Hope of things to come
Well, this has been a fun year, hasn’t it? The first lock down, as irritating as it was, was at least accompanied by glorious sunshine and an opportunity to get in the garden. This new lockdown (although with fewer restrictions currently than the last few weeks, as I live in Wales) is going hand in hand with rain and mornings where it just doesn’t seem to get light until lunch time!
Bonfire night was spent in lock down. Halloween was spent in lockdown for us folks in Wales. This time of year can be difficult at the best of times as people miss any kind of natural light, but we do usually have a sense of impending festive cheer to get us through – which seems to be missing this year. However, there are small glimmers of hope. I am very excited by my chilli pepper plant and my sweet pepper plant (yes, it’s the small things...)
I had given up a bit with them over the summer – they looked healthy and leafy but hadn’t produced anything, whilst the rest of the garden went completely crazy in that beautiful hot weather. But they stayed in the utility room as we went back to work, and, despite my ignoring them and not being particularly good at watering them, they seem to have thrived. We have had plenty of green chillies from the Cayenne plant and it is still going strong – one has even ripened to red. The sweet pepper does just have the one, but that too is slowly ripening. Not something I expected in November!
As the utility has no heating and is like an arctic blast in the face as you head out to work (one way to make sure you’re awake before you hit the road, I suppose) I have decided to move the two plants indoors – although this does mean that they will probably get less light, although I have tried to put them next to windows, where the meagre attempts of the feeble sun to give light sluggishly pass through the glass. I have decided that if I can keep them alive over winter (I'm told they are actually perennial plants that we usually grow as annuals in our cooler climate) then this is a sign of hope and of better things to come – I will let you know how it goes!