Tiny question...
Tiny question - one of those 'oops' questions - do I want to buy myself a cute shabby chic white wire two-seater garden seat? How do I reconcile this with 2010's Zero Dollars Gardening Budget? Could it be a late Christmas present from me to me, so I spent the money last year?
Wednesday 6th January
Right. I am meeting my friend at swimming and then we are off trawling the Charity shops. I am looking for gnomes - although I am on a serious budget, I have a garden gnome allowance for 2010...
Summer Hypericum Flowers
In my online auctions (from which I am banned, apart from looking for gnomes) there's a 'family' of odd chaps which include a brother (a twin?) of the oldest Moosey gnome. But I would have to fly up to the North Island to collect them.
Bach with Rupert :- Rupert is the fishing gnome, while Bach, wearing his little waistcoat, is watching.
And I'd have to take several improper ones e.g. a gnome in speedos (skimpy man-swimming togs) with far too much flesh showing. Wistfully I have resisted. I am very aware that 'Bach', the Moosey original gnome, will have hundreds of concrete and plaster gnome-clones out there somewhere - nothing to get sentimental about.
Much Later...
Oops. My friend and I have been shopping all day. No gnomes, but I've bought a good collection of stuff which doesn't really count - like two more blue gardening shirts. Honestly - how many does one need? Anyway, it's been jolly hot, so I've got the hoses on and I've been hand-watering the new old roses. Minimus the cat thinks it's a game and leaps upon the place where the water is dripping, getting rather wet in the process. I've done no gardening today, but I've been seriously thinking. I also bought a stack of glazed green garden pots and a couple of garden accessories (baskets with wire bits). Real bargains - honestly!
The Back of the Stables Mural
I'm resisting the urge to write a list for tomorrow's gardening. I fear I can think of at least ten vitally urgent items. Blast!
Thursday 7th January
Right. What shall I do first? How good (that is, obedient and responsible) am I feeling? For there is much to do, and a lot of it involves wheeling the barrow (through paths broad and narrow...) spreading mulch and horse manure (alive alive-o). Sorry about that. If I write a list of things to do I'll scare myself off. It's so sad - I have one day off from gardening and already I can list twenty things I should have done.
I need to remember that the Garden Club are visiting again, for a twilight tour in early February. So the paths must be clear, and really - I should do a-path-a-day. And weeding - that's an ongoing garden task for this time of year. And I do have my barrowful of trimmings to collect - they'll probably all be dead-heads from the roses. Even the Iceberg roses have pretty much finished their first flowering flush.
Daylilies :- These favourites grow in the Driveway Garden.
I love the daylilies this year - especially some of the creamy-yellow hybrids. I'm less fond of the ones with purple and/or flesh-toned ones, and those daft little Siloam ones. Oops - that sounds a bit rude. It may be a bit ho-hum, but I think a daylily is better off being yellow.
Look - I am going to write a list, otherwise I'll be mentally blithering all day. Sorry about this.
- Patio Potting
- The little Maple etc. Dump old parsley from blue bucket, move pelargoniums out into pots.
- Weeding
The Hen House Garden and path - in the morning shade would be sensible.
- Trimming
- The house roses - remember that the secateurs are semi-lost.
- Mulching
- The Shrubbery - horse manure covered with wood chips.
- Planting
- The Grevillias, the remaining Pelargoniums, the Carex trifidas.
I am even going to write the list items on my hand. There! PP, W, T, M, and P. I mean business.
Later, Mid-Day...
I am chased inside because of persistent rain. I've been doing a circuit for two hours, and have put three barrowfuls of T on the bonfire. I haven't done any W, M, or P. But the PP is a success. I've filled my new bargain pots with an ornamental Oxalis, an oddly variegated Maple, and a rooted piece of variegated Agave. They form an unusual but delightful little pot grouping.
I'm glad it's raining, for many areas of the garden are starting to protest at the hot summer days. The blue Hydrangeas, naturally, find this month a bit difficult. Nothing is really spared when those dry nor-west winds blow. I'm still going to put on the small hoses, though, to top-up the natural irrigation.
Blue Hydrangeas
Yum - there's freshly baked bread for lunch, and I have a Moosey cats and dog Calendar to produce. There are several 'Miss Marples' on my TV recorder to watch, and I have a new serious gardening book called 'How To Care For Clematis'. It's time I tried some more Clematis varieties. But I have my 'zero dollars on plants' 2010 budget to consider...
Confession! Gnome Allowance Mis-Spent!
And confessing up regarding that gardening budget - yesterday I sneakily spent January Week One's gnome allowance on pots. Later today I am bidding for a gnome in an online auction. This will take care of next week's allowance, should I be successful. I can see that this so-called 'gnome allowance' is going to be much used and much abused.