I love writing lists...
Spring Forget-Me-Nots
If I was going to write a gardening list, here are some of the things I'd put on it today. Sow more seeds. Take basal cuttings of sprouting lupins. Spread woodchips over remaining paths, horse manure on gardens...
Monday 20th August
No mention, as yet, of weeding. This list is good! I like this hypothetical list. In fact, when I get back from swimming (and grocery shopping, ugh) I might release it into reality. It helps that the trailer is sitting in the car layby by the house. Good morning, woodchips! I'll bet you're all looking forward to being released onto my beautiful semi-spring garden paths.
Percy :- Dear Percy is rather timid at times.
Small beginnings - I've picked the first daffodils for the house. And some cat news - ginger Percy is back. He's been sulking for three days, and has made himself completely invisible, as he can, thus worrying his humans. Last night I wandered around with a torch in the darkness calling and calling. Hmm... Into the cottage window he popped five minutes later, eyes as wide as dinner plates. So this morning's groceries will include his favourite pet meat - kangaroo. Thus I will pay penance for interrupting his world (with a nice big brown dog and nice visitors). Percy is so picky!
Woodchips on the Path
Much Later...
I've spread more woodchips on the path behind the pond, supervised by young Minimus, who has been playing up for the camera. Then it started to drizzle, so I cut some lupin shoots and put them in seed-raising mix, with plastic bottles on top. I am so lucky that I remembered my camera, sitting on the pond decking table, before the drizzle turned to rain, as it has done.
Spring is Coming...
And I'm so lucky that spring is coming. The Moosey Webmaster has been helping me upload some spring videos, taken way back in the year 2010. Naturally I've watched them and gone all gooey at the fresh green growth, the blossom and the Clematis flowering, the pretty spring flowers, and Stu my spring pet lamb. It all looks so idyllic - and then there's the daft-sounding person (me) doing the commentary. Dear Stu lamb - he was so much fun to look after. He still makes me smile when I think of him.
Aha! Piano practice beckons. Schumann and Albeniz, plus Hue's flute pieces for tomorrow's chamber music rehearsal. Again I'm lucky. Good gardening followed by good music. Well, hopefully good enough.
Gnomes Watching the Cottage
Tuesday 21st August
Chamber music was brilliant (French composers certainly know how to show off the flute). As soon as I got home I finished spreading the woodchips, raking them all over the paths behind the pond. I also cleaned out muddy leaves from the little wriggling stream which runs through the Wattle Woods. But I foolishly did all this with my good jeans on, and no gardening gloves. Oh well, I guess I do my own laundry.
Welcome, Graham...
My little pink rhododendron called Graham is now flowering, and the big reds (Kaponga) in the Wattle Woods are breaking out of their buds. I also checked the arc of Camellias and am pleased to report some bud-burst. Soon there will be pink and red flowers all through the Wattle Woods foliage.
But I need to be super-vigilant and not miss anything. Camellias in particular are easily passed over, the gushing spring gardener (me) too busy searching at ground level for little treasures like miniature daffodils, hellebores (the cool whites are so pretty), and early crocuses. Not to mention the first pale blue forget-me-nots.
Wednesday 22nd August
Tiger the Non-Gardening Cat
I'm inside briefly for a cup of hot coffee, and I'm being so good! I'm weeding the house gardens, raking off gum leaves and generally trying to make the borders look well cared for. I've built a tiny stone wall in front of the purple Erica and back-filled it with horse manure, watched by Tiger the cat, oddly fascinated by the weeds in the wheelbarrow (she never usually comes gardening). I've potted up more lupin cuttings, too.
Wisely, two wheelbarrows are in use - one for compostable weeds, the other for burnables. The plan is to return and burn. Just one bad thing - there are so many dandelions mixed in with the Shastas and Helianthuses, and I can't dig their roots out without messing up the perennials. I'm going to have to squirt them with a chemical weed-killer. Ouch.
Suddenly I have early flowering red rhododendrons everywhere - a big shrub in the Driveway Garden is now blooming for the very first time. I suspect all could be the same variety, all rescued from the bargain bin (names unknown, but possibly just one name) at a local rhododendron nursery. But this doesn't matter - they're in totally different gardens.
Later...
Returned, and burnt, and suddenly it's dark. My goodness - that makes a really long day. I've left the bonfire to gurgle, and I'm having a wine to celebrate. Such good, good, good gardening, with much attention to detail. I even saw some hosta shoots. Oooh... That's a good spring sign, for sure.