Garden Journal 2014

Yippee! Another gardening year - it seems like just yesterday that the Moosey garden was an untamed toddler, and the garden journal was as young and fresh as a daisy. Now both are nearly twenty years old! Surely by now I've matured as a gardener? I love the promise of a new year - well, actually, it's all about me making the promises. For 2014 I promise to be more responsible, work even harder, look after my plants better, and so on. I'll try to be more interesting when I write about the garden, too. Cross fingers!

Happy New Year...: Happy New Year for 2014. So how am I going to start my new gardening year? Aha! I know! I'll do some weeding. Then I might do some more weeding. It's mid-summer here in my garden, and the weeds (like me) are enjoying the warm rain and sunshine. OK, you weeds. Time to be very afraid...
New Year's Resolution needed after all......: After a few directionless January days I've decided I need a New Year's Resolution after all. I thought that recycling the old ones was a brilliant idea, but no - some fresh focus is definitely needed. Otherwise I will float around more than ever and be even vaguer.
Not garden-specific......: Hee, hee. Since my New Year's Resolution is not garden-specific I don't feel terribly guilty that I still haven't weeded behind the pond, or trimmed the edges over the water race, or tied up the beautiful bamboo by the garage, or finished dead-heading the roses and started on the dahlias. Ha!
Summer daze......: Oops. The last few summer days have passed in a rather delightful summer daze (hmmm). My January life is simple. I play the piano, go swimming, do some gardening, poke (ineffectually) at the 3000 piece summer holiday jig-saw (which is too big and too difficult)...
Summer reading......: Reading a chapter of the Booker prize-winning novel before breakfast has me feeling pleasantly bewildered and thoughtful. I ask myself 'What shall I do first?' and for once I don't immediately sense an answer. I just don't feel the need to be busy. Yet.
Wonderful water......: It's the time of year when water becomes so important. Without watering, many of my plants would struggle to be sad summer survivors. The big irrigation ran last night, so lovely for my thirsty garden. Non-Gardening Partner estimates about 50,000 litres went on the house gardens in four hours. Wow!
A lovely floral mess......: Hmm... It's interesting. What, exactly, is 'it', Moosey? Summer garden photography, that's what. My garden is a lovely floral mess at the moment - it's noisy with colour (I blame the dahlias). But I can't seem to get the right effect in my photographs - that's what's interesting me.
Summer pick'n'mix......: The lovely pick'n'mix of summer, my garden, and life - pretty flowers, beautiful sunny days, leafy shade, weeds, good friends, new resolutions. And good news - Fluff-Fluff the dieting cat has lost 0.5kg, and I've discovered a 'new' composer whose piano music I really like - Turina.
So lucky......: From my computer perch in the kitchen I look over to the glass doors and see leafy branches of trees shining in the early-morning sun. And I break into a smile before I've even had time to analyse anything. My garden is out there, it's real, and it's beautiful. Yeay! I am so lucky.
I didn't write this......: Disclaimer : the following was NOT written by me. There is no way I would grump on and on about my neighbour's tree mess. Some other moaning Moosey-clone has infiltrated my gardening journal. Maybe one of my gnomes, bored with fishing...
Be patient!...: There are many different sizes of patience that a gardener must - ahem - cultivate, in order to be at peace in his or her garden. Lawns cannot be mowed until the rain stops, for example. That might only be a couple of days' worth. Trees are another matter. Patience of a deeply rooted nature is required!
Flower Power...: Good morning, Moosey the Gardener, munching a leisurely breakfast, but (most importantly) already wearing gardening clothes, complete with flower blouse. I'm bonfiring first, before the afternoon wind starts up. The gardens near my burning pile are very floral again, and this keeps me cheerful. Flower power!
Neighbour nosiness......: This week's plan involves a certain level of neighbour nosiness. The huge yellow tree-grabber machine is supposed to start cleaning up and felling all next-door's pine trees. The fate of my bunting hangs (ahem) in the balance...
Touching on Tea-Pots......: The garden feels different. There's something in the air that isn't wind, for once - tickles of early autumn, maybe? The light seems softer (of course, the sun's angles are changing). And my newly acquired cat tea-pots (won in an online auction) are simply gorgeous. Start a collection, maybe?
