Recent Garden News

 Being modest, as usual...
Head Gardener

The Recent Garden News page displays the fifteen most recent additions to Mooseys Country Garden. This should help visitors keep up with what's going on in my garden.

Gardens are always growing and changing - there's always something new to see. And, as I love writing about my garden almost as much as being in it, there'll always be some new Moosey ramblings to read, or new pictures to look at. Perhaps the garden activities of my summer will warm up a northern hemisphere gardener's winter days. I know how much I enjoy my mid-winter garden visits to summery places.

Two weeks can be a long time in the life of a garden. There's inevitably some repetition, so please be understanding if I'm saying the same things over and over again. I hope you'll enjoy seeing what I've been working on recently...

Autumn work...Autumn work......
Thinking about how much Autumn work there is this year in my garden. Shrubs and trees are huge, paths don't quite fit. But how lucky am I to have a big garden? It's never boring. If I get annoyed with one area I can move to another a million miles away. Well, sort of.
So silly!So silly!...
I am so silly. When we first meet I love self-spreaders (ground covers). I even encourage them. Darling things, filling up my garden for me. I forget about them for a few years. Then - oh boy! Oh joy! They turn into nuisance super-spreaders.
So much to do...So much to do......
Absolutely all the areas of my garden need clearing and weeding and trimming. There's so much to do! I love it. And there's so much beauty around - roses, crisp green foliage, leaves just starting to change colour, lawns that need mowing. Oops. How did that sneak in?
Moving into AutumnMoving into Autumn...
The Shasta daisies have finished flowering - a sure signal that the garden is moving into Autumn (a delightfully muted, mellow season). I reckon there are about three hundred daisy stalks to trim. Only three hundred - not a problem! Wait until the autumn leaves start dropping, hee hee...
Nervous...Nervous......
Over the weekend I've been cleaning up the Herb Spiral garden while listening to the cricket. Oh my goodness! Nerve-wracking. A five day test match, New Zealand playing Australia and who knows? We could lose (we usually lose). Blast. But we could win. Wow. The cricket always makes me very nervous.
Plant shift...Plant shift......
Surely it's time for the big plant shift. A famous local gardener, Barbara Lea Taylor, called it 'The Waltz of the Wheelbarrow'. Mine might be more like a stately Sarabande. But certainly it involves the roses.
The Periwinkle Path...The Periwinkle Path......
Have started clearing the periwinkle path which circles into the Shrubbery. This is a yearly task, pretty easy to do, and I love periwinkle. Well, I think I do.
More plans...More plans......
A drizzly day - perfect for making plum and rhubarb jam - and garden plans. Fix this, shift that, clean up this other bit, and so on. So easy! I'm still obsessed with shifting the roses around...
The Hump Garden path...The Hump Garden path......
It's not been the most relaxing gardening week - I do NOT trust my dogs at all. Last week their noses got them into big trouble. But finally I have done some gardening. And I have finished clearing the Hump Garden path. Yeay for me!
Poor Pebbles...Poor Pebbles......
This week I have been preoccupied with a sick dog - Pebbles. She has been very ill with acute pancreatitis, likely caused by eating rotting animal remains.
A mini make-overA mini make-over...
Oh dear. The gardens around the house back lawns all need mini-makeovers - particularly the perennials garden around the Herb Spiral, and last year's (failed) potato patch. It's soooooo much easier doing a mind-make-over : shifting this and that, digging out something else, organising the plants - without actually doing anything. What a great idea!
In disgrace...In disgrace......
OK. I have just been for a late afternoon garden stroll taking photographs. This should have been an inspiring experience. It was not. My garden is in disgrace. As is its one-day on, two-days off gardener. Make that three-days?
Dull?Dull?...
What's dull about a driveway border? Nothing should be, when it's full of pretty foliage shrubs. I've just spent four hours today weeding along its edge, and it was a very dull experience. Sorry about this!
Free-Spirited...Free-Spirited......
The weather has been very free-spirited, with huge variations in temperatures from day to day. No wonder natural gardeners, who are deeply in harmony with the weather, are so random. Ha! We have the perfect excuse.
Messy and Scruffy...Messy and Scruffy......
My lovely garden. My messy, scruffy January garden, soon to be my messier and scruffier February garden. Because February is supposed to be a messier and scruffier month. Eek!