There is officially TEN days left of winter.

And to be honest I can’t wait to see the back of it.  While it hasn’t been all that cold really – not in the grand scheme of things, but I am so over the rain.  Apparently we were blessed in July with twice the normal amount of rain for an average July and we have already gone past what is average for August.  Just when you think it is all over and there has been a surprising two dry days in a row and the surface water in the lawn begins to recede a little – then along comes a downpour so vigorous that it takes the puddles back to where they were and then adds more water for good measure – all within an hour!  I have spent ages in the mud digging trenches and channels and trying to keep the water flowing freely.  It has made a little bit of difference, but when the water table is above the level of the ground you know it’s a losing battle – but at least I can delude myself into thinking I am in some kind of control in this fight against the weather!

We are owed a good summer.  Last year was dreadful, so I live in hope that all things will be as they should in the coming months, however we have to get through spring first – a season synonymous with the expression “spring showers!”  I’m not sure I’ll cope.

So on the gardening front, not a whole lot has been done except a huge amount of impatient waiting.  I am so grateful for my misting irrigation system – it makes things so much easier, however I still go out there in the mud a couple of times a day to check to see if my tomato seeds have come up…. So far – NOTHING!

The peppers and chillies are going great guns.  Some are even beginning to get their true leaves.  So my wee set up seems to be working. They are obviously warm enough, and they are growing straight and not too tall.  Nice solid stalks with no leaning into the light.  They are a good strong green colour and I couldn’t be prouder.  I had a tidy up and found the mirror that I was looking for when I set the peppers up, and so I tucked it in front of the aluminium foil – but I probably didn’t really need to as the foil was doing a great job.

Not satisfied to sit inside and wait for the rain to stop – I needed to do something, anything, gardening related.  So I took to scouring the internet looking for cool projects and stumbled across one that may or may not work, but it is timely and I’ve nothing better to do.  Even dreaded weeding is out of the question!  So the theory is that to stop birds eating your strawberries, then you need to paint some stones to look like strawberries and then put them out in your patch before the berries come out and the birds will peck them hoping to have their fill of strawberry deliciousness, only to find it’s not strawberries but a cold hard stone.  So then when the actual strawberries come out the birds will think “oh no I don’t want to eat those stones…”  I figure I have nothing to lose and it gives me something to do while I think of a clever – yet inexpensive way to net my very large strawberry patch.  I’m toying with the idea of rigging up some kind of contraption with a couple of mosquito nets….  Hmmm….  We’ll see.

Come again soon – I’ll either be building an ark and rounding up animals or I’ll be getting my hands dirty, toiling in the soil getting ready for spring!

Sarah the Gardener  : o )