The Occasional Non-Gardener......: It's OK to occasionally become a non-gardener for a few days. Sometimes I do hugely serious non-gardening things with my time. This week I've been writing arrangements for my jazz choir, going hiking in the mountains, and watching the winter Olympics on TV. This is jolly serious - well, maybe not the curling...
My Garden World is Bigger!...: Many of the big pine trees next-door are down now, and everything looks strangely different. There's more light, more sky, and I have long-distance views. My garden world is suddenly so much bigger! A change of scale is so groovy...
Room for Roses......: Hee hee. I've got room for some new roses. Every decent garden has room for just one or two more. But I've been expanding - not me, rather the 'gardenable' area on my property - and the rose nursery is just a pleasant twenty minutes country drive in the Moosey car. A dozen, perhaps? Too greedy?
Down Come the Pine Trees......: It's been too hot to garden, and all I've done is the watering. Most of the boundary pine trees are down now, so conditions in the top of the Driveway Garden are suddenly super-sunny. The deciduous Azaleas are in shock. Eek! Ouch! Where's my dappled shade gone?
Memorial Cat Day...: It's a year ago this morning that I couldn't find Little Mac, our little black and white cat. I've already had a cup of tea in her memory, in a black and white spotted cat mug, and given her memorial tree a bucket of water. I'll never ever forget you, Little Mac, goggle-eyed catlet.
Farewell February......: Oops. February is running out of days. So soon, my flowery, rosy month, so soon! Thanks to you I have a new piece of garden to plant, behind the Welcome Garden. Friendly February, you've been a benign month, garden-wise. No huge dramas, nothing too nasty, apart from a bit of rhododendron leaf-burn from the dry heat. Farewell.
Charming March......: March! My goodness. An anagram of 'charm', which I'd love my garden to exude this month, needing only a little gentle prodding (weeding, pruning, raking, etc.) from me. Actually, the weather forecast is not so charming, so I should be out there right now making things look their loveliest before the storm hits.
A Marge Simpson sigh......: Yippee? No, more of a Marge Simpson sigh. Clearing and planting the new Welcome Garden is a huge task, and makes me feel small. My wheelbarrow looks tiny, and my shovel is toy-sized. And as for my mini-rake - aargh! I just want to be a small gardener with small goals again. This big stuff doesn't suit me.
Autumn transition......: It feels like my garden is in transition from summer to autumn, with squillions of Shasta daisies and other perennials to cut down. Now my lazybones patio tomatoes need to do some serious ripening. ASAP. I'll spell it out. As soon as possible, you little cherry chaps. Ripen so you can be eaten, or else!
'S Wonderful......: So how was your day? Non-Gardening Partner reckons that every day I spend in the garden is a wonderful day. And he's right. Even a trudge-around day like today is really, really lovely, and nice, and - oh all right - wonderful.
A good list......: May I present a list of gardening things I promise to do today. After no gardening yesterday it is pertinent - nay, vital - that my garden's immediate needs, both superficial and deeply-rooted, be itemised immediately. Before I forget anything.
Out, out, damned black spot! ...: Out, out, damned black spot! I've started a tidy-up of the orchard roses. But the more I try the more puzzled I get as how to train and prune climbers. Take Parkdirektor Riggers. His canes are so straight and stiff, and he is not interested in draping himself anywhere near his curved archway. A round peg in a square hole? Or the other way around? Hmm...
A proper country-woman......: Yippee! Rather than listen to and watch next-door's random tree-men-with-machines, I have some of my own to supervise. They are arriving this morning to manicure our huge gum trees and fell a near-dead pine on the edge of the ram paddock. My own tree-men! I am a proper country-woman, for once!
Think like a bumble bee......: Today I'm tempted to list all the gardening things I don't feel like doing. No, no, no! Eliminate Mister Negative! Find nice things and do them. Pretend you like doing the not so nice things. Think like a bumble bee. Buzz around and enjoy the blue flowers of the moment.
