Such bravery...
Duck Lawn in Autumn
Breaking news. Mature woman gardener, wearing only shorts and a merino top, attempts to conquer the cold, wet Easter weather. Such bravery, hee hee...
Monday 21st April
On today's trip out in the drizzle, the gardens over the water race were looking distressed and abandoned. So here's the plan. Do something about them. Lay out dry clean clothes. Dress minimally - merino top and shorts. Get out there and reconnect. After an appropriate length of time, come back inside, shower and change, and practice Ravel.
Two hours later...
Yeay! I cleaned up the garden behind the Stables, and started chopping down the older reed stalks (the newer ones are pretty). It looks great again. Came inside when it started drizzling. My gardening was more successful than my attempts to play Ravel. I remember reading that he had really huge hands. Excuses. Or was that Brahms?
Tuesday 22nd April
Woohoo! This morning I spent $350 of my voucher on lovely shrubby plants - glowing red Phormiums, Hebes, a variegated Cordyline for a pot, double daffodil bulbs, some scruffy Lavenders, new pots of Stachys, three Choisya Ternatas, and two Bumble Bee Rhododendrons.
New Shrubs
Then I put on my shorts and gardened (mainly sitting down) for three drizzly hours. Got wetter and wetter, until (there's no polite way to say this) the gardening bottom was just far too cold to continue. A hot shower, dry warm clothes, and a cup of tea - instantly better.
Honorine de Brabant Rose
Mundane...
What I did in the garden was pretty mundane. I cleared part of the Stumpy Garden, removed more old reed stems and dead Phormium leaves, trimmed around the edges, pulled out lots of Gorse, Carex, and Tagaste seedlings, plus old Lychnis and Euphorbia plants.
Wednesday 23rd April
More rain, and new shrubs to plant in the Stumpy Garden. Two minor things - I forgot to buy the wine red Astelias, and I'm not sure where to plant the Bumble Bees (they're rhododendrons). And one major thing - today the garden I've just wandered around looks OK, nothing like the sad version I saw two days ago. That was an illusion. I blame the fact that the lawns need mowing.
Later...
So off I went into the gloom to plant shrubs. I'd just started to dig the first planting hole, when the rain gusted in. Within minutes it was noisily pelting down. Wasn't feeling quite intrepid enough to keep on going, retreated to the house. Returned after half an hour. Much better! The sun was trying to shine! Planted, weeded, pulled out more Euphorbias. Then temperatures dropped and back came the drizzle. But I managed two hard-working hours. How good?
Bamboo by the Garage
There's nothing quite as rewarding as warm, dry socks for cold gardening feet. Mmmmm...