Early January

Happy New Year 2001!

Monday 1st January - New Year's Day

Today we are off to the mountains with the dog - no gardening will be done.

Tuesday 2nd January

Today I am going to wander around the garden with a kindly but critical eye. Garden plants that are in the wrong place are going to be shifted (hoses will be on standby). This is a good time of year to see wrong placements (like the pulmonarias who were baking in the dry sun late December, and now are relaxing in the moist dappled shade of Rooster Bridge Border). But action must also be taken! In the past I've written up lists of "Things to Shift", and then have taken too much notice of e.g. Stephen (e.g. "I ratherrrrr liked that plant therrrrre", "Do you expect it to surrrrvive?")

North Americans (i.e. Stephen) can be quite hopeless. Who else after the FIRST HOUR of the FIRST DAY of a FIVE DAY cricket test match asks "Who's winning?"

Most Valuable Cat Competition 2000 - 2001 (Provisional Report)
• Mugsy has been a hopeless cat and only gets points when the cricket is watched on TV (she sits on daytime TV watchers). But she has such a beautiful face and a gentle kind nature...



• Taj-dog started well before Stephen's holidays started, and he still means well, but Stephen is much more fun to poke around the garden with. They are like two old men pottering around together.



• Jerome this year has been a consistent and reliable cat, often sitting under the wheelbarrow. She always instinctively knows where the gardener is (she listens for the crackling sounds of the cricket radio).



• Stumpy cat refuses to leave the house, just in case the fridge door opens. When thrown out, she does circuits looking for any open window, or sits patiently by a glass door peering inside. But she is tirelessly friendly.



• Big Fat Sifter has come close to being disqualified, for a complete lack of interest and engagement in the cat competition. He's spending every day sleeping, though the choice of chair varies. The sleeping position is pretty consistent though - curled up before lunch, stretched out after the sun comes out. Hopeless!

Friday 5th January

I've missed a few days writing but I've still been out there. Yesterday I extended the dog-path and the Dog-Path Garden, sloshing up and down the water race picking out stones from the bottom to edge the garden on the bank. The path as such is very very narrow, by choice, and stops at a large willow tree stump.

Various Comments about the Last 3 Days

Finally we won the cricket (convincingly)... Hmmm... I think Holland and Bangladesh will be touring New Zealand next year.

The Most Valuable Cat Competition grinds along, with little interest shown by some (e.g. Big Fat Sifter).

Beautiful things in the garden are as follows:
• The rose Gertrude Jekyll in the Dog-Path Garden
• The red/green canna leaves
• The Toe Toe in the Island Bed (looks well manicured this year, from a distance, anyway!)
• The hebe in a pot on patio, spreading out like an umbrella, with the most subtle pink flowers and sage green foliage.
• The pittosporum and hosta leaves in Jelly Bean Border.
• The big red flax in the middle of the dog-path.

Saturday 6th January

It's been a beautiful sunny windless day. I've been doing "maintenance". I've weeded the driveway border, clipped the edges of the Pond Paddock Gardens and filled the wheelbarrow twice with rose dead-headings.

I think I'm pretty happy with things. I know I'm very lucky.

Pittosporum and Hosta in Jelly Bean Border

Sunday 7th January

11.30am I've filled the wheelbarrow twice again, and have now retired indoors to peep at the cricket (just a short break, as the day is cloudy and warm, perfect gardening weather). I started the day off by re-reading some old gardening magazines. The writing style was commercial - the writer should have been selling real estate. Hmmmm...

Monday 8th January

It's just too hot. I have the hoses on, and I wander around every 20 minutes or so and shift them. It's time that my secateured finger had the chance to heal properly.

I have some ideas, though, and I may just have hired a labourer (son) to clear all the wood from the Hump. There are some strange things growing in there. I found a blue flowering potato vine (where did that come from?) and some sedums, not to mention the reject dahlias which are bravely flowering.

Tuesday 9th January

I have been TOO LAZY this last week! Today I am going to sort out The Hump clearing for my potential labourer. I will be in the shade, and the secateured finger can rest.

Toe Toe in Island Border

Friday 12th January

I have been sick in bed for three days. I didn't even want to read my new gardening magazine. My mind has felt really scrambled, too, and I haven't been able to think properly. Today I am up, feeling a bit better, but still quite detached. I haven't really talked to anyone (person or cat or the dog) for three days. It's funny, too, because the garden looks a little strange, even a little neglected.

I like the yellow flowers on the weedy Silver Cineraria - they're cheering me up.

Saturday 13th January

Wandered around the garden last night. It seems more like three weeks of neglect than three days. There's been rain, and lots of sun, while I've been in bed. Think I need some help.

Something quite irregular, too, has happened in the Most Valuable Cat Competition. A self appointed guest judge did the scoring while I was sick, and gave negative points to all the cats except Mugsy. The M.V.C. has been thrown wide open!!