Garden Journal 2022

Ooh goodie. Another year in my lovely garden. So what will grow well? How much taller will the trees get? And how many more roses can I fit in? There'll be lots of gardening joy to look forward to in 2022.

Happy New Year for 2022...: Happy New Year! I have a New Year's Resolution for 2022. It's not at all complicated. It has two parts. Short and sweet. Keeping it simple.
Attitude, platitude......: Have a new attitude - and a new platitude? Oops. Here it is. Nothing in my garden that is finite can ever be too much trouble. Because finite can be finished.
Cats, Dogs, Jigsaw, Garden......: Time for some cat and dog news first, before I mention the summer garden. I've forgiven the Fred cats for destroying my 2000 piece Christmas jigsaw, now that it's finally finished. Black Fred is even allowed to curl up in the (empty) jigsaw box...
Summer in the garden......: I love summer in the garden - the bright flower colours, the beautiful shady trees, the pond and the water race. But I forget how hot and sticky it can be trying to actually do some gardening in mid-summer. Eek! Too hot!
Paths......: Oops. Path problems in the Hump Gardens. What am I? I am a path. Where am I? In a lovely garden. Why am I? To give the lovely gardener gentle access to stuff. Am I important? Not as important as the plants and trees. Oh. That explains it, then.
I am a gardener......: I am a gardener. Not a swimmer, or a reader, or a doer of jigsaws. Definitely not a shopper, or a cafe coffee drinker (have already done a bit of all the above, hee hee).
Rediscover......: It's time to rediscover my new, energetic, go-gardening 2022 attitude (which didn't last very long, methinks). I will modify it to be weather related. Go gardening according to the 'pleasantness' of the weather. Do inside stuff when the weather is dodgy - too hot, too wet, etc. Makes sense.
Good morning, February......: Good morning, February. So what have I done so far this month? Trimmed garden borders (mainly Lychnis) and chopped down tree suckers (Prunus and Gleditsia). Measure the success of my achievements by the number of barrow loads dumped? An average of only four a day. But as the saying goes, four is better than none.
Good morning again, February......: Good morning, February. Let's start again, shall we? Thanks for all the rain. Please try not to flop over all the dahlias and the gladioli flowers. Am looking forward to being outside, working away in you again. Yeay!
My 2022 motto......: Having fun trying to do my best. That's my 2022 motto, easy to apply, a one-size-fits-all motto. Whether it be the piano or the garden or my personal fitness regime. Or my mind-expansion programme. Hang on a minute? Do I actually have a mind expansion programme? Does reading old-school British detective stories count?
Dodging the drizzle......: Have spent the last few days dodging the drizzle and rain. Sneaking outside to do some gardening, keeping a low profile, hoping that the weather gremlins doesn't notice me and decide to drench me with water.
Wealth and style...: Something silly on my Facebook feed this morning. Apparently dahlias are a sign of wealth and style. Oh really? So the plan was to feel wealthy and stylish and trim off all the dahlia dead-heads. But things didn't quite work out.
Being brutal......: The Hump Garden is a mess. It has over-planted itself - definitely not the gardener's fault, hee hee. At least two days of brutal gardening are needed : heavy boots, large shovels and spades, big intentions, brutal decisions.
One of those funny moods......: Am in one of those funny moods where I feel small and my trees and garden feel really big. There's been so much growth, with so much rain and summer warmth. So I start feeling a bit unsettled, slightly out of sorts. Even my piano practice doesn't go as well as usual (left hand thumb keeps forgetting to go under). Oh dear, dear, dear me.
Roses and hugs...: This week I have been hard at work balancing my social life with my gardening duties. When times are a little unsettled one needs both.
So beautiful......: Taking stock - my garden is so beautiful. It's also so big, so full with growth, so alive. So many wonderful colours, thanks mainly to the dahlias. I should never get cross with the dahlias for flopping around or self-seeding. They make a huge contribution in late summer.
March......: Eek. The first day of March. The last day of the cricket test match. The morning is quite cool, already feels like autumn. Have just taken the dogs (and one of the Freds) for a walk. I sometimes wander around the garden without seeing anything, far too caught up with the thoughts in my head.
