Strong Winds
October 13, 2025
It’s been a little while. This summer, as summer seems to do, came and went too quickly for us to keep up. The weather was crazy, we would have intense heatwaves that had us hiding in the hut and spraying ourselves down with the outside hose to cool off, followed by deep rumbling storms bringing damage to everything around them. Trying to maintain consistency in any building projects we were trying to complete was a nightmare, as we were either floppy from the heat, or running around trying to secure things from the wind. We didn’t manage to get the glass into the greenhouse by the time our most recent storm hit, and as a result of the most recent storm and the lack of structural integrity that the glass creates, the entire frame has lifted from its base and warped, with some parts breaking off. Recently I find myself wondering should we abandon the idea of inside growing and just accept that we only grow plants that would naturally grow in our climate. We also did not finish building the beehive, and our string fences were ripped from the earth by gales. Along with now having to take extreme weather into consideration when growing, we have a new kind of predator: Bilbo and Guinevere got carried off by a buzzard who spent a lot of time in our field this summer. Magnificent, beautiful and mighty though it is, I’d really like my chickens back. As you can imagine since we no longer had anyone to sit on the eggs, they did not end up hatching.
Failure
While this all might read (and sometimes feel) like a long list of failures, we are once again delighted with how much we have been able to learn. This year was so enormously different to last year in terms of weather, predators and available time. It reminded me not to make assumptions or take things for granted. One such lesson was my assumption that we could depend on sugarsnap peas keeping us going this year, since they did so well last year, but unfortunately by the third wave of unseasonal weather, they had to admit defeat. In contrast, we grew a lot of flowers this year. Among these was a buddleja, which I deliberately placed right at the front door by which I work all day, thinking it would be nice to look out while working and see bees and other life. Beside the buddleija I grew verbena bonariensis, and cosmos. To say I was not disappointed would be insulting. There were about six weeks where we had absolute hoards of butterflies, flocking to this mix. I whispered their names to myself at night, writing them down and drawing unskilled, child like sketches as accompaniment.
Success
We successfully grew courgettes outside this year thanks to the sun, and were fortunate enough to be granted such abundance of currants, cherries, gooseberries, blackberries and raspberries. We had so many blackberries this year that the birds seemed incapable of keeping up. We spent a day at the orchard gathering plums, damsons, apples and pears, promising ourselves that we will come back in the winter and take cuttings to propagate to our own field. Our own little pear tree managed one sprig of green and not much more, so we will continue to mulch it well and remind it that there is no rush. Our apple tree planted from a supermarket apple seed last year, managed to put on a lot of growth this year! And we made so many batches of stewed rhubarb, along with gifting some to friends and family. We grew far more potatoes this year but lost track of most of them, and received a kind message from friends who received a bunch, telling us that they were the nicest potatoes they’d had in a long time. We harvested a handful of leeks (with many still in the ground) and plenty of herbs. I have enough yarrow, mint and lemonbalm tea to last at least a season, and feel sure that I will get one more good harvest before it’s too cold. Along with butterflies, typically come bees, and we were delighted to see so many bees this year. Last year was truly frightening with the decline of pollinators, and I skipped about the garden like a fairy, stroking fluffy bumble bees, rescuing butterflies from the mini greenhouse, and overall being inspired to plant more flowers. It’s a beautiful cycle: pollinators appear because of the flowers, which inspires me to plant more flowers. We also got two more chickens - big ones - to keep Bennie company. We have named them Courage, and Jodie Foster. No one thinks that I’m quite as funny as I do.
This season
We now have a short space of time to get a cover crop laid down, and plant the last of anything that needs to overwinter. I struggle a bit this time of year with accepting that some plants have finished, and can’t bring myself to pull them up in order to put new ones in! It’s a bit silly because I understand that leaving things in the ground when they’re tired and finished for the year can spread issues like blight and pests, but I feel like those are immediate problems we think we are solving by ripping them out. If we leave them in and allow nature to take its course by sending in predators for those pests, that seems better in the long run, but it takes patience too. We will continue to build the beehive if we get a few clear days, and check if the greenhouse is repairable. We have some wire to build a new chicken and duck run, but need to go and get the wood for it. I set up the collapsed water butt again, in a secure place this time! And plan to set up a few more. I have some sketches of collecting run off from the composter, and new chicken pen (when it’s built). This will give us a bit more breathing room with water in winter, given that a water butt defrosts much faster than a pipe a few hundred feet long. With the drop of temperature, we drink coffee by the fire most mornings, and I find myself looking forward to winter (though I feel I shouldn’t), and the peace it brings. Winter creates a blank canvas to begin again, and improve on layout, companion plants and structures. What inspiration can be found in knowing that everything has been cleared for you and all you need to is decide where to put things. I’m still looking for a way to separate the garden from the sharp stone path where we park our car, and think I will try sweet pea tents this year.