Garden Journal 2019

Another year in the garden. Aargh! No - let's start this again. Another lovely year in my lovely garden. And 2019 is divisible by three. That means that each gardening day can be broken down into three parts - weeding, weeding, and then weeding. Aargh!

Happy New Year for 2019...: Happy New Year for 2019. So how has my gardening year started? Aha! With some jolly sensible weeding, followed by mulching. Because mulch stops the next batch of weeds from growing. My New Year's Resolution for this week is to get the weeds in The Hump under control...
Harmony......: 2019 has started, touch wood, with wonderful house animal harmony. Woof, woof, woof, sniff, a couple of squeaks, and a miaow from the adult cats, two new identical kittens (both called Fred), and three dogs (Escher the big brown dog is staying). Most of us seem to like each other.
Poem for 2019...: Based on my experience so far this year (hee hee) here's my version of one of those cute Facebook poems : 'Plant dreams... Pull weeds... Mulch, mulch... Mulch some more... Then grow a happy life.'
Lovely summer!...: Lovely summer. The garden is thriving, the kittens are growing, Tiger the cat is doing well on her new thyroid pills, the dogs are behaving, the new roses in The Hump are gloriously blooming...
By hand......: When a random gardener with great intentions (me) has a large garden, it's easy to forget to slow down. Hand-watering the roses - aargh! No time! But the little, slow things are sooooo important. Like stopping writing one's gardening journal to cuddle the kittens...
Don't look back......: Silly really. This morning I woke up in the cottage feeling a bit sad and sentimental. Why? Because I wanted today to be as nice as yesterday. Was this possible? Probably not. Blast. Yesterday was THE BEST. Well, this mood was just too silly for words...
Mundane......: Some days a deeply spiritual gardener (me, for example) just has to tackle the mundane and the physical. Drag heavy things around, fill the barrow over and over again... Nothing dreamy about grunty gardening!
Cat and dog fun......: Early morning cat and dog fun. Minimus and I are enjoying some quality time on the verandah, with the first cup of tea of the day. Growl. Black Buster has appeared, and is tease-dancing on the table. So that sacred moment comes (wisely) to a halt...
Love Lychnis...: I love Lychnis. Honestly, I really do love it. I love how generously it self-seeds and fills my borders with flowers. I love the colours - white, magenta, and all the pinks in between. But...
Love those daisies......: Guess what. The lovely Shasta daisies are in bloom. Of course, I love them lots. But guess what? I have about four weeks to finish trimming the Lychnis. Why? Because then all my time will be spent 'sorting out' the Shastas. Aargh! One thing after another!
Ouch!...: Humph. A silly hand injury. This morning I stabbed my right hand with a thorn from the Gleditsia tree. In it went, the large, nasty thing, a long way in. Pulled it straight out and continued working for two hours - as one does. Came inside, played some fast Bach on the piano for an hour. Hand started hurting. Hmm. Now there was a problem. The Bach?
A problem with weeding......: A couple of days ago I was in the garden with my notebook, trying to clear my head about the weeds in The Hump. It's funny how difficult a task weeding can be, mentally. And so I explained in detail why it was so weedy. I wrote lists filled with alarming question marks. I wrote dozens of droopy sentences, trying to clear a pathway through the problem...
Wonder-Woman?...: Oops. I've had quite a few garden-lazy days in a row. The garden needs some 'w's : watering, weeding, and Wonder-Woman. She seems to be missing in action. The hot temperatures might have deterred her from putting on her costume... Wonder if it still fits?
To travel?...: Oh dear. I have been sooooo slow to catch on about what's 'out there' on Youtube. No, I haven't discovered real time weeding videos (though I'm sure they exist). It's much, much worse, hee hee. I have discovered a huge library of Real Time Driver's Eye View Train Journeys. Alternatively, called 'cabview'. So I can spend hours, couch-travelling in trains the length and breadth of countries I will never visit.
Inspiration and more firewood......: Inspiration to do garden maintenance comes from the oddest sources. First thing this morning I read my latest Fine Gardening Magazine. I put it down, finished my cup of tea, and vowed to clean up my patio garden and the driveway. Just like that!
Relationship difficulties......: My garden and I are having relationship difficulties. We haven't really been communicating. I'm trying my very best - I've asked it really nicely not to be so messy. It hasn't taken the slightest bit of notice of me. Humph. We need counselling? No, just some solid, hard work (from me), and less wind...