Tidying up......: Good morning. Today's plan is simple. Fully clothed (please don't get the wrong idea) I'm going to weed and tidy around the pond and behind the cottage. I will be extremely mobile. I will be capped and gloved, wearing everything except a face net (there are lots of mosquitos about). Wish me luck.
A new technique!...: Have perfected a new technique for cleaning up the edges of the garden borders (and the lawn). It's called bottom-dragging. It minimises the need for kneeling (ouch - sore knees) and bending over (ouch - sore back) and bobbing up and down (ouch - sore hips). As long as the grass isn't too wet, then the bottom doesn't get too wet. It is inelegant but highly effective. And rather relaxing...
A Four Piece Dog Pack...: The brown dogs are coming for an afternoon in the country. Eek! Haven't told my two Collies just yet. It will be the most exciting thing that's happened to them all week! And what's the most exciting thing that's happened to me? Finding the beautiful David Austin rose Lichfield Angel flowering again...
Firewood and cats......: Have been having fun with the firewood and the cats. Wood stacking news first - I finished off the stacking in the cool of this morning. It's not an unpleasant task - in fact I quite like making the stack cohesive and stable. Am not saying I spend ages choosing just the right place for the next piece of wood, but...
Great excitement......: Great excitement - have only just discovered that Val McDermid is a woman author, so am back from the local library with some of her crime stories. Usually only read women authors, oops (showing a bit of gender bias here). Thought that Val was a man's name? Pretty silly, me, sometimes...
Watering the dandelions?...: Serve me right! Like to pretend that I don't use weed killer. Have just spent ages secretly squirting unmentionable stuff on the all the dandelions in all the garden borders. Very thorough, I was. Non-Gardening Partner has just told me the bottle was filled with water.
Phormiums and Pittosporums...: I love having new, exciting hand tools to try out - especially when they're two dollar specials from the Charity Shop. I have bought (at minimal expense, hee hee) an assortment of sturdy, serrated bread knives, with which I have removed an annoying Phormium.
Standards of dress......: Aha! Sitting down in the dirt and dragging myself along - the easiest way for me to sort out the edges of the gardens. And, ridiculous this, I start off each day with a clean pair of gardening jeans. One has to maintain high standards of dress, after all.
How long?...: Another pair of gardening jeans soaking in the tub. When will this end? Ha ha. When will my garden clean-up be finished? Ha ha. And when will Speckles (the stray cat I'm feeding) realise that I'm actually really nice, and let me touch him? Ha ha. How long is a piece of string?
Gum tree mess...: I can't remember having so much gum tree mess on my gardens, lawns, and paths before. Huge pieces of bark, clumps of leaves, branches big and small... I need some help to do a massive clean up. I'm actually not sure I can do this on my own...
An experience......: A few days ago one of my lovely singing friends visited to 'experience' my garden. And what an experience - we were swinging legs over trip-you-up grasses, ducking underneath tree branches, fighting our way through huge strips of gum bark hanging from the trees like vines in an impenetrable jungle. Oops.
Bonfire preparation......: Have spent the last few days doing bonfire preparation. Better to condense these smoky days, rather than burn every single afternoon, I reckon. Don't enjoy it at all - but have little alternative. Hello, gum tree leaves and bark. Nice of you to drop by. Or, should I say, drop down...
Talkative knees!...: A gently aging gardener (e.g. me) has to remember to bend and stretch more slowly. My knees are becoming quite 'talkative', and my back is having a few minor niggles. Even have to be careful when tying shoelaces or pulling on socks! Sad, this.
Autumn glory......: Good morning to yet another gloriously golden autumn gardening week. Put it this way - you've started off being glorious, so please stay that way. Crisp, but not cold. Wonderful blue sky. Leaves changing colour, fluttering slowly down. A golden glow everywhere. Autumn loveliness all around. So inspiring.
Pick up your toys......: Sometimes gardeners spend hours and hours making a huge mess, then leave it exactly where it is, blocking a path or scattered all over the lawn. Whenever I do this (and it happens rather too often) I sneak back into the house feeling a bit guilty. Naughty gardener! Pick up your toys before you go to bed!
