What's happening in the summer garden?
I wish that the amount of November gardening taking place was equivalent to the amount I am writing this month. What's happening in the early summer garden? Could it be just a lot of talk about nothing?
Or perhaps I just have so many rose photographs to show that I keep creating new journal pages, especially for them. Forgive me!
House Roses
Sunday 19th November
Anyway, I'm back for some more early morning twittering. Rooster is crowing at a comfortable distance. My six cats are fed (a gourmet fishy concoction - pervasive aroma) - six is a lot of cats to have in one floor space. Beige-Puss is now busy outside trying to catch a pigeon - he is staked out, high in the big gum tree. How can a glowing white cat possibly hunt? Dear cat, never to know the exotic tastes of freshly caught game... Right. It's sunny, and I have lots of things to do.
The Timetable
- 8:00 am - The Piano
- I will do my first piano practice session before I watch...
- 9:00 am - The Rugby
- Then when the All Blacks have soundly beaten the French I will lay down...
- 10:30 am - The Old Newspapers
- ...in the Septic Tank Garden, to be covered with a layer of...
- 11:00 am - The Mulch
- ... which comes from the back paddock.
Hopefully the grass will then be dry enough to be mowed - that means an edge trimming marathon. Eek! Such busyness, such organisation!
Late Lunchtime, Coffee Break...
And such self discipline! All has gone according to plan. The mulch is very slimy and wet, and yet again I have run out of newspapers. I've also done a major weeding session in the Wattle Woods, where all sorts of odd things have popped up out of the compost and are growing well, including foxglove and angelica seedlings (good).
- 'An honest gardener owns his or her weeds.'
- -Moosey Words of Wisdom.
There are also masses of little mountain grasses (moderately good) and the most impressive mass of an annoying unknown annual weed (definitely not good). Unfortunately I cannot blame the compost - or the birds, or even the wind. Though I'd really like to!
I'm sure I have created a sport of Mary Rose - she's grown from a cutting, and her flowers are a deeper pink. I have also rediscovered two new roses, which have been hidden in the Wattle Woods under the overhanging tree branches.
A Sport of Mary Rose
One is a sprawling single, quite a pale pink - my favourite colour of the moment. And then there's a fluffier pinky white one which I'm sure is a David Austin. I need to look back in the very early Moosey journals to see if I have any record of them - they are extremely beautiful! How exciting! Right - the weather is going all bleak and grey. I'd better return outside and get all that mulch on the garden.
Monday 20th November
Eek! Now November is accelerating - the days fly by, and everything in the garden gets bigger and greener. Weedier? My huge newspaper mulching programme must be helping this. Now, as to today - it's a big day, a huge day. I have to trim absolutely all the lawn edges, to compliment their superb freshly mown look. I have to finish putting the mulch on. And then I am off for my first training session for a Women's Triathlon I'm doing early next year (that's swimming, biking, and run/walking).
White Ground Cover
There has been some sniggering from my family and some others. 'But do you run?' my old gardening friend asked, grinning with amusement. I explained that the triathlon has a non-competitive section, and that I will get a certificate for participation. More cackling...
What's so funny about doing new things? I mean, does anyone laugh at Sir Richard Branston? And just think how good my Ravel piano playing will be if I continue playing twice a day. So the Toccata I'm learning has the tempo of a trickle rather than a waterfall, but the notes are still beautiful! It's all a bit like gardening, really - one just gets out there and does things, albeit slowly, and enjoys the personal challenge.
Heuchera
So, fired up with self-motivation, overflowing with self-esteem, I am off to feed my patient animals and get down and dirty in my garden. It looks really amazing this morning, sparkling with sunshine after yesterday's rain. Foliage plants I use a lot, like Heuchera, are in perfect shape. A great plant for edges!
Much Later... Two Triumphant Triathletes!
My friend and I are Intrepid Lady Legends! Jogging 3 kms was a bit of a shock, but the swim and the bike went brilliantly. We have to work on our transitions... Actually I suspect there may be a bit more to work on. But to other friends and family I say just this - never, ever, underestimate a lunatic lady gardener, particularly if she is your mother...
Tuesday 21st November
Yesterday the painters finished painting the house roof - much of the job is done. My goodness the Moosey house looks clean and beautiful! Now I need to get those lawn edges trimmed and finish mulching the house borders. The Moosey legs are - ahem - a little stiff and sore, nothing that gentle gardening exercise can't fix.