Messy March...: Messy March. A very messy fact of my gardening life. Autumnal? I think I'd rather like that. Cooler temperatures on the evenings. I'm liking this! The first of the autumn bonfires? Welcome to the March Clean-Up? Not quite liking this as much.
Never apologise......: Never apologise, right? So a garden visitor from England appears out of the blue, and much of my garden is uber-messy. Eucalyptus leaves cover the gardens, lawns and paths, so walking anywhere is 'crackle and crunch' noisy. My March mess is out of control, and I spend an uncomfortable hour apologising. Aargh!
Working together......: I've been working really hard these last days, trying to reclaim gentle control over my messy garden. Co-operation is in both our interests. I'm happy looking at pretty things. My garden is happy when it's looked after and nurtured. This should be a win-win situation, us two working together in blessed harmony.
Words, then no words......: It's early morning, the 15th March, and I've written a good things list, which I have cleverly disguised in some sentences. Firstly, nothing hurts. Phew! And all my choirs are singing well. Overnight irrigation (plus early morning rain) has blessed my garden with plenty of water. It breathes a sigh of relief.
Thoughtful times......: Thoughtful times processing the nasty events in my city, puzzling over what happened, worrying about why, then feeling sad. I'm very thankful to my garden for keeping me company - and my daft dogs, cats, and kittens. And Non-Gardening Partner for doing some chain-sawing and (oops) weed killing (just the driveway) for me.
Off days......: Gardeners are allowed - just sometimes - to be uninspired. It's OK to have a few 'off' days, particularly when shrubs are being eaten by opportunist caterpillars, and Eucalpytus tree leaves keep fluttering down, covering lawns and borders, making everything look scruffy.
Subtle?...: Early autumn is subtle. Tiny changes - the mood of the garden, the angle of the sun, the yellowing of the first leaves. I wonder if I'm imagining things. But no - the shrubs and trees do look different. More reflective? Well, perhaps my mood is. Don't think a shrub can be reflective...
Too scary!...: Oh dear me. A very scary thing has happened. Last night, home late after my choir rehearsal - where was Red Fred? Non-Gardening Partner and I wandered around with torches, calling him. Couldn't find him. I went to look behind the cottage, just in case he'd got lost over there. I could definitely hear a cat crying...
Obsessive and repetitive?...: Over the next days and weeks this gardening journal just might become obsessive and repetitive. It's open fire season. So cleaning up my burnable messes is pretty much all I can think of to do, each day. Or not, like today - yeay! It's too windy. Am thrilled.
Cleaning up the Viburnums...: My early autumn bonfire continues, and my Jelly Bean Border clean-up has started in earnest. This was the first garden I dug in the Pond Paddock, and is providing much burnable mess (Viburnum branches, dead leaves, prunings from overgrown shrubs)...
More bonfiring......: I am going to tell you all about today's six-hour bonfire. It's a spin-off from yesterday's four-hour one, which was itself a continuation... Yes, yes. I think the point is made. I've been burning a lot of rubbish. Now let's see if I can make this journal page interesting, hee hee...
Sneaky!...: Oh, sneaky, sneaky autumn! You're starting to colour up rather nicely. But oh so subtle are your changes, at this early stage. And no frosts as yet, so the dahlias bloom on. The Silver Birch by the cottage has gone golden. Leaves are starting to flutter down. I love autumn.
More meaningful......: Today I've been clearing the wilderness edge of the Wattle Woods, enjoying very much being in this leafy green place. And the resulting bonfire seems happier and more meaningful, in the grand scheme of garden things. Does that make any sense? Well, it was certainly less smoky than usual...
Great excitement......: Great excitement. Well, possibly great excitement. A garden is being enlarged! I'm taking Non-Gardening Partner out for his expert opinion. The Pond Paddock lawn isn't coping with the heavy shade in summer. Maybe parts of it could join the garden border?
Accelerando......: My goodness, how autumn can accelerate. That same Silver Birch that was turning golden last week is now naked. I've taken as many photographs as possible, before the wind sends lots of autumn leaves plopping noisily down to earth, and everything loses everything, if you know what I mean.
No Jedi gardening......: Oops. I'm getting way behind, May-wise. Even 'May the Force' has passed me by - with very little Jedi gardening being done. But I have done some scribbling. That must count for something? AT least I've been thinking about my garden. Here's how May began...