My silly cats...: My silly, silly cats. Oh boy. Early morning in Pond Cottage : Speckles and Minimus had already had their respective breakfasts and cuddles. Sitting on the verandah drinking my cup of tea and having my own breakfast, I could see one of the Fred cats perched high on a nearby tree branch, keeping a discrete watch on proceedings...
Chain-sawing......: Successfully negotiated : Non-Gardening Partner is going to chainsaw 'things' for me. He promises not to moan or ask the question 'Why'? It will take him all of ten minutes, with me pointing at this and that. For example, one particularly large Pittosporum is blocking sunlight from the rhododendrons in the circular Driveway Garden. It really has got too big. I hope he understands...
Autumn beauty...: Oh, autumn, you are so beautiful. I love your trees. No - I love MY trees! They are MINE! Am so glad I planted them. The Dogwoods, Oaks, Maples, and Prunuses are beautiful. These autumn trees always surprise me - I forget how memorable their fleeting, fiery colours are. Yeay! Showtime!
Sorry, Pyracantha......: I have discovered yet more unwanted trees in my messy garden. Namely, Pyracantha which have repsrouted from trunks cut down years ago. A confusing shrub-tree : a nasty critter with stunning red berries.
Silly......: So how silly am I? Woke up about 4am puzzling about the network of paths in the Hump Garden. Logic hardly prevails while lying in bed in the small hours. I tried visualising alternatives. I mind-blocked a path I never use and mind-planted Phormiums to block it off...
No need......: No need for my gardening days to follow the same old pattern. It's quite amusing when they don't (am lucky I am not a subsistence farmer).
Such a trickster!...: Am sulking. Covid has ripped through one of my choirs and, alas, I have tested positive for it. Blast those pesky sopranos! No - just kidding, honestly! I thought I was being oh so careful, masking, distancing... Such a trickster virus.
Recovery?...: Have just raked up three bags of nicely damp autumn leaves from the Pond Paddock. Didn't I do this yesterday? And the day before? Yes, but not before breakfast! I think my recovery from catching Covid might have kicked in...
The perfect go-to garden activity......: What to do today? Am officially allowed out of self-isolation. Aha! I know just the thing. Weeding, that perfect go-to gardening activity, with a variety of styles to complement all moods : from gentle scratching to rough and tough attacking. That's settled then.
A weekend wish......: It's the weekend, the perfect time for doing some chain-sawing - namely, bringing down the huge Pittosporum by the Koru courtyard. Have suggested this, but Non-Gardening Partner (recovering from Covid) has just snorted at me from his chair. Not quite the response I was after. So I am off outside alone...
Wet work!...: It's been raining constantly for the last two days, and silly me has been worrying about Speckles the stray cat. Would he have the sense to leave his wee nest in the paddock grass and seek shelter? Silly, silly me. Of course he did! He popped out from underneath the cottage this morning for breakfast, totally dry.
A quiet mood......: I'm in a quiet mood, because Black Fred is at the vet. He's having an X-ray to see what is causing the large lumpy swelling on his cheek. Am worrying. But I will do some gardening - I have two hundred daffodil bulbs to plant...
Fizzled out!...: My May has fizzled out a lot. Each day I've planted maybe thirty daffodil bulbs, and now they're all in. Have planted pots of Bergenias in the garden by the Herb Spiral. Can't think of much else. Oops.
Almost June...: Eek! It's almost June. Mid-winter is closing in. So here's today's plan : it's got a rather nice look to it. Good balance, lovely things to look forward to.
A good winter gardener...: Finally I have been a good winter gardener. About time! It's nearly the shortest day, after all, and procrastination is - the thief of time? I've just found another quote : 'Procrastinaion is a sign of perfection'. I don't think so! How about 'Procrastination is the enemy of success'? Hmm...
The winter Gunnera trim...: Can't wait any longer for the frosts - I've started my major winter Gunnera trim. Thickets of coarse green Carexes have also spread far and wide around some of the huge root systems, and the remaining Phormiums (the tall, stiff Tenax species) seem to be getting thinner each year.
