Hi honeys, oh my goodness here we are on 23 January already! Where has this month gone????? I enjoyed a bit of a break from shipping plants over the Christmas/New Year period and was hoping to get a lot done in my garden during that time but then this happened - SUMMER HEAT!!!!
Oh crikey, I need to get this off my chest - I cannot STAND summer! A lot of my friends think I'm nuts but summer makes me exceptionally grouchy even when we only get a few hot days but this summer is turning into a doozey! We have had around 3 or 4 weeks with temperatures at least reaching 30 degrees C here on our property and it is really taking its toll on me and the garden. By mid-pm I'm honestly not worth talking to and I almost get ''beside myself'' if the temperature goes up just one more degree.
The heat here in the Nelson/Tasman region is not the same as the heat I grew up with down South. I grew up in Invercargill, as most of you will know and even though it has a reputation for being cold, we used to get some VERY hot days. These were interspersed with fairly regular weather changes and at least some rainfall to help refresh everything. Here the heat is simply more humid I think - it's not horribly humid like the upper North Island but there definitely is very slight humidity most of the time. For some reason the very dry heat down south didn't affect me as badly - yes I was younger which could be part of it but also if you found a shady spot you FELT cool.. whereas here you still feel claggy and hot in the shade.
As for the garden, don't get me started - I'm watching areas of it dying before my eyes, especially the raised bed around the roundabout and studio area. In hindsight (which as we know is a WONDERFUL thing) I should have mulched really heavily after I gave it a thorough weed in winter but I was busy and didn't get around to it. It's now at the stage that if I did decide to water the water would just sit on the surface and not penetrate at all.
Okay major rant over! There is nothing I can do about the weather so I just have to find a way to cope as best I can.
On a much brighter note, the ballet summer intensive I did in early January was MAGICAL. I learned so much and had so much fun and really pushed myself right out of my comfort zone. I did some contemporary dance for the first time and even did commando rolls as part of the small showcase we did for family and friends on the Friday. We learned two pieces of repertoire, one was Kitri's wedding from Don Quixote and the other was part of Flower Festival which is a Danish ballet repertoire. The other girls (most of whom were 12 or 14'ish) had done these repertoires over the past few summer intensives so it was hard for me to come up to speed. I did my best and didn't give up! The girls were SO SO lovely and very supportive of this older duck!
Well I'd better get back to work. I need to pot up perennials in the farm shed - it will be hot but at least it's not in the sun! Smiles..