Great excitement...
Chainsaw on a Pole
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?
Looking at an idea...
A couple of springs ago I tried sowing new grass seed. But the shade came and the moss set in. General leaf fall from the nearby gum trees didn't help, either. 'What am I looking at?' asks NGP cautiously, alert to the possibility that he could be roped into some garden work (he has taken a few days off). I am being gently cryptic. 'You are looking at an idea'...
Much Later...
Yes! My idea was sensible. What a day! Wow. I am so proud. The new garden shape looks good, and feels great to walk along. The shrubs (Pittosporums) are laid out in position, ready for planting. I cleaned up more moss (and mess) and then did a co-ordinated scrape and rake of the Wattle Woods paths. On and on went the bonfire, a bit smoky in the damp autumn air.
Noisy garden...
Noises off : firstly, a shrieking pukeko next-door as Black Fred stalked it along the fence-line rail. A flightless, dozy native swamp hen, sultry midnight blue chest, not wishing to be disturbed.
Red Fred
Enter Minimus...
Some minutes later my cottage cat Minimus, yowling loudly, hurtled like a furry grey torpedo across the lawn towards Red Fred and chased him up the Cordyline. Minimus stopped at the high fork, and of course poor Fred ended up quite a bit higher. Eventually, when the coast was clear, he slithered down to earth. This explains how Red Fred got stuck up the tall pine tree behind Minimus's cottage a couple of weeks ago and had to be rescued...
Tuesday 23rd April
Here's today's plan. I am off to the Op shop to check out some ten dollar black leather ankle boots - to wear for coffees at cafes in winter. Non-Gardening Partner is off to the power tools store to check out a pole pruner (a chainsaw on the end of a pole). Spot the difference? There will be a difference in price... I am really impressed with his interest in my latest project in the Pond Paddock. I'm sure I'm not imagining it. Late yesterday he cut down another huge branch of the dead tree by the pond - without me asking or reminding him.
Much Later...
Well, the boots were too small. But the huge Oak tree branch which was criss-crossing the flowering cherries in the Pond Paddock is down. NGP's new chainsaw on a pole is groovy! I've spent the afternoon processing all the mess. I've started planting in the new garden space - two coarse green Carexes, and two pretty tiny-leafed Pittosporums. I'm laying newspaper down, wetting it, and covering it thickly with mulch to discourage any wee bits of lawn still left alive.
Proposed New Garden Areas
I've also created a little path to duck underneath the flowering cherry trees. Borrowing from my latest gardening magazine, I've got (at least) two design elements right :
- 'Welcome to my garden' says the wee path.
- 'Great sightlines' say my eyes as I wander to and fro.
And now - yeay! We are off to the pub for a pensioner's roast. It's very useful having NGP home all day - for example, it's good for him to see how hard I work in my garden. When an NGP arrives home early evening to find the gardener slurping House Merlot and watching a cabview train journey on Youtube - well, he could get quite the wrong idea!