Parks & Gardens in London, Suffolk, & abroad
Gardening in rural Suffolk
It is the end of rollercoaster August in The Fortnight Garden. It also looks like the end of the summer because the temperature has plummeted and the skies are grey. And the garden looks slightly weary, or perhaps that is just me.
Friday was a windy day in The Fortnight Garden, and it was followed by Saturday which is just as windy. So Six on Saturday was difficult to photograph, but here we go!
Well, here we are at the start of August in The Fortnight Garden, and the start of the eighth month of the year. I have been lazy – yes, I admit to sheer inactivity in the garden – and it shows! However, I am only going to share the nicer bits!
Six on Saturday this week comes from The Fortnight Garden towards the end of July – changeover time in the garden! When I have to cut down the early flowerers and suddenly feel I have to ‘do’ something, rather than just ‘enjoy’, we have reached ‘changeover time’ in the garden. This means another spell of hard work. This year I have to be very careful as my back injuries have left me ‘fragile’ in the words of the chiropractor.
Early July in a village garden is a bright and colourful time. Fortunately the garden is now more or less looking after itself because I have ongoing back problems and need to be careful. At least I don’t have to water because there has been a lot of rain, encouraging everything to ever greater heights. Walking towards the house, or looking out of the front door, is like being in a giant flower bed! And as you can see the garden is densely planted and so there is very little space in which to do anything new!
Here we are, at the end of June in The Fortnight Garden. I can hardly believe that six months of the year have already passed and we are into the second half of 2020. What a year it is proving! The hard work in the garden in March and April was well worth it as I look round now at colour everywhere, and bees, butterflies and birds enjoying themselves.
Well, here we are, half-way through the year – almost at the Summer Solstice in The Fortnight Garden. The sun is about to turn round and head south which means we are on the downward slope to autumn… Some very welcome rain in the last week calmed down the very hot weather and that was good, but I think the high temperatures are about to return again. There is not a lot of change in the garden this week and the plants just continue to grow while I watch and try to stay calm, and sane.
Mid-June in The Fortnight Garden and time is starting to whizz past. We are nearly at the Summer Equinox. In my mind the sun is about to turn round and head south again, which is not a happy thought! But apart from that it has been a good week with a lot of very welcome rain.
It is early June in The Fortnight Garden and it is raining, sort of. There is certainly no doubt about the wind! And no doubt that the temperature has plunged – I am wearing my winter jerseys again. The weather has been so erratic but somehow the plants seem to enjoy the swings between the highs and the lows, and I am certainly enjoying the increasing abundance and changing colours and sights. I am very grateful that I have the garden during this time and can escape into its beauty, and peacefulness.
It is almost June in The Fortnight Garden – five months of 2020 have already passed. I can’t believe we are already approaching the halfway point in the year. The Fortnight Garden has had a lot of attention and it is responding really rather well – it has certainly been a great help to me during this time. I rather assume my fellow gardeners also turn to their plants for calmness in a time of stress and concern.