Early morning with Percy...: Early morning in Pond Cottage, daylight slowly trickling in the windows, I started to hand-write a gardening list. Funny how ideas don't flow properly with a blunt pencil. Then ginger cat Percy appeared, and needed affirmation - muddy cat-paw prints all over my piece of paper (and the bed-covers). Love you, Percy!
Sociable, scared, then sick......: I have a stimulating non-gardening social life! This morning I am going to 'Musical Play' with the grandbaby, then I'm taking my dog for a long walk. Early tonight I have Jazz Choir. And when I get home I've got America's Next Top Model to watch on TV (sorry to lower the tone).
The Adventurous Gardener...: Christopher Lloyd is helping me get over a nasty head-cold. More specifically, his book 'The Adventurous Gardener', not so ancient as to have black-and-white photographs, but old-school nevertheless. And maybe not so 'adventurous' for the daring modern gardener, but he's certainly providing good quality, ageless company.
More gardening books......: I must read gardening books more often. They are energising. And I cannot be a proper gardener without increasing my knowledge of plants. I don't need to know everything, but at least I can try to learn more of the important things. Right? Right!
High autumn and roses......: It's high autumn, and amidst the golden leaf-fall I'm thinking about roses. I'm trying to order some Bourbons and Rugosas from an online nursery. The website is misbehaving, and won't let me proceed to the checkout. It's a sign! I don't need to buy any more roses at all! Blast.
Tiny treasures......: Tiny treasures. An autumn bonfire before the rain arrives. A moment of joy - B-puss's memorial tree, Eddie's White Wonder, in autumn colour. A tiny wish - that I'll still be gardening in thirty years' time, when TV News will come and interview me, a wondrous old garden relic, the 'there-is-still-hope' story of the week.
Dripping wet......: Clear-sighted goals, appropriate clothing, fortitude, and a well-laid plan for afterwards - all needed when gardening in the drizzle. It's not too cold, but the autumn garden is dripping wet and my gardening boots are already soaked. It's been raining/drizzling on and off all week.
Iconic gardening......: Today's weather icon - a dark grey cloud leaking a trail of minus signs. Ha! I know what that means! Today's gardener icon - an arms-whirling slightly chunky lady in muddy gardening boots. I will NOT be defeated by wet, or grey, or mud. That happened yesterday.
Time to rationalise the dahlias......: It's mid-autumn, and winter frosts will be here all too soon. The dahlias are blooming as if their life depended on it (it does, in a way). Un-staked and un-dead-headed, they look gently disgraceful, but oh so colourful...
Wetness......: My April journal has become a weather chronicle. More rain fell overnight, more is forecast for today, and tomorrow, and Easter Saturday, and so on. One seriously wonders what one can do in all this wetness. Splash in puddles? Check the rain gauge (I do have one), if of a measuring bent?
April showers......: It's too wet for the tree-men to come and climb the big Eucalyptus trees (they're doing some maintenance work in situ). So is it too wet for me to go gardening? Hmm...
Love, love, love......: April accelerates to its colourful close. I love, love, love my autumn trees! I love every dull golden and burnt red leaf. I love them when they're still hanging on, and I love them when they start fluttering down. I may not love them so much when I start raking the lawns...
Lists or Poems?...: Writing a list can increase productive gardening, by setting targets, prioritising, and so on. But what if I write down a list of things I didn't do? That is sooooooo unfair! I'd be far better writing some autumn bonfire poetry. Burn, leaves, burn underneath your silent smoke swirls...
Silly......: Sometimes I do silly garden things - like planting a Golden Hop without providing anything substantial up which it can climb. And sometimes I do silly personal things. Oops. I have just bought a dinner set where all the plates, bowls, serving dishes etc. are yellow cabbage leaves. Cabbage leaves! Eek!
Supergardener?...: I was planning to be THE most amazing super-gardener this month. May the gardening force be with me absolutely each and every day! Starting with today, which is - oops - the second day of the month. OK. We won't count yesterday. No problem.
Old stock!...: I have a complaint to make. Earlier this week I ordered in a super-gardener for May. Well, I've had to let her go. She was faulty, only managing two hours on the trot before tottering inside and collapsing in a disgruntled heap. Definitely defective - must be old stock!
