Thanks for My Pond...
Water is a precious gift in the garden at any time. But, oh boy! My long-furred dog Rusty and I give hot summer thanks for the pond. He belly-flops in, legs whirling, and dogpaddles efficiently towards his floating tennis ball. I am rather more slinky.
Dogpaddling Around...
Slowly, slowly, the water level is allowed to creep up and envelope my gardening body. Eek! Oooh! Eek! Then I dogpaddle around and around the edge, checking out the waterside fishing gnomes. The pond is deep, and the water feels wonderful. Round and round...
Rusty the Dog leaps into the Pond
+5I don't need the lure of a tennis ball or a floating stick. I love staying in the water, too. Though I can't do that ridiculous shaky-shaky thing that Rusty the dog does so well afterwards. Oh well. Each to his or her own...
Friday 1st February
Aarh! It's a bit too hot to garden happily outside today. It's even a bit too hot to sit in the garden underneath a tree and read. Time for another pond swim, I think, after I shift the hoses. And suddenly it's February. Eek! What haven't I done yet this year? Don't answer that...
Does that water look cold? Well, it is!
Several ornamental trees (the Esk Sunset Sycamore, for one) have their leaves wilting, edges burnt by the sun. I've organised some slowly dribbling hoses. And I've been bucketing water into all the patio pots. It's my summer job to look after them - after all, I am the person who planted them. Poor things!
Sudden Valley :- Perhaps you'd like to see some more pictures of the Sudden Valley trip? Have a peep.
Yesterday I was hiking up a river bed (Sudden Valley Stream) in Arthur's Pass. The temperature was recorded at 31 degrees Celsius, and I was happily sloshing through the cold mountain water with Non-Gardening Partner.
Today, basking in the memories of a successful and challenging trip, February has sneaked up on me. Not that it matters. But so little gardening done! By local standards these last days have been hot, hot, hot. A bit too hot to garden.
Saturday 2nd February
Oops. Another February day has floated past while I've been puddling around in the heat. There's been much watering, and thinking about all the things I'll do when the weather cools off.
Pond Decking Table and Chairs
Reading in the Shade...
I've been reading my library books in the shade - the pond decking table, underneath the sun umbrella, is my favourite place. Just being next to the water seems to have a cooling effect (thankfully there are hardly any mosquitoes).
Sunday 3rd February
Today with Little Mac in attendance I weeded for an hour in the Stumpy (AKA Willow Tree) Garden by the water race. It's the time for pulling out the Lychnis plants, and naturally they've been sheltering all sorts of little undesirables. It was too hot to be energetic, and I came to a standstill seeing all the weeds by the water. What to do? Weed mat, covered with river stones? I'll put that into the 'Too Hot' basket, and decide on a cooler day. I have an instinctive mistrust of weed mat, anyway...
OK, I've had my pond swim, and now it's time to bucket some water onto the herb spiral, put the drippers on the orchard roses, and think about the evening meal - fish-n-chips and a nice cool beer.
Red Nasturtium
Going To Seed Already!
The hot sun has sent my Nasturtiums (and the annual Salvias, which flowered for ever last summer) into seed-producing mode. I can't remember having so many old envelopes folded over, flower names scribbled on, full of seeds this early in the season.
Oops...
Oops. One of the reasons I'm not writing much is that I'm not gardening much. I'm also still thinking about that lovely river valley, and already planning another trip.
Actually it's high time I shook off this heat-laziness and wrote a decent gardening list. I could do that tomorrow, when the weather is supposed to cool off a bit...