October Week 1

Aargh! A new month already, where the garden is promising to burst into more life. Will I ever able to stop weeding - just for one week? What colours will the new rhododendrons be? Questions, questions...

Friday 1st October - The Tenth Anniversary of the Moosey Garden!

I've made it! Today is the official tenth anniversary of the garden - will there be grand celebrations? Presents? Speeches? Or will there just be weeding, weeding and more weeding?

Congratulations to all the plants and animals (including rooster) at Mooseys who have enjoyed the last ten years of garden growth. Congratulations to ME the head gardener (and my family) for surviving a decade of my grand gardening obsession.

Congratulations to Stephen who has mown ten years' worth of lawns, built pergolas, organised archways, planted trees, kept the pumps pumping - and who is looking after the Hazel Nut Orchard.

And lots of congratulations across the hemispheres to the London Moosey team for all their hard work. Pity about the English weather, though!

Finally, congratulations to Taj-Dog for being the consummate country dog - and for lasting until this memorable day. Dear old dog!

Right - with all that trumpeting over, where in the garden shall I weed this morning? In the Hump by the big blossom tree?

Not today - the Hen House garden needs me...

Saturday 2nd October

I've decided to have a whole tenth anniversary month for the Moosey garden. This could be a great excuse to buy many ceremonial new plants - for all the parts of the garden which have been so well weeded! Take yesterday, for example - I weeded for over four hours, happily, near the Hen House - it was gloomy, grey, and rather cold.

Everywhere, after I've weeded, I create space for new plants - I could even get some more roses, though this late in the season cutting-grown perennials may have to fill. Hmm... I'm wondering about the Moosey Nursery Strategic Plan - mass production of Nepeta and variegated pelargoniums is required. I've started being sensible with self-sewn Pittosporums, potting them up rather than just ripping them out. I need all my annual seedlings in the glass-house to grow! Quickly!

Also yesterday I shifted some Ligularia plants which now look beautiful beside the second pond in the Wattle Woods. This delightful (and successful!) home-made water feature even has a relaxing bench installed. All I need are some flaxes to give a sense of enclosure. It's interesting sitting here - a group of hand-reared cattle live in the close next-door paddock. I've been surprised out of a few solitary daydreams by these nosy animals leaning over the fence, staring intently at me.

Now today, the second day in this celebratory month - what should I do first today? I think it best if I spread my efforts and energy around a bit - the glass-house definitely, perhaps some more clearing and burning from the Hump, then perhaps I could start to dig the Internet Garden by the new well - coffee first, I think! Back soon.

Mid-Day...

I have done lots more weeding - surprise, surprise! And I have taken some cuttings of both the purple and the white verbena. The sun continues to shine but the wind is cold and blustery (and hard to ignore). However I am very happy pottering. Yes, it's another riveting day in the life of the head-gardener, recorded in every exciting detail imaginable...

Sunday 3rd October

The big blossom tree is still there! - I mean, it's still in flower. Every day I expect the fresh spring winds to spoil it. Right - another beautiful day - an extra hour of gardening because of daylight saving (just kidding!) - what shall I do first? Or more to the point, how do I want this day to finish? Perhaps with a trailer-load of new plants freshly planted?

The day has started with my chook company standing on the decking, beaks pressed to the glass doors, staring at me, while Mugsy the not-very-brainy cat sits on the other side of the glass staring back. Hmm...

Later...

The gardening day has not ended yet, but I am apres-gardening in loose black and white check shirt, and loose black 3/4 pants - note the use of the word 'loose'. I do intend to return in an hour and elegantly do all the edges (the lawns are freshly mown). Today has been modestly productive - we visited a local market, where I bought three hybrid flaxes, a native pampas grass and two small hebes. All plants are firmly in the soil, I've done watering and seedling pricking out in the glass-house, and I've scraped up the weeds underneath the variegated Elm tree.

At the market I didn't buy any rhododendrons, but there were heaps of ten dollar David Austin roses, new releases like Benjamin Britten which I haven't yet got in my garden. Maybe I can return next week with a larger cash float - there was also a good organic vegetable stall. Most of the plant stalls were just as expensive as the nurseries.

Tuesday 5th October

Yesterday I went to work (earning some plant money) - no gardening was possible. So today the plan is to do twice as much gardening as usual. I feel confident! What shall I do first? Eek! So many choices. Out I go.

Back I come after two hours. I have been weeding by the Hen House. I feel really tired, and a bit achy. Perhaps I am just sick of weeding! I checked the two ponds - all is well - and I am maintaining my sneaky watering regime of the Wattle Woods Camellias.

Breaking News - The Return of the Bellbird!

The bellbird is back! He (she?) sang his arpeggio to me, I whistled it back, thus we communicated several times. Then he lost focus and flew to another tree, while I felt really touched. What a beautiful song from such a drab looking bird! Very symbolic of New Zealand maybe? I am glad I grow flowering flaxes, for it is magical watching him (her?) in summer drinking the nectar - it makes me feel terribly environmental.

Wednesday 6th October

Yippee! I've been pottering gently for most of the day - late afternoon the wind dropped sufficiently to burn my rubbish pile. My Wattle Woods stream is still successfully flowing, and I've planted two small hebes near the Stream Seat, plus some rushes I dug from the water race edge. New things are happening - several trees have burst into leaf, a few surviving red tulips are trying to flower, and I have found what I think is a fritillaria. The Moosey garden is never boring (unlike my daily writings about it!)...