Always something...
Astelia and Azalea
Another day, another pair of clean gardening jeans whose bottom and knees are allowed to get all muddy. What to do today? The nicest thing about my garden is that there's always something to do. At times that may be the not-nicest thing, hee hee.
Thursday 1st September
So how good have I been today? First I practiced Prokofief (the composer de jour), then went to ballet (the self-affirmation and wellness exercise de jour), then out into the Hump Garden where I dragged self around on self's bottom for four hours. Weeding. The gardening reality de jour, no less! Have left everything on the path. My super muddy jeans are soaking in the tub. Great work!
Friday 2nd September
Oh boy. Have come in to gather strength. First thing this morning wandered over the house lawn in a bit of a dream. Noticed an overgrown Phormium in the Island Bed. Stopped, grabbed a knife from the wheelbarrow, decided to slice the flax down. Such hard work! It's taking oh so long! Like three hours so far, and I'm not finished. But already, thanks to the power of the written word to consolidate and help focus, I feel better. Dare I say 'recharged'? I'm now off to bonfire all the mess.
Even later, apres gardening...
So the flax is down, and have also started a serious trim of the next-door Pittosporum - it, too, has grown too big for its position. Have raked up most of the visible mess, binned half the living flax leaves (they can't be composted or easily burnt), piled the other half on the driveway. Have done lots of plodding and heavy carrying of bundles of leaves etc. Everything burnable is burnt.
The Island Bed
Apres gardening, sat in one of the breakfast chairs with my book and a cup of tea and looked out at the Island Bed. Wondered why I chose to do such a big, tiring thing. Suddenly, enlightenment! Yes! Now I can see the back lawn Adirondack seats, and the edge of the Hump garden. This means I will be able to see the roses! In retrospect, it was a great idea.
Six hours!
Wondered why I was feeling a bit tired. Added up my gardening hours - six in total. Six hours is a great day's work. Fair enough?
Saturday 3rd September
Am off with my camera for a huge photo shoot. Add taking photographs to the list of things I always forget to do. Especially pictures of the Camellias while they are still beautiful, before their flowers spoil. And the daffodils, little splashes of yellow, far too many solitaries, not enough group clumps of colour. Oh well. One gets what one gets.
Deep Pink Camellia
Aha! Saw some weeds along the driveway, stopped, dropped, and voila! One hour of very careful weeding, wearing my best jeans. The spring sunshine was possibly a bit bright for photographs -= I tend to favour the overcast day.
Forsythia
The Forsythia is in flower, and the red rhododendron Cornubia just keeps on flowering, as if it's found its second wind. Wind? Aargh! Unfortunate word. No, no, don't want any wind...
Later, mid-afternoon...
Me and my big mouth. Now it has gone all windy, so I can't take my mess to the bonfire. Have worked around the circular Driveway Border weeding and trimming Phormiums, sitting on my bottom. There are three Cream Delights in this garden and they are indeed delightful. Then I cleared the far path into the Hump Garden, found something odd, but not unexpected. I had a total failure here with my garlic planting last year. Couldn't find any evidence that any was there to harvest. Aha! This year there are lots of little garlics. Oops. Right. Time to get clean, soak my jeans, and eat.