It has been a long hot summer. The kind of endless summer you remember as a kid, when the sun shines for days on end and it seems like it will last forever. You go to bed at night with the windows open, and then wish you had some kind of screen to stop the enormous moths coming in and divebombing your head.
But for the gardener this weather is bittersweet. While it is nice to garden in good weather and summer plants thrive in full sun, one eye is firmly on the water tank levels and in the increasingly dry soil. For a while there, it doesn’t really matter too much if you check the weather forecast or not, it is what it is and it will be fine. But after a month without significant rain, you end up searching the skies and as many weather apps as you can, looking for the hint of moisture on the horizon.
So, this morning I had to go into town, the kids are back at school again and I delight in the return of the routine that I celebrated the end of just a couple of months ago. I also had a few chores to run and in the short dash between the car and the store I got soaked. It was a good steady rain, the kind that soaks deep into the ground without overwhelming it and I rejoiced. Hooray the rains have come.
Only that excitement was completely dashed as I headed for home. Beyond the muggy grey clouds above me I could see blue on the horizon. Surely that wasn’t over our house? My hope and expectation faded as I got closer and closer to home.
We did get some rain; the ground was wet. But nothing like the downpour in town. It wasn’t even registering on my weather station and Wilbur the Wheelbarrow hadn’t even covered his bottom. I scrapped back the soil hopefully and the dampness had only penetrated the shallowest of depths. With the sun forcefully pushing through the clouds I resigned myself to the fact that we had missed out once again, I set up the irrigation system and proceeded to water the thirsty plants.
The boffins are promising a lot of rain tomorrow so maybe we’ll get ours then, but I’m not holding my breath.
Come again soon – I’ve been doing some kitchen garden with the harvest.
Sarah the Gardener : o)
It’s been raining here in the Hutt, and boy is my garden thankful (as am I)! I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear the sound you get when pouring milk on cornflakes or puffed rice!
We finally got a good amount of rain. I have heard the dry ground make crackling noises before, it is truly weird! : o)