Garden Journal 2008
Another year, more plans, more garden expansions, more spending on new shrubs and plants - and more journal pages in which to celebrate! When will my garden be finished? Hopefully, never... Well, certainly not in the year 2008!
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A brand new gardening year!...
- Happy New Year for 2008. Wow! A brand new gardening year - and the traditional time for some serious New Year's Resolutions. Here goes.
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So far, so good for the New Year! ...
- So far, so good for the New Year! I've been busy and happy in the garden every day, nothing is too dry or stressed, and my weeds are moderately under control. I have lots of modest plans - the perfect size for summer gardening days.
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Surviving summer......
- It's already the second week of January and my garden is surviving hot summer temperatures and little rainfall - thanks to the big irrigation system. Without water there'd be nothing to enjoy!
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The summer Moosey garden shines......
- The summer Moosey garden shines. What a colourful place it is to sit in, with a good book and a cat for company. And what lovely vistas one sees, lounging on chairs inside, peering through the house windows at such a beautifully watered, nurtured garden!
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A big day......
- It's a big day, in which the Head Gardener thinks back to her very first summer in the Moosey garden - and three ridiculously special hebes, the first mass-planting... How keen and green I was back then!
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Great excitement!...
- After a relatively light week in the summer garden I'm looking forward to a traditional hard working weekend. There is great excitement - the Moosey waterwheel goes into the water race this afternoon.
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Blonde paddocks?...
- Oh dear. It feels too hot to garden, and we need rain. Most of the paddocks are pale blonde in colour, while the relatively lucky Moosey garden has to be irrigated every third night.
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A funny month for flowers......
- January is a funny month for flowers in my garden - I feel that I've had little input in the garden's 'look'. Dahlias pop up here, there, and everywhere, none planned or planted by me. Patches of lilac phlox still do battle with my hand digger - I don't want them!
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The waterwheel is working......
- I now have a huge ongoing gardening responsibility, one which will test my intelligence and analytical skills. The waterwheel is working fully, and water now flows into the top of my wriggling stream - and down, down, down through the Wattle Woods.
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What's changed?...
- The start of a new gardening month always feels different to me, though my garden doesn't know that anything's changed. I've read too many calendars and diaries with that ominous phrase 'Things to do in February'... Aargh!
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Summer sunshine and scrappy flowers......
- Summer sunshine and scrappy, tired flowers - it's an in-between time in my garden, and every day more gum tree bark blows down onto beds and lawns. Why do I put up with my gum trees? So unsuitable, yet I love them...
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The silly season......
- I am busy watering with buckets and hoses, and suddenly I've started shifting plants around. In the heat of summer - I know, I know - it's obviously the silly season.
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Lovely!...
- A new summer's day, a new sensible list - new plans, new plants to buy, new ideas... What shall I do first in my garden today? There's no wind - lovely!
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Happy Valentines Day to my garden......
- Happy Valentines Day to my garden, large sprawling object of my ever-present affection and deeply obsessive love. And devotion - apart from yesterday, when I took the whole day off to go walking.
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Typical Canterbury weather......
- Aargh! It's been raining now for two and a half days - real rain which is collecting in driveway puddles and causing many of my plants to flop over. Typical Canterbury weather - after weeks of semi-drought, we are getting all the rain at once.
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In a magnificent state?...
- Yet more? Hmm... I am doing so much work in the garden this week that I need three pages to talk about it? The Moosey Garden must be in a magnificent state...
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Older-lady gardener loses mojo......
- After two impressive, intrepid cycling and walking days I am back as a full-time gardener. I have huge plans in my head, but I'll need to get my energy back. Hmm... Older-lady gardener loses mojo...
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It is a leap year, isn't it?...
- It is a leap year, isn't it? So there's an extra February day to - ahem - leap into the garden. I've got so many new projects on the go that I don't really want this month to end.
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Settle!...
- Ha! A pinch and a punch for the first of the month, the first of the 'nearly-autumn' months, when the weather is supposed to settle and the wind is supposed to blow away. Welcome, March. Please remember that you can still be summery!
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Catching?...