Blog-busted......: Aargh! I've been blog-busted? Lots of online ads for seniors' socks are suddenly popping up, offering me relief. Compression socks to get me back on my feet. Whatever! I must have blog-moaned (once) about an aching toe... My gardening feet do the business very well, thanks.
Regrets?...: Regrets? I have a few?... Not me. The tiddly ones don't count - for example, wishing that I'd staked the dahlias. I'm talking about those deeply heart-felt regrets, which would have changed and enriched my life. Got none. Or so I thought. ..
How lucky?...: How lucky am I? I share my life with two lovely dogs (except they've just had a scary dog-fight, spilling over onto my chair). And five lovely cats (except mean Minimus the cottage cat chases the Freds up trees, and Tiger has been pee-ing behind the TV).
Bonfire of choice......: What to choose to do in the garden? Yesterday I chose to have a slow, gentle, all-day bonfire - a barrowful of this, a barrowful of that, no need to rush. I would rake up the driveway leaves, and clean up underneath some of Cordylines...
The hedges are trimmed......: Huge thanks to the hedge trimmer, who wiggled and jiggled his machine past my garden borders and around my ornamental trees (planted rather too close to the shelter hedge). Nothing trashed, damage pretty much zero (a couple of squashed Renga Renga and one small Oak tree branch don't count).
Planting versus Burning?...: Planting versus burning? Planting wins, hands down! Though planting thing properly is a very slow process, taking almost as long as a day of bonfiring. But so much more rewarding, environmentally speaking. Giving new life to the land, creating new joys and expectations, keeping the air clean, those sorts of things...
Winter welcome......: Hello, winter! My garden tells me that you have arrived. Most of my deciduous trees are winter-bare, with just a few lingering flashes of red from Berberis and Maples. The dahlias have succumbed to frost. The cats have noticed you. The dogs? They are far too furry to notice.
Buster gets stuck......: I'm not happy. It's my temporary dog-fence (about one hundred meters long), which deters my dogs from going next-door. The one that took me three days to build from old wire netting and broken posts, feeling rather 'hard done by' because nobody else seemed to think it necessary. You get the picture...
Eight or above, please......: Might have been a little too warm in my recent welcoming words to winter. I'm sorry, but a top temperature of four degrees Celsius on a clear winter's day is just too cold for my digital dexterity - a requirement of good gardening. Eight or above, please. Nothing less.
Barking Friday......: Yeay! It's Barking Friday! Nothing to do with dogs, everything to do with playing Bach's chamber music. And a special treat this morning - Non-Gardening Partner joined me and my flute friend to play Bach Trio Sonatas. He plays the violin, I play the piano (which I sometimes misspell as 'paino', hee hee).
Little me!...: I've been asked to give a talk at a local garden club in September. Wow! Little me! The topic is 'Things I need to do in the garden in different months'. So I have been chattering inanely to my bonfire. And my dogs. And so far I've sounded REALLY boring.
Great timing......: Yet another oops. I remembered, after two days of light drizzle, that I'd left my camera outside. Half an hour after shamefully retrieving it, the rain started pelting down. And - yeay! My camera, though a bit confused (different screens keep flashing on and off), still works. Lucky me. Great timing...
A sniffing maiden......: Nice news - my Weeping Maiden Camellia is flowering now, her blooms not frost damaged. She must appreciate her winter location. Not so nice - alas, I am a sniffing maiden. I have a head cold. I always get a head cold sometime during winter. Perhaps I hug too many other people with colds? Whatever.
Just plain mad....: Forget barking mad. Gardening mad! Have just been for frosty morning walk in orchard with dogs. Am ill-clad for outdoor activity, wearing pyjamas, gumboots, and the woolliest of old-lady shawls. The orchard roses desperately need pruning, so I start doing just that. My shawl tangles in the thorns. Am not wearing gloves...
Good morning, mid-winter....: Good morning, mid-winter. You're behaving - by lunchtime, beautifully pleasant gardening weather, blue sky, shining sunshine. But your early mornings are a bit bleak, particularly for someone (me) who has been sleeping fitfully (suspect because of drinking too much wine).
Dry July......: Since I last wrote in my journal I have said farewell to June, and hello to Dry July. I am very much looking forward to the lengthening of the gardening days. More daylight in which to prune all my roses. Undrunk House Merlot money to spend on plants...
