The first day held a lot of promise, the sun was shining, there was a light breeze, but the temperatures were still a little cool, and instead of hiding in the shade from the heat of the sun, everyone wanted to be in its rays to bask in its warmth.
The second day was windy and grey that turned into that rain that isn’t really proper rain because the drops are really tiny. The kind of rain that just wets everything but doesn’t actually get into the soil and so the gardener is faced with the irony of having to get the hose out in the rain. The wind was strong enough to knock my sweet peas and their frame over. So I was out there, getting wet slowly, trying to fix it back into place but with stronger fastenings.
But that’s ok because day three of this wonderful season called summer has begun with proper rain drops and a dark sky that says I’ll have you forgetting what the sun looks and feels like in no time. This is more like what a winter’s day looks like, but not as cold.
I guess I was expecting some miraculous change when the date changed from spring to summer. The boffins at the weather office have been saying that the summer will be average or above for temperature and average or below for rainfall and I pinned all my hopes on this being true from the get go.
The festive season has begun to interfere with my plan for gardening organisation. I implemented my weeding watering roster full week ago and so far only half has been weeded and only three sections have received the watering regime, although thanks to the rain, this is no longer a nagging concern. But the weeds in the undone half are laughing at me.
Maybe I should work with the weather and head to the shops to take care of our Christmas wants and needs while the rain is preventing me from gardening so that when the sun comes out (as I’m sure it will) the need to shop doesn’t prevent me from getting out in the garden taking care of those weeds!
It seems like an age since I was able to be in the garden and I miss it terribly. But when I look back at the calendar, it’s only been five days.
Come again soon – I’m desperate to get my hands in the soil again – they are starting to go all soft.
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Looks like our cool grey summers in Two Rock00but they come without rain. Enjoy the break, you’ll be huffing and puffing in the muck before you know it.
Hi there. Our last summer was all wet and yucky. I don’t know if I could bear two in a row so I am believing that it will be a long hot dry summer.
Cheers Sarah : o )
oh sarah I understand your frustration!
HI Claire. A few days of rain is annoying, but if it goes on longer than a week you begin to worry about things like powdery mildew and the dreaded blight – and we are only 5 days into summer! Its too early for this kind of worry!
Cheers Sarah : o )
We are desperate for rain here and our soil is very dry…if I send you a stamped self addressed envelope could you send me a bit of your rain? 😉
HI Fran.
I’ll gladly send you some rain. I’ll have to dehydrate it first so it doesn’t make the envelope soggy!
Cheers Sarah : o )
I’d never really thought of the consequencies of having Christmas in the middle of summer before. It must be a nightmare tending to all growing things AND dealing with all the festive preparations! At least in this part of the world, animals and plants are in their quiet time, making things a lot less demanding. Hats off to you Sarah!
Christine
Hi Christine. A summer Christmas is the best thing. I’ve spent a couple of Christmas’s in an English winter and while it matched the Christmas card image (crazily most of our cards have snow, snowmen, robins – we don’t even have that bird! and other northern images) it just didn’t feel right. It needs to be a sunny hot blue sky day where everything is done outside.
I have fabulous memories as a child going to pick your own places to get the fruit and veggies for the festive table. Having a garden is an extension of that memory… taking time out the busyness to just be in a garden!
I hope your preparations are going well.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I empathise entirely. Especially when it comes to the Zuccini-our courgettes-that is a most familiar sight! Mimics very closely the washout summer that we have had in the Northern Hemisphere. Dare I say it, you’ve not had any supersized slugs have you?
Hi there. Things have begun to look up. The weather seems to have completely changed. We are now having the kind of summer that is expected. Just in time to stop the slugs mutating into monsters. Hopefully it stays nice. Our last summer was a wash out. I don’t think I could go through two bad summers in a row!
Cheers Sarah : o )
This year has been the worst year for being an allotment holder. My quite what you want to hear when it is your first year! We are used to having damp squip summers now; though one does hope we don’t have one so severe next year.