Dear garden......: Hello, garden. Dear garden, beautiful, mellow, late-autumn garden, the best late-autumn garden in the whole world. I'm thinking : if I smooch up to you, perhaps you'll respond in kind. You can call me the Best Gardener, if you like...
Things to do......: So many things to do first thing in the morning - feed the cats, escort Tiger (senior cat) outside, just in case, put on this week's favoured blue gardening shirt, give Rusty the limpy dog his glucosamine, soft boil an egg and make a pot of tea...
Strictly for the Plants...: Autumn garden maintenance is temporarily banned. The next few days are strictly for the plants. I am dividing them, potting them up, shifting them, planting them, and storing them for winter. It's too easy to become completely smothered in gardening verbs...
Brr......: I am a very lucky gardener to have water features in my garden - namely a large pond and an irrigation race flowing with beautifully clear (and cold) water. Autumn is definitely the time for some semi-immersive cleaning up. Cold water work. Brr...
Barking mad?...: Rusty the dog and I are gardening along the water race. Well, one of us is in the water, cursing quietly. Those Carex roots are tough! You can probably guess who is doing what. The other is three-leggedly clearing planes out of Moosey airspace over-head. Sometimes I think we are both barking mad...
Tougher than a stewed pukeko?...: How tough am I? Tougher than a stewed pukeko? Three degrees Celsius outside, a chill wind blowing from Antarctica, and I am about to test myself. My tree-men are here, dealing to a dead pine tree. If they can be out there, then so can I. My digital dexterity might be interesting.
Daft and Dafter......: There's daft and then there's dafter, I reckon. I've just bought a heap of 50 cent books for the cottage - some Willard Price boys-own tales of daring and courage amongst cannibals etc. My friend (same age, similar intelligence etc.) has just bought herself a metal detector. Hmm...
Welcome to winter....: Ha! June! Welcome to winter. It is officially the first day of winter - the wise weather woman on TV said so, and I believe her. And welcome to another cold and frosty morning, with brilliant blue skies, and the prospect of a day spent outside doing things.
Thugs and brutes......: So even the most intelligent of gardeners repeat their gardening mistakes - do they really? Oh yes. For the last week I've been digging out coarse green Carex grasses. I keep finding more and more of these big bullies throughout my garden. I planted them. Thugs and brutes, they are.
Carexes continued......: Continuing the theme of my last journal pages, I am off outside to dig out more coarse green Carexes. What else is there to do on a frosty morning except some hearty digging? Don't answer that! A tiny gremlin in my mind has just whispered 'weeding'...
Humpty Dumpty?...: Wow. Playing Bach chamber music is so groovy. Four of us are plodding through a Brandenburg concerto - it is so much fun! In the 6-8 movement the pianist (me) sounds like she has gardening gumboots on her fingers. Oops - the piano rollicks along in a robust 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall' style...
Don't tread on the trilliums.....: My mid-winter month is getting very busy. I have design decisions to make, problems to solve, paths to mulch, soil to enrich, trees and shrubs to trim, and so on. There's also weeding, and I have to be so careful not to tread on the trilliums (invisible) or any daffodils (still mostly underground).
Here comes the sun doo dn doo doo......: An amazing sight in the early morning garden - the sun! Welcome back into the sky, deliciously golden sun. You may just be a boring ball of hot hydrogen and helium, but you make me feel powerful and happy. Winter life is good - the sun is shining again. Oh frabjious day, to quote Lewis Carroll.
The perils of the winter gardening journal......: My gardening friend and I were comparing our winter journals. They tend to be boring localised weather reports. My goodness, it's raining today. Wow! It's going to be seventeen degrees today. That's Celsius, by the way. Aha! Here's a morning frost, followed by weak winter sunshine...
Swiss gardening!...: Aha! Inspired by my TV couch-cycling exploits in Switzerland (le Tour de Suisse), I am going to make all my garden edges neat and tidy. Thank you, Switzerland, for encouraging me to be better groomed, garden-wise. This morning I'm going to start Swiss-gardening down my driveway.
Winter Solstice...: Humble thanks for THE most gloriously golden mid-winter's day, wonderfully sunny and warm for winter. And such a special, tingly day. It ended with my dog, panting after his bicycle ride, watching the sunset with me. A magical moment. Love you, Rusty!
