Moosey News : September 2005
Dear Subscriber,
Hello again from the Moosey garden, which is busy 'springing' into action! The days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer - this is a most exciting time of the year, full of promises. For example, I promise to finish all the weeding, I promise to finish the rose pruning...
This month's features :
- Most Valuable Pet Competition (MVP)
- The Moosey Office
- Rose Archways
- New Zealand Flaxes
Regulars :
- Plant of the Month : Crepuscule Climbing Rose
- Animal of the Month : Rusty the Puppy
- Garden Quote : Concerning the Rooster
- Garden Gallery : Miniature Daffodils
- Forum Focus : Cats and Dogs in Gardens
- Gardening Advice : On Being Lucky
- Searching for Moosey
- Coming up this month : Spring!
This month's features
1. Most Valuable Pet Competition (MVP)
This new, global competition (besieged with daily voting from Bored Relatives of Moosey) needs your input! Fair-minded readers, naturally, will not vote for the r**ster or for Sifter the Cat who went AWOL. You can vote once a day, and the point scoring system is as honest and robust as the London Moosey team can make it!
Editor's note: And find out why the r**ster cannot be named...
2. The Moosey Office
I'm sure that every important, famous world gardener has an office - as well as a staff of under-gardeners, propagators, weeders, lawn-mowers and hedge-trimmers... Forget the rest, but I've made a start - the Moosey Office (upstairs, cosy, delightful winter afternoon sun) is operational.
3. Rose Archways
Good garden projects take time, and the thirteen rose archways which will form a rosy avenue into the middle of the Hazelnut Orchard are doing just that. September is the Moosey spring month - perfect for planting the new climbing roses. Obviously they will have to have something to climb up...
4. New Zealand Flaxes
I try hard to be a real New Zealand gardener, using and enjoying my country's natural plants. The Moosey Garden is very spiky, filled with Cordylines and flaxes, and winter is one time of the year when these lovely shining native plants are truly appreciated.
Regulars
5. Plant of the Month : Crepuscule Climbing Rose
I'm seriously missing (and seriously pruning!) my roses at the moment, so the plant of the month is my favourite thornless climber Crepuscule. I love the colours and the style of this rose.
6. Animal of the Month : Rusty the Puppy
Rusty the puppy is trying so hard to do all or some of the following - not chase the ducks, not pinch the cats' food, not bark at the neighbour's car, not roll in disgusting smelly things, not lose his tennis balls, not jump up on the green dreaming chair in the Moosey Office, not get bored, not dig holes in the vegetable garden... He deserves a break from the head-gardener's nagging negatives!
8. Garden Quote : Concerning the R**ster
This month's quote is really a plea for well-informed, sensible responses regarding the pet voting competition. It's really quite simple, and can be sung or chanted - "Please don't vote for the R**ster!"
9. Garden Gallery : Miniature Daffodils
This month's award-winning picture has to be colourful - I'm missing the flower colours of summer so very much. But spring is very beautiful, so I've chosen a new photograph of some miniature yellow daffodils.
10. Forum Focus : Cats and Dogs in Gardens
In line with the flurry of pet voting activity (which I hope is not confined to the family of Moosey alone) the forum has a new section for visitors to write about their own pets (no r**sters, please). Cat stories and dog tales are being shared by friends in the forum.
11. Gardening Advice : On Being Lucky
I think it's a bit of a cheek, me giving gardening advice to others when I never take any notice myself! Forgive me for being sentimental - these last weeks I've kept thinking how lucky I am to be a gardener. So this month's advice is as follows. Don't ever forget how lucky you are to be a gardener, whether small, medium or large!
12. Searching for Moosey
The searches are very sensible this month - for example, the people who search for 'sleeping cats' know exactly what cats do most of the time!
'Gardening on the Chatham Islands of New Zealand' interested me - is some brave cottager with dreams of self sufficiency about to venture out there? Readers who are not familiar with the southern hemisphere - check your atlas, look way down in the sea above the Antarctic, and then imagine wind, wind, and more wind. My Chatham Island Forget-Me-Nots are almost flowering, though.
Lastly I like the very sensible search request 'How to disguise stumps in your garden' - you'll find many Moosey photographs showing tree stumps bare, half-covered, and fully clothed. Check out the following pages: stump and daffodil, stump camouflage
13. Coming up this month : Spring!
It's the start of the Moosey spring, and that means daffodils, rhododendrons starting to flower, plum tree blossom, and lots of colour - for example, beautiful pink things everywhere! There are no spring lambs, though - maybe next year!
I hope you enjoy this month's newsletter as much as I've enjoyed putting it together!
Cheers,