- The Moosey animals are exhibiting silly signs of March Madness. As a lone gardener, the danger is that I spend a lot of time with them - will this mad mood be catching?
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Holiday on the West Coast......
- I'm back from four days holiday on the West Coast, staying up the Mokihinui River. I've been walking, reading, eating, and taking lots of green photographs. The mood relaxed, the tempo andante...
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Expansion plans......
- Isn't one of the best parts of a holiday coming back home! I love my garden, and I have the hugest plans for its expansion. Oops - how about sticking to general maintenance and burning all the gum tree rubbish?
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Running out of river stones?...
- I'm trying to finish the new stone garden wall by the end of the weekend, but I'm fast running out of river stones and home-made organic matter to fill in behind it. Hmm... Perhaps a visit to a garden landscape supplier would be in order?
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Regarding the stone wall......
- Ha! I think the stone wall is finished. The fortified soil behind it will still sink a bit, but I'm tempted to do the planting right now. I'm impatient for that 'supposed-to-be-there' look that all decent stone walls have.
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Easter......
- Terribly exciting news - my mail order bulbs and grasses have arrived - with a long enough delay to have thoroughly forgotten what I ordered. Hee hee! And tomorrow the best of all Easter Nursery sales starts. It's the best because it usually has the best bargains...
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Hmm......
- Hmm... I've done some great gardening this Easter. For the first time in ages I've put new plants immediately in the garden, having planned beforehand where they're going. Ha! This could be the start of a new, sensible trend...
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At peace......
- March is marching on, as it does. Every day is shorter and every morning is a wee bit nippier. But I am at peace with the garden - having no wind really helps! And I love the start of autumn, with just a few leaves turning golden and red in colour.
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Madness?...
- It's the last weekend in March - the madness of the Easter plant sales is over, and I'm left with just a few stragglers in pots waiting for their place in the garden.
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A few low-key adventure plans......
- A is for April, and Asters, and Autumn, and Adventure. Sitting snug on my new garden bench, reading too many travel books, I have a few low-key adventure plans. That's as well as gardening!
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637 stones......
- I've finally got my oomph back, after quite a few lazy days spent reading books and dodging all garden work. Mind you, I've only just finished building the new stone wall, which took hours - and 637 stones...
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Walking on the wild side? ...
- Three days before I go 'walking on the wild side' - to Cape Campbell, on the East Coast of the South Island, New Zealand. I will probably come back wanting a tussock garden and a lighthouse...
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Surrounded by smooching cats......
- I'm back home after a short holiday hiking on the East Coast of Marlborough, surrounded by smooching cats. Good morning to purring Percy, my beautiful ginger tabby youngster. Rusty the dog waits patiently for some good dog-action...
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Get mulching!...
- It's even more autumnal today, with rain and darker skies, and the first cold southerly of the season due to arrive at the end of the week. Eek! I must get mulching, and weeding, and trimming, and raking...
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The most beautiful autumn leaf ever......
- Yesterday I found the most beautiful autumn leaf ever seen by woman, or gardener, or woman-gardener. It lay in the driveway, an autumn jewel covered in little dew drops. Beautiful!
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Great weather and wonderful adventures......
- So far April has been full of great weather and wonderful adventures. After being away hiking, it's only taken me a week to get most of the garden looking good again. Hmm... Better not look too closely!
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A woman possessed......
- My autumn energy continues. Each day I've been working away like a woman possessed, enjoying a positive and contended autumn gardening mood. I think it's all to do with the sun.
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Yellow rose photographs......
- Before I do any gardening today I have to send some yellow rose photographs to a friend. Oddly I don't take very many pictures of Graham Thomas, my best yellow rose. He's finished his second flush of flowering, so I've missed my chance.
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Time to turn over a brand new leaf?...
- Ha! A brand new gardening month, a brand new page - and with winter just around the corner, time to turn over a brand new leaf? More like rake up a thousand old ones - the autumn leaves are falling fast. And still some of my roses are blooming better than ever.
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Out!...
- Right. No excuses about cold wind or wet rain. An intrepid four-seasons gardener simply puts on thermal underwear, shorts over the long-johns, hat and gloves - and then out he or she goes!