My best friend......: My garden helps me so much - it's my best friend, whispering that I'm a jolly nice person, even if I'm small and a bit ineffectual. But why haven't I been out since daybreak weeding it? Because, dear Garden, the morning was frosty, and anyway I've been contemplating things. My garden is unconvinced.
When in doubt, do nothing?...: A dilemma, but a really nice one. A double row of tall Eucalyptus trees at the very back of the Shrubbery has been felled. In the aftermath there is obviously much to do. But how to do it? So far I've wheeled out all the edging-sized logs for my paths. Now I'm stuck. When in doubt, do nothing?
More of the same......: I've been doing more of the same things today that I did yesterday which were more of the same things I did the day before. Do I love the continuity of gardening? Oh yes, I do. There is something soothing about mindless repetition.
Dog in disgrace......: I say! What an exciting evening in Pond Cottage. There we were (me, Minimus, and visiting cat Percy), all drifting off to sleep, when Non-Gardening Partner arrived by the pond with a head torch and Rusty the dog, in disgrace for sneakily coating himself in green slime.
The TV Couch Cycling Season......: Yippee for le Tour de France! The serious apres-gardening TV Couch Cycling Season has started. It begins in Yorkshire, where the fields will be summery green and sheepy, and the spectators I whoosh past will all be in T-shirts and shorts. Hmm - being Yorkshire in summer, this may not be the case...
Garden Inspiration......: Garden inspiration is a funny thing. It pops up uninvited from the oddest sources. When one goes on a deliberate search, nothing happens! While looking at pictures of other people's gardens, a studied nonchalance often does the trick. I'm reading a glossy book about the gardens of Wales at the moment...
A captive audience?...: Poor Non-Gardening Partner. On Saturday mornings we drive in the car to swimming. Car journeys with NGP are brilliant. He is stuck, a so-called captive audience. This morning I will remind him to dig out the weeping Silver Pear tree for me. And then there's chain-sawing - just a tiny bit more needed...
Disgruntled......: I feel a little disgruntled because I haven't finished anything lately. So silly, really. When is anything in a garden finished? It's not like a game of football. I've just watched the final of the World Cup while sorting out my seeds - a most exciting moment (the sorting of the seed packets, that is).
Very good, very good, very good!...: Two particular birds (blackbirds? thrushes?) in my trees have really groovy songs. One whistles the first six notes of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Another's whistle-call sounds like 'very good, very good, very good'. Always three times. Well, I reckon he's calling to me.
Digging and planting...: Digging and planting : I have three bags of blue irises to plant in the Allotment Garden, pots of cool green hellebores to plant in the Driveway Garden, an apricot recycled rose to dig out and replant. And Non-Gardening Partner has a Weeping Silver Pear tree to shift. This all sounds like real gardening.
A bit potty......: I'm extremely excited. Pots! Today after chamber music I'm buying some new big pots for my garden. I've even thought up a colour code, hee hee. Terracottas and bloody reds for the house patio. Blues for the house decking. Green for the cottage. And if I like anything else I just buy it, hee hee.
Set unattainable gardening goals......: My new gardening policy : set unattainable gardening goals. And why not? How about the following? Plant ALL the new pots, and spread ALL the compost. Having just spent X hundred dollars on compost, new pots, and new plants, this seems fair enough. By the way, X is an integer between 6 and 8. Oops. I did get rather carried away...
Standing back to stare......: The smallest of garden improvements take me ages and ages! I reckon it's because I spend one third of the time plodding around collecting what I need, and a third on the actually doing. The last third of the time is spent standing back to stare, admire, evaluate, and so on. This is the fun bit...
Hello and welcome, August....: Hello and welcome, August, month of lengthening days and imminent spring blossom. And rose pruning, and lots of super-hard work clearing up for spring. Ooh - such anticipation! Promise that you'll be a kind August, though, so all the gardeners in the world will feel encouraged and confident.
