Overflowing with gardening ideas...
This is ridiculous. It's early-morning dark, and my head is overflowing with gardening ideas. Dig this, plant that... The silliest plan so far is to shift a sturdy metal rose arch.
Choisya Re-Flowering
Why? Because on one side the conifer has grown too large, and I can't get anything to grow on the clear side. There are easier solutions, surely - how about getting up on a step-ladder and doing some conifer-pruning? Or trying to grow something that isn't a budget-priced climbing rose? Or fortifying the soil? Hmm...
Sunday 22nd March
The cat-boys Mugsy and Minimus are wrestling (though Minimus the kitten could dramatically change gender when he/she goes to the vet in a few weeks time). It seems to be staying dark, too - I wonder if I've miscalculated and it's the middle of the night? Oops...
- 'Simplify and Spend.'
- Key to Garden Improvement.
Today (when today finally arrives!) I want to finish my work in the driveway borders. I'm actually enjoying non-random gardening - I see much more detail, and can make more sensible changes. I'm improving - thinking big, being solid, rather than flitting around being disjointed. My garden work consists of two basic elements -'simplify' and 'spend'.
Liriope
For example, I have fallen in love with swathes of medium sized Agapanthus - hybrids, of course, and such a great country look - at five dollars a pot. These can replace self-sown Aquilegias, scruffy lilac phloxes, and some struggling lilies underneath the Ginkgo tree. I've never really bought Agapanthus before, and I love the chunky foliage of the smaller plants. Flowers - a real bonus!
I've bought some Lavenders (variety 'Avonview') for Son-In-Law to plant in Rusty the dog's new, extended Lavender Garden. I've also presented him with some fluorescent gardening gloves. Son-In-Law claims 'you don't need to garden to write about a garden'. Hmm... So he's offered to garden for me for a whole day - to prove his point? We'll see, when (if) I publish his gardening report!
Phew - the sky is vaguely lighter than it was. It looks a bit wet outside - but I'm tough! Time for breakfast.
The Side House Garden
Much, Much Later...
The Great Moosey Gardening Machine proudly reached the top corner of the house just as the rain started getting heavy. Now the Head Gardener of that same Gardening Machine is clean and dry in smoky-lilac mohair pullover and denim jeans - and so, naturally, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining.
Non-Gardening Partner is water-blasting the patio - my goodness, what a beautiful colour those tiles actually are! Oops... I should pop outside and take a few photographs of my last few days' work.
And so many little gardening details to report - the removal of silly little self-sown Aquilegias, the repotting of flaxes that are coming apart, the rescuing of white Agapanthus from underneath an overgrown Viburnum, the trimming of Teucrium and the pruning of Pittosporums...
Monday 23rd March
That waterwheel still refuses to rotate - NGP must be wishing that he'd never built the blasted thing! It simply has a perverse personality - a Gemini star sign, that sort of thing. One half of its rotation is super-speedy, and then its other half gets stuck. Ha! Readers with even a slight engineering bent (?) will be thinking - 'balance'!
Yes! Waterwheels, like gardeners, need balance in their lives, in order to turn through time. Hmm... That's about as deep as the Moosey Pond with its freshly scooped-out bottom.
Heuchera
Today I will achieve a better balance by firstly banking a cheque (hee hee), and then visiting the nursery for Heuchera, Agapanthus, and Renga Renga. I need to revisit the Hump's Pittosporum Garden, finish raking the back path, and lay more pea-straw. I have three gardening days in which to reach the Birthday Rose Garden.
Happy Birthday for Thursday!
The Birthday Rose Garden's inspiration is having her birthday on Thursday, when I will ceremonially plant her 2009 birthday presents (probably more roses, hee hee). It must be nice having live presents to think about on one's birthday. Now let me see - I wonder which roses she'd like this year...