Four gardening days left...
It's June - in five days time I will be off, flying towards Singapore, the first stop in my world trip. So I have four gardening days left, four days with the dog and the cats, four days to do my minimal packing...
Friday 1st June
And that's four days to complete my research, so I can arrive in faraway places with enough knowledge to write up thoughtful and insightful reports. Last year's trip was my dress rehearsal, and it was far too random - bumbling into Regent's Park, zooming off at the last minute to Winsford Walled Garden in Devon, and so on.
A Serious Garden Reporter
This year I am travelling as a serious garden reporter. For example, I plan to spend my spare London day at Kew Gardens, instead of pottering around on a big red tourist bus counting red cordylines. The west of Scotland will be interesting - I am reading up about the warm Gulf Stream, and I am making a special pilgrimage to Plockton to see the big New Zealand cabbage trees. Hee hee. Hope they're still there!
Photograph of Cat Food
No Photographs!
Once more my web-master has left undone that which he should have done - namely load the latest Moosey autumn-winter photographs, so I can display them in my journal. I would love to show you my friendly foster kittens - they go to friend Judith's tomorrow, and I have so loved looking after them. Instead I have to resort to the catfood picture...
There's a whole pre-winter Moosey garden out there waiting, and a bored dog who would appreciate some busy company, and some gardening cats who would probably enjoy watching some leaf raking and wheelbarrow trundling. The word is out - winter is arriving tomorrow mid-morning, like a ghastly old auntie who's come to stay, blowing in from the south with loads of baggage.
And just a tiny bit of pre-trip fashion tweaking - the kittens have almost chewed through the strap of my favourite red gardening (and world travelling) shoes, and I am disgruntled with my proposed elegant blue shirt (I am only allowed to take one). I might have to visit the fancy outdoor clothing shop this afternoon. Roving reporters, particularly if they are semi-old and a bit chunky, need to make an effort to look the part.
Kittens in the Moosey Bed
Lunchtime... The Photographs Are Finally Done!
The Pergola garden is weeded. My rubbish is burnt. I've come inside for coffee and to read my new book.
Outer Space by Diarmuid Gavin
A Giggle of a Book
It's a garden design book by Diarmuid Gavin and is a real giggle. I wouldn't let him loose in my garden, though! Many of his structures look like giant eggs or old-fashioned spaceships. Dare I suggest that his designs are not all that far removed from the shapes and structures in a McDonald's playground? Oops. I never said that!
Now I need to do some more work. Rusty the dog is enjoying pottering around, and the low autumn-winter sun is uncannily warm. It's such a weird feeling, when the light and shadows say one thing, and the sleeveless gardening shirt says another! But this should definitely be the last of the days of warmth and roses!
Rose Apologies
It's Souvenir de la Malmaison, flowering on the last rose arch in the orchard, which I am in rose-love with - not Albertine, as stated in my previous journals. Obviously I am an old-fashioned rose novice to get these two famous roses mixed up. Sorry about that.
Souvenir de la Malmaison
Saturday 2nd June
I feel a bit sad this morning - the foster kittens are leaving. They've been here four weeks, and I've become extremely attached to them. It's all good, though - and I guess the Moosey office can now be vacuumed. Hmm...
Lunchtime...
I took Histeria, Percy and Lilli-Puss to my friend Judith's. Then I bought my travelling shirt (blue) and almost bought a bigger pack - this I bravely resisted. Aargh! The P-word! Right - what are my gardening plans? The winter blast is supposed to turn up this evening. So am I out there making the most of probably the last good weather day? Nope. I am in the office feeling slightly passive. Now, if I had a willing garden helper to organise, then I'd have to set a good example - and it is the weekend...
Free Ranging
Sunday 3rd June
Naturally one of the most important gardening things I needed to do before departure was to do some little maintenance tasks in Henworld, the 'playground' area for my chooks. So off I went to buy two more plaster hen statues, and my garden helper glued the broken hen back together.
Five Hen Statues
All five hens were then expertly stuffed with bags of sand, to give more stability, and replaced on the brick towers of Henworld. Nosy rooster, in an untrustworthy, potentially pecky mood, had to kept at arm's length with the orange leaf rake.
Then I tied in rose canes for the archway roses in the orchard. And if a cane was totally pointing and growing the wrong way I cut it off. I'm sure this is sensible. I weeded around each rose, and tomorrow I'll circle each with stones, to deter weeds, and to stop any wind-rocking.
So as I fly towards summer and the northern hemisphere I can rest easy - my hen statues and my climbing roses will be safe from howling winter wind gusts, furious gales, and nosy wildlife.