Pruning climbing roses......: July is my rose pruning month. So do I actually know how to prune roses correctly? Sort of. But what about daft ones like the Gerbe rose, which die back dreadfully? I do not understand this rose at all. So I've shortened everything that's green and cut off everything else at the base. This may not work...
Little and often......: 'Little and often', a great recipe for winter gardening. It all helps, of course it does, no matter how insignificant the results. One wheelbarrow of rose prunings does make a difference? Half an hour of leaf raking, ditto? Oh yes. Please, yes!
Yet another Carex crisis......: Coarse green Carexes are 'overgrowing' in the wee garden underneath the variegated Elm tree. I love greenery in winter, and I love these ornamental grasses when they're young. And fresh. And new, modest in size and habit, pretty and neat. But oh my goodness - they age disgracefully. Hmm... Like some gardeners?
And more rose pruning issues.....: The more of my roses I prune, the more roses I find that still need attention. And this year, as usual, I have problems. Sally Holmes has me foxed, with her fat, woody canes. Is it OK to clip them lower down? Can't see any buds on her stems. Oh boy. Well I just have. Too bad.
Drizzly and drippy......: Deep breath. First cup of hot tea, English Breakfast. Another drizzly, drippy morning. Not so cold, but unpleasant. A damp, moody, muddy morning. Can I do this? This is to shift and spread twenty bags of horse manure ...
Hello, old friend......: This morning - a couple of minutes of pure magic. The sun! Hello, old friend! Yeay for the sun, I shouted. Alas, I scared it away. It's been drizzly and gloomy for some days, but not cold - lovely winter gardening weather if one doesn't mind muddy knees.
Dogless and catless days......: Thank you, sun, for enabling me to enjoy happy, sunny days in the winter garden again. Oddly, they've been dogless and catless days. My dogs have kept wandering off to sunbathe, while the Fred cats have stayed inside to snooze on sunny cushions...
Winter photographs!...: Am so happy that my current winter website photographs can now be uploaded, to accompany my winter journal ramblings. Yeay! This has resulted in a flurry of trips outside, pointing the camera at winter garden scenes (which all look much like last winter's ones...)
Big day out......: Am so happy that my current winter website photographs can now be uploaded, to accompany my winter journal ramblings. Yeay! This has resulted in a flurry of trips outside, pointing the camera at winter garden scenes (which all look much like last winter's ones...)
Little day in......: It's the day after my big garden day out, and I've allowed myself to do lots of little things. A swim, sushi and coffee, a visit to the Op Shop. Yeay! I bought THE most divine apres-gardening home-knitted woolly jersey. Paid ten dollars - navy blue, with cables, long enough to cover my bottom...
Issues with shrubs......: Taking the dogs for a walk, floating in a bubble of garden happiness. I cross the bridge, turn left, wander past the large soon-to-flower rhododendrons and onto Duck Lawn. Giggle, because Duck Lawn has been duckless for years - something to do with those dogs?
Must do better......: So far this August I have done the following : walked around, and around, and around the garden with the dogs. Taken photographs of the early Camellias. Lit the wood burner, collected firewood, fed the log burner. As you can see, I am an August gardening fraud...
A fresh start to August...: Hello, August. A fresh start - I promise not to be a lazybones and lurk in the house writing music, reading, or playing my piano. I can do all of these things after I've had a good gardening day. If you throw up any cold, wet weather, I'll just dress in merino...
Oh yes? Oh no!...: Another cool winter's morning - just about to crow about yesterday's gardening efforts. Oh yes! Me! Wasn't I good! Seeing what needed doing, stopping, and simply doing it. Oh no! Left my camera outside to spend the night on the garden bench...
In the water......: Today I am putting on my so-called 'frog-suit' (waders), finding my sharp spade (ha ha), and getting into the water race to continue cleaning up the Phormiums, Carexes, and Astelias. I love spending a sunny winter's day working in the water. It's peaceful and rather spiritual (if a little cold)...
Looking much tidier......: One good reason why I like Non-Gardening Partner so much. Last week, walking with the dogs, he remarked - without any prompting or hinting from me - that my winter garden was looking much tidier than he could ever remember. Yesssss! Because I reckon I've been doing heaps of trimming and pruning. I can't remember doing this much before!
