Wordless Wednesday ~ A Bad Hair Day at Kew Gardens

"I Don't Care What The Weatherman Says....."

But I do, I do and regularly check multiple weather forecasts, keep up with a local weather related Twitter feed, monitor my own little weather station as well as cast my eyes and nose to the skies for the sign of imminent rain or the smell of snow depending on the time of year. Yes you can smell snow before it arrives! Thinking about it my interest in the weather was piqued at an early age when I was appointed as a weather monitor at primary school. This exalted position involved a daily venturing out on the school roof which was exciting in itself and would certainly not be allowed in this day and age. Once out there were temperatures to read and record, a rain gauge to peep into and I'm convinced that my duties involved the far from scientific technique of waving a hanky about to establish the wind direction. 

Spending some time traveling on trains last weekend gave me the chance to catch up with some of that backlog of garden magazines, including the September issue of the RHS magazine 'The Garden' (July and August are still in the to be read pile). My eyes were drawn to a snippet in the news section (page 8, if you have a copy) entitled 'Weather Watching', with mention of a free online course starting this month,"open to to anyone interested in, or wanting to learn more about, weather and its forecasting. Participants do not need any science or weather knowledge".

This is a course that has been devised by the Met Office in conjunction with the University of Exeter under the umbrella of FutureLearn, an organisation which runs a variety of online courses. This particular course runs for four weeks and involves two to three hours of learning each week. The last week of the course includes a "gardening module with content supported by the RHS Gardening in a Changing Climate report, and covers a topics such as frost, and adapting your garden for climate change. There are also options for photographers and walkers".  I'm hoping that it might be possible to do both the gardening and the photography modules but still need to check that out.

Further investigation revealed that you can study at your own pace and that there are bite sized sections. Well with the darker nights setting in I made the decision to enrol. I have just dipped my toes into the water and am slowly navigating my way through week one. So far so good. A good starting point is the really friendly discussion board before moving on to the more serious stuff. I will report back at some stage, but if the idea of such a course appeals it is not to late to join me on this journey. The course only officially started on the 11th September with a completion date of 22nd October. After that you can no longer access the course material unless you pay for it. All you need is some free time and internet access. You can find out more detailed information here.

I've had one eye to on the sky whilst I've been writing this. It's looking brighter than yesterday but it's cool out there. Shopping calls and a coat and umbrella are the order of the day methinks. At least it's not too windy to put an umbrella up. What's the weather like where you are?

Oh The Weather Outside is ......

"Frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

Then I remember that melted snow turns into big puddles of wetness, so I'm not sure that the white stuff would be the answer. The wettest year in England which will no doubt go down in the annals of quiz questions is slowly raining itself out here. We travelled cross country by train, in an easterly direction for the festivities to spend a few days with my mother, before himself had to return to work yesterday.
I made the same journey less than a month ago - it was wet then but has noticeably deteriorated further.  We passed one submerged field after another, submerged shrubs and trees, swollen rivers, underwater sports pitches and playgrounds  - a most bleak and depressing landscape. I have made the same journey regularly over the years and have never seen anything approaching this. It was also more depressing to think that this journey did not take us through the most badly affected regions of the country.

I was on edge whilst we were away as there is a small stream running alongside one of the garden boundaries. I was relieved that nothing untoward had happened in our absence although it was obvious that there had been a good deal of rain whilst we were away. The garden though is sodden and dripping. I have got places to go - I want to get out there to cut away the old foliage from the hellebores, I want to plant the last remaining bulbs and to do some straightening up in the greenhouse. I also want to see my allotment again before I forget what it looks like. However even the inner glow of seasonal chocolate is not fuel enough to get me out there today. Instead I have dabbled with some inside gardening. I have planted a present of a hyacinth bulb up - well planting is an exaggeration. I had to partly fill the vase it came with with water and then place the bulb so that the roots are in contact with the water. It made me feel that I was doing something though however unsubstantial it really was. The hyacinth is 'Aiolos', promising sweetly scented white flowers but initially requiring a spell of at least a couple of months in a cool, dark and airy place according to the instructions.  I'm not sure whether it will need this long, as I can already see a green snout emerging, no doubt prompted by already spending time in a warm environment. I shall hurtle out to the garage soon to find a suitable waiting in the wings place whilst there is still a lull in the rainfall. Then some time to spend flicking through the new Avon Bulbs spring catalogue trying to resist all those enticing snowdrops, before making a start on the annual cull of the contents of the seed boxes this evening. How is your garden faring with the weather and have you managed to do any garden related activities?

