Getting the summer back on track

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been letting the poor weather this summer get to me a bit. 

It all started off so well, and at the beginning of the year I was making great plans for the garden. I ordered my seeds and had them all planted out on the windowsill. But it took ages for the weather to warm up enough to plant them outside, and they went spindly trying to reach the sunshine through the window. Then the weekend that I did plant them out we had such awful cold winds that the poor surviving plants had most of their leaves blown off. 

We did of course have a lovely heatwave in July which coincided with our week away, and that was amazing. It really felt like a proper summer holiday and we were so lucky. But then I came back and found that most of my plants in the garden had died due to the lack of water.  

I found it all a bit depressing and so I've hardly been out in the garden this week. I ventured out today and it's such a mess. The grass and the front hedge desperately need a cut, but our garden waste collections have stopped due to a shortage of drivers, and I don't want to create piles of garden rubbish everywhere. 

I'm stuck in my head thinking that it just hasn't felt like a proper summer this year. We've hardly had any outdoor pizza or barbecues, we've barely used the firepit and we've not even been out in the hot tub because it always seems to be raining in the evening. Even when it's not raining it's just not pleasant sitting outside when the sky is grey. 

But I need to keep reminding myself that it's only just the beginning of August. There is plenty of summer left, over a month of school holiday to go, and there's every chance that we will have some warm and sunny weather over the next few weeks. I need to work on appreciating what we do have, instead of mourning what we don't!

I've made it one of my goals for this month to get out in the garden every day and try and bring things back under control. I was heartened to see my first sunflower in full bloom today, and I have a few others that have managed to survive and will be flowering soon. A couple of my tomato plants are thriving, and my sweet peas are looking lovely. 

So it's time to think positive. I'm making the most of exercising outdoors as it's the perfect temperature - not too hot and not too cold. Last week I went to the gym and swam in the outdoor pool, perhaps it wasn't that warm but it was really refreshing. We've been having fun doing indoor activities like baking and playing with the forgotten Nintendo Labo sets. It's also nice not to have to trek around watering all the plants every evening, I just wait for the daily rain shower. 

Fingers crossed for just a few more warm days to come before the schools go back!