Too small......: Too naughty. For two days I've been poking and scraping with little commitment at the weeds in my garden. I've done small scale tidying - ineffectual and far too small, for my large garden. I've been using the kneeler, and let me tell you - it's hardly moved.
Give me five......: Five things that I love to fill each day with : music, friends and family, garden, cats and dogs, and knowledge. Five ticks for today! Details : playing Bach trio sonatas in the morning, lunch with my dearest friend, afternoon gardening and frisbee throwing with the dogs, then inside for cat cuddles and my book about K2 (scary mountain).
A tale of two lists......: Aha! Allow me to present this morning's list : prune two apple trees, chainsaw the stump in middle of path, trim Olearias by the cottage down at head height, deal to dead plum tree, deliver two scoops of mulch to the new rose garden. Wonder who that's for?
Stronger!...: I am stronger! How do I know this? Three years ago I did battle with the coarse green Carexes in Middle Garden. I flung the spade and I swung the axe for hours. They wouldn't budge. Ha! Today the biggest one came out - easy as - in five minutes. Three years bigger.
A sad day......: A thoughtful, sad day. Tiger the tortoiseshell cat is no longer with us. She is buried in the new rose garden in the Hump. A solemn moment - kneeling in the dirt, laying her body gently in the ground, then plop! A tennis ball lands right on top of her, dropped there by Winnie the dog. Throw the ball!
Spring weeding......: Today I worked in the rose garden in The Hump, keeping my recently dearly departed cat Tiger company. I scraped the paths clear and pulled up all sorts of lovely weeds, many introduced from the lashings of horse manure this garden has received.
More spring weeding......: Have been spring weeding, small scale, scrappy weeding - the kind of weeding that rubs the skin off my fingers and makes my hands ache. Being perverse, I don't wear gloves, so my fingernails are full of dirt and look dreadful. Humph.
My birthday week begins......: Good morning September. And welcome to my birthday week. My spring garden looks amazing. Gush, gush. Forget-me-nots in flower, patchy daffodils, the early blossom trees, Camellias - even a wee patch of Muscari. Hey! I love them - because they're blue?
Thoughtful......: My birthday week is turning into a more thoughtful birthday week than usual. Ha! Maturity is finally sinking in? But thoughtful is fine. It is, after all, an impressive numerical birthday (next Sunday is THE DAY).
Spring greens......: Good morning. The last days have been too-wet, drizzly days, so my birthday week gardening has been postponed. The dogs and I have been out walking, followed by the Fred cats, and I've been taking photographs. It's not been cold - just very drippy. And so many different greens to enjoy. Spring greens - yeay!
THE BIG DAY......: Aha! My momentous birthday day. Happy birthday to me! Finally I am (numerically) mature. Non-Gardening Partner, living up to his name, has given me two presents - one is an alarmingly large electric chain-saw. For me! A lazybones present if ever I saw one! Aargh!
Going trekking......: Today's trekking circuit in the garden. I clear paths in the Hump, tip the soft weeds under the hedge, pick up the nearby non-compostable mess, wheel it over to my bonfire, then return to the path via the mulch pile. The wheelbarrow goes round and round - empty, full, empty, full...
A happy garden?...: So it's rained for a couple of days. And the spring garden looks so happy after rain. But surely it's me, the gardener, who is happy? The garden, as always, passively accepts the weather thrown down upon it. Happiness is a human concept, right?
Slow weeding......: Spring weeding can be quite lazy - it's small-scale, slow weeding. I kneel down, get totally muddy knees, grubby fingernails, and a few hand scratches (weeding e.g. underneath the rugosa hedge). I crawl carefully to the next weeding position. No need to rush...
Feed the Camellias!...: I need to spread horse manure around the Camellias. Right time? Don't care. Seems an appropriate way to thank them for flowering so beautifully. Some are going brown now, and that's perfectly acceptable. The later ones are flowering beautifully.
Keeping promises...: Phew! Have done lots of great garden work these last few days. Dear garden, I promise I will always look after you, as we age gracefully (or disgracefully) together. Important to keep one's promises, it is. Even if one makes them one day and delivers the next?
Thinking......: Have been working hard in my spring garden. And thinking hard, too, about the things that I look forward to at the end of a good gardening day. Having clean hair - that's OK, I reckon. Food - that's either sensible, or greedy, depending on the quality and quantity...
