OK, October...
Kowhai Flowers
OK, October, month of sunshine, weeds, and wonders. How's it going out there? I have a few little requests. Please, no whispers of equinoxial gales, no southerly storm tickles, and no sneaky visits in the night from Jack Frost.
Oh, and while I'm asking, no unseasonal snow, and let the October rain be gentle and nurturing. None of those driving angular sheets which flatten the irises. Oh, and could you please encourage the irises to flower properly? I think that's about all, for now...
Wednesday 2nd October
I need to update my garden report on the Big Clean-Up After the Biggest Winds in Moosey History, which must be boring the gardening pants off everyone. I mean, this has been going on and on for eighteen days, and more!
Over the last three days (two of which were last month, to be pedantic) a man-sized bonfire in the front paddock has slowly but surely dealt to the remains of one super-sized Eucalpytus tree. I've also cleaned up two-thirds (pedantic again) of the ram paddock. The large pine logs get rolled up to the top of the hill, then I let them loose to wobble down into the front paddock for collection in the trailer. It's a giant game of lawn bowls, and those logs are very 'biased'.
Yesterday I had a mental breakthrough. I did normal gardening for one two hour session - planting out hybrid Verbascums and trays of annual yellow daisies. I also pricked out more seedlings, and sent others outside to begin hardening off. Flower production! Yippee! And I noticed the first hostas have had an amazing growth spurt in the last week. Wonderful foliage plants, these.
First Spring Hostas
Now to things yellow. My Kowhai tree is finally flowering. It's a slightly muddy yellow, but so beautiful. And two early soft yellow roses must get a mention too. The yellow Banksia in the old plum tree is flowering from the top down, so I'd need a hot-air balloon to take any photographs.
Canary Bird Rose
The beautiful species rose Canary Bird has just started, with a few blooms, behind the fence in the Jelly Bean Border. Another Canary Bird is sulking in the Shrubbery, where my rather haphazard 'landfill' of compost, horse manure, and mulch has not produced the most nutritious soil, rose-wise. Oops.
Canary Bird Rose
This morning I'm waiting for my gardening clothes to dry. Excuses, excuses! Time to pop a few pieces in the jigsaw. Then I'm off to pick up horse manure, a couple of big bags of potting mix, and who knows...
Late Lunchtime...
Well done me! Lots of seedlings pricked out, more Verbascums planted, and I've taken lots of cuttings of perennial Salvias (love that blue colour), Scabious and Stachys. They are three wonderful edging plants, and lovely to be able to bulk them out myself, with no money changing hands, hee hee.
Growing your own is therapeutic as well as thrifty.-Moosey words of wisdom.
I impressed myself at the potting mix store, walking purposefully past rows and rows of pansies shouting out 'Instant Colour! Only $1:95 Each!'. I didn't hear a thing. I grow my own colour, so there. I can recommend this - growing your own is therapeutic as well as thrifty. It's well worth the effort.
Forget-Me-Nots in the Pond Paddock
The light today has been nice for photographs, and while snapping this and that I've indulged in some 'Wander-Past Weeding'. But this is so lightweight, so after my break I'm going to sit down somewhere with my buckets and scrapers and weed properly. I've also found a pine tree fallen down in the Hump - shock, horror! Just when I think I've seen the end of pine branches. It's blocking a path, and has trashed an Ake Ake. Oh well. I can clean it up later today.
So Far So Good...
Well then, October, so far so good. Long may you and I continue. Is it OK to ask a few more things of you, as the gardening days go by?