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Hundreds of mixed daffodils......
- I've just planted about five hundred mixed daffodils - some up the driveway, most along the road-side fence. Oh boy - my back is stiff from bending, and there's dust all over me and my clothes. Five hundred more to go...
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Happy Mothers Day to meeeee!...
- Happy Mothers Day to meeeee - and to all other mothers out there, both species and hybrids, in New Zealand and elsewhere, in late spring or late autumn, of the gardening and non-gardening variety.
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Digging in the frost......
- We've had the first of the proper frosts - it's a bit cold for early morning gardening. Digging, for example, is difficult before 11 a.m., and it's better not to walk all over the frosty white lawns.
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Scary!...
- Eek! It's so scary for a relaxed, pottering gardener to realise that the month of May is half-finished. But then the Moosey garden is always half-finished. And what about my May outdoors adventure?
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Full of great ideas......
- Gardeners are always full of great ideas on an early, frosty, late autumn morning. Hee hee. Like doing major earthworks, or shifting shrubs and roses around...
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Doing circuits......
- I've spent all morning racing the approaching southerly cold front, doing circuits with my green wheelbarrow. And I've been thinking - am I really ready for winter in the garden?
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Hard working!...
- It's definitely, officially, late autumn now, so I'm busy getting ready for winter. What a hard working and dedicated (if slightly obsessed) gardener I am! If anyone deserves a new bridge it's me...
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A frosts-and-firewood sort of month......
- The merry month of May is almost finished. It has definitely been a frosts-and-firewood sort of month - OK for short day-adventures, but nothing more expansive. Brr...
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A new month, a new bridge......
- Ha! A new month. A new bridge, and a new shrubbery with a new path. New gardening ideas for the month with the shortest days and some of the coldest nights. And new sounds - my piano has been tuned.
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Winter gardening is a breeze... ...
- This winter gardening is a breeze - even if a slightly cool and bracing one, originating in the southern Antarctic oceans. Why before did I ever get gloomy or bored? What a gardening wimp I've been.
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Snow!...
- Oops. I must not insult the weather experts, belittling their years of study and their use of the mathematics of statistical modelling. They said it would snow - and they were right.
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Snowless...
- The Moosey garden is snowless, quickly back in normal winter mode after the short snow storm. Garden! Pay attention! Did you hear what I just said? I have snowless plans...
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The season of shrub supremacy......
- It's the season of shrub supremacy. New Zealand natives, hardy Australians, and all other tough shrubs from other countries - welcome to the winter Moosey Garden makeover. Rhododendrons need not apply...
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Performing miracles......
- Ha! A winter weekend, and the weather is quite warm. I am performing miracles in the Hump, a sandy, messy stretch of potential garden between the house lawns and the front paddock.
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Same old, same old......
- I've been doing the same garden things for weeks now - making new paths and buying and planting new shrubs. I obviously need to do a lot of walking, interspersed with textural ogling...
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Too cold to garden?...
- It's mid-morning, with low sun, an early morning frost, and the air temperature is only five degrees (Celsius) - brr! Too cold to garden? Possibly, but not too cold to visit the local nursery!
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Blue-sky high......
- Finally, the mid-winter solstice day, and my gardening spirits are blue-sky high. I've never been busier, and my head is full of plans - like getting a garden shed, and building a dog agility course. Who cares if it's too cold to garden out there!
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I don't believe it......
- The second of six wintry cold fronts is roaring? sweeping? charging? through the Moosey sky. Dramatic colours, a bit of mushy hail, and only three degrees Celsius? Bitterly chill winds? I don't believe it.
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A foliage feast?...
- Brr... It's definitely time for casseroles, stews, and pumpkin soup. And my garden, full of new shrubs, new paths, and new weeds, is a foliage feast simmering in winter's slow cooker.
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Be very impressed......
- A brisk, non-procrastinating hello to the month of July. Boy oh boy - do I have a Grand Gardening Plan for you! Be very impressed...
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Rewards!...
