Plans and seeds are germinating...
A Frosted Dahlia
The cut and chop back for winter continues, as the weather dictates the gardening activities. Plans for new borders are germinating, along with seeds in the glass-house, and there is a major project to erect a PERGOLA.
Saturday 13th May
We've had a week of worsening weather - ha! I was (happily?) at work earning $$$ to buy truckloads of compost and wood for the PERGOLA. Today I showed the true gardening spirit and gardened in drizzly rain.
Doomed Dahlias
I cut down the frosted dahlias - I do admire them, they are like the captain of the Titanic, hanging on until the last possible moment then going down with the ship...
Anyway, tomorrow I will finish digging the vege / potager and hunt out more bricks to lay the main paths. I have decided to incorporate a diagonal element. Then we will look at PERGOLA design.
Sunday 14th May
I didn't. Instead I cleared the house borders, cut back the catmint, and dug out a most peculiar little grass which was starting to creep. And speaking of grasses, there are "cute" seedlings of an unknown brightish green grass appearing everywhere. Is this a good thing?
The Beginnings of the Potager
Friday 19th May
I am home, sitting with my cats and dog.
Today's list is as follows :
- Finish digging potager?
- Weed Island Bed?
- Dig Frisbee Border?
- Widen other border?
The pros and cons are analysed as follows:
Pros / Cons
- Major earthworks - but can think about pergolas and brick paths
- Boring - ugly creepy weed in there
- Hmmm... popular spot for cat company
- Too vague - which border? How much wider? etc.
Later - I chose number 1. It has been a most satisfying day, six hours of very slow clearing, while I got back in touch with ME. I needed to feel the hours stretching out, to follow the sun's passage through a whole day. Then (six hours later) to get into clean apres-gardening clothes, reflect, feel proud, and fall asleep in a chair.
I didn't let anyone down today (I hope!) or annoy or disappoint anyone. You don't get those problems on cats-and-dog days.
Saturday 20th May
We went to visit a friend's pergola. Things didn't quite go as planned - Stephen kept losing interest and wandering off to talk to cats. I will have to appeal to the design engineer in him (hope this works). Then I poked around weeding near the house. There is so much to do - how come I imagined that winter shuts the garden down???
The House Borders in Mid-May
Sunday 21st May
Today I poked around in a gloomy mood in Middle Border, pulling out seedlings of gorse and broom. Like a princess I am fated to do this for the next 100 years, apparently - this always gets me thinking about New Zealand's early settlers who brought the stuff here...
A most unsatisfying day.