past experience of predicting the weather is any guide, it will probably now rain for the next six weeks. That is what is called "Sod's Law".
Comments (1)
My grandfather used to refer to ''February fill dyke'' as well and I believed it until someone (a Norfolk farmer actually who had kept his own weather records for years) told me it was on average,in that part of the world at least, the driest month - due in part to it being c10% shorter than the others.
Posted by Roger Shortfield | March 8, 2008 6:13 AM
Posted on March 8, 2008 06:13