I can’t believe that a month has gone by since my last email – where did that go? Certainly not in a sleeping dream that is for sure.
With some blistering hot days, followed by the cold and then the wind, it has been a constant war in the garden and one in which not all the battles were won – my fruit trees being one example. For the first time since I have been working on them, I will get no fruit this year!
First it was the wind blowing off much of the blossom. I should have taken that as a sign but pushed through anyway. But then came the wild, fast fluctuations in weather, not giving the trees enough time to adjust, shifting them frantically into survival mode before being battered again by the cold and wind.
At that stage they did what I should have done and gave up, dropping the little fruit I had saved.
Happy New Year! But do not despair, this is what it is all about, gardening, unlike so many other things in our lives is not a set and forget experience and it is these challenges that make gardening so tangible and rewarding, because as one thing takes away, anything gives – how many Zucchinis can one man have? And what a great potato crop I got, probably enough for a year's supply from one bed, not to mention all the leafy greens, peas and beans I have been living off these holidays.
It is a fact that many people give up on gardening, as even though the gardener can do everything right, sometimes the effort does not get rewarded and so, like the fruit trees they give up. But don’t, gardening can be a humbling experience and that is no bad thing, especially as you learn and grow from it. Patience is a virtue.
And to help with that growth, even though it maybe a little late, see below some sowing possibilities in Jan.
Enjoy and all the very best for the coming year.
Peter
