Pull out the Forget-Me-Nots
Enjoying my early cup of tea at the table by the pond. Busy writing my diary while Minimus my cottage cat sat on my lap and played 'Attack the Moving Pencil'. Ouch!
The Pond Paddock
One of the tabby Freds was pondside, quietly 'fishing' near the waterlilies. A noisy mallard duck was circling in the middle of the pond. The bellbirds were tooting and chiming overhead, and the gardens around me looked soft and pretty.
Forget-Me-Nots
Aargh! Forget-Me-Nots!
Aargh! Noticed that the forget-me-nots (many of which are in the lawn, oops) are ready to be pulled out. So that's why everything looked so super-fluffy! A wonderfully peaceful way to start a day, for sure, apart from the duck. A no-friends boy duck - what a pity!
Mid-day...
The hoses are on the Pittosporums. My gardening shorts are on me, and I'm wearing the shortest socks. I'm off to start the great forget-me-not removal. Biddi-bids, here I come!
Later...
Changed my mind. Got Non-Gardening Partner to sharpen my edging shears and cleaned up the long grass around the dog kennels instead. Moved over to the narrow border by the garage where the Sally Holmes roses grow. Said hello to the Sallies, all of whom seem to have survived my pruning efforts some months back. Have shifted the hoses twice. Now - one more hour's work, including the bonfire, and then I am allowed to wash my hair. Yeay!
Now waiting for fish'n'chips, with clean hair and feet tingling (a sort of nice feeling). I've burnt the bonfire and collected one huge barrow load of forget-me-nots, which I've dumped in the middle of the Jelly Bean Border. Those rather simple tasks took me two hours - end of the day, naturally slowing down.
Sunday 7th November
What am I going to do today? Start something that I'll never finish, hee hee - for example, clear up the Pond Paddock. But the morning has already sprung a surprise. Non-Gardening Partner is going to chain-saw down the dead plum tree. Eek! Without even being asked (i.e. nagged). And the plum tree is in the Pond Paddock. So that's my morning organised, at least. It will take him ten minutes, it may take me all day to clean up the mess. Nice. Better get ready, then.
Cleaning up the Plum Tree
Mid-afternoon...
Have stopped. Four hours of good work, the bonfire gurgling, the tree mess cleared, firewood logs stacked in the woodshed, lots of Alkanet pulled out, mess behind the Pump House collected and burnt.
Also did some speed weeding behind the Herb Spiral, and pulled out the miniature roses I'd transplanted in here. Do I like them? Not really. Are they growing happily? Not really. Pouff! On the bonfire they went. Didn't pull out all the chives seedlings, though - they're busy flowering in the circular path. Big softie, me.
Messy Spring Herb Spiral
Something funny happened earlier. Met one of the Fred cats lurking guiltily behind the cottage. 'Fred!' He stared at me with huge, round eyes. 'Fred? What are you up to?' I looked more closely.
Not a Fred!
Oops. No scoopy side whorls - this Fred was speckled. Not a Fred, then! Now wondering if this is the cat that's been coming onto the cottage verandah and staring in the door at me. Fred (don't know which one) has been taking the blame for months.
Lavender
Hands and fingers are achy and need a rest. For the 'Something I'm Glad I Did Do' file : so glad I spent money and bought new Lavender plants some months back. Beautiful purple, and the bees love them. For the 'Something I Wish I'd Not Done' file : wish I hadn't introduced the pretty green nuisance Creeping Charlie into my garden twenty years ago. Twenty years of creeping all over the place. Have just been trying (hopeless) to remove it from the lawn.