The Great Garden Race...
Another Great Garden Race - a southerly storm is trundling up the island, which means rain and cold winds. I need to get plants planed, newspaper and mulch laid, before the wet weather comes, and let nature do the watering.
Rainy Old Rose
Friday 11th May
So there's little time for journal writing. Except I am allowed to record a small breakthrough - I've stroked and picked up two of the foster kittens, tiny gestures but happily accepted, accompanied by purring. They now have names (this could be a bad thing) - Ginger Puss, Littlest Puss, and Hissy Puss. Like a reality competition on TV, one of them will probably be sent home - guess who?
Right. There's no time to lose. It feels like the wind is changing already. Ah, we autumn gardeners are so weather wise! We can sniff out a cold front two hundred miles away!
Morning Tea...
While I've been planting Hebes and grooming Cabbage trees, brave Sir Rusty, Driveway Garden warrior, has been having the most serious battle, leaping and barking, growling and biting. The sad loser is the second Moosey pumpkin, grievously wounded by canine teeth marks. My vegetable garden only produced two, proudly placed in the garage. Aargh! I wonder where it got to.
Nandina
Later...
At three minutes to two o'clock the southerly front turned up - rattling windy trees and pale grey skies, and blobs of rain. In I came to do some compulsory kitten socialisation. Now, an hour later, the sun is shining, and I should leap back into my muddy jeans. But my gardening week has been full on - I reckon I've done over twenty hours work. My goodness - that's nearly fulltime! And what a shame - my jeans are in the washing machine, and it would be excessive to get a new pair dirty, hee hee.
Saturday 12th May
This time next month where will I be? Eek! Hopefully enjoying my friend Liza's roses underneath some European summer sun. It's early to be getting excited about the Moosey Semi-Grand Global Garden Tour. I will be away from my house and garden for a whole month! I haven't even written one list as yet - just you wait!
Greenery in the Wattle Woods
As I write, three kittens are playing climb-the-bookcase. Crash - another garden magazine slithers to the floor. I do hope that these three can soon enjoy climbing trees outside. Small steps - I've picked up Ginger Puss and Littlest Puss again, and they come out of the drawer when I arrive with food. Giant steps? Somehow I don't think so. I fear that it's too late.
Autumn Hostas
Today - I must, must, must be a busy, efficient gardener. I should be sinking (not stinking) onto the sofa about four thirty this afternoon, clean and smug after a grand gardening day. So what shall I do first? Weeding? Raking up more autumn leaves? Checking for flowers and colourful things? I'm off outside, anyway.
Early Afternoon...
Oh dear... I have totally run out of steam. I've been doing sensible things, bending and scratching for three hours, with very little to show for it. I've potted up Renga Renga seedlings from the Wattle Woods path, and weeded. But several important tools are lost - the strong rake, the plastic leaf rake, two pairs of secateurs, and my newest hand digger. I have come inside in a semi-sulk to play with the kittens, with more patting and purring from Ginger Puss and Littlest Puss. Hissy Puss got the back of her neck scratched gently.
I forgot - I did two big piles of shredding, and blew the chippings straight onto the garden. That's actually incorrect - non-gardening partner operated the machine, while I was allowed to feed in branches. It's a noisy beast - NGP wisely wears ear-protection.
Ha! Two More Gardening Hours Later...
Redeemed! I made myself go back outside. I wandered around looking for my lost garden tools, clearing up rubbish at the same time. I found the two rakes, burnt a whole lot more Cabbage tree leaves, and cut down lots more dahlias. Then as a reward I picked a small posy of roses and late salvias.
Moody Blues :- Moody Blues is bred by Sam McGredy, a famous rose breeder who lives in New Zealand. His roses are beautiful.
Look for one thing, find another - while peering into the Wattle Woods to see if my red handled secateurs were in there, I 'found' a Moody Blues rose. It's been tucked in, quite well hidden, near the glasshouse. The original Wattle Woods path used to go right past, but has been moved a few times. Well - that explains why Moody Blues has been overlooked. It's flowering madly at the moment.
Sunday May 13th - New Zealand Mothers Day
What should a NZ mother do in her garden today? I think I will have the day off! Moosey relatives living overseas may not know that it's Mother's Day. And oops - Daughter of Moosey rang on Friday night during a favourite (though dreadfully rubbishy) TV programme, and didn't get much quality conversation. Oops! Love you, JJ - please forgive me for being tragic and choosing America's Next Top Model over you...
I can celebrate being an increasingly successful foster-kitten mother. Good morning Hissy, Littlest, and Ginger Pusses. So far we have had lots of ginger purring (a great thing), and three pianissimo hisses and the tiniest spit from you-know-who. Please wake up, you three - the 'me' who sit down in the corner and gets scampered over and pounced on happily is the same 'me' who stands up and gets run away from.
Much Later...
My Mother's Day has been lovely, and almost gardening-free. My presents have been exciting - three rakes, two plastic and one metal, all with bright orange scrapy bits, and a coffee mug with a moose on it. Ha ha! And Daughter of Moosey has forgiven me - she rang to say hello. All I've done in the garden is to rake up three bags full of oak leaves - with my brand new bright orange plastic rake, of course! And I found one pair of lost secateurs, jammed in the fork of the flowering cherry tree.