Today is the first day of the meteorological summer, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it. The forecast suggests that the temperature won’t rise above 18°C and I’ve gone back to wearing a scarf. The wind hasn’t settled down and is howling a hoolie. I have taken a quick look at the garden in between the showers and there have been casualties, but nothing that can’t be fixed or restored. I still have my spares so I can replace those poor plants that are beyond help after this particular burst of bad weather. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep reaching into my spares as they are starting to become worse for wear in their small pots. If we get another storm like this one I may just have to cut my losses for some of the plants.
The long range forecast is suggesting scorching temperatures and dry spells for this summer which at this point being warm and dry sounds amazing, but ask me again when we’re in the middle of it. They are also saying the rainfall might be more than average for our area. So it is supposed to be hot and dry and wet?! I guess the rainy days will come as a relief from the hot and dry. The other aspect of the hot and dry is we have so much water stored away that keeping the garden hydrated won’t be a problem so one less thing to worry about.
Although we are at the start of a new season, we are also at the start of the run up to Christmas. For me this is normally just a mad panic two weeks out from the big day, but this year I am determined to be more intentional about it. If we look at advent, which I realise I’m about a week late to start at the right time, but I’ve had a few things going on; the first stage is about Hope and as a gardener I am all over this one. We start the season with hope that this will be a good one and even as we start summer with a dark and gloomy day I still have hope that there will be a bright future ahead for me and my garden.
If it wasn’t for hope, the life of the gardener would be trepidatious as there is so much that can go wrong, from the wind snapping your plants, to the pests and diseases that silently invade and destroy. It would be tempting to say why bother when the risks are so high. But the rewards are worth it and as gardeners we spend the whole time fixated on the end result. In the depths of winter we can visualise the harvest and imagine the beautiful blooms.
In the spring we work hard to set the wheels in motion for the bountiful rewards and push past the blisters on our hands and ache in our back. Summer is where it is at, and we appreciate the warming summer sun kissing our plants and giving them life.
And as we head into autumn as the sun fades away, we linger in the glow of what we have achieved and look forward to trusting and hoping that next season will be just as marvellous as all the hard times are banished from our memories. A constant hope is what keeps gardeners going.
And with that I’m going to head into the greenhouse to sow some succession seeds because if we just take from the garden without giving back then we run out of good fortune.
Come again soon – it has to get better – hopefully.
Sarah the Gardener : o)
I honestly don’t know how you do it Sarah. This hope thing is getting difficult. My tamarilloes are blossoming as, their leaves first got holy with hail, and some fungus is slowly dispersing with the leaves. My broad beans got smashed and are still lying down. My globe, artichoke got so heavy it uprooted itself and my fruit tress, despite being smothered in bloom, have yielded few fruits. And then I sowed cucumbers and zuchinni and then didn’t label them so sowed so. E more and now I think we will have zuchinni coming out our ears. Hope you say.? Miracle is what I need. Many of them. Happy hopeful gardener Sarah.
Oh wow, what a struggle you are having this season. The weather certainly hasn’t helped that is for sure. Even in the worst of things, I try to look for some kind of bright side.
Tamarillo can be hard to grow – mine died this winter and we pulled it out, broad beans – while good to grow aren’t the most delish thing in the garden, My artichokes got smashed too, but I didn’t have time to sort them and are now in the midst of beautiful purple blooms on the tips of jaunty angled branches. Without a heavy burden of fruit your trees will focus on growing this season and come back more prolific next time and excess zucchini can be sent to the food bank, or turned into Chocolate zucchini cake… which is delish. I hope the weather settles down and for the rest of the season your garden behaves itself! : o)
My hope has been coming and going lately.
There are bright sparks of hope when I see something from all the seeds I’ve sown has germinated after all, and a sad lack of hope when I realize that the leafy plants that saw us through winter are going to seed, but almost nothing has grown to replace them. Except the ever-thriving weeds.
Yesterday I went to gather what I could from the garden to add to dinner, and I came away with two pea-pods, three small sprigs of dill, and a sprig of coriander.
It’s hard to keep persevering in a season of much work and little reward.
A garden can be a rewarding place, but also at the same time a frustrating series of disappointment. After being hammered by all that wind my garden isn’t looking so great and I can struggle to see beyond that, but I need to remind myself there is always hope to be had, more seeds to be sown and even in dire times, there is always next season. I would be lost without my garden so I keep pushing on, even in the hard times. : o)
Thanks for your encouragement! I am reminded of JM Nieto’s comic (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/59/fa/dd/59fadd354cb4f4209d295495941457b7.jpg)
I have ordered a nice bundle of seeds for the bits of the garden that are/will soon be ready for seed-sowing – including some Ladybird Poppies. 2023 will bring flowers!
Thanks for sharing the comic – I love it! Life is what we make it, and I like to look for the bright side in everything. Sometimes you have to look really hard but it is always there! Enjoy your flowers. : o)
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Here Sarah mam s article is nicely written. Regards.
All the best with your blog. : o)