Instead we’ve been basking in the sunshine. Temperatures were 27°C in Turin yesterday – that’s about 80°F. We “only” had 18°C (about 65°F) and today it’s dropped to 14° but that’s still spring temperatures. In January I would expect it to be somewhere between -6 and +5°. The plants don’t know if they’re coming or going (literally) and, according to the TV, yesterday there were butterflies fluttering around. I went out to do a general tidy up this morning (and to enjoy the sunshine) and saw that I’ve got annuals from last year – nasturtiums, alyssum, petunias and so on - that are still going strong, and that loads of stuff which has self-seeded is starting to come through. I’d be tempted to start sowing other stuff – except that they say there’s snow on the way for next week. The sudden drop in temperature will probably kill off a lot of things, so I’ll cover everything with fleece on Monday in an attempt to lessen the shock.
I have succumbed to the early spring feeling though – I went out and bought some primroses . They’re probably my favourite spring flower, and when I go and buy them I always feel that the growing year is starting up again. I have to get them each year from the nursery as, try as I might, I can’t keep them over the summer – the heat and direct sunlight of the balcony is just too extreme for them. Last year I made a special effort to keep them cool and shaded, and actually got one through to September. But in order to shade it I had to hide it so well that I then forgot about it for a week – and found it eaten up by red spider mite.
