What shall I do first? Weeding?
Yippee - I love my garden! What shall I do first? Weeding, or weeding, or weeding? I'd much rather be planting - I've got several shrubs and a Skunk Cabbage to find places for.
Blue Aquilegia
Monday 26th October
The latter is a bog plant I've always admired - trouble is, I've admired huge swathes of them, fifty-plus, and my single solitary plant might not have the desired effect. But, running the risk of being super-corny, from little acorns mighty oaks do grow... In one hundred years' time skunk cabbages will have totally colonised the waterways of Canterbury. Just joking!
White Cane Chair
Thinking Again...
I've been thinking (again). When a visitor, after looking at my garden, says it leaves them feeling exhausted, they're saying something nice - or are they? Because the implication is that I've served them up the wrong sort of garden food, not suitable for their appetite or palate. Hmm...
This is the glass half-full or half-empty situation, I guess. I've never ever felt tired looking at someone else's garden - all I see are their treasures, and their groovy ideas...
Right. Non-Gardening Partner will take me down to buy potting mix, after he's mown the house lawns. The hedge trimmer is supposed to come tomorrow. My goodness - the shelter hedge is quite large now, and finally the top of the Leyland Cypresses will be trimmed. It should look great.
Much, Much Later...
I've done some really serious weeding on the edge of the Dog-Path Garden by the water and along the edge of the water race. And I am NOT feeling exhausted! Fluff-Fluff the cat has 'helped' by lolling exactly where I've needed to step. I almost fell in the water a number of times.
The Waterwheel :- You can read about the Moosey waterwheel - that's the Mark One version, by the way!
I've also spread some compost around, planted the variegated irises, and pricked out heaps more seeds. A stunning moment while in the glass-house - I heard a strange yet rhythmic sloshing sound. Thinking that something had jammed in under Rooster Bridge, I wandered down to investigate. Yippee! My waterwheel, almost as random as me, completely out of the blue, had decided to start zooming round. Should waterwheels have minds of their own? Hmm...
Now it's gently raining (phew - lucky I staked the peonies). Everything looks gorgeously green. The house lawns have been mowed again. Lovely. I've had a brilliant, non-exhausting day. I've even taken some absolutely fabulous photographs. Well, I think so!
The Wattle Woods
Tuesday 27th October
I am having a day off from the garden outside. I've got several inside plans - some pottering on the website doing virtual gardening, and checking out my gardening library books.
Gnomes - or Red Tulips?
Gardening Books
One is about Kitchen Gardens in France, a timely read since my own vegetable garden has just been planted. Then I can go Around the World in 80 Gardens with a bloke called Monty Don, who I notice puts himself in most of the photographs. Though, unlike traditional mad dogs and Englishmen, he doesn't go out in the mid-day sun unless he's wearing a hat. Good chap!
And I've had a thought which will not please tulip growers. In my spring garden there are various random clumps of bright red tulips, which stand out beautifully, particularly when viewed at a distance. My latest four garden gnomes have bright red hats and the effect is exactly the same. Hee hee...
It's been blustering with rain all morning, and though the sun's out now all the greenery is wet, wet, wet. The bellbirds are very noisy in the sparkling time after rain. Before I start reading etc. I'm going to take my dog for a wander and check my waterwheel. Will it still be going round? Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets...
Rusty on the Patio
Wednesday 28th October
My plan today is to do some serious gardening. The water race needs cleaning up (cold feet), and I need to weed around Duck Lawn. Also the Hazelnut Orchard roses need checking and the ground around their bases weeded. And exciting news - the hedge trimmer is coming. Rusty the dog will enjoy this - something new with super-big tyres to bark at. I have instructions for the hedge-trimmer which include reshaping the blobby conifer by the Frisbee Arch. Yippee!
Boy this cup of tea tastes great! And the air outside feels cold (it's a reasonably early spring morning). Ha! It's day 10 of my Shape Up For Life campaign and I am totally inappropriately dressed for gardening (or meeting and greeting a hedge trimmer) - I have my new jeans on, simply because THEY FIT ME. Perhaps a second cup, a dash of muesli and a soft boiled egg, while I think of more things to do...
Much, Much Later...
The day has been dominated by the hedge trimmer. There is much mess - I've made a start by piling the larger branches together for shredding. I've also burnt three barrowfuls of tiny pieces - well, the wind came up a bit, so I had to bucket water on the remains of the fire. Phew - the rural fire siren started wailing about two minutes after my fire remains went out. I hope it wasn't my smoke that someone reported. Oops.
Hedge Trimmer in the Leylands
The big blobby conifer which crowds out the archway leading into the Frisbee Lawn is smaller. Mugsy the cat has been sitting on the patio table watching the branches fall. What has she been thinking in that tiny brain of hers?
Deciduous Azalea
The southerly shelter over the water race has been topped and 'sided'. There's an incredibly large amount of mess underneath this hedge - every 'top' piece taken off seems as big as a tree.
Pretty Azalea
I did manage some early morning weeding at the back of the Jelly Bean Garden, where the deciduous Azalea is flowering so prettily. I've planted some punnets of blue cornflowers in the gaps where the weeds were. Minimus the ex-woodshed kitten had some compulsory gardening - I carried her down and into the garden.
But - oh boy - I now know exactly what I'll be doing for the rest of the week. There'll be lots of conifer branches to shred and lots more to burn. But the row of Leylands out the back looks great, and there seems to be more light.