A sulk-free September
A sulk-free September - can I do this? Yes I can. This will be really good for my garden. There will be no awkward silences as I wheel yet another barrowful of hedge trimmings to the bonfire. I will be jolly, light-hearted, even-tempered, and pleasant at all times. My friends will like me! A humph-free September would be nice, too, so my journal pages can ripple with delight after delight.
Monday 1st September
Here in my garden the first day of September is the first day of spring. Yippee for the Camellias! And the forget-me-nots and early pansies, their little blue flowers so insignificant until I bend down to inspect them. They have such beautiful markings - the prettiest design details.
Blue Pansies
Oh, I'm having my official birthday week. The idea is to something of everything nice that I like doing, each day, leading up the 8th September, when I will officially become an old-age pensioner. Hee hee.
Pretty Striped Daffodil
Birthday Beethoven...
Today already I have been for a swim and played the 'two-fat-ladies-squashed-on-a-bus' Beethoven piano duets with my friend. My dog is squeaking at me, so we'll now go for a short walk. Yet another nice thing to do...
Tuesday 2nd September
OK. Today I should do some Birthday Bonfiring. Just to test out my no-sulking in September policy I have a runny-nose head-cold. If I can get through this without succumbing to the sulks it will be a first! I hate having a cold!
Much Later...
Blast. It's been too windy to burn. But I've had a delightful day - some unexpected Birthday Bach with my flautist friend, followed by an hour of weeding. Pretty uncomfortable for the running nose of the decade, but hey!
Lots of my so-called 'October weeds' (shot-weed) are already flowering, and I need to be gently vigilant and pull them out. I should also change their pet name to 'September weeds', I guess...
Pink Camellias
Pink Camellias
More Camellias are in bloom. Now the deep pink one by the house is flowering, as well as the two cooler pinks behind the Stables. These shrubs are all overloaded, dripping with flower buds.
And pink is such a beautiful garden flower colour. Anyone who bans pink from their flowerscapes is missing out on so much. Might as well ban green, I reckon.
Wednesday 3rd September
I have had the best day. First Rusty and I drove to my friend who lives inland at Whitecliffs and did lots more gardening with her. After a late lunch and coffee I felt really inspired to do more in my own garden, so home we zoomed. First I wheeled six barrowloads of hedge trimmings to the bonfire.
Then the fun bit - I pricked out my very first spring seedlings (which I germinate in the glass-house). I am now the proud nurturer of fifty lettuces, eighteen pink cornflowers, and thirty five dwarf blue cornflowers, all from my home seed collection. And this is only the beginning...
+10Another spring beginning - one lamb has been born so far, and looks tall and sturdy. Mother ewe isn't keen on me getting too close with my camera, though. Fair enough.
Thursday 4th September
Today is the day I prove that I am a gardener of steel. I still have my head-cold, the nasal details of which do not need detailing here. But I intend to fight the sniffles and snorts (Enough! No details required). I am hoping to completely clear the Wattle Woods : weeds, paths, remains of the tree-trimming, and so on. Simultaneously I want to finish barrowing and burning all the hedge trimmings. I will also check on the pruning requirements for the orchard climbing roses.
Me on a Mulch Mountain :- I now have three mulch mountains, the contents of which need to be spread around the garden. Better get busy!
But there's more! I have two more mountains of tree-trim mulch to use. The idea is to surface weed the back of the Welcome Garden (down the beginning of the driveway), possibly lay newspaper down, and spread the mulch thickly over the top around the shrubs.
Right. Having written all this down, two things seems obvious. There is no time for a swim, or a trip to a cafe for lunch and coffee with my friend. Wait! Cancel the former, but get properly organised, have a clean shirt waiting at the back door, and zoom out for sushi. That is, after at least two solid hours work. Go, go, go!
Much, Much Later...
So how good am I? I've worked for seven hours, as well as taking that short sushi break. Ignoring my dripping nose I have mulched and raked and weeded and burnt hedge trimmings. In my glass-house I have potted up rooted cuttings of red Penstemons and lilac shrubby Lavatera, which I sensibly took last autumn. I've thought friendly thoughts about my garden, and I've said hello to every single nodding yellow daffodil I've passed by.
Cream and White Daffodils
Next door, after months of abandonment of the tree mess, a big rattling orange grabby machine is trundling around the front paddock. It seems to be building random piles of stuff. One shudders at the thought of forty large haphazard bonfires smoking merrily. So what would I do? It takes me long enough to operate one modest bonfire and clean up the blasted hedge trimmings (they are still not finished). Better not criticise. And definitely no need to 'humph'...
Small Thought...
Today four years ago my land was shuddering every minute with aftershocks (after the earthquake at 4:30am). The pheasant was honking furiously and I wasn't happy. Nothing was at peace. This was the beginning of my biggest sulk ever - I even cancelled my birthday. Hmm...