Press start......: All very well thinking and planning a gardening day, imagining the pride in finishing something, imagining the mess all cleared away. But it helps to press the 'start' button, right?
A list with one item?...: Winter is a great time to shift things about. Plants (particularly roses) in my garden often end up in the wrong place. So I started to write a list in my head, but could only think of one item : The Pilgrim rose. Oops. A brief list is usually a successfully implemented one? But a list with one item?
Dozy and disappointing?...: One should be careful when insulting ones dogs - for example, calling them disappointing and dozy. Because there then comes a day (like today) when one's own efforts are exactly that! Today I have been very disappointing and extremely dozy...
A successful winter gardener...: How to be a successful winter gardener. Talk to yourself gently but firmly. No nonsense. Ignore the coldness outdoors. Six degrees Celsius is nothing. This is not the middle of Canada. The garden is still green! Put on warm gardening clothes and go out there.
Lucky in our own way......: Good morning. Brr... Another frost, quite an impressive one, maybe minus five degrees. Dogs have fur to keep them warm, people aren't so lucky. But then people can light the log-burner and sit in front of it with a hot cup of tea. And put on warm socks and slippers. So I guess we are all lucky in our own way.
Mid-winter questions......: So it's mid-winter - is it too early to prune the roses? And a practical question, regarding the comfort of my bottom : is it too wet to sit down in the garden and do some weeding? The answer to both questions is probably 'yes and no'. Hmm...
The power of gardening magazines......: Quickly! No time to lose. I've been reading my gardening magazines in front of the log-burner, and I am inspired. Mainly by photographs of clever groupings of pots by tidy paths - and gardens overflowing with luscious hostas, slightly unseasonal, but beautiful.
The Apres-Gardening rule?...: I have a beautiful new Apres-Gardening merino top - duck-egg blue, with a scoopy collar, fancy design, absolutely gorgeous. But in order to wear apres-gardening clothes one should have gone gardening first, right? Right?
Puddling with puddles......: Wow! Heavy rain, which was forecast for today, has arrived. Yesterday was the calm before the (rain) storm, so naturally I poked around in the house and went out to cafes with my friends. While today, naturally, I feel like gardening. No chance! The lawns and driveway are puddling with puddles...
After the rain......: Aha! Good news! Good morning (a bit late but never mind) to sunshine, blue skies, and my garden. The magic of free-draining soil - all the puddles have gone. I've been busy cleaning up the stone wall which marks the edge of The Shrubbery. I've raked up lots of gum tree mess, pruned back Escallonias, dug out Euphorbias...
A real frost......: Aagh! The first real frost - only minus four degrees, but rather nippy. Guess who has forgotten to take the potted pelargoniums to shelter in the glass-house? Could that possibly be me? Oops. Have already taken the dogs for a walk to check the early flowering Camellias. Lovely!
Perfect timing?...: I have very few ongoing gardening details to report, since there's been so much rain. Must thank my garden for accepting all this rain and draining it down into the aquifers. But today I sneaked in some good work, displaying perfect timing. Worked for two and a half hours raking and trimming...
Thanks......: Giving thanks for shelter and warmth - for the firewood we produce on our property, for my house which is warm and well insulated. And for Pond Cottage, my lovely shed-with-a-bed, in which I spend many a cosy winter evening.
More rain......: More rain. More puddles, on the driveway, in the low parts of the lawns, in the paddocks. And the ground is already quite saturated. But I am lucky to have free-draining soil, yes? So the story of July 2022 in my garden continues its soggy theme...
Weather-obsessed......: Another week of weather-obsessed ramblings in this journal, I'm afraid. Each paragraph is full of rain, wind, or cold. The writing is not particularly descriptive or atmospheric, either - and it's rather light on gardening details and achievements. Oops.
No more excuses!...: My doctor has blasted my face with liquid nitrogen. So this is a great excuse to come home, ignore the garden, and sink instead into the dog couch to read one of my library books? What a wimp! My face may look funny but it doesn't hurt a bit.