Buxom borders?...: Here's a silly observation, which may or may not mean anything. The male writer of my 'National Trust Gardens of England' book is forever describing the herbaceous borders he sees as 'buxom'. Hmm... I'm not sure about this. So how does one describe a herbaceous border in full floral summer glory?
A tiny treat... ...: What am I going to do next in the garden? I fancy something small-scale, like hands-and-knees weeding. I would see it as a tiny treat - no plodding around getting foot-sore, no lifting anything heavy or grabbing anything thorny. Hey - since when has weeding with a cold, wet, muddy bottom been a treat?
Time to think BIG!...: And now for something completely different. Forget weeding miniscule bits of greenery and nipping tiny pieces off roses. Time to think BIG! The Dog-Path Garden is getting a surprise make-over. This is 'spur of the sensible moment stuff', and I'm really excited about it.
Ever flexible......: I was working so hard on my wheelbarrowing circuit - dragging gum tree branches out of the Shrubbery and off to the bonfire, then loads of top-soil and compost into the Shrubbery to fortify the soil and encourage the new garden. And then, in the middle of all this, the hedge trimming man arrived. Eek!
Action-Woman?...: Grey skies with cold rain, and hours - no, make that weeks - of conifer clippings to rake up and dispose of. What a pity! Perhaps I will just have to stay warm and cosy inside, drinking coffees and writing lame gardening lists. But will this be satisfying for an action-woman gardener?
Spring and spirals......: Some gardening days spiral inwards rather sweetly. One thing leads to an even nicer, smaller thing, and I end up remembering to do something quite tiny and really lovely. Today has been one of those. Spring seems to have sprung - yet more daffodils, more Camellias, a beautifully warm sun, and no wind.
Perennial production......: Library day, home with a glossy gardening book detailing the redevelopment from neglect of an Irish walled garden, Clondeglass. Under-gardener helpers, rows of fat plants in nursery pots ready to fill the gaps - too easy! It's time I started producing masses of perennials for the gaps in my garden.
The NeverEnding Story of the Garden...: Right. What to do first? Empty the compost from the trailer, I think, so I can get yet another load, and write the next early-spring chapter in the NeverEnding Story of the Garden. There is a very good reason why nothing in a garden gets finished - it's called 'Nature'.
Senior Gardener!...: A momentous day! I put on my old lady flower-blouse and pastel blue cardie and trotted off to register for the old-person's pension. I am now in the system, and my birthday (AKA pensioner payday) is now only two weeks away. I can now rightly call myself Senior Gardener at Mooseys Country Garden.
Harry Potter! My garden needs YOU!...: If only hedge trimmings could magically rake themselves into piles, point all their thick ends the same way, and then zoom like a squadron of flying broomsticks over to the bonfire. Harry Potter! My garden needs YOU!
A sulk-free September...: A sulk-free September - can I do this? Yes I can. This will be really good for me and my garden. There will be no awkward silences as I wheel yet another barrowful of hedge trimmings to the bonfire. I will be jolly, light-hearted, even-tempered, and pleasant at all times. My friends will like me!
Darling seeds......: Good morning, spring garden. I have so much I want to do with you, and it's all pretty exciting stuff. Granted, there is a bit of ho-hum weeding, and boring burning of yet more hedge trimmings, but the spirit of creation is in the air. My seeds are germinating. Darlings!
Sixty-five loud hand-claps!...: OK. Ready for a bit of a song? Here goes... Happy birthday to meeeeeeeeee, happy birthday to meeeeeeeeee, happy birthday dear Moosey, Happy birthday to meeeeeeeeee. Hip hip hurray etc. and sixty-five loud hand-claps. So many! Please don't lose count...
The Tree Stumps are Out...: All the boundary tree stumps have been ripped out, roots and all, and my big clean-up continues. The damage looks serious (though 'damage' has quite the wrong connotations). It's on and near the surface, nothing that a lone gardener with a rake and a shovel and a lot of dedication can't smooth over. Literally!
Filling in Holes......: Aha! As a gardener I am breaking new ground, so to speak. I am busy filling in holes left by the tree-stump ripper-outer. Mindless? Maybe after six hours or so. Thankless? No way! Dare I call it therapeutic? Repetition soothing the soul, and all that...
