Fog starting to lift on distant hills
I was woken up earlier than usual the other morning by the rumbling of thunder and crack of lightning. Daring a peek outside, I was greeted by the sight of a torrential downpour. The sky was darkened by thick grey clouds and an eerie fog had settled over the distant hills creating a rather gloomy atmosphere. I reckoned that it was far too early to get up, being 6.30 AM. Plus, the weather wasn’t exactly good for gardening, let alone pegging out the washing, so I headed back to bed.

After finally dropping back off to sleep with the sound of the rain lulling me into a deep slumber, I was rudely awoken by something bashing off my blind. Reaching for my specs, still half-asleep, I got up to investigate. Upon moving the blind out a little to look I found myself face to face with a little blue tit. I don’t know which one of us was more shocked – my squeak of fright was drowned out by a loud chirping.

I closed the curtain over sure I was dreaming and had another peek; nope! There was definitely a wee bird inside my bedroom sitting on my window ledge! Leaning over slowly so I didn’t scare it I lifted the latch and let it outside watching as it flew away to the shelter of the trees. I think it may have come in during the bad bit of the thunderstorm and the poor thing couldn’t get back out. I’m relieved that it didn’t injure itself and I didn’t dare try to take a picture because I think it would’ve scared it more than it already was.
Thunder clouds forming over my garden
Who needs an alarm clock when the wildlife pops in for an early morning visit? I was now thoroughly awake so I decided to venture outside regardless of the weather. My back garden was waterlogged so I didn’t bother trekking up it to check on my roses and butterfly bush which from the window look like they’re blooming; I’ll check those when the risk of my shoes getting stuck in mud is gone. The word ‘quagmire’ may be more appropriate to describe the waterlogged mess that is my garden at the moment.
Sweetpea experiment - a complete flop
I was happy to notice that the sweetpeas are blooming and were ready to cut although my experiment of growing a dwarf variety in a two-tier planter is a complete flop. Next year my sweetpeas will be grown in the traditional way, climbing up a support instead of hanging down! Despite another rumble of thunder and black clouds rolling in I nipped inside for my pruners and cut some to put in a vase. If I can’t get out to garden then what the heck, I might as well bring some of the garden indoors to brighten up my living room on yet another wet and washed out day.

My cut bunch of sweetpeas

I noticed that the carrots are almost ready to harvest so I’m hoping that they have remained pest free in the coldframe but we shall see. There’s not a lot that I can do in this weather so I think it’s a great opportunity to start planning things for next year, time to get the plant catalogues out!

Happy gardening!
Nicole