What's more boring?

I think we all get the message. Not that I mind boring. The garden is toddling into winter now, and the wind has been really cold today. But look up there - patches of blue sky! And flashes of sun! Yeay! So I am lucky, even if what I do is boring. And, come to think of it, I don't think I'm allowed to use the b-word in my journal. I'm sure it's on the banned list.

What I haven't done is to quite finish the giant Gunnera clean-up. There's just the clump by Rooster Bridge to go. My froggy wading suit is standing at the back door, empty and forlorn. I'm very pleased with my wading suit. No important bits of me get cold. Donning it is laboriously slow, but I'm getting faster at wriggling out. Hopefully no visitors ever appear while I am half-in and half-out. What would I do?

Saturday 20th May

During the last few days I've done lots more work chopping down the Gunnera. Yesterday I worked my way along the piles of mess, separating the leaves from the stalks. They're now in separate piles underneath the hedge. Dead flax leaves (and there are always lots of these) I trimmed went straight onto the bonfire. The Gunnera pieces need to dry out.

In the Water Race Clearing Gunnera

I've also done some water-side weeding. I can reach a lot more weeds standing in the water race in my wading suit. Weeding the sloping banks from above is tricky. Either I lie om my tummy and get disgracefully muddy, or I lunge and lean, and run the risk of overbalancing.

Scared of the Wheelbarrow!

So disappointing! Winnie has twice now been accidentally hit (grazed on the nose) by scratchy-spiky Gunnera stems falling off the wheelbarrow. So when I trundled off with it this lunchtime, down went her tail, and off she scurried back inside the house. Oh dear! She has remembered, and is scared of my wheelbarrow.

Winnie in the Driveway

Actually I get quite lonely, gardening without animal company when the weather is a bit bleak. Just before I finished today's raking and mulching session, black Buster appeared. Yeay! Cat company! Aargh! She had a little birdie in her mouth, and wouldn't let me near to rescue it.

I miss Rusty the dog...

I think I miss boring old Rusty. I definitely miss boring old Rusty. 'But he didn't do anything', says Non-Gardening Partner. Maybe not, but he would always be there...

Rhapsody in Blue Roses

I'm finishing this page on the truly positive (and definitely not boring) - with an image of the rose Rhapsody in Blue. This was shifted into the Allotment Garden a year ago, is still flowering, and has never looked so good.