Moosey News : January 2011

Dear Subscriber,

Already a whole gardening month has flown by. And what have I achieved? Hmm.... I might duck that question. Better not mention the jigsaws I've done, the books I've read, or the dreamy conversations I've had with my cats. It has been, after all, summer holiday time...

This month's features :

  1. Up Foggy Peak
  2. Adirondack Chairs
  3. Pond Cottage - Update
  4. Summer Moaning
  5. Aciphylla - New Zealand Native

Regulars :

  1. Plant of the Month : Summer Phlox
  2. Animals of the Month : Kaya the Blackest of cats
  3. Garden Quote : Slow Gardeners
  4. Garden Gallery : Pond Cottage
  5. Forum Focus : Lots of Us are Back!
  6. Gardening Advice : Courgettes
  7. Searching for Moosey : gardening mistakes
  8. Coming up this month : Lots more happy garden maintenance...

This month's features

1. Up Foggy Peak

Join me in a serious scrambling climb up a non-foggy New Zealand peak.

2. Adirondack Chairs

Yippee for the resident woodworker and garden furniture maker, Non-Gardening Partner.

3. Pond Cottage - Update

Slowly over January I've 'moved in' to Pond Cottage, my little retreat by the pond. Every little detail is faithfully recorded in the Moosey Journal...

4. Summer Moaning

My summer garden is dictated rather by the weather, which is quite hot, incredibly dry, and windy. But just when I'm despairing (as well as running the big irrigation) there's hope...

5. Aciphylla - New Zealand Native

My Aciphylla is not the prickly variety - not that New Zealand Natives are always prickly. Some of us are really soft and friendly!

Regulars

6. Plant of the Month : Summer Phlox

Summer pholxes are wonderful flowery perennials - as long as the dreaded mildew doesn't strike. The varieties in my garden seem to be lucky in this respect - cross my green fingers...

7. Animals of the Month : Kaya the Blackest of cats

Well, that's what Non-Gardening Partner calls her - though Kaya has areas of white fur as well. She's left Mooseys to live in her very own house by the beach.

8. Garden Quote : Slow Gardeners

Phew. There is hope after all. It doesn't all have to be fast and furious. Slow gardeners can take heart...

9. Garden Gallery : Pond Cottage

This is my favourite picture (for 2011, anyway) of Pond Cottage. I just love the leafiness of the greenery.

10. Forum Focus : Lots of Us are Back!

It must be all those New Years' Resolutions we made to keep better in touch with our good gardening friends.

11. Gardening Advice : Courgettes

One courgette plant is a famine, two courgette plants are a feast...

12. Searching for Moosey : gardening mistakes

Gardening Mistake - Golden Hop
This search made me shrug my shoulders and sigh. Oh dear. One tries so hard to do the right thing, and it rocks the confidence when huge gardening mistakes are made. Here's one from 2004.
Gardening Mistake - Clematis Montana
Nere's another of my well-meaning gardening mistakes.

13. Coming up this month : Lots more happy garden maintenance...

It's my garden theme for 2011. Hmm - sounds rather boring. We all have to do it - but will anyone want to read about it?

Cheers,