Happy New Year
Happy New Year! So much to do, and so much time - it's mid-summer, long days where really there's no excuse not to be in the garden. It's too sunny? Find some shade! It's too wet? Count my blessings (the garden needs rain) and clean up the glasshouse. Too windy? Now that can be a bit tricky, since windy equals noisy. Sing loudly to self, perhaps?
Summer by the Water Race
Today I'm going to potter around in my garden. 'Potter' is a great verb, covering every energy level from super-industrious to languid and positively lazy. And whatever I end up pottering around doing, I will at least have done something. Or started something. I might even finish something!
New tools...
I have some brand new 2018 hand tools, including the cutest little pair of lightweight secateurs. My diggers and scrapers have lime green handles. My first New Years' Resolution is not to lose anything (or leave anything spiky in the grass for the lawnmower to 'find'). Actually, my idea for 2018 is to have a different resolution for each day - rather like those little books of inspirational sayings that one places in a bathroom or toilet for introspective moments. And to make them up as I go, so the resolution is always relevant, hee hee.
Tiger the Cat
Much Later...
Watched by a snoozing cat (Tiger) I've been weeding and trimming around the Herb Spiral. But there are a couple of issues which I've had to confront. One - dandelions in the circular pathway, which need weed-killing. Two - that Viburnum shrub which I bought years ago for a dollar thinking it was a Philadelphus. The berries are heavy, starting to ripen, and so its branches are hanging over the roses. Sorry, but I've chopped it down to knee-height. I'm also trimming Delphiniums and pulling out the older Lychnis plants, while just cutting the flowering stems off the newer ones.
I still have all my new garden hand tools, by the way. They have lasted a whole afternoon! Wowee! And (hee hee) I found two of my 'missing' spades, nestled in the rose garden which encircles the Herb Spiral. Hee hee indeed. Now I have spades in spades, so to speak...
Tuesday 2nd January
Right. We have been to the dog park, where Pebbles was really, really good. Some new, nosy dogs came up to her - not a problem. Just the tiniest of warning snarls when one came too close, and it's absolutely OK to do this. Phew! Now I'm off to take some photographs. I love my summer garden after I've worked hard and improved things. Even trimming the edges makes a huge visual difference. But alas - the photographs often still look scruffy and messy. I blame the camera. If that doesn't work I blame the light, hee hee.
Still, there are always the dahlias with their strong colours, bees busy collecting their pollen to add interest...
Much, Much Later...
I've had another grand day. I cleaned up the front of the Stables Border - I can fill the wheelbarrow without hardly moving. Then I moved on to the wee stone-walled garden, pulling out old plants from the edge - Euphorbias and those weedy purple perennials that the bees love (the flowers were finished). All grown too big. I spread bags of horse manure around the Pittosporums. Then to get out of the sun I took off some clothing (too much information?) and went into the water race to weed in the shade.
Some of Last Years Favourites
I have found more little Gunnera seedling plants, in a new place of the water race bank, right on the water's edge. But they looked sooooo cute and friendly, so I weeded carefully all around them and left them there. Then I remembered that less is more, as far as Gunnera goes. So we compromised. I told them they could stay for a just few years, as long as they behaved - fat chance! I am such a push-over, as far as self seeders go.
Some of Last Years Favourites
The day ended with a cold salmon salad, a large glass of my summer concoction (white wine, ice, nectarine juice, and fruity cider), and the beginning of my new 'Christmas' jigsaw. It's a photograph of a rhododendron garden - cool and refreshing after the hot summer sun. My 2018 has started off really well. Long may it continue...