Oh my gosh it was so cold! The temperature plummeted this afternoon to 8.5°C. While that may not be cold by most folks standards, it is for us! Areas barely south of us (well areas at least 160km south east of us) got some snow. We always miss out on the fun stuff. We never get snow. Well aside from the brief flurry in 2010 that some claim wasn’t even snow but graupel – a kind of almost snow. All I’d like to do is one day build a snowman in my garden, is that too much to ask?
At least snow is an event. Cold, yucky weather with miserable, cold, yucky rain is just a great big pain. Especially when your July is cut in half and you have chores up the whazoo! I mean, my orchard isn’t going to prune itself. Not to mention the seedlings in the greenhouse that have to be planted out before we go, so the poor house sitter doesn’t have to worry about them.
The strawberries need to be sorted out. I need to dig up the three year old plants and replace them with new plants, and weed around the 1 and 2 year old plants. However this is not going to be pleasant as the soil temperate is currently sitting around 10°C. But it needs to be done and I’ve only got 11 days to do it in. So I shall be out there some time in the next few days getting on with it whatever the weather! I must be mad.
I still have to prune my summer and autumn fruiting raspberries and that means looking for and finding the label that came with them because if I remember rightly, it’s not straightforward. I have a vague idea where it might be. At least I don’t have to scrabble around in the freezing soil for this one, but they have prickles. The most annoying prickles because they are so fine that you know you’ve been got but you’re not sure where because you can’t really see them, until the next day. Then you have all these little red dots up your arms where your body is trying to signal to you “Get the needle and dig here!” If they weren’t so delicious they would be too annoying to take care of. The things we do.
Finally I have some cover crops that need to be dug in. If I leave it until they get back they will have chucked their seeds all about the place and made the transition from the beneficial helper to the malevolent weed. Digging in cold weather makes your muscles ache even more. But needs must. I will thank myself for it later. But for now I shall just moan a little.
So aside from those few chores and there aren’t that many really, and writing a couple of articles and giving a couple of talks, all I have to do is pack and this time in two weeks it will all be over and I shall be sunning myself on a lounger drinking a mojito, and thinking about giving my next talk.
Come again soon – I maybe mad or crazy, but I’ll get it done. I hope. There seems to be truth in the expression “ask a busy person…”
Sarah the Gardener : o )
I am sure you will get your list ticked of before you go and have a lovely time even though it a working one
Thanks Linda for the vote of confidence. The sun is shining today so it is much more pleasant, but still cold. Cheers Sarah : o )
LOL, half a world apart and yet you are celebrating the sight of the first leaves of your potatoes, whilst here in Mudville we’ve just eaten the first home grown new potatoes of the year 😁
Hi Elaine. Having said that my spuds are sneaky early ones growing in the greenhouse! I’ll bet your spuds were delish! Cheers Sarah : o )
Brrrh .. Hubby told me it isn’t going to get higher than 10 today. Cripes .. Sounds like you have loads to do Sarah! I must think about planting leeks later. Have fun in that wonderful garden of yours! 😃
Hi Julie. At least the sun is shining. Despite the chaos in the garden I can see it is starting to come together. I think I need tight deadlines every month! Cheers Sarah : o )
Oh so much work. I am tired reading about it. Good luck!!
Thanks Lucinda . The sun is shining today so it will make things much easier. Cheers Sarah : o )