What am I?...: Today I tried a new approach. Asked myself the following deep question : what exactly was I? Was only allowed three choices. The next step was to be each of these three things. Answered self : a gardener, a piano player, and a reader of books.
A Trim-athon!...: Yeay! A Trim-athon! I've had a proper weekend in the garden, trimming. And then trimming. And then some more trimming. I've been targetting the gardens over the water race, which are pretty much non-fussy, multi-shrubby places. Perfect places for a trim.
Wellness...: Good morning. Wellness is a great buzz-word. I do lots of wellness things. I have non-gardening wellness plans for this morning - a swim and a cafe coffee and brunch. Then some gardening wellness : I plan to start clearing towards the the pond and the cottage. Time that the gnomes had their location spruced up a bit.
Prokofiev and Primroses......: Am going through a Prokovief piano phase - very odd, me. Want to improve our relationship, to make a stronger connection. Don't ask me why! So in between bursts of gardening I zoom inside, wash my hands, and play my piano. Prokovief's music is patchy - some parts incredibly noisy and difficult, others really sweet and simple...
Always something......: 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.
Sparkling September...: Eek! I forgot to say hello to September. It's my first spring month, and polite gardeners all over New Zealand will be smiling, thanking this lovely month for arriving in their gardens. Greetings, sparkling September, a belated but warm welcome to my garden.
2022 Birthday Week...: May have mentioned that this is my Birthday Week. It is not the biggest of big birthdays, but I am going to enjoy myself and do groovy things. My idea of groovy things can be a bit odd, however. For example, yesterday (oops) I went adventuring for three hours in the Arctic Watershed with a Canadian Youtuber adventurer...
My messy glasshouse...: My glasshouse! Aargh! What a mess. A sad, neglected mess. The messiest of messes. I am so ashamed. I have been ignoring it for years. Last year I only used it to start off my seeds. This is pretty poor. And so many recent damp winter days when I could have been cleaning it up, getting it ready for spring. Oops.
Perennials or potatoes?...: Each year I dig or clear a new potato patch. And then I fill it up with new ornamental plants - usually roses, oops. This year I'm going back full circle, to the very first potato patch I ever planted, at the side of the woodshed. I think it might have been thirty years ago (eek!) and is now full of perennials.
Sentimental weeding......: Sentimentally reminiscing while pulling out Shepherd's Needle weeds : Scandix pecten-veneris, according to Ms Google. We met for the very first time nearly thirty years ago when I came to Mooseys. Aww.... Thirty years for our relationship to blossom - wrong word, but it is spring...
Messy can be romantic?...: I have moved my gardening location to the messy end of the Hump Garden, an area which I ignore a bit, and therefore has gone a bit wild. The best thing about a big garden - one can always find a new location, full of surprises (hopefully not too many nasty ones). I remind myself that messy can be romantic - with a bit of imagination...
Hoe, hoe, hoe......: I have bought a hoe - well, I think it is called a hoe - two dollars, from the Charity Shop. It is a very sturdy hoe, and not too heavy. It is incredibly good at slicing weeds off paths without the gardener (me) having to bend down, or kneel on her old knees, or drag herself along on her bottom.
Brr......: Welcome to October - I'd like to say a 'warm welcome', but those words are sadly inappropriate. October is teasing me by being rather chilly. First thing this morning it was zero degrees Celcius in my house. Brr...
Interesting......: This week could be interesting, weather-wise. In theory, I am going to be an intrepid, cold-weather gardener. But the cold wind may see me scuttling for the warmth of the house. I'm not so brave in blustering southerly winds. And I am not interested in any snow, thank you very much.
Zoom, vroom......: OK. Zoom! Vroom! Lightning fast, quick as a flash! I need to grab Non-Gardening Partner before he wanders off. He has promised to help me barrow and spread the path mulch, which has been sitting in the trailer, neglected, for two weeks. Then I can send him off to get another load, hee hee.
Smiling......: Three things that make me smile, even if I'm tired or a bit grumpy : my cats, my dogs (when they are behaving), and my spring garden. Yeay!
