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Garden Journal 2001

The 2001 gardening year seems to be full of new plants. Armies of rhododendrons and armfuls of roses keep on appearing, and the garden of course has to expand to accommodate them all.

Early January... Mon 1st Jan 2001: Happy New Year 2001 and welcome to my fifth year of garden diaries...
Late January... Sun 14th Jan 2001: I do battle with the Golden Hop, but lose gardening momentum as the return to work looms. I wonder what it would be like to garden full-time?
February... Sat 3rd Feb 2001: Summer rushes on, and yet again the gardener has forgotten to stake the dahlias. Late developers start to grow, while other plants start to die down...
March... Sat 3rd Mar 2001: Canterbury needs rain. The fields are dry, the garden is dry, and many of the plants are protesting. March is the month where things start to slowly change...
Early April... Sun 1st Apr 2001: April is a month of contrasts. Some days feel like mid-summer, hot and long. Other days are chilly, and there's not enough time to be in the garden. When will the first frosts start?
Easter... Fri 13th Apr 2001: Easter starts my first two week holiday for the year. There are nursery sales and mail order deliveries of plants to look forward to. It's too early for the winter clean up, though.
May... Sat 5th May 2001: The leaves on the trees are starting to turn golden and red and fall to carpet the ground. This May will be a burning month as the fire ban has only just come off.
June... Sat 2nd Jun 2001: Help! May has suddenly disappeared and it's June. That means colder winter days, frosts on the ground, and thermal underwear on the gardener.
Early July... Sun 1st Jul 2001: July brings a new month, even more wintry and cold. There are morning crunching frosts, log fires when it gets dark, and weak winter sun. It's strange though how the weeds keep growing.
Late July... Sun 8th Jul 2001: It's the second week of my official winter holiday. The frosts this year have been quite spectacular - whatever happened to the tough four seasons gardener?
August... Fri 3rd Aug 2001: August is the month of hope, as the days slowly lengthen. Early in the month the shy blue crocuses are in flower, and by the end all the borders should come alive with yellow, white, and apricot pink daffodils.
September... Sat 1st Sep 2001: September starts off as the official month of yellow flowers, from the citrus yellow blossoms of the fence-line Wattle trees to the bright yellow miniature daffodils and the creamy primroses. By the end there will be blue and red flowers, and lambs, as spring takes over.
Spring Holidays - Week 1... Sat 22nd Sep 2001: I AM ON HOLIDAY!! It's a great feeling. I've spent the first hour of my first holiday day around sorting out my latest garden photos. I am about to make a list - calmly and serenely, for there is no rush today. The hours of sunshine are stretching out before me.
Spring Holidays - Week 2... Sat 29th Sep 2001: I keep working hard throughout the second precious week of my spring holiday. If I could just disappear from work and stay in the garden for ever!
Mid October... Sat 13th Oct 2001: This is the wrong time of year to have to be at work. Plants are growing quickly now, and the garden sometimes looks too beautiful to be true.
Late October... Sun 11th Nov 2001: I am having a rhododendron phase - hopefully I will be rewarded by beautiful flowers on healthy bushes - well, that's the plan!
Early November... Sun 4th Nov 2001: Roses are in bloom, there are more and more patches of yellow daylilies flowering, and everywhere there is a mass of green foliage filling up all available gaps, nurtured by the rains and the early summer sun. The garden gets more and more colourful daily.
Late November... Sun 21st Oct 2001: These are the days of aphids and roses - I try to have freshly picked roses (aphid free) for the house, bringing the fragrances and colours of the garden into each room.
Early December... Sat 1st Dec 2001: December has sneaked up on me again. It means summer, children arriving back home for Christmas, and the start of summer holidays spent gently pottering in the garden. If there are enough cloudy days it might mean digging a large new border.
Mid December... Sun 16th Dec 2001: I have plans for major diggings - typical, since it's bound to be too hot to turn them into reality. My summer cricket listening starts up in earnest.
Christmas... Mon 24th Dec 2001: I'm going to get tough about my roses. By now I can see if they are measuring up to their label promises or not. Shape up or ship out - something like that. Merry Christmas!