On Summering

Three summers ago I wrote a piece called On Summering. I noticed how I was responding to the seasons. There was a pull between pushing and resting, the way I’d started treating summer the way I already treated winter, as a time to slow down. I found that effort is better spent in autumn and spring, especially preparation and planting. Then, there just aren’t enough hours in the day, and I’m often found out with a head torch! Winter and summer, instead, at least for me, is best spent planning, maintaining what is, and organising ready for the big push on either side.

Summering became a state of mind. This year has been different though.

We’ve had a long drought, two heatwaves, and August still to come. In the field, there is nowhere to hide from the heat. The trees create some shade and protection until about eleven in the morning, then it’s exposed until sunset.

Rest, this year, hasn’t arrived as something I’ve chosen. It’s arrived as the point where I simply can’t do any more after eleven in the morning. But now, in August, after what feels an already long summer, I feel a change in the air.

Over the garden wall:

• What’s changed about my daily rhythm

• The specific things I’ve let go of this year, and which ones I actually miss

• Why forced garden rest doesn’t feel like the same thing as chosen rest, and what I’m doing about that

• Techniques to mitigate the challenges

• What I’m starting to change about how I grow, and what else is becoming part of that

• A change in the air and what I am doing for next year