August 2020: A Midsummer Dream

It’s a warm one.  Temperatures up above 25 degrees regularly during the first two weeks of August.  In a year in which many haven’t been able to go away on holiday it feels like we are receiving a Mediterranean weather experience at home, here in Birmingham.  Working during the middle of the day is tricky, dehydrating and dangerously warm.  The tunnels are seriously warm although activating the sprinklers and walking through them is simply joyous.

The plants are feeling the joy too.  This is a time of year when plants seem to be growing as you watch them.  The harvest is coming thick and fast.  The smell of Mint, Rosemary, Thyme and Garlic fills our tunnels and kitchen garden space.  During the evenings, it is nice to sit among them enjoying a video chat with family or friends. Even in this ‘new normal’, midsummer nights are magical times that bring people together.

The warm weather brings its challenges, with continuous watering and pruning, but I am often reminded of something an older relative once said to me: 

“Hey, don’t wish the warm weather away.  The winter lasts for 10 months in this country.”

She was right, soon I will be putting my jumper back on.  When that happens I will enjoy the seasonal change.  But for now I am drunk on the joy of the midsummer garden.  Lost in the beauty of hazy sunshine, occasional thunderstorms and sensory plants that enjoy the time of year as much as I do.