Gardening could become an obsession...
The blossom trees continue to flower, the lawns are lush and green, and I am steaming through the Hump garden area, trying to clean it all up by the end of September. I love having more time for my garden - this gardening could become an obsession!
Sunday 26th September
I am working so hard - I have so much to say about it - that I am filling a page of this diary in three gardening days! Hee hee... This gives me more chances to show off my spring daffodil pictures (captured close-up, of course). There are still new clumps of daffodils starting to flower - including fragrant ones, odd-coloured ones, and ones with three flowers on the same stalk (it's obvious I am skilled at using the correct daffodil classification descriptions...)
Seedling Grown Pansies
Today I am going to nominate one garden area and stay there. I will be in the Hump (house end) clearing, shifting, raking, weeding, planting, wheel-barrowing, burning, and using all the gardening verbs known to man/woman. I have great plans - and should have much to report later. I am allowed lunch, morning and afternoon tea breaks, but I must take them in the Hump garden itself. There will be no random wandering off at a gardening tangent. If the Wattle Woods stream has stopped flowing, then so be it (actually, I think it has). The Hump (house end) needs my undivided gardening attention. Here I go.
Spring in the Moosey Garden
Apres Gardening...
I did it! I worked in the one area, and yes - it is fairly well finished, and I am really happy with the results. I had chook company - they spent four hours with me, happily scratching. I am tired, but will possibly return to the garden later just to clip a few edges. With the lawns looking so green and lush and well-mown, I need to complete the picture.
The big blossom tree continues to take my breath away - how beautiful this cherry tree is! Why have I never seen and appreciated it properly before? Ha! The joys of being a semi-retired gardener are again very apparent, even if the ability to purchase ridiculous numbers of new plants is lessened.
A few more details regarding this successful gardening day - the Wattle Woods stream is flowing again, and I've thrown more stones into it. I've picked yet more flowers for the house - this time some fragrant wallflowers and jonquils. I've watered the seeds in the glass-house too - what a responsible gardener I am becoming.
Monday 27th September
There's some bad weather coming from the south later today - so I will be brief (for once). I plan to finish the Hump edge. This backs onto on the driveway and house lawns, and for once there will be a definite edge dug (unless my chook company does too much scratching). I am going to remove the old remains of several Toe Toe (it's the Argentine version of this big pampas grass - not so desirable) and combine the living shoots into one plant. My diggings will then join up with the new native garden. This is all I will do today - again, there will be no random wandering (apart from a small stone collection for the new stream bed). When the weather deteriorates I will glide gracefully into the glass-house and prick out more seeds. I seem to have a thousand lettuce seedlings (as one does, every year) - and when does one ever eat a thousand lettuces?
Late Lunchtime...
I have finished - my hands are quite sore from weed-pulling. The whole Hump-Driveway Lawn area is dominated by the big cherry blossom tree at this time of year - it's beautiful. I have already taken a thousand photographs of it - how could I miss enjoying this tree in blossom in past years? I must have been totally, seriously over-worked! The cold weather has arrived, suddenly, aggressively - the wind had better not destroy my big blossom tree.
Tuesday 28th September
OK, it's raining, with wet snow, quite gently - please don't spoil my big blossom tree! The chooks are sheltering under the driveway conifer tree, and I'm inside feeling very happy - I'm glad I've done so much work these last two days.
Today I will stay warm and dry inside, surrounded by the brilliantly lush, green spring lawns, clear colour patches of yellow from the daffodils, and the pale pinks and whites of the blossom I can see. I might venture out later today to sort out more glass-house seedlings. This Friday is the tenth anniversary of the Moosey Garden - I am very proud and very lucky to be a gardener.
Fragrant Red Wallflowers
Right - I'm back from the glass-house, having a short cold spell in there pricking out seedlings. The fluttering snow has turned into fluttering rain. My annuals are definitely in full production, and soon I will peep at the perennial cuttings. I should have enough variegated pelargoniums to fill a thousand terracotta planters in a hundred French Provencale courtyards - if I had them!
Wednesday 29th September
Weather report - brilliantly fine and sunny (this diary is becoming a detailed weather report - oh well, I guess the daily weather is almost as exciting as the Moosey daily gardening experience). What shall I do today?
First I'll wander around and pick all the drooping daffodils. Secondly I'll check out the flood (oops) at the end of the Wattle Woods stream - and perhaps dig out a bigger end pond? We'll see. It's either a feast or a famine, speaking aquatically. Thirdly I'll organise more seedlings and more seedling containers (important) - the cats might have to eat more. Fourthly I will hoe the weeds around the hen house. Looking back, it would have been easier to make a list!
Droopy Daffodil
Morning Tea
It's random gardening again - I've done none of the above, choosing instead to do some serious weeding (with helpful chooks) at the back of the Jelly Bean Garden. Thus I have created more space for new plants - perhaps the reject dahlias in the Hump could be re-housed here? It's not quite warm enough yet, though - hence I've taken an early break. When I return I will do all the things on the list I should have written...
It's a worry though - this need to purchase new plants. Where has all the new space come from? Or am I just kidding myself? Hmm...
Thursday 30th September
The Wattle Woods stream saga continues... Yesterday, due to excess flooding, I decided to dig a second pond at a lower level than the first. Immediate success! The water gently trickled down, and the second pond slowly filled. I checked two hours later - complete equilibrium! I checked at dusk - second pond completely empty! Hmm...
Today is the last day of September - I will try and work hard all day. I love the look of the garden at the moment. This should inspire me.
Oops - it's mid-afternoon and I've run out of oomph. I stopped just in time, having discovered a whole area which needed at least a three hour weeding session (the hen house garden). That just might have to wait until tomorrow morning. My water feature is behaving again though, and I have installed a rustic seat for quiet contemplation of the erratic water levels in the TWO (yes, TWO) ponds. Iris confusa is the star of the pond-side plantings (or should that be ponds-side?) - hurrah for my second pond - for today at least!
The Camellia bushes by the glass-house are suddenly covered in flowers, as is the first red rhododendron. Various Aquilegias have built tall stems, and are almost ready to bloom. Thus the gardening month of September comes to an end.