Window of opportunity

This week: The weather report; A short window of opportunity; What’s growing?;

Here we are on the 3rd January 2026. Christmas is over and New Year’s Day is but a dim memory. I can still wish all my readers a very Happy, Healthy and prosperous 2026 though!

2025 was not a good year and I really don’t want to look back, I’d rather look forward to the year ahead.

A month after returning from hospital, I feel little changed. I still tire easily, however I also see some progress. However the fitting of a stent has not been the “life changing improvement” that some recipients report.

But then, I wasn’t aware I had a problem!

In the garden this week, I spotted the first Scarlet Lily Beetles, Lilioceris lilii, on the Madonna Lily leaves.

These are one of my “Springwatch” indicator species. Over the last 10 years, the average date that they first appear is the 9th February, so they are a month earlier than average.

I have also dug up some raspberry suckers which needed to be moved. The recent rainfall has softened the ground nicely. Now I just need to move some other things around so I have somewhere to plant them!

The weather report

The last two weeks have been really cold. That is cold, for this part of the Mediterranean, even though the sky was “Gin clear”. New Year was especially cold, as it was across all of Europe.

I am feeling the cold more because of the various medications I am taking, to thin the blood and decrease blood pressure. I don’t like cold at the best of times and I’m not keen on short winter days and long, cold nights.

With the dawning of New Year’s Day, I downloaded the final statistics for 2025 and added them to my spreadsheet, then produced the statistics for the year.

Almost the whole of 2025 has seen above average temperatures, both the daily high temperature and the daily low temperature.

The UK Met Office announced on Friday that 2025 has been the warmest and sunniest year ever recorded .

The centre of the UK is about 2,000 km from Dalmatia and the Adriatic, so on the one hand, what happens in the UK is different to what happens in the Mediterranean.

However because the North Atlantic affects both the UK and European weather, you cannot disconnect what happens in the UK, from what we experience here in Dol.

A good example of this is the recent cold we have experienced. This was an Arctic cold air mass which quickly moved across the whole of maritime and continental Europe. So whilst in northern Europe there has been heavy snow and deep cold, here in the southern Adriatic, we have also felt the cold. Although this has been tempered by a warm Adriatic Sea.

On Tuesday the sea surface temperature was 16.4°C in Jelsa. Being an island, a warm sea does insulate the island from a lot of cold.

One of the statistic I keep is the 11 day average temperature. This is a scientific measure, following university research into the growth of plants and crops, which found that one or two days of high or low temperatures really do not affect plant growth. It is the 11 day average which is critical to plant growth.

My 11 day average, apart from the 17 weeks of high summer, has been on or slightly above the long term average. The summer months from May to September have been significantly above the average. It was the heat and lack of summer precipitation which caused me to fit shade netting over my citrus trees to protect them.

This worked because I now have a good crop of lemons and oranges.

The final chart is the cumulative precipitation from the calendar year. Because of the very wet November we had last year, at the end of the year, my rain gauge has recorded some 200 mm above the average for the whole year.

The problem once again, is that between May and August, there was almost no rainfall. This of course is exactly the time of year when plants and crops need soil moisture for them to survive.

So whilst across Europe, different countries have recorded higher or lower than average temperatures, I am unsurprised that the UK has declared 2025 the hottest ever recorded. Here in Dol, it was hot too and looking forward to 2026, I don’t see any change ahead…

A short window of opportunity

Apart from when it has been bitterly cold, I have been working outside, making a start on the winter jobs.

One key task is pruning the fruit trees.

There is a very short window of opportunity between the time when sap is no longer flowing and when the weather warms (February) and plants wake up and buds start to swell again.

Some of my trees are already showing the first signs of buds swelling, for example my Cosford Cobnut and the Brown Türkiye Figs.

I have already pruned the figs, but this week, I made a start on the grape vines.

Grape vines need to have all the previous year’s growth cut back to two buds. So the long spring growth where the fruit bunches form, are cut right back.

The branches go from wild and needing a haircut, to almost bare.

Today (Saturday) has been a lovely day with an air temperature of 15°C. Compared to the 2°C we experienced at the start of the week, it felt almost tropical!

When the weather is good outside, there really is no excuse for not getting on with garden/orchard jobs.

That said, when I look at the week ahead, we are going to have four rainy days, so I don’t expect to be able to do much outside next week.

What’s growing?

My winter vegetable plot is beginning to mature.

I have some small Cauliflowers about ready to harvest. However I am disappointed with their size. They are only about three mouth-fulls in size, so hardly record breaking.

I planted them on the 18th September, so 126 days ago. The books all say that 90 days from planting to harvest is normal, however because September and October were so hot and dry, even with irrigation, the plants received setbacks.

I suspect that because of the dry soils when I planted them, followed by the difficult growing conditions during their first weeks (irrigation is no substitute for precipitation), this has been the cause of the small fruits I can see today.

Another issue may well be that my little vegetable garden’s soil has little to no organic matter and like all my soils, has a high percentage of stone.

I am hoping that the winter crops, which all fix nitrogen into the soil, will actually improve the soil for next year.

Elsewhere, the spring bulbs continue to grow. Here in the Top Orchard, Hyacinth are poking through and my winter bowl of Daffodil are well advanced, even though they are on an open (and cold) terrace.

Another variety of Narcissi, with a white central “trumpet” is in flower this week too.

Unfortunately, there are also the weeds growing everywhere too. I’m going to have to attack the weeds, before they grow big and attack me, think “Triffid” here… NCG