Beating the weather...: Ha ha, nasty wind and rain, you can't catch me out! Snow to 100 meters? I don't think so! Not in spring. And definitely not in my garden, thank you very much. Funny how people become so indignant when the forecasters get it wrong. I'd much rather have a weather warning that comes to nothing.
Musical......: Gardening near the water race is very musical - water burbling and bees buzzing like squeaky cellos and violins, birds chirping flute melodies as they build their nests in the trees above (well, I think that's what they're doing). And, if I'm lucky, no barking trumpets (i.e. dogs).
Farewell, September...: Farewell, September, you darling spring month. So many beautiful things have happened in my garden this month. I've tried my very best to work hard at everything. As well as stop, look around, marvel, and enjoy. And pull out a few more Shepherd's Needle weeds...
Hello there......: Dear October, Well hello there, my old spring friend. It's me. The gardener. Yes, I am still here. I've been loving your new batches of blossom and your spring shrubs. I've been adoring your pinks and whites. And your other flowers, of course...
Pond Paths......: Things are afoot in my garden. Paths are afoot! I'm clearing the paths around the back of the pond, where all my garden gnomes live. A friend is visiting the garden later this week. She will enjoy wandering around my pond...
Lawns and Sheep......: I love my lawns! Not that they are proper lawns - they're just mowed sheep paddocks, awfully weedy, and in some places smothered in blue annual forget-me-nots. I love them most of all in spring when they're very green and the weeds blend in, hee hee...
Spring Colours 1...: No lists of spring things that desperately need doing today, or should have been done yesterday. Forget all that! Just two pages of beautiful photographs, to celebrate the colours of spring.
Spring Colours 2...: Here are some more spring photographs from my garden for you to enjoy. Flowers, shrubs, and some beautiful leaves - every colour you'd want to see. There's such variety of style, too. Blousy multi-petalled bloomers and sweet little stars, Droopers and uprights, clusters and solitaires...
Weeding......: Oh boy. What a day I'm having. I am weeding. Cue violins, fortissimo, and let me say that again. I AM WEEDING. In the Hump. Parachute weed seeds keep punching me in the nose, sticky Cleavers slips through my hands, grass clumps have been giving my shoulders a great workout.
Dog manners?...: This morning I felt sorry for my two collies Winnie and Pebbles - yesterday had been a boring, in-our-kennels day. So off we went in the rain for the longest walk. It was supposed to be peaceful, three friends together. There would be no barking, just good dog-manners...
Clones......: I have to be a gentle-hands nursery-woman one minute, then a bossy planter of plants the next, then an energetic spreader of mulch and horse manure. And before you can say 'Cleavers' (or Galium aparine) I have to twirl three times, clockwise, and turn into WWW : Wonder Weeding Woman. Aargh! I need clones!
Doing anything?...: 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.
Wow!...: Wow. I need time to catch up. With my garden. With my garden journal. And with November, which is starting to fill up with the first 'proper' roses. Don't mean to insult you, Canary Bird (my earliest, a species rose which flowers in October).
Where is my camera?...: Taking photographs of the rhododendrons by Willow Bridge this morning. So beautiful! So I stayed there, to tidy the gardens. Now my camera is lost - hopefully not mulching under a pile of weeds. Oh camera! Would that you could whisper to me : 'Over here! Underneath the Iris confusa!'
Shrub love......: I love my late spring flowering shrubs. And I love the Wisteria - I have my tea/coffee breaks sitting on the patio underneath, and the perfume is just gorgeous. But how quickly time is scuttling by. Wasn't it just yesterday that the Daphne was the fragrance de jour?
New plants......: A friend has just moved, and her new property has five roses she doesn't want. I'm off around there to dig them up. I don't actually need any more roses, but hey! They need a new forever home, and just might be amazing and beautiful, like Mary rose (my namesake, hee hee). OH. MY. GOODNESS. I'm back. Did she say five roses?
The BIG DIG......: It's the day of the big dig - where Non-Gardening Partner helps me remove unwanted shrubs and plants from my friend's garden. If I don't take them they'll be put in a skip and dumped - an awful fate. But do I need more plants? Best not answer that. It's a plant rescue!
Preparation is everything......: Finally, all the rescued shrubs are planted. It didn't take me very long, but I'd planned all the locations, and the garden areas were cleared and ready to receive. Ha! Preparation is everything, apparently.
