Weather Patterns

Picture the scene. Warm, 29 degrees, glass of champagne in hand, lounging in a beer garden with three of my closest friends. Sounds like a lovely Summer thing to do? Maybe a Sunday afternoon? Well for starters it is not yet Summer here, it is spring, barely past middle Spring at that, and the champagne drinking in the beer garden was not on some random Sunday after noon but last night at just before midnight!!! It is definitely unseasonably warm here in Melbourne, days in the mid 30s and evenings that barely dip below the mid 20s. Ok so it is not as bad at the 46 degree weather we had last Summer, but it is definitely wierd for this time in Spring. Lovely weather for socialising, but less good for a newly-starting Spring garden. Indeed even worse for a garden that needs a. ferstiliser and b. thrip spray!


Maybe it was the champagne from last night but I succinctly remember hearing the barman say that today was only going to reach 27. Trusting his word over any online bureau of meterology (come on that would involve turning the computer on and I was far keener to believe the onset of a slightly cooler snap fed to me by the man with the drinks than bother to turn on my lovely new machine that early in the morning.) On this knowledge I popped out into the garden early in the morning (half seven is early enough for me thanks) and happily fertilised the tomatoes that were turning a hideous shade of yellow, added some seasol to the mix for extra luck and then pyrethrumed pretty much the whole balcony until the spray bottle ran out. This is acceptable to do in weather under 30 degrees. It was only when I wandered into uni and turned the computer on that I realised the barman had either fed me a line about the cooler change or was a little mistaken. Today is going to get to 31, at least, and probably more. The weatherman in The Age says its a tad too difficult to get it exactly right but it is more likely to hit the higher than the lower figure.

Hopefully the garden survives. The roots might burn, the leaves too. Who knows. Fingers crossed and toes crossed at present. In happier news the sunflower opened, pictures coming soon, and I found within it two ladybugs (I made sure the pyrethrum went nowhere near them.) On a second happy note while I was drinking my tea on the balcony I noticed a little native bee hovering on and ducking into the strawberry flowers. Luckily I didn't have enough spray left to get to those otherwise Mr Bee would be a dead bee. Loving that even in this hot weather the bugs are having fun and drinking their version of midnight champagne.