A tendency to panic......: The issue pops up every year, when my garden wakes up to spring. I mustn't miss anything! Help! I need a strategy so I can appreciate every single little change, gush at every single little new flower, and so on. I have a tendency to panic.
Just checking in......: I'm just checking in, really briefly, between busy gardening sessions. I've been so good these last two - three? - days. My goodness, has it really been that long since I wrote up my journal? I've just been getting on with my work, head-down, with no complaining.
Lavender time...: I've just remembered. Some months ago, I promised myself I could buy lots of new Lavenders this spring. And there they are, lining up in the nurseries, rows of healthy youngsters shouting 'Take me! Take me!' That's my first mission for today. Where to plant them? Don't know. That's not the point, you see...
Winnie the New Puppy...: This afternoon Winnie the new puppy, eight weeks old, arrived. Earlier this morning, after some rollicking Beethoven piano duetting, I bought puppy chow, puppy food, a small collar and a lightweight lead (for when she's a bit bigger). Then I came home and weeded nervously, waiting...
Puppy photographs......: Puppy photographs : whenever the puppy looks amazingly cute - for example, she's gambolling in the blue forget-me-nots - I don't have my camera. When I do have my camera she will not pose near anything remotely garden-connected. When I bend low to take a cute close-up she bites my swinging plait. Fair enough!
Sneaky or Sensible?...: So how sneaky (or sensible) is Non-Gardening Partner? I find out by chance that he's taking two days off from work to play with the new puppy, and so on. Does he give me advance notice? Oh, no - I might fill up his days with chores...
Out and about in the garden......: The new puppy loves being out and about in the garden. We wander around the garden a lot, with Rusty the dog and big Fluff-Fluff the cat following. We look at the beautiful mid-spring flowers and glow with happy pride - well, strictly speaking, one of us does that...
Puppy firsts...: I should keep a puppy-booklet with all the 'firsts' that Winnie the new puppy experiences. The most exciting event so far - she's fallen into the water race for the first time, and scrambled back out, drenched, looking like a large wet black rat. I laughed quite a lot.
So beautiful...: Spring, I'm singing a song for you. 'You.... Are.... So.... Beautiful....' So beautiful. The birds are exuberantly tweeting, swooping from tree to tree. I sit with the dogs outside on the patio and just feel so blessed. I wouldn't swap these moments for money, or travel...
Cat or dog person?...: A Canadian mining engineer (that's you, Lewis) reckons that cat people make lists mainly for the comfort the list provides, while dog people make lists and then get things done. OK. I classify myself as a cat-dog person. Or should that be dog-cat person? Either way, I get the best of both, hee hee...
Rhododendrons......: Many more rhododendrons are now in flower. Some mornings I sit on the patio with the dogs and try to rank them in order of blooming. Rhododendrons unnerve me just a little. Some flower so early, while others leave it until the first gasps of summer. And how do they decide when to stop growing?
Cats in the Night......: Dear Percy, gingerest of cats, thank you so much for the decapitated rat you placed on the rug in the cottage overnight. Yes, I trod on it when I got up. Far away in your new stake-out you probably heard me. Laying last night's outside offering on the porch showed your sensitive side...
Late-spring gardening moods...: Two late-spring gardening moods. In one I am wide-eyed with wonder and excitement. Wow! A-Mazing! So much new green growth, the first roses, more rhododendrons in flower... The other is horribly down-to-earth. Aargh! The weeds! The seedlings that need planting out! The lawns that need mowing again!
Old forget-me-nots......: Sitting on the house patio in the early morning. The wind is blustering about in the trees and my coffee isn't even warm. My dreamy panoramic gaze sees nothing but old forget-me-nots which need pulling out. The ever-alert gardening mind starts listing all the things I should have done last weekend. Last weekend!
Out of Balance......: The gardening me is so out of balance with the garden. I sit on the patio having breakfast with the dogs and I think about me and my garden. I divide my mind-page in half. Down one side are all the things the super-efficient me should have done. On the other side there's the mellow me, a bit of a bumbler these days.
Semi-Cruisy......: Blast! I rather liked October. We had a semi-cruisy relationship, a half-summer-holiday fling going there. My garden might have been crying out for attention, but there was always tomorrow. It was easy to make promises in October, because there were weeks and weeks left until the official start of summer...
