Half light half dark – September Equinox

Posted on by Maria Donovan

The September Equinox is here. A few photos looking back over the last season.

The September Equinox occurred at about 2am today 23 September 2022. For the Northern Hemisphere, we are now officially in the season of Autumn or Fall. Meteorological Autumn started on 1 September but Astronomical Autumn begins today.

It’s been a long dry summer, hotter than usual and most of my time has been divided between the allotment (early morning watering and late evening sowing planting and so on, if I had the oomph) and writing during the heat of the day. Working on that short story collection of which more another time.

For now I’m happy to look back over random photos taken since the June Solstice beginning with the garlic harvest. Our best year so far, and they dried quite well. Here are a few, lined up like The Usual Suspects.

Early July and the loveliness of the waxing crescent moon was something I wanted to capture, even though my camera phone isn’t really up to the job. That’s a project I would like to try: taking decent photos of the Moon.

The same hill and gardens in full-on July Glory.

July days were so hot, it was best to get up early for the short walk to the allotment. And we needed proper sunhats!

With one thing and another we were late getting started on planting this year. So you will have to forgive me for feeling a bit soppy about our first courgette. Although I’m holding it here with all the pride of the mother of a new-born, that didn’t stop us eating it.

At the end of July, the fruit harvests overlapped: redcurrants, raspberries, blackcurrants and blackberries. And there were strawberries too.

Spending so much time on the allotment meant not so many walks up the hill – but this photo reminds me of those lovely paths, waiting to be wandered.

August continued hot hot hot and dry – right to the middle of the month.

And then it rained.

Last year I was given three hazel bushes, which this year we were able to plant out. They yielded one nut!

Alas, it was empty.

Due to a schoolgirl error on my part, germination of carrots wasn’t great, but those that came up had plenty of room to grow.

A change from the usual run of photos. I missed this. When are you having yours?

I’m proud to have got these sunflowers past the slugs – and there are advantages to being late with everything because they came good in September.

We grew cucumbers and tomatoes in the greenhouse, which was in place in the garden for the first time this spring. With beans and pears and salad and many other things besides, in mid-September we were reaching peak harvest.

With work slowing down on the allotment, I took the afternoon off and went for a swim in the sea at West Bay – my first swim of the year, on 21st September! I think it helped with the Polymyalgia Rheumatica which is my greatest physical challenge at the moment. Or maybe it was the long walk home. Either way, I felt good for about 24 hours.

The walk home took me past the Brewery on the river Brit. Although in some ways it’s odd to have it half shadow and half light, it’s seems just right for the Equinox.

Thanks for looking at my photos and coming with me on this pictorial journey from June Solstice to September Equinox.

What’s changing in your world? Wherever you are, it’s always nice to hear from you.

25 thoughts on “Half light half dark – September Equinox”

  2. I really enjoyed this post and the path had a glow and I can see a heart in the glow

    Like the image of you and of course all of the gardens and veggies

    Oh and best wishes with your collection of short stories!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. Maria, I love seeing your beautiful photos and learning about your gardening successes! I’ve “harvested” much less from my balcony…a few tomatoes and peppers, but it’s a fun challenge in this Texas heat (that is still with us!). I envy your swim. After growing up and living for many years near the Great Lakes, I now find myself living in a dry area with only swimming pools, which are certainly not nearly as pleasurable as nature. Have a good autumn!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      2. Yes, I love each in turn and yet regret a little their passing. It’s a question of continual adjustments! This summer we had so many dry sunny days – it was hard for farmers and growers and nature in general but nice to have settled weather for a bit. All changing now!

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I did a bit of agricultural research for a few years. Farmers are never happy. If it rains, it rains’ too much. If there’s sun the plants burn. Etc. (The fact is plants and agriculture are very susceptible to extremes. And extremes is what we’ve been having last few years)

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Wow what treasures you have in your allotment Maria, I bet they all tasted delicious too. I would also like to take good photos of the moon. Which part of the UK are these photos of?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.