Rain!

There is so much I want to do, and even need to do, but somehow just somehow, it is almost more than I can do to put one foot in front of the other. The way to hell and all of that...... Our grey skies are wondrous for those who want to stay curled up in bed - I wish. Looking at the pictures I posted only a few weeks ago, I can hardly believe that the weather was so hot and gorgeous. Mind you it brought its own problems (where would we be without the weather to complain about - well we would not be living in the UK that is for sure!). We went from gloopy mud to baked hard ground within the space of 3 weeks. I do not think I have ever had to plant in such contrary weather. In one garden, 4" of thick mud (so thick that my steel capped boots stuck regularly, and a small plaintive yelp could be heard across the flower beds as foot and boot parted company (luckily my arse did not end up in the mud, nor my face, although that did happen to someone else, who shall remain nameless) and I had to have a strong manly arm extended to grasp onto)to drought riven ground that even the rotivators had problems with. All of which begs a fundamental question - irrigation - whether it comes from the sky, the ground, or the tap. In our mad British weather it is absolutely essential; although you can bet your life on the fact that once it is installed it will rain for the requisite 30 days without ceasing, and your client will look skyward and deem it unecessary. It so is NOT. Nor does it have to be complicated or mind blowingly expensive. Leaky pipe is what we use, with a simple timer connected to a tap. It has saved the life of many a tree and plant, and it means that you can even plant when you should probably not ie. high summer because you can put the timer on, leave the irrigation and go away without worrying about a thing. It is in these dark dog days that I find that madly unfashionable colour orange so warming and cheerful. I know, I know,that it is a colour everyone loves to hate, but mix it with white and blues, and it lifts the spirit. The more draining and grey the colour of the sky the more upbeat it makes me feel..... And here, just to cheer you up is a wonderful selection of plants in a garden at Chelsea, to make you feel that there is sunshine... somewhere!