Some tree news...
Trees in the Hump
Great excitement today - the tree man came to visit. His team is going to start knocking down the large trees in the Hump. Yeay! I'm thinking mid-winter sun streaming into the house. Non-Gardening Partner is thinking of the bill, and the mess.
Much mess...
And there will be much mess, so the tree men (I think three of them, with harnesses etc.) will chip all the smaller branches as they go. Wow. Thus the Hump will be slowly transformed. But nothing starts for a few weeks. And, being on the slightly messy side myself, I should be able to cope with tree mess in my garden. I promise I will be patient.
Tuesday 15th May
Thinking - the boss tree man kept warning me about the mess. I said I was tough, and didn't mind hard labour, nor doing the same thing all day. So there! Sometimes I have to do a lot of rather heavy labour in the garden. It's dour, unimaginative work. And not a bit photogenic! I switch my creative faculties onto pause. Head down, plod, lift, rake, spread. And no visualising the end result, either.
The Hump Trees at Daybreak
The day ended up bleak and drizzly, so the dogs and I didn't do much except walk and run in the orchard, play dog hide-and-seek, throw the stick, and throw the frisbee. Things we do every day without fail, rain or shine. Then I took the camera out to photograph some autumn colours. Oops. Nearly all of the leaves are down and dead. And everything is damp - the late flowering roses spoilt by the wet. No frosts yet, though, so the ferns are still green..
Potato Vine
A plant to mention gratefully, though for many it will be far too weedy to even contemplate. The potato vine (Solanum jasminoides) which grows underneath one of my largest Eucalyptus trees is looking rather beautiful. It is also spreading. But for now I am delighted with its freshness and its pretty white flowers. It's not a legally declared pest plant here, but...
Royden Rose Flowering Now
Wednesday 16th May
What a legend I am. I've trundled sixteen bags (sixteen tons?) of horse manure and five bags of almost leaf-mould into the Dog-Path Garden. It looks rather lovely, blanketed in layers of rich organic matter. I've trundled just as many barrowfuls of ash off the bonfire heap. I've cleaned out the little wriggling stream in the Wattle Woods and cleared some of the paths. It's been raining steadily for the last two hours, and I didn't stop until my clothes just got too wet and I got too cold.
This is great practice for the tree men coming. I will have to shift heavy things, the same things, and load and unload them for hours on end. I will have to be a serious garden labourer. I can do this.