No scribbling?...: Eek! No journal scribbling for two whole days! So what have I been up to? Apart from taking photographs of the roses and going for walks around the garden with the dog, the puppy, and Fluff-Fluff the cat, that is. We four are always, always, always going for walks.
Dogs and Irises...: This week features my big bearded irises and my medium and small non-bearded dogs. Touch wood there'll be no dripping rain followed by wind to blow the beautiful irises over. The dogs have had a wonderful week, as usual. I love having two dogs!
Another self-imposed rule...: I've got a new personal rule. Not another self-imposed rule? Oh yes, very much so, and it concerns the summer garden watering I do. It's time I stopped seeing it as a chore and just got on with it. In fact I shouldn't even notice myself doing it. And I certainly shouldn't go on about it in my journal.
Go away, wind!...: Something else for my ever-increasing List of Banned Garden Journal Topics. The dry nor-west winds, which have been booming and blustering around my ears for days and ripping the flowers in my garden to shreds. Go away, wind! Blow somewhere in the middle of the ocean where no-one is trying to be a gardener.
Achieve or Do?...: Here's an idea to guarantee a hands-off gardening day. Take the early cup of tea outside and, while still waking up, ask the following question : What do I want to achieve today? Achieve? Aargh! Scary word, achieve. Well, it certainly puts me off.
Waiting for inspiration......: For the last few days I've been writing in my old-school journal. Early each morning I sit on the patio with the dogs and wait for energy and inspiration to flow onto the paper via my scribbly old fingers. Quickly, before the wind starts booming and blustering, or the sun gets too hot...
So sorry......: A heart-felt message to all the list-loathers out there. I am so sorry. But I'm simply getting nothing done in the garden. My life is a lovely, bubbling mess. I am urgently in need of a list, just to get me back on track. And so I'm going to write a sneaky one. Sorry about that!
A song for early summer...: A song for early summer. 'Where have all the Aquilegias gone? Gone to seed-heads, every one.' But so quickly - one week they were splendid in saturated colour (particularly the brilliant blues), the next week and they've finished. Did I take enough notice of these spring charmers? No. Did I take enough photographs? Definitely not.
Don't worry - be happy!...: The two new kittens, Tiddles the tabby and Buster the black, have 'made it' successfully into the relatively big world of a) my house and b) the back lawn and garden. But it's been an interesting week of self-discovery. You see, I've been rather worried about their happiness at Mooseys...
Distractions......: Finally, after puppy and kitten distractions, I've had a proper gardening day. I have been working so very hard! My face is very pink. It's the first hard-working gardening I've done in ages, too. Nice to know that I've still got 'it'. Even if some days I only seem to have half of 'it'...
Destructo Dog?...: This morning's score : Winnie the puppy 1, green Echeveria on the patio 0. The devastation happened last night after I'd gone to bed. Poor plant, its pieces scattered around the room, potting mix all over the floor. So our sweet little puppy is turning into a 'destructo-dog'?
Bring on the Bus-Loads!...: Good morning to my dogs, the new kittens, the big cats, and a reasonably tidy summer garden, which I'm slowly getting ready for Christmas. What exactly does this mean? Here's my 'ready-for-Christmas test. Hypothetical bus-loads of old lady garden visitors turn up at my gate and I felt proud and excited...
Christmas 2014...: Aha! It's Christmas Day, 2014, and I am back in my lovely mid-summer garden. Almost all of us except me are asleep - snoozing kittens, flopping dogs, Non-Gardening Partner snoring on the couch. It's hard work participating in Christmas celebrations - carrying the basket of presents to the car, eating yummy food...
The last of the gardening lists...: Prepare for the last of the gardening lists for the year 2014. Taken a deep breath? Taken. Wiggled the typing fingers? Wiggled. But is the mind ready to embrace the items? This will indeed be a challenge, for it's mid-summer, and task one involves stacking next winter's firewood. Winter? In mid-summer?

Garden Journal 2015 Top Garden Journal 2013

Tweets by @mooseysgarden

Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31