Heat Wave: June 2023

We’re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave! -Ethel Merman

June 2022 was wet and cold. It was a challenging year for gardeners. The tomatoes I grow in the polytunnel didn’t get going until July last year. I was still harvesting chile peppers at Christmas.

June 2023 has been a different story entirely.

A heat wave set in at the beginning of the month and it hasn’t let up.

The cucumbers have started appearing in the polytunnel and the tomatoes look like they’ll be ripening soon. We certainly won’t be complaining about the cold this year. But we may soon start complaining about too much of a good thing!

I find myself daydreaming about Houston air conditioning!

Three weeks without significant rain is taking its toll on the outdoor plants. We stretched a hosepipe out and started watering the fruit trees two weeks ago. Otherwise they will drop most of their apples, pears and cherries. The bay trees look droopy.

(My favorite links golf courses are also baked brown and rock hard at the moment.)

Hot weather plants, on the other hand, are quite happy. The rosemary bushes are holding up well and the bamboo is sending up lots of new shoots.

You don’t expect an artichoke plant to bear much in Ireland–they usually just grow a lot of leaves and look pretty. But thanks to the heat wave, it’s looking like we’ll be eating some great big artichokes this year.

Cloudlessness has a silver lining too.