Spring plant fairs......: Happiness! The Spring plant fairs at local churches are in full swing. Today I bought five pots of yellow Daylilies, a Hebe, a pot of white flowering Aubretia, some Chatham Island Forget-Me-Nots, plus zuchini and lettuce seedlings. Great excitement for little money.
Keeping a gardening journal......: The delights of keeping a regular gardening journal : today I told myself if I'd done enough work that I had something to write about, then I could finish up. What an excuse! Then I decided I could stop work anyway and just write about the dogs and the cats, hee hee.
The long weekend...: A long weekend, the traditional vegetable planting weekend (if one is a conformist gardener). I'd rather like it to be a chainsawing and mowing lawns weekend, but so far Non-Gardening Partner has escaped. I expect him to start doing the house vacuuming - the ultimate avoidance tactic, hee hee..
Canoes and Cats......: My latest phase : I have my breakfast watching intrepid Youtube canoeists journeying through Canada's wilderness of lakes and rivers. They paddle for hours, portage over rocks and through forests. They pass moose and the occasional black bear. What I do in my real mornings could be considered very dull and tame...
New leaves......: The new me : I am trying to work hard every day in my garden, in yet another attempt to turn over a new leaf. So why would a gardener ever want to turn a leaf over? To check for mites and/or fungus? Anyway, already this morning I have done a quick clean up in the Pond Paddock, and cleared the path to the woodshed...
Flowering Rhododendrons 2022...: To every rhododendron, turn, turn, turn, there is a season. Early, mid, or late, rhododendrons in my garden flower from late winter through spring, and some hardy (and silly) souls struggle on into the heat of summer. What an amazing collection of shrubs they are.
More roses?...: Eek! Someone else's roses have to come out to make way for a veggie garden. There are nineteen, free for the digging. Eek! So I really need nineteen more roses? Silly compulsive rescuer, me. Aargh! Am off to dig them out. Please don't ask why. Do I need nineteen more roses? I couldn't possibly comment...
Planting things......: Wahoo! Strike up the band! Speckles my stray cat, has been coming for his meals again. Some mornings I find him sitting in Minimus's cat basket, sometimes on her white cane chair, sometimes on the doormat staring in, looking sad and lonely (he isn't). Minimus my cottage cat is so generous sharing her cushions etc. And sharing her Cat Mother!
Colourful......: Good morning to my garden. Have put on my little hoses. Have sorted out lots of colourful photographs. Pictures of little things, inconsequential when compared to the big rhododendrons, flowering their hearts out. Colours everywhere. And a new flowery tea cosy! Am blessed.
Watering the roses......: I've had two wonderful watering days. The new pump is behaving, and I've been busy hosing water onto many of the roses. They deserve this, since they are just starting to flower. Love those beautiful roses...
The Saga of the Sore Finger......: My day started off wonderfully, painlessly. A beautiful waking-up, drinking a slow cup of tea on the cottage verandah. The garden gently drenched from yesterday's steady rain (27mm), the sun shining, the birds swooping low over the pond, the gnomes going quietly about their business. Speckles the stray cat sitting with me, the fur down his back spiky and wet...
Nice and not-so-nice...: What's a not-so-nice thing to be woken up by in the middle of the night? A howling cat fight outside the cottage. I worry, I grab the broom and a torch, and go outside to defuse things. And what's a really lovely thing to be woken up by? Wind-free rain on the cottage roof! Yeay!
The problem with lists......: The problem with writing lists of things to do in the garden : they can easily become horribly prescriptive, over-expansive and totally unrealistic. Then nothing gets finished, and the sensitive gardener (me, sometimes) feels that they are a total failure. Aargh!
Into the orchard......: I've just gone into the orchard, and started clearing out old rose pruning. Some lovely, subtle fragrances have been wafting around. But some of the climbing roses are really struggling - like Madame Caroline Testout, who has never been the healthiest...
Into the orchard again......: Some days I know I am a good gardener. Some days I know I am not. Today I headed out with gloves and tools to do more trimming and pruning of the roses in the orchard. And it didn't go all that well.
