The end of 2023...
Some hot days to end 2023 - too hot for conventional gardening (digging, weeding borders, trimming and so on). But perfect to get into the water race and clean up the banks. Cool, fresh, running water, and lots of shade - a real treat.
In the Water Race
Yesterday the temperature rose steadily through the mid-twenties (Celsius), threatening thirty. Way too hot! So I grabbed the cricket radio (Australia vs Pakistan test match commentary) and the breadknife (THE perfect gardening hand-tool) and ducked into the water race in the shade. Sliced down over-sized Carexes. Scooped up submerged pine tree rubbish from the bottom, kindly donated by someone upstream.
Happy as a piggy in muck?
Got incredibly wet and very muddy - happy as a piggy in muck? Then I sat on my wet, muddy bottom and cleared the edge of the Henhouse Garden. Pulled out lots of cute little gorse seedlings, reminders of the gorse hedge that grew here thirty years ago. My goodness!
Gunnera Leaves
Yeay for the Gunnera - huge leaves, the stems oh so prickly. Love these giants which grow along the water race banks. Yeay for my breadknife - the perfect hand tool. Yeay for my crocs - the perfect water race footwear. Yeay for standing in cool, clean, running water on a hot day. And yeay for me! Naughty thought : I could just flop underneath the air-con with my detective library book. Eek! Banish that thought!
Flower Carpet Rose
Later...
So I went into the water, and poked around in an extremely desultory fashion. Good gardening word, 'desultory', defined as 'lacking a plan, purpose, or enthusiasm". Stared at the vegetation a lot. Sawed down two annoying tree-lings by the glass-house. Sliced down more Carexes.
Aargh!
Then sloshed up the race until I was level with the variegated Arondo. Aargh! It needs a major prune. Aargh! A large species green Phormium was breaking apart (caused by the weight of the flowering stalks) and flopping over into the water. It needs an ankle-trim. Looked around for my breadknife. Aargh! It was lost. Slunk inside, feeling defeated. But hey! A bit late on a hot day to tackle waterside monsters.
New Years' Eve...
I'm going to to sort out that Phormium and that Giant Reed if it's the last thing I do this year! Hee hee...
Much later...
I have little cuts all over my hands from the Phormium leaves. Old skin, the owner not wise enough to wear gloves, and Flower Carpet roses growing through the flaxes attacking the gloveless. Ouch! Didn't finish.
Phormium Flower
The wind was awfully gusty, alarmingly noisy - kept expecting to hear a loud crack or see a piece of a tree come falling down. Got annoyed with the 'atmosphere', so left my mess strewn all over the back lawn, came inside to watch the cricket, and fell asleep. Oops.
My Last Gardening Mess of 2023
Bye bye 2023. I plodded through you with my wheelbarrow almost everyday, doing my best. I think I did OK.