Spring is accelerating...

Spring is accelerating - whatever happened to the constant, boring ticking of time? And the number of garden things I'm finding to do each day is increasing exponentially, as is my happiness! Ha! Busy women should make brilliant gardeners.

 I love spring!
Daffodils by the Willow Tree

Friday 22nd September

And today, first thing, this busy woman is off swimming. A variety of physical fitness tasks are suitable for the older lady gardener and lane swimming is one excellent choice. As one ploughs - no, make that glides - through the tepid water one can make good logical mental gardening lists, or practice naming all the perennials one grows, or find a flowering annual one likes for every letter of the alphabet.

 By the Stables garden bench.
Haru the Pet Lamb - Four Weeks Old

Yesterday I laid all the newspaper that my walking friends had presented me with - rather a lot of bags full. I added my bags of autumn leaves to the covering mulch - have decided I am far too impatient (and unscientific) to make leaf mould. I also watered and did some unscheduled weeding in the Hump. I see many places where my latest flax pieces could and should be planted - better in my garden doing something useful than lounging in buckets.

Lately Haru the pet lamb thinks she is a red Border collie dog. When Rusty races off to escort some teasing pigeons out of Moosey airspace she follows him, bouncing sideways and bleating. What a good life! We only have two other lambs in the paddock - no comment, but definitely not the fault of Charles the merino ram.

 Brewster, or Bruce for short.
The New Moosey Rooster

Saturday 23rd September

I am up with the birds - my rooster is crowing gently in his distant hen-house, the two gardening boy-cats are scampering up and down the stairs. Dressed snugly in a pre-gardening powder blue dressing gown I am about to organise my day. Predicted temperature - twenty three degrees.

Yesterday I bought a big artistic pot - finally, a piece of garden art (apologies to the Moosey garden gnome, but you don't really cut it). My swimming companion (and artistic gardening friend) reckoned the trickiest thing was deciding where to place new garden sculpture. So after lunch I wandered around my garden squinting my eyes and trying some artistic pot visualisation.

Oops - I found ten perfect places, with a shortlist narrowed down to two. So today when we pick the pot up I am going to buy a second one. One goes in the Septic Tank Garden, and the second one will be by Rooster Bridge. I will walk past sculpture when I go to feed my lovely hens and my new rooster.

I Need More Plants

Yesterday afternoon I spent two hours weeding the Birthday Rose Garden and shifting the hoses - suddenly I am noticing lots of gaps for small perennial clumps, or drifts of flowery annuals. And where in my home-grown production line are these plants? Hmm...

In My Glass-House :
One of the busiest places for a good spring gardener...

Today I must spend at least my first gardening session in the glass-house. I will grab salvia, nepeta, and scabious pieces and pot them up. I will prick out the first seeds - a thousand lettuce seedlings are waiting. Thinking really far ahead I will pot up some variegated honesty seedlings from the Driveway Garden - for next spring! I really must try to have the plants I need when I need them! Aargh! Famous last words! One small thought - my chooks eat lettuce, so I can absorb some slight over-production.

 An unknown rhododendron with shiny green leaves.
White Rhododendron

Later...

I have done really well today. My glass-house work was successful, my sculptural pots are in position, and I've weeded by the pergola. My sweet pea seedlings are in, and I've built a stick wigwam for them to climb over.

Haru lamb has graduated to the top Pond Paddock, and tonight she will have no roof! She is the fattest lamb with the softest wool. All day she's been with me eating garden plants, while my gardening cats Fluff-Fluff and Beige-Puss have been supervising. And Tiger the cat came outside and sat on the little brick path where I was weeding!

I am very pleased with myself - I feel I've been a very well behaved gardener, and have stayed on task, for once.

Sunday 24th September

Rusty is squeaking at me - it's time to go outside and do something! Blast - I have so much to say, but I fear he is right. What shall I do first today? Definitely put the chosen plants in my new sculptural pots. Then some weeding? Or something else? What? Eek - I am in a tizzy, spinny mood.

Last night it rained on Haru our pet lamb, newly introduced to the real sheep world of roofless paddocks and fresh air. Today I need to block the wire fence (she can jump through) with some windbreak cloth. Ha! That's what I can do first - make a quick visit to the hardware store. Back soon.

My New Pots:
My pots are decorated with pieces of shell and stone.

Humph... it's lunchtime. The Moosey wallet was left in the big blue car, which went to fire practice. I've done the sculptural pots though, and repotted the Japanese grass. I've taken apart some scabious and salvia clumps to make lots of new perennial plants. My hands are annoying me - how can I be a good gardener with sore hands? It is slightly worrying. My bathroom is stocked with every sore-hands cream known to woman.

During this lunch break I intend to get over my hands grump. Hot coffee, some eggy toast (from my very own beautiful, well-fed, free range hens), and some emu oil (an old Australian aborigine arthritis remedy) should do the trick. I will now make a good afternoon list.

Good Afternoon List

Oops - it's a shopping list!

Monday 25th September

I had most of the day off. All I've done is prick out some seeds - lupins, white cosmos, and spinach (yum). Haru the pet lamb came for a garden tour - Bergenia flowers are still her favourite food. And she is turning into a soft, woolly fattie.