Six layers of dirt...
Good morning. It's Day Six of the Official Gardening Lockdown, six days during which I haven't washed my gardening jeans once. Their knees are caked with dirt, layer upon layer, hee hee. Six layers! How many more, I wonder wistfully...
Winter Water Race and Garden Bench
Today I have been weeding and trimming the gardens by Willow Bridge. On and on, rake, pull, scrape, dig. Hard work, and the rewards are visually elusive. But hey! The huge Miscanthus is trimmed and cleaned up (I used the edging shears, the perfect tool).
Planting is positive!
Have come inside for a wee rest, cos my hands are aching. For my last session of the day I might plant something. Planting is so much more positive - looking ahead to future hopes and dreams - than cleaning up last year's mess - too messy to be anything but a jolly nuisance.
New Rose Arch
Dusk...
I didn't plant much. I cleaned up a bit more mess, them took my new rose archway over to the Hump Garden and semi-assembled it. NGP sorted it out properly. Planted a climbing Blackberry Nip and a Sparieshoop rose on either side. Potted up lots of pieces of sad Acorus dug out earlier. Suspect they'd rather prefer somewhere a bit more watery.
And then I had a hot bath to properly soak my sore feet and hands. Oh dear. Soooooo tricky to wiggle my way in (knees won't bend enough) and even more difficult to get out. Since my last bath, important bits of me have become rather even less flexible, hee hee, and for a few minutes I thought I was stuck fast. The perils of apres-gardening...
Tuesday 24th August
Good morning to another beautiful day. Just checking in, Lilli-Puss sitting on my lap purring quietly. Have already wandered around to take photographs, with a Fred cat perched high in the gum tree howling - wait for meeeeee!
Fred in the Gum Tree
President Roosevelt (a rhododendron) is just starting to flower, and I thought it would be nice to trim his border. There are two more Miscanthus grasses (more modest in size than yesterday's) and some Hydrangeas to prune. Weeds to sort out. Possible dead things to dig out (e.g. hopeless Lilacs).
President Roosevelt Rhododendron
Lunchtime...
The sun is wonderfully hot for August - it's almost a gardening shorts day. Was working very hard, then got sidetracked - decided to severely cut back a woody Hypericum shrub. Couldn't find the loppers, oops, and my hands were a bit sore from over-use of the secateurs. So I decided that Non-Gardening Partner could chain-saw it in his lunch break. Have just come in to tell him. No chance. Blast!
However I do have my little hand saw, and I guess that will have to do the business. Blast! Better to hunt down those loppers, perhaps. Some days (actually, most days) I do wish I wasn't so random with my garden tools.
Later...
Yeay for me. I worked for seven hours. I am a lockdown legend.