240%

Published on by Catherine27 Comments

A small island close to where I live attracts many home-grown tourists and those from further afield. The favourite activity for visitors is to hire bikes from one of the cycle hire shops and cycle around the island. This can be achieved in about an hour, though most folk take longer as they stop to admire the scenery and enjoy some ice cream or cake from a local cafe. A few days ago official figures were released for the rainfall during August (keep in mind that we still had a few days of August left) and those figures showed that rainfall for August was 240% higher than average. I can’t argue with that, the rain this month has been relentless.

One of our teenage grandsons was visiting recently and it was a challenge to find enough indoor places of interest to take him to. He thoughtfully said he was happy to be in a cooler climate since his home town in the US was having a very hot and humid summer. He hasn’t been discouraged though, as he plans to come back next year, probably in the hope that it will be a rain and wind-free visit!

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Late Summer Gardening: What’s Growing in Week Two of August

Published on by Catherine20 Comments

I opened the blinds early one morning this week and looked down on the garden. ‘Autumn has definitely arrived’, I thought, before remembering that it was only the 5th of August. The garden still has plenty of flowers, but that morning the garden looked defeated as the rain hammered down and the wind howled. I kind of felt a bit like that myself.

The explanation from the experts is that Scotland has either been under, or on the cold side of the jet stream that has stubbornly refused to move out of the way to allow warm air to flow up from the south. I think most of us here have accepted that all hope of a real summer has vanished. My mind is now starting to turn to late winter and spring flowering bulbs and plants. There’s always something else to cheer up home gardeners, isn’t there.

Here is my contribution to this week’s Six on Saturday.

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Late Summer Gardening: What’s Growing in Week One of August

Published on by Catherine21 Comments

My visiting family have all returned home and our house is quiet again. The garden has been receiving some much-needed attention – it’s amazing the difference deadheading and pulling annual weeds make! While we haven’t had a heatwave, we did enjoy a couple of pleasantly warm days this week. Hooray! Today I’m heading out to a lunchtime Family History event and the current rainfall means I can happily enjoy the the indoor activities without feeling guilty about neglecting the garden on a good gardening day!

Here’s my Six on Saturday peek at what’s blooming in the garden this week.

Dahlia ‘Carolina Moon’ is one of the more successful dahlias and has flowered again this year after being lifted and stored, over several years. It has plenty of buds and although the leaves are damaged, the flowers have so far survived with only a little bit of damage. How I wish I could say that about some of the others that have been mercilessly nibbled.

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We Abandoned the Garden

Published on by Catherine29 Comments

It’s been a better week of weather for us here on the west coast of Scotland, with the best day being Monday and great for gardening – we had a lot to do. We unexpectedly had Littlest Grandson with us on that day (school summer holidays) and he gamely helped in the garden during the morning. At lunchtime, we asked him if he’d like to go to the beach. We knew the answer well before his face lit up with delight. We live only a few minutes from the beach but Monday was the first day where we felt it was warm enough to let him dig in the sand, paddle in the sea and of course, get an ice cream from the van.

So off we went with folding chairs for gran & grandad, a mat that we knew he wouldn’t sit on, a bucket & spade, and other paraphernalia that is needed for a couple of hours on the sand. It was the first beach day, but I hope it won’t be the last. Gardening duties were simply abandoned and it was worth it.

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A Perfect Identity Change

Published on by Catherine29 Comments

First week of the school holidays and the weather’s been dreadful. I haven’t managed to get into the garden to do any work, and it’s been frustrating. But the winds have dropped now, and it all feels a little more hopeful that this cold front might move away before too long and I can pack my winter sweaters away again!

But enough complaining, there’s a new week ahead and it must be better. All I’m asking for is some summer sunshine. That can’t be too big an ask….can it? So here is this week’s Six on Saturday, photographed between bouts of rain, moments when the wind dropped and the clouds thinned a little. Some were even taken with gloves on.

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