It’s been a strange sort of summer – although that’s not unusual in England. We started off with a lot of rain and then quite cold spells, interspersed with the odd nice day.  But since mid-August it’s turned really hot. And it’s very humid too, so it’s a bit draining.

We’ve had some Worthing Builders in to do some work for us and they’ve put in a lovely wall, a paved area and a beautiful garden room.  That’s something I’ve always wanted so we’re really pleased with it all.  I’ll post photos when I have a bit more time.

Meanwhile the flowers in the garden are looking lovely.  They’re mostly in pots, though, so that takes a huge amount of watering at this time of year.  I’ve got into a routine of going around in the late evening but before it gets dark – and haven’t the nights started to draw in?  It’s horrible to see it getting dark by just after 9 and I suppose in another week or two it’ll be 8.30.

Anyhow, back to my routine. We have two outside taps so I have to do two lots of watering so the hose reaches everything.  It takes about half an hour in total, but it’s nice out there once it’s got a little cooler.

Then I feed everything about once a week at the moment. It’s a bit arduous with the watering can, but it keeps all the flowers looking reasonable.  I use Miracle Grow, which does what it says on the tin!  I don’t dead-head very much though – except the geraniums which have such large heads.  The petunias have to fend for themselves – life’s too short to spend hours taking off all the dead blooms.

From the bedroom window it all looks wonderful on the patio below – I’ll certainly have to post those pictures.

I just noticed this morning that the horse chestnut trees are already turning brown.  I suppose it’s because we’ve had so little rain recently, even though it poured and poured earlier in the summer.  I’m guessing they’ll start to lose their leaves in the next few weeks, which seems awfully earlier. I don’t like this early reminder of autumn when summer has only just begun!

The eucalyptus seems to still be shooting up, though it’s difficult to tell how much it grows when it’s so tall. I do know that it sheds bark on a regular basis and it’s a chore to have to remove it all on a frequent basis. But it rewards us with a magnificent site, towering now above the oak trees. And it’s only around 30 years old, which doesn’t seem long in tree years.

The apple trees have been laden with fruit, although much from the first tree is still laying on the ground. The apples provide food for much of the wildlife, including thrushes, jackdaws (who knock the fruit from the tree), squirrels (who pick the fruit) and deer.  Not to mention the wasps who appear to get drunk.

But there don’t appear to be as many wasps around this year, thank goodness. Last year they were everywhere and someone got stung at one of our barbecues. This year we’ve seen a few but not high numbers. It’s probably because we had a few nests removed in 2015. I don’t like to do that but when they’re eating your house to build their nests and getting aggressive, there’s not much choice, other than to lock yourself indoors and wait for the house to fall down.  I exaggerate of course but I don’t think most people have a love of wasps.