Enjoying the roses...: Enjoying the big roses, filling my garden with colour and beauty. Crepuscule, you darling, with your pretty little white clematis friend. Paul Transon on the woodshed - hello! And greetings to Alberic Barbier and Monsieur Tillier. Big is beautiful in a country rose garden.
Need a plan?...: What's today's plan? Does today even need a plan? It's sunny again, after overnight rain. I could write a list, but that would be awfully controlled for such a beautiful day. I feel like doing something 'atmospheric' - like standing in the water race, and weeding the banks.
Garden happiness......: What do I want to achieve today? Garden happiness! Let's try again, something more specific please. What do I want to achieve today? Sorry, nothing more specific. Just garden happiness.
Weather warning!...: Weather warning! Thunderstorms, with large hail and very heavy rain coming. Possibly. The local council has sent me a warning e-mail. No mention about gardening, though every other activity seems to be off-limits. So I will stay inside and do some web gardening.
Rose inspired......: I've been weeding in the Hump's new rose garden, and it's inspired me to do some serious rose naming research. Oh boy! I've bought so many roses over the years, then shifted them hither and yonder...
Cat dreams...: Funny how one's cat memories bubble up when least expected. Early this morning ginger Percy, dearly departed for years, wandered into in my dream. Percy had come home - I patted him, and he knew me. Smooch! Dear Percy! Perhaps I've wandered past your last resting place without even knowing
Five days......: A five day cricket test has started between England and New Zealand. The idea is to listen on my radio while clearing forget-me-nots and Alkanet out of the house gardens.
So sorry......: I feel so sorry for my late flowering rhododendrons. It's not their fault. They are programmed to bloom when it suits them. In my garden they overlap so beautifully with the roses. If only they could flower in comfort...
Continuous loops......: Imagine if I got stuck in a continuous loop, and all I ever did, each day, for ever, was to clear out Alkanet and annual forget-me-nots? Hmmm. I may already be in one! The location changes, but the task stays exactly the same. Aargh! It is difficult to write in a lively, impactful manner about clearing up Alkanet and forget-me-nots. Pretty blue flowers, but clearing them up is tedious.
Oh dear......: Good morning garden. Yesterday you caused me angst. I'd just spent five hours weeding you. I thought I'd made a good start in the Hump (where the wildest weeds grow, surrounded by self-sown foxgloves). But... I tried. Then I cried. Oh dear!
Slow is good...: Garden - yeay! I am back, finally, motivated, clear-headed, bright-eyed and up for it. 'It' is weeding and watering my summer garden! Campion, Alkanet, Forget-me-nots, and other assorted lovelies are coming out. Roses and ornamental trees ans shrubs are getting bucket watered. A slow process, but slow is good.
My garden's bucket list......: The gardening person (me) has spent the last three days shifting dribbly little hoses, bucketing water, and poking and prodding at small things. I don't feel I've accomplished much (bucketing water can have that effect on me). But wait. I'm not a subsistence farmer desperate for rains that never come. I'm an ornamental pleasure gardener, and I have water on my property. Bucket away, I reckon!
Love those vouchers......: Hee hee. I have a voucher to spend at a large house and garden department store. It is (by my standards) a large voucher, for three hundred and fifty dollars. Wow! Who says vouchers are boring gifts? Vouchers! I love getting vouchers! Yeay for vouchers...
A muddly mess......: The garden is not ready for Christmas. It is not tidy, or well weeded, and certainly not well groomed. It is a muddly mess of greenery and flowering dahlias, roses that need dead-heading, paths that need clearing. I don't think I care, though! It is reasonably well watered, so no shrubs or trees are in distress. And that's all that matters in mid-summer.
A new camera...: I love the timeless summer days between Christmas Day and the New Year. The fridge is full of food. I love doing my garden. And most of all - Non-Gardening Partner is home on holiday. Yippee! Man-power to harness, man-muscle to utilise, a man-mind to organise.
Too many, too close, too big......: My planting schemes : too many, too close, too big. I don't notice anything's wrong for ages and ages. Then, suddenly it is all too obvious. Ooops. So I have spent two hard-working days cutting down two very large Phormiums. Both are planted at the very back of the Birthday Rose Garden, high on the bank above the water race. Both are far too big and ugly for my high standards of garden border texture, hee hee.

Garden Journal 2020 Top Garden Journal 2018

Tweets by @mooseysgarden

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