What I should be doing...
Well, I've certainly written a lot so far this April. Not sure if this is a good thing for the garden, though. I should be weeding and mulching madly, getting ready for the arrival of scores of Easter sale plants.
Wednesday 4th April
Ha! The morning started off raining, which is brilliant for my newly planted Pittosporums in their newly mulched New Zealand native Garden. And now, just as I'm about to leave the Moosey Office, the rain has cleared. Great! This means I can go biking with Rusty the dog, and then plant Zephirine Drouhin, my new climbing rose.
Autumn Crocuses and Bird's Nest
Then I'll make plans for my mail order bulbs. I'm glad I saved them from yesterday's possible random planting spree. Now I can make a list - I could even count them! Hee hee.
List of New Spring Bulbs
- Minature Daffodils
- Tete-a-tete, Minnow.
- Scented Daffodils
- 100 assorted.
- Tulips
- Called Fancy Frills.
- Dutch Irises
- These are my free gift! Yippee!
And where should I plant them? Around the house gardens, I think, where they'll be noticed and appreciated. And possibly on the routes I take daily - for example, down the drive, or over to the hen house. Not in the Hen House Garden, though, as my chooks free-range here every day - I don't want the little bulb leaves being eaten. Whenever I hear my rooster chortling with delight I wonder what new little plant treasure he's discovered to eat.
The Moosey Rooster
Right. I'm off outside. Random thought - I'm glad I remembered to trim back my blue Delphniums and my Catmint. They're flowering again.
Later...
I've planted half my bulbs, all around the edge of the house gardens. I had to do a bit of weeding, and I trimmed edges - so that the Island Bed, for example, is now slightly bigger. Most of the Canna lilies are now in full leaf - and the lovely striped Bengal Tigers are flowering. They seem to do their thing very, very late in the season for me. Now I'm going to do my piano practice and cook tea at the same time. This should be interesting.
Thursday 5th April
Time for some retired lifestyle thoughts. One has to try every single day to make some outside contribution - that's outside the self, not outside physically as in the garden! Then one has to make some progress personally - this could be going swimming, or doing an hour's Albeniz piano practice (or both, hee hee). There should always be something for the immediate garden - for example, spring bulbs planted in the Birthday Rose Garden, and for the future garden - for example, 500 mixed bulbs ordered from a local daffodil farm.
The Back Lawn
Then relationships. There should be at least one half decent conversation with the dog, preferably when together biking or walking. And at least one connection with a cat - in this case it's me telling B-Puss that I looooooooove him, and he is so beautiful, in fact he is the best cat (oops - sorry Jerome, Stumpy, Fluff-Fluff, Tiger, and little Mugsy). Later, an intelligent conversation with the resident engineer - reminders about a suitable water driven pump for the wriggling stream, and discussion about Easter gardening plans he is involved in. For example, tomorrow there are hostas and a trailer load of bricks to pick up, plus the 500 mixed daffodils, and the nursery Easter sale to visit - he gets to push the trolley.
Crepuscule in Autumn
Right. I'm off to the vet to do my third cat courier job - a bewildered adult male, tabby and white, who will be returned to Judith's cat colony later tonight. I've had a fabulous retired day!
Friday 6th April - Good Friday
Happy Easter. I've been to the nursery sale, I've picked up the bricks and hostas, and 600 daffodil bulbs, and started planting them. Rescued grey fluffy kitten is spending the long weekend here, and he's been purring and smooching and being extremely lovely. So brave! So all I've really done is get driven around in the car, spend money, and play with the kitten - and I'm really tired! How silly!
New Zealand Flax
My Easter sale plants are all lined up by the Stables garden and I've written their names and their destinations in one of my notebooks. Two Apricot Scentasia roses are destined for the front of the Birthday Rose Garden. My other purchases are mainly foliage perennials (like ornamental artichokes, woolly leafed Bergenias, grasses and New Zealand natives). And the nicest thing about the Easter sale? The bargain bin gets restocked, so tomorrow morning I can zoom down to the nursery again! Hee hee.