- I love my garden, and my new, strong attitude to winter-gardening. I'm sure lots of lovely new plants and trees would make brilliant rewards for this good winter-gardening behaviour.
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The winter sun is back......
- The winter sun is back. All my plants are shiny and wet after yesterday's 'extreme weather event'. All the snow has gone - good riddance! I'm afraid I have a rather non-romantic attitude to snow.
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Doing some brilliant gardening......
- It's now the second week of July, supposed to be our coldest winter month, and I am doing some brilliant gardening. But I've slightly run out of money - oops.
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Nice!...
- Nice - it's a fine winter weekend with sunshine to enjoy. I have more garden paths to organise, as well as Non-Gardening Partner. Let me see - what can he do in the garden today?
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More paths!...
- I still seem to be on a path-building mission. This has to come to its natural conclusion soon, or I'll have more paths than garden borders - now that would be a funny look!
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Already thinking of spring......
- Hee hee. It's nearly four weeks after the winter solstice, and the sun already rises ten minutes earlier. All natural things are on the move, and I'm already thinking of spring.
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Path testing......
- Aha! Today I'm testing all my newly laid paths out on an unsuspecting (but friendly) garden visitor. I'll casually direct her around, saying nothing. Will she mention the delightful network of safe yet interesting little pathways?
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Serious rain! RAIN!...
- Hmm... I may be away from the garden for some time. But don't worry - it's just that three days of winter rain are forecast. Serious rain! RAIN! Cats-and-dogs rain! Aargh!
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I've set some gardening goalposts......
- So as to finish July's winter work, I've set some gardening goalposts. Aargh! Goalposts! Rugby! We won't mention the rugby, since the All Blacks lost to Australia last night...
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Totally intrepid?...
- Hello, august August! You are most welcome to enter the Moosey garden. You'll witness an even harder-working winter gardener than July did. I am inspired and determined to be totally intrepid - and weather-proof.
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Colourful surprises......
- Yippee! Colourful things are starting to surprise me in my 'very early spring' (optimistic phrase) garden. Pinks and yellows - and a touch of blue - flowering things are starting to flower!
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The worst winter month?...
- OK - so today the weather has turned nasty again. But this is to be expected in August - some even suggest it is the 'worst winter month'. Aargh! Just when I (and my tree frogs) thought it was time to celebrate spring...
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Olympic gardening......
- My Olympic gardening continues. Energy levels are down, though, with all this serious TV watching in the evenings. And my kneeling knees and rose-pruning hands need to toughen up!
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Exciting August......
- I love, love, love my garden this month. I must have forgotten how exciting August is - all those spring things just weeks away from showing themselves. Pink Camellias, Daphne and Hellebores are flowering - and the first yellow daffodils.
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Maturing?...
- I think I might be maturing and improving as a gardener. I can't remember ever before having such a responsible August, actually finishing things off, and doing lots of really good garden maintenance.
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More colour......
- Wow - there's more and more spring colour appearing in my garden. An early red rhododendron, lots more pink and red Camellias, more yellow and cream daffodils, and patches of Pulmonarias flowering blue and pink...
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Big plans......
- August is ending with rather a lot of rainfall. But I am soooo busy! I love it, rain and all. And I have big plans for a special garden project while Non-Gardening Partner is away...
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Silly, skittish spring!...
- I'd like to officially welcome September and Spring (I refuse to wait for the equinox). Silly, skittish spring - warmer one day, colder the next... Splendid, free-spirited spring - showing off your treasures big and small.
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Rather a lot to say......
- Oh dear. I seem to have rather a lot to say. Is that because Non-Gardening Partner isn't here to listen to me burbling at the end of each new spring gardening day? He does listen, doesn't he?
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Bonus MVP points......
- I've been web-working, having just spent an hour of good, sunny gardening time totalling up Head Gardener's bonus MVP points. These are awarded to my cats, dog, chooks and sheep in the website's Most Valuable Pet competition. What a goose!
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Slightly quieter times......
- Slightly quieter times, now that the (semi-mature) Moosey birthday celebrations are over. Time to celebrate more spring blossom and more flowering daffodils. There's nothing more pleasant for a retired lady-gardener than a sunny spring morning.
