Oh dear...
Berberis Colour in Winter
Oh dear. There's an unpleasantly wet southerly gale blowing outside, and I have gardening work to do! Rusty the dog is hunkered down in his chair - will my morning start the same way?
Tuesday 8th June
I have, in no particular order, more Agapanthus to plant (in the Hump, alongside the new paths), three post holes to dig (depth approximately 500mm) for the new shed, and a huge amount of rubbish next to the bonfire to burn. I also have several TV programmes which I've recorded and need to watch (high quality viewing - my 'soap', and last year's America's Next Top Model). Hee hee. I think I know now how this chilly, wet and thoroughly miserable (outdoors, that is) day will begin.
One and Half Hours Later...
Ha! Random as ever, Son of Moosey and I decided to do the digging first. Three holes are ready, three to go. We finished just as cold rain really started to pelt down - perfect. It's a pity that dogs don't dig vertical holes, or Rusty could have helped. He just watched and looked a bit puzzled, wet ear fur crimping in the rain.
For my reward (the TV can wait until I'm too tired to think creatively) I have a gardening library book to read (I had an initial peep at it last night). This one is a coffee-table goodie - it's by Monty Don (who I find terribly wise and quotable) and it's called The Sensuous Garden. Not the Sensual Gardener, thank you very much!
Wednesday 9th June - Happy Birthday to Younger Son of Moosey
Aargh! What a ghastly day yesterday turned into - bleak, wet, three degrees (Celsius), hopeless really for anything outdoorsy. And totally dark just after 5pm. I reminded myself that this is the reality of winter, and I was snug inside a well-insulated house full of friendly purring cats, with loads of firewood to burn and good books to read...
Younger Son :- Younger Son of Moosey is helping with the new garden shed. Today is a reasonably old birthday for him, though!
Right. Today there's no rain, so I will be outside burning my rubbish. There's nothing much else (for once) to say. Winter gardening can be seriously dour and repetitive. But first, while the frost thaws and the sun gets a bit higher and warmer I'm off swimming. I'll be picking up some pretty variegated leaf Pelargoniums on the way home.
Winter Salvia Blues
Much, Much Later...
A new concept to cheer up any Head Gardener who is making disappointing progress with her piano playing, and who didn't realise that building a garden shed was so difficult. It's called 'Affirmation Swimming', and works like this.
You swim a length for every person and animal that you love having in your life, in no particular order. It may be significant that my first length was for my little grey cat Minimus. You can lump people together - I swam one length for all three of my choir musical directors. And rather guiltily I realised I'd swum lengths for four dearly departed pets before remembering the very much alive Lilli-Puss. Oops.
And then, feeling very affirmed (honestly) I tried to get the first three holes for the shed foundations level. Except I couldn't lift the wood with the posts, so I couldn't use the spirit level to check. Blast these puny womanish upper arms!
And Now the Bonfire...
I spent the next three hours burning all the rubbish heaped around the bonfire. This was extremely difficult, due to two days of serious rain. More details? You betcha! I had to get gum bark and Cordyline leaves from assorted trees around the garden, and these drier combustibles helped. Think of my bonfire as a conical lasagne (?) with sheets of wet and dry stuff, and sprinklings of gum leaves - that must be the cheese?
Three New Gnomes
Sorry about all this. Time I had a coffee and thought about Poulenc and Bach (which I must be able to play better). Non-Gardening Partner is coming home early to pour concrete into the shed's post holes, and then I am off to choir.
Thursday 10th June
Firstly, I say good morning to Percy the ginger cat, sitting firmly on my lap, snuggling into my woolly owl jersey. He is my too-cold-outside indicator, so I guess I wait until the frost thaws. Then I go and pick up my Agapanthus plants and three more garden gnomes (oops). The supply of second hand gnomes is very random, and this new trio are already very smartly painted up, with regulation red hats. And I don't care how mad I sound - my garden is big enough for us all!
And then I dig three more holes for the garden shed, so everything is at right angles. And I remind myself that small steps of progress are exciting parts of any journey - I never thought that slow-digging holes for posts could make me so proud. Hmm...
Later, Mid-Afternoon...
Please allow me to chart my hole-digging progress. I know this makes non-riveting reading, but hey! I've just dug the three remaining holes, and the wood length with the posts fits them. The holes are probably about two-thirds deep enough, but now I'd like them to be checked by the foreman and project manager (NGP).
Here Beginneth The Shed...
And any of you who are scoffing (how difficult is it to dig post holes anyway?) need to consider these four things:
- Stones of varying sizes.
- Tree roots.
- My arthritic fingers.
- One large fluffy ginger cat getting totally in the way.
Ha! After coffee I'm off to plant the Agapanthus and take some cheery photographs of my new gnomes. Fluff-Fluff the cat has followed me around - his paws are filthy, and his fur is covered in pieces of the garden. My dearest gardening companion, watching me dig supersized cat-latrines...
Later...
A day of tiny triumphs - all the Agapanthus planted and firewood collected. I'm going apres-gardening now with my head full of happy winter gardening thoughts (it doesn't take much). Will have to remove Percy off my owl jersey - yet again, a woollen garment passes the cat consumer test. Yippee for me, I say...