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.
The End of a Happy Bonfire...
I know that a bonfire is a bonfire, but the location of the burnable mess does affect it. Today's mess was from the very edge of my garden, a secluded and peaceful place, full of gentle surprises. I cleaned up its path and re-routed it to duck and dive between some new self-sown variegated Mallows (I love these). I uncovered one of the little curved foot-bridges (I love these). I dug out overgrown Anemanthele grasses, well past their use-by date - they, of course, whooshed into instant flames.
Red Fred
Cat Company...
I was feeling very blessed, working by the lovely big tree trunks. Their bark is beautiful. I love them. I even liked the ground cover Lamium, for once. The Fred catlets were enjoying the tree trunks, too. They were scampering straight up, stopping (phew!), then half sliding down backwards, all higgledy piggledy - nothing straight about the descent. I love watching the Freds. They both adore being outside, playing near me as I garden.
More mundane...
Later in the afternoon my bonfire became a little more mundane, because I'd filled the trailer with rubbish from the other fence-line, and was burning all of that. Then - yeay! Non-Gardening Partner came with the rake to help. Sooooooo lovely of him. Though he may have been motivated by guilt, since he was supposed to be doing some chain-sawing behind the pond. Oh well.
Saturday 20th April
Reviving an old habit - I popped into the Easter Plant Sale at the local nursery (haven't done this for years). Haven't been able to justify buying new plants for years. Suspect I've been spending all my spare cash on sushi lunches, coffees, and fancy-pants cat and dog food from the vet. Anyway, I now have six cheap, bushy Pittosporums and a Hebe to plant. I wasn't even tempted to buy any of the scrappy roses.
Guy Savoy Striped Roses
Horse manure and mulch...
I also have thirty bags of horse manure to shift and spread in the Jelly Bean Border (my horse poos lady delivered some more). This then needs to be covered thickly with mulch. And then - maybe then - I can have a think about new shrubs to plant in here. Maybe rhododendrons? Not sure.
Later...
Oh. My Goodness. This afternoon Non-Gardening Partner used his tractor to shift all the horse manure, plus the mulch to cover it. I just pottered about in the middle of the Jelly Bean Border with my rake, waiting for the next load to be tipped out. It was so easy!
I trimmed the overgrown Hypericum and Corokia shrubs, wheeled out four barrow loads of mess to the bonfire, and made a start scraping moss, gum and cordyline leaves off the edge of the Pond Paddock lawn. I'm thinking about incorporating it into the garden.
I didn't finish anything. I never do. One always ends an autumn gardening day knowing there's more work waiting to be done tomorrow. This is OK. It's actually comforting. Well, I think it's comforting! Something to look forward to, that sort of thing. A glass of House Merlot is now called for. I think I have earned it.
Manure and Mulch in the Jelly Bean Border
Sunday 21st April
Took some drizzly photographs of the state (inert) of the autumn bonfire, and evidence of my work in the Jelly Bean Border, which NGP so kindly helped me with (see yesterday). Though he did ask why I called it this. Well, I said slowly, because it is shaped like a giant jelly bean...
The Mulch Pile - Finally Gone!