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Escaped!...
- Shocking! Non-Gardening Partner has escaped his garden duties for a day of skiing. And I've been inside looking through old Moosey garden and pets photographs. It's nearly lunchtime - when am I going to start my gardening?
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A great weekend......
- I've just had the best spring gardening weekend ever. The reasons are simple - loads of personal energy, and great garden help from Non-Gardening Partner. Plus two (not one, but two) new gardening projects, both of which have the potential for new plant spending sprees!
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Spring is on the move......
- I think spring is on the move. As soon as my blue spring bulbs pop up the tempo seems to accelerate. Blossom, blossom, more blossom, new blossom - white, pink, and the odd pale green. Some variegated honesty plants now reach nearly to my knees, and the aquilegias are fattening out.
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Uncomplicated? ...
- I write, I pat some cats, I garden, I pat the dog, I eat, drink a cup of hot tea, sleep... I write, I pat some cats, I garden... My September spring life is quite uncomplicated - and for that I am truly thankful.
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The spring equinox has arrived......
- Spring is being particularly beautiful this year. The spring equinox has arrived, bringing days when the sun (wisely) spends more time in southern hemisphere gardens. I don't require any spring gales, though...
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One woman, one wheelbarrow......
- No time for writing - I'm going behind the pond to work on The Great Pond Garden Development and Clean-Up. I've even turned down an aquasize session to the music of Abba to get this big garden development project started. One woman - one wheelbarrow...
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Blossom, don't blow away!...
- It's the last weekend in September. Last, and may well be the least, since big nor-west winds are blowing, and southerly wind with rain is forecast for this afternoon. I hope the spring blossom doesn't all blow away.
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Feeling as droopy as my daffodils......
- Oh dear. I haven't started October very well. Mind you - only two days have passed. My gardening, however, has been uninspiring, and I'm feeling as droopy as my daffodils. And please, spammers, don't read too much into that phrase!
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My new October attitude......
- Right. I have my new October attitude, my head is full of brilliant intentions, and I'm freshly inspired by my gardening book on Hidcote. But just because it's just a tiny bit damp outside I'm still lurking in my house...
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Pink!...
- My spring garden is suddenly very pink - there's lots of pink blossom like the weeping Crab-Apple over the water from my burning heap. The two flowering cherry trees in the Pond Paddock are just starting to bloom.
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It's sheep shearing time......
- Aha! The second weekend in October - spring is in full swing now. It's sheep shearing time. I must make time to stop and enjoy all the new flowers, new rhododendrons, azaleas, irises, blossom...
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Inspired and daunted......
- Good morning to October's continuing spring, where the garden gets even more colourful and the weeds even more vigorous. Simultaneously I am inspired and daunted - a confusing state to be in.
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A dog's life......
- I've just had a deep and meaningful discussion with Rusty the dog on life. We've been sitting underneath the Wisteria (flowering and fragrant), birds are squeaking and bees are buzzing, it's warm with cloud-cover... Two best friends - and the perfect gardening day.
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Yippee for yellow roses!...
- The first Moosey roses are in flower - Canary Bird, and Banksia Lutea, which is huge and high, growing up into the plum tree. They are both so beautiful. Yippee for yellow roses.
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Full of rhododendrons......
- More spring-cleaning of the Moosey Garden Tour pages is keeping me from the real garden out there. Now the pages, like my gardens, are full of rhododendrons in flower.
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Still spring-cleaning......
- Before I do anything else I need to put on the hoses and plant all my new shrubs and trees. It's already 10:30 in the morning - far too late to be starting my garden work. Trouble is that I'm still spring-cleaning the web-site tour pages.
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The big clean-up......
- I'm starting the big clean-up after spring's fabulous garden party - pulling out forget-me-nots and honesty, and planting summer-flowering annuals in the spaces. Meanwhile the last of the spring blossom is floating down to carpet the lawns.
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An overabundance......
- There's an overabundance of beautiful things everywhere in the garden, and so few human eyes, noses, and ears to enjoy them. Would busloads of old-lady garden tour visitors be the answer? Hmm... What then about the overabundance of weeds?
