Today is the longest day of the year, 16 hours and 39 minutes between sunrise and sunset. The sun rose at 4.42 am and will set at 9.21 pm. As well as being the Summer Solstice, it is Midsummer’s Day, halfway through the year. We get the long day of the summer solstice because the earth’s axis is at an angle of 23.5 degrees to the plan of the sun’s orbit. At the summer solstice the north pole is leaning at that angle towards the sun. On the Arctic Circle (66.5 degrees north), there is 24 hours daylight today. And for many more days as you go further north towards the pole.
In the southern hemisphere, the south pole is leaning away from the sun. There, it is midwinter, with 24 hours of night within the Antarctic Circle. Too cold for life in the death of the continent with its permanent ice cap.
The last few days have been hot, close to 30 degrees, with today, the hottest day so far this year, at 32 degrees. This heat has come amidst a drought. This month we have had just 2mm of rain, that was on June 5, as measured by our rain gauge. The average for June is 43 mm. All our collected rainwater has gone, but plants need water, even more in this heat, and so we have been using tap water. And tap water too for our pond, which had become very low. We let the water stand for 24 hours to reduce the chlorine content, before adding it to the pond.
There’s a good show of water lilies in the pond, that floating white petalled beauty with a yellow centre, complemented by the astilbe in one corner, with its white spirals of tiny flowers. I have cut back some of the lily pads as they tend to block the pond, stopping sunlight getting to the oxygenators. We have been pumping air into the pond all month, with our two pumps. One is in action as the other’s battery is being recharged. The air is bubbling up in two places, night and day.
There are tadpoles in the pond, possibly there have been froglets. They are tiny, and they leave the pond at this stage in their life cycle. Though, I don’t give them much of a chance in this heat. I hear the croak of an adult frog in the pond. I cannot see it, but it must be there, come for the moisture and protection from the heat.
In the wildflower bed, we have: white campion, hedge mustard, cornflowers, corn marigolds, wild carrot, and red poppies. Not a bad showing, but we must keep it watered, or there’ll be no show. Plants cannot function without water. It is an essential ingredient for photosynthesis which gives plants energy for growth, for roots and stems, for flowering and setting seed. Water is also the skeleton of green plants. The individual plant cells are puffed up with water, giving the plant firmness and allowing it to stand up. When short of water, a plant wilts. The cells are flaccid, with no firmness. Once a plant begins to wilt, it must be watered quickly or it will die.
The lavender in the mid bed is a gorgeous deep blue. In the same bed, we have the globe thistles, currently green globes. Soon they’ll be blue too, competing with the lavender. There are hollyhocks around the garden, yellow and pink. The dry weather has meant fewer snails to gorge on the leaf. This also applies to the acanthus whose leaves are beloved by snails, but are doing better these dry days.
Our Sunday Talks continue. Tomorrow, we have one on self publishing. A new ukulele course is due to start at the end of the month. Our last graduates have been given a spot at Forest Gate Festival which is on Saturday, 5 July. It’s a big leap, from playing in the garden to playing for the crowds at the festival. Not quite Glastonbury, but give them time.