I don’t like August

This week: It’s been hot again; Clearing up in the polytunnel; I don’t like August;

Just as forecast, we had much needed rain on Sunday night and during Monday.

A total of 26 mm or 26 litres/m² was received. Fortunately the rain was mostly light, so the full amount has been absorbed by the soil.

Immediately my trees and shrubs, which were suffering from a lack of rain, perked up. However by this weekend, after more heat and sunshine, I am irrigating everything again.

The daytime maximum temperatures are a little lower than before the rain, however today it has still been over 34°C. True, a reduction from the 37°C of a week ago, but a barely noticeable change.

This year the heat seems to have been relentless and I am looking forward to some cooler weather.

I was able to plant the Alstromeria corms on Monday morning. The overnight rain had softened the ground considerably.

Once in the ground, I added moist soil around the corms,then topsoilon top.

Everything was finished before the main rain arrived. They will have benefited from being well watered in.

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It’s been hot again

I decided I would have some ice cream on a hot afternoon this week. I keep a tub of ice cream in the freezer at the back of the pantry.

It has been a couple of weeks since I was in the freezer and I was surprised to see mud on the lid.

My initial thought was it must have been one of the felines who had come in with muddy feet and had cleaned up on the lid. Only there were no muddy foot prints.

Then I looked up at the ceiling rafters and immediately saw the reason.

This is a nest of the Thread Waisted Wasp, Sceliphron spirifex.

These wasps are large, 25mm long, with a very unique body shape, having a thin petiole no thicker than a needle, joining the abdomen to the tail.

I have had them inside several times during the summer and always catch and release them.

They are docile, quiet and do not sting, although having the black and yellow warning markings that most wasps and hornets have.

The females build well constructed nests out of wet mud, made up of multiple individual cells, one for each egg.

Bringing mouth-full’s of mud, it takes many, many flights to build a nest, thirty or more times the size of the insect.

The females choose somewhere dry and out of the sun for their nest – clearly my pantry was an ideal location.

They catch small spiders and paralyse them before placing several into each cell and then laying a single egg, before sealing the cell with mud.

Thus when the egg hatches next spring, it will already have a food source before it breaks out of the cell and flies off.

These are solitary wasps, which also act as pollinators, so I am happy to leave the nest in place until next year.

This is what happens though, when you leave doors and windows open during the summer months. I wonder what other life forms have sneaked in, unnoticed and will be seeing out the winter in comfort.

Clearing up in the polytunnel

With cooler temperatures at the start of the week, I spent some time in the polytunnel doing some clearing up.

I have really made a mistake with my tomato plants this year. A cool spring fooled me into thinking that perhaps the summer would be cooler (wrong!) so I planted standard tomatoes.

They have really failed to thrive, although the pyramid sticks I used to support them have been a success.

The heat in the polytunnel which has exceeded 50°C for a number of days at a time, has played havoc with them. No matter how much water I gave them it wasn’t enough.

The result has been a poor crop which has finished flowering and fruiting early.

So because the plants have died back, this week I removed them to the compost heap.

At the same time I also cut back the dead banana leaves and removed them too.

There were a few weeds, especially the obnoxious Common Wood Sorrel, Oxalis stricta.

One success has been the raised end bed I installed last year. It has been easy to remove any weedlings that have appeared and various herbs are growing well.

I was thinking about adding a raised bed in the centre and I think this will be project for the coming winter.

In the meantime, I have dug over part of the soil area and have planted some winter beans.

 

I don’t like August

I would probably go so far as to say that I hate the month of August.

This is for a variety of reasons, but one in particular is the noticeable reduction in day length.

Although we are only three quarters of the way through the month, I realised this week just how much the nights are drawing in.

Working one evening, I looked out of my study window into the dusk. The street light had come on and there was only a faint red glow across the north western horizon, the last remnant of the sunset.

Looking back at the computer, I was surprised it was only 20:15. This was more like the 21:15 light, but that was a month ago.

My neighbour is going to work on his motorcycle now in the dark too, and when I get up at 05:30, it is barely light.

This week our sunrise is at 06:10 and sunset at 19:45, however at 40° North latitude, there is little twilight at either end of the day.

Leaves are starting to change colour on my deciduous fruit trees and it is especially noticeable on my sweet cherries.

The Swifts and Swallows which arrive in early spring, nest and raise their young seem to have departed already.

Just listening now, on a hot Saturday afternoon, the only sound I can hear outside is the Cicadas. I only just realised that the screeching of the Swifts and the twittering of the swallows is completely absent.

Even though the weather is still hot, all the signs from the natural world around Dol, is that Autumn is already here…. NCG