Doing anything?
Kanzan Pink Blossom
Women can do anything, but does this woman want to burn all the hedge trimmings before the ground gets too dry, sow new grass seed before the sun gets too hot? I reckon these should be Non-Gardening Partner's jobs. Why? Because they are man jobs. Ooops - not very PC.
Repetitive and boring...
Man jobs are repetitive and boring, hard work physically, and take me (a non-man) ages to complete. They are not at all garden-creative. I'd prefer to spend a lazy day pottering, bending gently to plant some of my new seedlings. Then maybe - just maybe - I could wheel one barrowful of mulch a short distance. But only one. And someone else (Non-Gardening Partner is the most likely candidate) could shovel the mulch into the wheelbarrow for me.
Mind you, NGP would claim that he does his share. Yesterday he was all ready to show me how to use the new electric chainsaw. A medium sized gum tree branch had fallen down by the garage. He'd left it especially for me to - ahem - trip over? I'd been wiggling around it all week. But I was too nervous, so I said I'd watch him do it. I barrowed all the logs away instead.
New lawns and old bonfires...
In the last few days I've sown new grass seed in three different lawn areas, spreading lawn mix before and after, levelling and raking, and so on. Yesterday I lit the bonfire and dragged loads of dry hedge trimmings onto it. Then I spread five bags of horse manure around the nearby big pink rhododendrons. Thanks, you two, for flowering so beautifully.
My Wheelbarrow
Today there is too much wind for the bonfire, but the spring garden maintenance work doesn't get any easier. here's an idea : if I get really brassed off with all this hard, physical outdoor work, I could vacuum the whole of my house, mop the floors, and clean all the windows, right?
Later, Lunchtime...
Being positively positive (which is a bit difficult, since overnight the All Blacks lost their Rugby World Cup semi-final), I chose to weed and tidy up around the Herb Spiral. A spiral in the garden is a spiritual place, so this would be soothing. Yes?
Path to the Woodshed
Guess what desperately needed doing. The paths! They needed thick weeds scraped and pulled off them. And what do freshly weeded paths then need? Aha! You guessed it! Layers of thick mulch. And how does one get the mulch? Grrr. One plods with the wheelbarrow to the far fence-line, gets the shovel, and with some difficulty fills the barrow. And how many times does one do this? Probably six or seven times, maybe eight. That's after dumping all the weeds.
The Herb Spiral
Well, I've only moved two loads of weeds and one load of mulch, and have come in for a coffee. Aargh! The sad reality of garden maintenance. I need to pat a cat and replace my grumpy thoughts with this meaningful mantra : Just keep doing it until it's done.
Just keep doing it until it's done
And look around, and enjoy the beauty. More rhododendrons are now in bloom, and the lawns are such a pretty green. My garden is full of beautiful things, and I love being in it, so my mood needs to be beautiful as well. Right? Back outside I go.
Orlaya
Much Later...
Six loads of path mulch shovelled, dumped, and raked. Seedling Echiums and Orlaya planted. Only one annoying thing - I must added some dodgy home-made compost onto the wee garden by the spiral. Well, it is full of seedling potatoes, and not a desirable variety. What a nuisance!
Cleaned up my hair and fingernails and zoomed out to a sing-and-run gig with my Jazz choir. Very cheerful, lovely sounds. Zoomed home and took photographs, then dumped and spread two more barrow loads of mulch. Feeling much more cheerful now that the day is drawing to a close. I can hold my head high.
Next Day...
Today I did more mulch spreading, and planted more flowering annuals in the spiral's gardens - patches of cheerful (i.e. unsubtle) marigolds, some yellow spiky Calendulas, and yet more Orlayas and Echiums. To make room I pulled out the driest clumps of forget-me-nots, and these are spread all over my new Pond Paddock Garden.
Regrets? Just a tiny one...
Time went quite quickly, and the day was relatively grump-free, with just one tiny regret - that I didn't drink alcohol any more. I had the loveliest vision being apres gardening in a floaty frock and sandals, a white wine in one hand, the watering hose in the other. And what was I watering? Aargh! The new lawn up by the Hump. Oops - I'd forgotten all about it. Blast!