36C

As predicted, we had a remarkable heatwave for several days last week, with a top temperature in our garden of 36.2C (about 98F) in the shade.  That may not sound much to some of my readers, but up here in an exposed position on the windy Wolds it is unprecedented in our experience.  Admittedly the thermometer was standing on concrete paving slabs and in the shade of the house – both factors that will have (slightly) raised the reading, official readings are of air rather than ground temperatures – but, still ….  A nice breeze helped keep things just about manageable, but there was very little gardening for a few days; we had windows and curtains closed and were mostly cowering indoors, venturing down to the summerhouse for meals and sitting out in the (relative) cool of evening.  Much cooler now, with temperatures set to rise to high twenties later in the week.

Blue windowbox

I managed to keep the plants on the right side of drying up as far as I can tell (sometimes the damage isn’t apparent until later).  This wasn’t helped by a very intermittent water supply (or low pressure) over the weekend, culminating in no water at all on most of Sunday; Thames Water eventually found a blockage in the system, after several days of blaming malfunctioning pumps, and fixed it, but it meant that filling up the watering can was a bit tricky to say the least.  The windowbox, which despite my fears has been looking fairly colourful (mostly from the blue echium), was wilting one day but perked up after as much of a soaking as I could give it.

On our return from our holiday I restarted the hotbin, which had gone a bit quiet because of not being fed for a couple of weeks; after a good input of grass clippings and other waste it warmed up considerably.  The temperature in there normally peaks at 40C (104F) and can be quite a lot less, but the outside weather does affect it and in the hot spell it was running at just over 60C (140F); it has since calmed down as the waste level dropped.  The compost removed from the bin was spread round the two courgette plants, which seem to have appreciated the attention and are now just starting to produce little fruits.

The other remarkable thing in the garden in the past week was the discovery of a large wasp nest on the outside of the porch.  We hadn’t noticed it until a painter came to assess the external woodwork prior to a repainting job later in the summer; understandably he was rather keen to see the nest gone before he starts work.  A wasp control man has now dealt with it and the wasps have dispersed.  It was quite a splendid building feat for small insects.