The heat of the moment

October brought unfamiliar hot days. Reaching temperatures that are more befitting of mid-summer than mid-spring. The garden seems to love it. Everything seems lush and green. Unfortunately, the roses did not really like the fresh horse manure. We have to brush up on the best chemical composition of the soil in the rosarium to help bring them back to their happy selves.

The orchard has turned from a landscape resembling a work by Monet, to something that Van Gogh would have painted. The oak trees are responding very well to all the treatment they received. They are looking fresh with healthy green foliage. Trimming the lower branches off the large oak created a new ‘room’ where we can enjoy lunch and relax with some respite from the blazing sun.

Before

After

The herbs and vegetables that escaped the snails are doing well. When I see that I am winning the battle of snails, I will sow new seeds to replace the ones we lost. The orange sweet potatoes that I had rooting on a window-sill pushed out healthy growth and roots. Half of the plants are ready for planting. It is the first time that I have done the half-potato-in-a-glass-jar method of making plants. I was keen to grow a different colour sweet potato and decided to try this method in the absence of runners that I could plant.

The new sweet potato plants in the cottage window

I missed most of the flowering bulbs this year, but the Dutch irises and Clivias made up for it. The Clivias I rescued from the dump, added to the flowering of the existing yellow and orange Clivias in the garden.

The birds in the orchard are pre-empting the ripening of the early peaches by testing the young fruit even before they have softened. I picked some of the bird damaged fruit, but realised they are far from ready. Even the extreme heat is not going to rush them into ripening.

The deep shade under the oak provides a haven from the hot sun but not from the heat. It is a heat that hangs in the garden with a wilting promise of the summer that awaits us. Where we enjoy lunch under the oaks, the family of Wagtails walk the lawn trying to teach the two chicks how to feed themselves. Sometimes the chicks get a reprimand from a parent, when it is clear they are just following in the hope that they will be fed. 

I find it interesting that they feed all over the lawn but make sure to stay in the shade of the trees. The Robin looks for food in the deeper shade near the cottage hearth and the Olive thrush is happy to scratch in the undergrowth of the herbaceous border. The only bird that ventures into the sunny areas is the Cape Canary as it looks for seeds. 

I love the fact that the birds are so relaxed around us. Watching them calmly going about their business is an indication that all is well at Towerwater. A lizard scurries from the hot stone steps leading to the rosarium to a shady section of the stone rosarium retaining wall. Eager to escape the heat of the moment.