Category Archive

Walking down the road at 7.30 am this morning, I could see my breath; the temperature around 5ºC. And now, at 2pm, it’s over 20ºC. That’s autumn for you. A long clear night gave us a chilly morning, with sunrise close to 7 am, a long way from mid summer sunrises at 4 am. I spend the first hour, getting …

It is pleasant in the sun this afternoon but a little chilly when it clouds over. The wild flower bed has been cleared. Seeing it bare, I think it would make a good area for a sundial with the small stakes around it marking out the hours. It would still be a wild flower bed, but with an added feature. …

August is a transition month. The first day is definitely summer, the last is unarguably autumn. So here we are, no denying it: autumn. The days are shorter, we are heading for the equinox. In the garden are blackberries, lots of seed heads, and pears on the tree. It’s sunny and warm, not the fierce heat earlier in the month. …

A sunny, warm day in the garden. This morning, we had rain which has invigorated the garden. It is a pleasure to come in after its gasping state through much of the summer. The wild flower bed is a mass of thistles with brushes of thistledown but here and there are a few white bladder campion, which I am surprised …

It is raining as I get the key for the garden from Durning Hall. We’ve had it all morning, but as I am walking to the side gate of the garden, the rain stops. A pleasant coincidence. I open the door, and am hit by greenness. The garden has grabbed the rain and light, and come to life. I go …

It has rained all day. Our awnings are dripping into buckets which we add to the water butts. We watch the rain in fascination like children who are seeing snow for the first time. It has been ages since we’ve had a prolonged downpour. I stick a garden fork in the earth to see how far it has penetrated. Several …

It’s 31ºC in the garden, a clear blue sky with not a single cloud. For an hour, four of us collect water to fill the barrels. We have enough for a few days and will water tonight at 7.30, when the day is cooling. There have been three rainy days in the last week, but the pond reveals how little …

At 34°C, it is the hottest day of the year. We collect water from Kevin, but don’t work too hard as we have sufficient for a few days, and it is too hot for extended exertion. We have had no rain since 29 May. I keep a journal and on that day, I wrote: ‘Lots of thunder and lightning, one …

Another hot day, 28°C, and the drought continues. We have gone seven weeks without rain. People are bringing water to the garden, for which we are grateful, but the bulk comes from Kevin who lives across the road. His flat is up on the second floor; he puts a hosepipe out of his window down to the gate of the …

It’s cooler today, about 25ºC, and cloudy. There’s still no sign of rain. We are watering most evenings to keep as much life going as we can. Many plants have finished flowering, accelerated by heat. Flowering depends on chemical reactions, and these are speeded up as the temperature rises. There are lots of seed heads scattered around garden including scabious, …