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Full speed ahead!...
- Aargh! Eek! Full speed ahead - November! The gardening year is gathering speed. Can't stop to write anything - no time!
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Bursting with gardening energy......
- Wow. I am back from my high country hiking trip, bursting with gardening energy and ideas. What will I do first? Check all my new roses, trim some edges, pull some weeds, sort out the vegetable garden...
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Embarrassingly large weeds......
- Ridiculous - I've been away for only three days and suddenly all the gardens are overflowing with embarrassingly large weeds, and I've gone all grumpy. It must be an illusion...
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Noisy!...
- Summer - you're very noisy! Buzzy insects, chirping birds, the pheasant honking in orchard paddock, Rusty the dog barking at pigeons and planes, my rooster crowing his head off...
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What on earth is there to talk about?...
- Three pages in one summer gardening week - and all I'm doing in the garden is weeding! What on earth is there to talk about? The roses? Blessed are the minimalist garden bloggers...
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A rose appreciating mission......
- A sunny summer weekend stretches out in front of me - what should I do first? I'm definitely on a rose appreciating mission - and I need to trim all the edges of the freshly mown house lawns.
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Not going on the Garden Club bus......
- Hee hee. Today I am not going on the Garden Club bus to look at other people's gardens. I'm having a boss-myself day, a timetable day, with three quarter of an hour slots. I'm going to do this all week
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Summer watering......
- Summer watering, summer weeding, and cricket to listen to... Lovely! But please would all twittering birds in the Moosey Garden be extra vigilant...
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Severe and serious?...
- Yippee! Another summer gardening weekend. We are supposed to be cleaning out the Moosey pond and trimming the Olearia hedges behind the house. These are severe and serious garden maintenance tasks!
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Happy in a rosy, summery garden......
- I've been absent (with leave) from my garden for two whole days - it's so good to be back. It's easy to be happy in a rosy, summery garden, with good dog company, and nice shady seats to relax on.
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The most wonderful gardening month!...
- November (in New Zealand) is the most wonderful gardening month to be a retired lady-gardener of slim but suitable means. So flowery and colourful, such freshness in the garden borders - long may it all last!
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Race around madly......
- Right. I've just realised that November has lost a day (not strictly true), and it's traditional to race around madly at the end of the month finishing things, and now that November has one less day...
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Good morning, December......
- Good morning, December. I have my first spam mail from Santa Claus (how thoughtful) and my radio is welcoming the first day of summer, though I totally disagree. Summer has been lurking in my garden for the last few weeks.
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Sitting, reading, eating......
- Is it nearly Christmas? It jolly well is! I've started dead-heading the roses, and seem to spent all my days sitting somewhere shady reading and eating. I do get up from time to time to shift the hoses. Hmm...
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Garden weeds are sentient......
- Garden weeds are sentient. They just know when the gardener is having a few days off, being a bit summer-lazy. Aargh!
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December distractions abound......
- December distractions abound - like the 'too-hot-to-garden' state of the Head Gardening mind, and the making of Christmas presents (which always takes ages).
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Goals, scaffolding, and signposts......
- Because of weather (rain) and in-house distractions (making Christmas presents) I've done little gardening this last week. So I'm having a Grand Gardening Weekend - with goals, scaffolding, and signposts...
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Splendid summer rain......
- It's raining again! This is such good news for the garden - and the paddocks and orchard, too. Splendid summer rain.
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That's OK......
- When the reason that one isn't doing much gardening is the rain - I guess that's OK. It's sooooo good for the Moosey Garden.
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All the every best......
- Welcome to the Christmas week. All the every best to gardeners, and their families and friends, for the festive season. And to all nice non-gardeners, too!
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December and Christmas......
- Merry Christmas to everyone - and especially to the Moosey Garden, with all its flora and fauna. So far this morning the cats have had Christmas beef, and the humans have had a special Christmas breakfast. Rusty just got boring dog biscuits. It's a dog's life...
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A stroll garden......
- Finally I have been doing some good summer gardening, after mooching around for most of December. And I've been reading and thinking about 'stroll gardens'.