‘If the first week of August be warm, the winter will be white and long!’ says the old wife but not many of us will care about that as we bask in the sun, all thoughts of the early darkening cold days to come banished in the heat. The allotment at this time is a festival of greenery. Peas, runner beans, mange tout, spinach, cucumbers and courgettes should all be at their plentiful and verdant best just now. Potatoes, onions, beet root and tomatoes lend a dash of colour to the glorious green, and berries will start to appear. The temperatures of August mean that a commitment to frequent, if not daily watering must be made to your plants. Rainfall is unpredictable and in any case, plants in containers will gain slight benefit from it. Think of the water as a visible form of love and the task is not so onerous. The birds also, are in need of this attention and they will drink as well as bathe in your love just now. Late August may still be as hot as July but the longer nights are coming. Weeding and hoeing, watering and harvesting are enough this month-take time to fully appreciate August in the allotment.
There was a midsummer restlessness abroad—early August with imprudent loves and impulsive crimes.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Wear a Peridot or for thee,
No conjugal fidelity,
The August born without this stone,
`Tis said, must live unloved; alone.
Who, being loved, is poor?
Oscar Wilde
When summer gathers up her robes of glory, and like a dream of beauty glides away.
Sarah Helen Power Whitman