Shiver Me Timbers!

The 'Big Freeze' continues. Today himself was waxing lyrical about the formation of the ice crystals on the greenhouse. "Look you can see flowers and trees - why don't you take some photos!" he said excitedly, whilst I was frantically checking the health of its winter residents and muttering under my breath. The orlaya grandiflora, ammi visigna,'Meteor' peas and a fluffy grass that I had sown in early autumn are looking most melancholy. They had been well wrapped with horticultural fleece and looked alert when I last peeked at them at the weekend. I stuck my fingers into the compost this afternoon and met with resistance - the compost in the cell trays was completely frozen :( I have bought them indoors into the presently unheated dining room on the basis that a gentle warming up might revive them but I am not too optimistic. Why did I not do this a couple of days ago? As to the other side of the greenhouse I must have had a premonition and switched the heated sand bench on a while ago so the sweet peas appear not to have suffered. Normally the greenhouse would have been more full but as there was a gap between old one being dismantled and new one being put up, I did not take any cuttings to overwinter.



On to more happy matters. I've had the great privilege of being asked to be a contributor to Teza's Garden Forum which will be posted on the 7th of each month. Here Teza from - Teza's Garden, Alice - Bay Area Tendrils, Deborah - Green Theatre , Grace - Gardening With Grace, Joy -GardenJoy4Me and myself will be chatting about a range of garden related subjects over the coming months. It promises to be great fun so thank you Teza for the invitation to the party! I am now off to find my specs so that I can have a good read of the first installment.

Crumble

Spring seems a case of one step forwards and two back at the moment. Woke up this morning to sparkling blue skies and a blanket of snow. It melted during the morning. I missed the spring plant sale at Arley Hall today as my beloved was working. I imagine that the stallholders must have been frozen by the end of the day. Oh well I suppose I saved some pennies ! Quite a few seedlings in the greenhouse now. I will try and list them soon so I can keep a record of what I have sown this year. I need to start pricking out the first tomatoes but it is much too cold today. On Friday I picked the first rhubarb from the lottie - enough for us and for our next door neighbours. Crumble here we come!

'Surprise, Surprise'

Last year's surprises - acanthus mollis and clematis texensis
'Princess Diana' - both have been in the garden for some years but have never flowered before. Must have been all that rain !



Postscript - the clematis flourished in the summer of 2008 but once again sadly the acanthus was a complete no show. So much for my rain theory.

New Year

Well, here I am again with my usual new year's resolution to be a more regular blogger having failed miserably once again in 2007. Well 2008 is here - a mild and mainly grey day here so far. The predicted rain has not yet materialised and hopefully I will be out soon planting a few late bulbs.

In a nutshell gardening wise and weatherwise 2007 turned out be the strangest year. A very warm and dry April was followed by what turned out to be am extremely wet late spring and early summer. On the lottie nothing really thrived except for my French beans which dripped beans throughout the summer. I have never had a worse year though for tomatoes and carrots. Very few grapes. A pleasant, mellow autumn followed. In November gale force winds bought the exterior fence down at the allotment, so my Christmas present this year has been new fencing which my beloved has put up. I have still to see it.

Not much in the way of garden visiting last summer although we fitted in one or two beautiful ones in Devon between interminable downpours. Above is a photo from one of them - Buckland Abbey if I recall correctly. We also enjoyed a trip to the Malvern Flower Show in spring despite the wind and rain. Later in August we went to the Southport Flower Show where we managed to catch a glimpse of that rare old golden globe in the sky.


Hope to be back soon !

New Year's Day 2007

Last night's threatened gale force winds did not materialise I am glad to say. New Year's Day started bright and sunny but went downhill. Rain and hail the order of the afternoon and the evening. I have not had a chance to sort out seeds or order but have planted some daff bulbs albeit late on in the day. They had already started to sprout. I also planted up an amaryllis. Back to work tomorrow.

New Years Day

One of my new year's resolutions - not to neglect my blog ! So here it is the first day of a new year - nothing to report on the gardening/lottie front but it was a bright and sunny start to 2006.