By: Blonde Two
I don’t know about you but all of these lockdowns have made me far better at noticing things than I was back in ‘The Time Before’. One thing I’ve noticed far more than usual has been the progress of the sun across the sky both during the day and, as time has gone on, throughout the year.
I’ve done most of this noticing from my garden.
I used to complain about my garden. I am a keen gardener and love it’s layout and size, but until recently I found its north-facing lack of winter sun difficult to deal with.
Or so I thought.
What I actually thought was that between mid-November and March the sun didn’t hit my garden at all. I always felt sorry for my plants, and perhaps even sorrier for myself.
It turns out I was wrong.
During December (even at the solstice) the sun clips the top of my tallest tree in the late afternoon. By mid-January it is high enough in the sky to shine onto the greenhouse through the gap between ours and our neighbours’ house. At the end of January (today to be precise) the sun hits the first of my raised vegetable beds (this year with already growing leeks and broad beans).
Which is nice because today is my birthday!
PS Of course the other thing I’ve realised this year about a north-facing garden is that the other side of the house faces south (top navigation skills there!) Our front garden is tiny but these days has a big heart. We’ve moved plants and a bench into it, and christened it ‘The Cafe’. We have coffee in the sunshine there as often as possible.
