Settling in...
Autumn is settling in. But my garden contains lots of evergreens, so amid the autumn golds there are still green leaves all around. This makes the changing colour spectrum even more beautiful.
Yesterday I finished my weeding work in the Allotment Garden. I will not be blown over (so to speak) by swathes of rude, rampant weeds.
Alkanet :- Alkanet is a perennial forget-me-not which the bees love.
The Allotment Garden is dry, with very poor soil. Should try and plant some sort of ground-cover, to give the weeds some competition. But hey! The Alkanet survives. Naturally. Alkanet lives for ever.
This morning I thought about my autumn bonfire (prefer to forget about it). And all the gum bark which the latest winds have blown down. Do something about it, I said to myself. And for once I listened to myself.
Behind the Pond
So I started work behind Pond Cottage clearing out the gum mess. Cleaned up the pond path as far as the water lilies. Carted out six barrow loads, burnt the lot. The (rather small) part I've worked on looks so good. I remind myself that I love the textures of the big gum trees. But I'd rather they kept their textures to themselves!
Monday 30th March
Right. Action and discipline are required for today. And lots of finishing - in fact, a list of things to finish (a bit scary).
- Finish clearing the mess off the pond path.
- Finish removing periwinkle from the front of the Shrubbery.
- Finish replanting all the shifted dahlias.
Then be a responsible cleaner-upper. Cart all the mess to the bonfire and burn the lot.
Canna Bengal Tiger
Two and a half hours later...
It's been drizzling, so I've only tackled the first item. And have I finished? Of course not! But six heavy loads of mess and four armfuls of dry Phormium stalks have been dumped onto the bonfire ash, which gurgled instantly into life. Hard work pushing and carrying.
Inside for smoked salmon on crackers for lunch, a cup of tea, and a bit of a book read before I go back outside. Very exciting - the author (Faith Martin, new to me) I'm reading online has written oodles of books, and I like her style. Yeay! And equally exciting - the light drizzle has stopped and the sun has appeared.
Three hours later...
How good? Three more loads of mess from behind the pond burnt. Then I went up to the Shrubbery to dig out more periwinkle. I might have to nasty-weed-kill the inevitable new shoots. The root system is awful, and not just confined to the surface level. Aargh!
Messy Mass of Dahlias
Ended up with sore hands, wet bottom, smoky hair, dusty socks, and spiders dropping off my hat and scampering down my arms. Saved the spiders, cleaned myself (hair included), organised the evening meal, and then finished my book. If I drank alcohol (I don't) I would have collapsed happily with a glass of wine. Iced water instead. Sooooo much nicer.