A list of new plants!
After indifferent weather this week, the weekend promises to be sunny! I'm going to finish the Wattle Woods clean-up, lay the route of the new path, then look critically at the new garden area with pen and paper in hand. I can feel a list of new plants!
Winter Colour
Friday 7th July
New trees, shrubs, and assorted plants! New colours! New styles! Sounds like a fashion make-over... New Zealand natives are allowed as long as they - pull their weight? Hebes are fine, and Pseudopanyx hybrids (particularly the lighter green ones) will turn into lovely small trees. Camellias and Rhododendrons? Why not? And some summer flowering shrubs?
Seed Catalogue Arrives
More excitement - I have just received THE New Zealand seed catalogue (Kings Seeds) in the post. Already there is a cryptic system of scribbles, ticks and stars on each page. I've circled annuals that I've grown successfully from seed in the past, like the purple cornflowers and the mahogany coreposis. They are definitely on my hit list.
The arrival of the catalogue always causes a great flush of new season's resolutions. I will do 'it' right this year! I will not lose interest or get bored with my seeds. I will check on them every day. See - it's already started! My responsible, trustworthy seed-raising inner-self has re-emerged.
Rusty the Dog :- Rusty loves going for cycle rides down the road.
Today I have to take the patient Rusty Dog for a quick bicycle trip around the block, and then I will zoom into the garden. I promise to peep in the glass-house to see how my seedlings already in existence are going. Hope they're still there!
Saturday 8th July
Yesterday afternoon, for about three hours, I did proper gardening! A spot of weeding, a spot of raking - spreading of mulch, trimming of shrubs - then standing back to look and think (rather than sulking and clearing snow damaged tree rubbish). I actually made a creative winter connection with the lower Wattle Woods - worried fellow gardeners will rejoice! The whole area could easily be renamed the Wattle-less Woods, but that's another story!
The Stables Garden Survived the Snow
Then I dumped heaps of compostable, green-wet rubbish (yippee!), leaving only three loads of woody and gum-leafy rubbish to burn - which I did, keeping warm in the semi-darkness of dusk. This is the first fire I've enjoyed for weeks!
The main Wattle Woods path will be the line separating the cultivated from the natural and messy. Ha! Therefore a large species flax - sorry - comes out today. A tree-squashed Yellow Wave hybrid will be replanted (with a little light trimming) on the fence side of the Wattle Woods path. Thus a new order gradually sweeps though the damaged garden. Ha!
Time to get going outside. Beige Puss has just had a terrible battle with the tissue-box monster. There is much mess. B-Puss, Boy Cat - I thought the B was for Beautiful, Bold, Brave .... not Bored! You've obviously spent far too much time socialising with the dog...
Garden Hose
Later - Six Hours Later, In Fact...
Well. One more Wattle tree is down - all logs stacked, all smaller branches burnt. One cream, pink and green flax is dug up, and will be planted at the very back of the Wattle Woods. Another large bronze flax is out - except I've pulled off new pieces with roots, and have put them in buckets, hedging my bets - in case I learn to love Phormium Tenax flaxes again.
A third large and unremarkably green flax was nestling behind the glass-house, squashing the Camellias - it is out, and has gone to the flax dumping place. Because the soil is so moist these flaxes are coming out rather easily - just the tiniest bit of axing required today.
Fluff-Fluff the Gardening Cat
Every minute I've had one fearsome gardening cat for company - Fluff-Fluff - who has trotted back and forth alongside the wheelbarrow, climbed all over the tree branches, and sat on the grass staring at the burning heap. Fluff-Fluff has one bizarre garden habit, though.
Whenever a hole is dug in the soil he jumps into it, not to use as a toilet, but as a potential sleeping spot. The deeper the hole the better - he curls his tail around his body and simply relaxes in the dirt.
+5
As a gardener who has (sadly) buried dear departed cats in my garden I find this behaviour visually upsetting! Not to mention the fact that Fluff-Fluff gets an extremely grubby tummy. As a reward for such faithful furry friendship - some extra special and terribly expensive dried cat food, and some extra points in the Most Valuable Pet Competition.
Which Seeds to Choose?
Flower seedlings
I peeped at my existing flower seedlings in the glass-house - they seem to be fine, if small, and there is no sign of fungal trouble. I will prick them out tomorrow. Perhaps this coming summer my garden will be successfully filled with beautiful annual flower colour. My list of new purchases from the new seed catalogue is almost ready!
Sunday 9th July
The days are getting longer. The sun is getting higher. Winter will soon be over? I have a two page list of seeds to buy - the vegetable selections are sensible (only three lettuces), and there are no apricot coloured annuals, my odd attempt to be minimally colour co-ordinated.
Aargh! Rose Pruning!
This morning, touch wood (touch wattle wood!), the tree damage will be officially cleaned up. There, there - that didn't really take too long, did it? Only four full-on gardening weeks - a mere bagatelle! Finished just in time to prune all the roses and do yet more burning...
This morning, just before dawn, I was fiercely and most energetically mind-gardening. I am full of dizzy, sunny ideas! The new Wattle Woods gardens are remarkably sunny, and I can definitely make some changes.
The Wattle Woods :- The Wattle Woods are the largest garden area in my garden.
For example, I will reposition some of the cramped roses, chop down the damaged hebes, and dig out the huge stumpy remains of an original bargain bin 'little red flax'. Another idea - I do love the red flaxes when they are smaller - so I could replant smaller versions as foliage ornamentals, and strike swiftly with the axe as soon as they get too big...
There is so much to do! And I am re-energised, thanks to my seed catalogue, and all the beautiful flowery colours in the Forum. I want everything to be more colourful in my own garden! Armed with my latex inners and thermal outers (gloves), my best gardening cat, and my wheelbarrow full of important stuff, I am off!