Agapanthus in my thoughts...
There's nothing like a good night's sleep to refresh the gardening legs and mind. So early this morning, accompanied by young Minimus, Pond Cottage's most recent resident cat, I took a critical tour of the pond area, cup of tea in my hand, Agapanthus in my thoughts.
And now I definitely have a plan, but it's embarrassingly basic. My new miniature Agapanthus clumps will be planted in all the gaps by the paths. Easy. No problem.
Cannas and Delphiniums
Saturday 19th March
But first - ha! I will endeavour to understand Facebook's newsfeeds and walls, grapple with the Mooseys Country Garden page which nobody seems to have found yet, count up my friends (improving, improving, thanks to my South African gardening friend Jack), pop into Twitter and try and say something interesting...
Twitteradvice...
Saying I'm having a cup of tea might not quite hit the target - this is twitteradvice from Daughter-in-Law of Moosey, hee hee. How about saying I'm having sushi for breakfast with my friends? Wow - this whirl of social networking is fun!
Another Autumn Bonfire
Later...
Ha! I am back from sushi and off into the garden. But is this interesting? Hmm...
Much Later, After a Most Interesting Day...
I've had a brilliant day, because I've had not one but two family helpers. One has been raking, carting, and burning the mess behind the pond, while the other has divided and planted lots of Agapanthus. I've been trimming Phormiums and trying to make the pond network of paths totally accessible for wobbly older women. Yippee for the family that does gardening together, I say. NGP has been excused - he's been carting firewood and exercising Rusty the dog.
Rusty the Dog is on Facebook
Facebook is slightly silly - silli-ish? As is my family - well, one of them, who is bored, and has just put Rusty the dog on Facebook, with his own page. He will probably end up with more friends than me.
Autumn gardening isn't all about raking and having bonfires. I do have some nice flowery colourful things to report - new Delphiniums flowering in the perennial garden, roses along the water race looking beautifully fresh, and of course lots and lots of mainly red dahlias blooming madly. And one early sign - the Cercis Forest Pansy's leaves are turning a rich cherry red.
New Apricot Rose by Water Race
Sunday 20th March
It rained overnight - the rain noise on Pond Cottage's roof was lovely, but the random splatterings from dripping trees afterwards disturbed the sleep patterns of the occupants. Young Minimus the cat kept wanting to go outside and investigate, and the window is shut for fear of being 'moused' in the middle of the night. Discovering nothing, she then wanted to get back in again. I blame the moon for being so big. Cats are sensitive, you know.
Lemon Flower Carpet Roses
Challenges...
But this is trivial when compared with my latest social networking challenges (Facebook and Twitter). Please understand that all I've done up to now is socialise with my cats (six), my dog, a few garden gnomes, and compulsively write about everything and nothing, in an unworldly, free-of-consequences sort of way.
Changing Times
But these innocent garden times are changing - now, as well as just being a real person (me) I am a brand (Mooseys Country Garden). Hee hee - I'm not quite sure what I think about this. Maybe I'll have to start noticing the outside world and thinking serious thoughts - about things other than where to plant my remaining Agapanthus. Pity the sleepless Head Gardener who lies awake worrying about her Facebook presence, rather than the presence of live wriggling midnight mice (courtesy of young Minimus).
Shizz?
Aargh! My web-master son calls this branding of Mooseys Country Garden 'pimping mums gardening shizz'. This youthful language seems rather daft. 'Shizz'? In my garden? Never mind the missing apostrophe. If I was braver I'd look the word up in an online dictionary...
Mooseys Country Garden - Important Branding Announcement
Anyway, since all good mothers do what their sons tell them, Mooseys Country Garden on Facebook needs 25 fans. Your help will be gratefully appreciated (so I can get back to the garden). When something is new (aargh!) and puzzling (aargh!) a cat has one of two reactions - it will either run and hide, or throw a leg up into the air and furiously wash its bottom. I will do neither of these things - I am going to throw a trailer load of rubbish onto my bonfire.
Gingko Tree
Later...
Done. A heap of stuff has gone up in smoke, including dahlia trimmings. I've tidied the house border where my Canna lilies grow. I've been disappointed how floppy and hopeless the dahlias here have been this summer, thinking it was a combination of me (no stakes) and the wind. Well, well, well... Someone has been clearing out wet gum leaves etc. from the guttering (or spouting?) above and just slopping them all down onto the garden below. No wonder the dahlias were horizontal.
Mustn't be too cheeky, though, because that same someone is fixing the house decking as I write. House maintenance is just as important as garden maintenance, I guess.
On Tweeting...
I've got it. I tweet whenever I think I've said something interesting. Or funny. In my journal. But then I'll just be repeating myself. Won't this be boring? Hmm... Another puzzled Moosey thought swirls around the murky depths of the Twitterpond...