My next gardening location?
Nothing like a wander with the camera to discover my next gardening location. Went to photograph the Tasmanian tree daisies, in a deeply thoughtful and expansive mood. What a mess! Some deeply thoughtful trundling and expansive bonfiring needs to happen.
Tasmanian Tree Daisy
I have just checked through the pictures, and they look very spring-pretty. My gardening jeans are still waiting to be put on, and I'm deliberately taking ages to drink my morning coffee. Hey - I could finish painting the gnomes? Only six to go. Perhaps I'll look again at my new photographs, do some cropping, publish a page of them?
Silly really, all this self-trickery. Far better to be thinking like this : the tree daisies will look amazingly more beautiful if the ground beneath them is clear of mess. Yes? Yes.
Later...
Hmm. It's been one of those days where my garden seemed to be very very big. Not frighteningly big, though, but never-the-less... And very, very scruffy. But this can surely be blamed on the lawns needing to be mowed? Anyway, I collected lots of dry matter and burnt it, and the tree daisies are happy with me. I also dug up Lychnis from the lawn near the Hen House, and these have been planted in the new rose garden.
Monday 8th October
Action! Turn on the watering hoses, hang the washing out, and go for a swim. Then garden madly. No time to lose. While the evening meal is cooking get the October gardening journal officially 'up there'. Show off all the pretty photographs!
Much Later...
I've been weeding all afternoon. And I've cheated a little - just a tiny bit - a puffy bottle of weed spray (organic) for the dandelions. The watering hoses have been on the Hen House Gardens, which are desperately dry. And my horse manure lady has delivered sixteen more bags for my new garden in The Hump. Yeay!
Small comment. The more weeds I weed the more weeds I see. They multiply before my eyes. The lawns are riddled with the weeds I'm pulling out of the garden borders, too. So I am definitely blaming the lawns.
Tuesday 9th October
Today is going to be my Big October Day, right? Sitting in the cottage with my early cup of tea I planned it all. This is spectacularly easy to do, hee hee. I also designed and planted a shrubbery in the Hump, and shifted in all the bluebells. In my head, hee hee.
Forget-Me-Nots in the Lawn
Tell you something. It is going to be a big watering day. And also a big bonfiring day. One of my many, varied plans is to start cleaning out the Jelly-Bean border. Viburnums need trimming (many of the lower branches are covered with unsightly dead leaves). And Cleavers needs pulling out. Naturally I will also spread the new horse manure and mulch. Aargh! I've just remembered - sow more grass seed on the front house lawn. Tired already, I am. Another coffee, perhaps?
Buster the Cat
Later, Mid-Afternoon...
Well, it isn't going all that well. Nothing is wrong, it's just that the whole garden is desperately dry. I've now moved the hoses onto the rhododendrons (which are flowering) in the driveway. I thought they might appreciate that. The bonfire is ready, but I refuse to ruin such a beautiful afternoon. I've also been weeding, guaranteed to put a slight shade of grey over the gardening mood.
But I haven't come in to moan. I've come in to recharge, have a coffee, slop on some more sunblock, and think about bucketing water on the roses. One bucket each seems fair. I can do this!
Much, Much Later...
I've worked for another four hours, weeding (aargh!) and dragging loads of Viburnum trimmings out of the garden. Oh boy - the middle of the Jelly Bean Border is a mess, and needs a lot more work. I burnt my bonfire. I shifted the hoses yet again. I watered the seedlings in the glass-house and popped the lettuces outside to start gardening off. The pots by the garage (pretty variegated Euphorbias and Phormiums) got watered too. I tried to remember to water everything important. Honestly I did. I did my best and that is all I can do.
And my lovely black cat Buster kept me company. The dogs did their best, but there was too much barking and singing. Dogs! So unsubtle...