"A birdsong can even, for a moment, make the whole world into a sky within us, because we feel that the bird does not distinguish between its heart and the world's" . Rainer Maria Rilke
There was a storm on Wednesday that raged for hours in Lancing, West Sussex. My Home Garden became part its violence, noise, damage and destruction. Yet, in the evening at darkness the birds sang. Home Garden is about a mile inland and on the southern edge of the South Downs. The National Park is literally over the road. Storms are nothing new here in my time. Most famously was the 1987 "Great Storm" that brought down a neighbours mature Holme Oak and chimney stack without injury to anyone. More recent storms have brought down walls, trees and damaged Sheds and greenhouses. So whilst I am not in fear of such weather, I am conscious of its effect The weather here in 2023 has been poor in terms of temperature and sunshine, those great helpers of the gardener. Last week I used the new Google Bard App to pull some data together for me by asking it for the maximum temperature on April 7th for each year since 1990 in Brighton. Not one year was lower than 7th April 2023 and most years were up to 5 Celsius warmer; quite a difference in the scheme of things. I did not task Bard about sunshine amounts, all who live near me will know they are statistically low. Just to add to this, the Met Office announced that March 2023 was the wettest in 40 years by some distance across England. All this seemed to come together last Wednesday as the tempest raged. And no matter how optimistic one is about life and all that it keeps you indoors and not getting the wellbeing that the garden brings. Darkness fell at about eight and I popped into the utility room to take a look at the seedlings on the windowsills in there. Leggy and needing to be moved on I concluded. So I went out to get ready some composts and trays to do that in the morning. I never completed the task. I heard the birdsong. An evening chorus. That was enough. A validation of Rilke's sky within me here to edit.
0 Comments
|
AuthorI launched this website on 16th August 2020 to bring together my thoughts on gardening,, its importance for health and wellbeing and two projects running concurrently, a renovation of my own garden on the West Sussex coast at Lancing and a nearby allotment. But also to learn from other gardeners about the inspirations for their plots, about their gardening projects and enjoyment of beautiful plants and gardens Archives
February 2024
Categories |