Garden Centre

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Why July 15th is important to gardeners

July 15th was St Swithin's Day. The saying claims:
“St Swithin's day - if it dost rain, for 40 days it will remain.
St Swithin's day- if it be fair, for 40 days 'twill rain nae more.”

In other words, any rain on this day heralds another forty days of rain but if it stays dry, forty days of fine weather lie ahead. I don’t know about you, but I woke on Sunday morning to not just rain, but torrential rain, thunder and lightning!

Surprisingly, for a man who’s had such an influence on British horticulture and agriculture, not much is known about the chap called Swithin who was to go on to be canonised as a saint. It is likely that he was an advisor to Egbert, King of the West Saxons and we do know that he was consecrated as Bishop of Winchester in 852. On his deathbed, it’s claimed, Swithin requested that he be buried by the north wall of Winchester Cathedral, where passers-by could walk over the site of his grave and the rain fall upon it. But about a hundred years after his death, it was decided to move his body inside the Cathedral. The removal of his bones and relocation in a more ‘appropriate’ location took place on July 15, 971 – that night there was a great storm! In addition, prayers to Swithin were rewarded with miraculous cures and it was that, rather than his ability to get the heavens to open when his wishes were thwarted, led to him being canonised as a saint.

Meteorologically speaking, there’s absolutely no evidence to support the forty days theory – and in truth Swithin is only one of several European saints whose ‘days’ are supposed to be followed by periods of wet or fine weather. What I do know for a fact is that this summer has been a great one for slugs, and if they carry on at this rate I won’t have any lilies left! My garden is also full of baby snails, and although I don’t like using slug pellets, even organic, wild-life friendly ones, I’ve given in to the need to try and conserve some of my flowers from their predations, but there are so many slimy night-hunters around that my slug pellet bill is getting out of hand.

Labels: garden pests, garden secrets, slugs and snails, st swithin

The All Seasons Gardener at 5:39 AM

---