The weather is very hot, but not surprisingly there is occasional rain along the coast. As normal I am about to check on the soil acidity levels throughout the garden although I do not expect to find any significant difference from the last checks I did. Heavy rain removes a great deal of the flower on the bougainvillea but it recovers very quickly once the dry season gets going. It also removes a great deal of the fertilizer you put on during the growing season, and you’ll need to keep a special watch on the health of the plants as the season progresses. At this time of the year it is always a good idea to give all your metal tools a wipe over with an oily rag to protect them from rust. This applies especially to the new secateurs you’ve been given for Christmas.
Now a garden without any forms of life other than flowers I think are a bit sterile, for there is an important inter-relationship between insects, birds and animals (including bats) and human beings. Flowers depend a great deal for pollination on other life forms, and we ourselves depend on certain insects and birds for the control of our worst pests. Butterflies and moths and our glorious hummingbirds play an important part in the life of our plants, as do our blue sakis and golden orioles, and they are never still except during the hottest parts of the day. The early mornings and when the day starts to cool in afternoon are enchanting times to see our hummingbirds and the pair of blue sakis which seem to have adopted us for the moment. And it is a fact that most gardens in Guyana have additional interest apart from our flowers. Just take a careful and quiet look. I say quiet, because if you listen carefully enough you will also hear the hum of thousands of bees as they go about their business of collecting nectar, whilst at the same time they pollinate our flowers.
My garden in England is a very different story at this time of the year. I can tell you that my old plant of winter flowering jasmine is carrying thousands of bright yellow flowers. The outside temperature is at freezing point or just below at present, and there are very few insects to do the work of pollination, unlike our garden at home. Many birds which can be seen during the warmer months have left the British Isles and flown to Africa for the heat. There are some compensations, however, and you can often see the delicate tracks of a fox (normally a vixen) which comes from the nearby woods to look for food in the gardens.
Gardeners have a bit of an easy time in the bleakest of winters for you can’t (or ought not to) walk on the grass. Some pear and apple trees have to be pruned in February and a couple of cherry trees which aren’t working for their keep. I say gardeners have an easy time during an English winter because the weather is always too cold to get out and look after our plants, but I ought to mention that it costs them an ‘arm and a leg’ in paying for heating in the home and in the glasshouse.
Here in Guyana after a not-too-hard day doing what has to be done in the garden, and when the day is cooling down I find it beautiful to sit in a chair on the patio with a glass of something cooling. I particularly like to think of the hardships my brother is going through in his garden at this time. This normally comprises sweeping the snow off his pathways and little else. With 2007 upon us we’ll have enough work to do over the next twelve months, and I think all I want to do now is to wish each and every one of you a prosperous and safe year, and may your God go with you.