Hello roses...: Wandering around the garden, stopping to smell the roses - actually, pushing my camera into their faces as well as my nose. Think of it as saying hello! Am enjoying the colours, the arrangements of petals. I love the singles and the rose clusters, with young buds, old buds, and full-bloom midlife flowers together.
Pets Football World Cup 2022 Sweepstake...: The Football World Cup has come around again, and the Moosey cats and dogs are excited about the house sweepstake. Yes, they jolly well are! This year some guest cats and dogs are taking part - Escher and Frida (two brown dogs) and Earl (a grey cat) from New Brighton, plus Alba (a Devon Rex) from Papanui.
Questions......: Talking to myself again. Asking some very important questions, actually.
Half good and half bad?...: Half good and half bad? So some days I am a half-good gardener. I start something that has needed doing. I am full of energy and the best of intentions. I keep going for ages. But I leave all my tools outside, planning to return for the clean up and pick up. Then things go half-bad. I don't return, do I?
Remember?...: Help! Memory loss! Can't remember what I did in the garden yesterday. Only know that my clothes ended up covered in biddi-bids, and I was really tired. Crikey! I usually remember every weed-scoop, every foot-plod, every bottom-drag...
Edges......: Some very productive edge trimming days, with lots of bottom-dragging. No hand tools have been lost or left outside. And I have righteously bought the new edging shears in every night, cleaned them, and then laid them lovingly on one of the dog couches. Ha!
Lucky dogs......: Have decided that this is a 'Be Really Nice to My Dogs' day. So already we've been for two walks. Throughout the day I will talk to them lots and we will do fun things. Like gardening! Lucky dogs!
Tree frogs...: Aha! This morning my small friends and I liberated eight brown tree frogs on the edge of pond by the fishing gnomes. Dear wee things!
Goodbye Speckles...: Mister Speckles (the stray cat I've been feeding for over a year) is a complete no-show, seriously missing. At first light I wandered through the wilderness behind the pond calling his name and looking for 'signs' of him. Nothing.
Hot, hot, hot......: Oh boy. It's one of the hottest days so far this summer. I've watered the Cannas in their pots by the pond and I've got the hoses on. The nicest thing to do now in the garden is to slosh up (or down) the water race and do some edge clearing. Cool, clear water... Nice!
The cat came back......: There's an old comic song : 'the cat came back, the very next day. Thought he was a goner but the cat came back'. Hello, Speckles the stray. missing for ten days. Welcome back...
Dripping and drooping......: The garden is full of dripping, drooping roses, and more of the summer things (e.g. daylilies, shrubs) are flowering. But I love the rain. I really, really do. Honestly, I do. All this gentle rain? I think I do...
The week before Christmas......: The week before Christmas has been full of rain, just light splatterings of cats and dogs. No singing (phew), but lots of piano playing. Am even putting in the fingering with my pencil. This is serious!
The week before Christmas continued......: So what to do first today? Do some piano practice or go gardening? Choices, choices...
Merry Christmas 2022...: Merry Christmas to me, my garden, and my cats and my dogs. And my friends and family. And to Non-Gardening Partner, who is trying to avoid playing Christmas Bach on his violin by reading scientific journals. There's also a whole lot of Christmas lawn mowing to do...
Dogs Day Out 2022...: Happy Boxing Day, the day of the Annual Dogs Day Out Picnic in the Country. We (especially the resident Border Collies Winnie and Pebbles) are so excited. And guess what? I have been baking! Not for the visiting brown dogs, but for the humans. I made all the recipes up, hee hee. Could be interesting.
Good morning......: Good morning to my lovely house cats, who all reappeared soon after yesterday's visiting dogs went home. And good morning to my equally lovely house dogs, who are both singing in the kitchen. Good morning especially to Winnie, who didn't do any silly running at the Dog Picnic, and thus did not re-injure her limpy front leg.
Bit of a Blur......: The days between Christmas and New Years have wandered past in a bit of a blur. For example, what day is it today? Thursday? Friday? Gardening, reading books, playing some new piano music (a Debussy violin sonata)... And I've certainly been gardening, even yesterday when the temperature outside was just over thirty degrees Celsius...

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2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31