September Week 4

Spring is being particularly beautiful this year. The spring equinox has arrived, bringing days when the sun (wisely) spends more time in southern hemisphere gardens. I don't require any spring gales, though...

Monday 22nd September

Some random beginnings to this random gardener's week:

1. The Ultimate Indoor-Outdoor Flow

My grand piano is covered in pine pollen. Hmm... I guess I should be glad I don't suffer from hay-fever...

2. Far-Too-Free Range Poultry

Chooks meeting and greeting me at the back door of the house for breakfast. Snug in bed, I thought rooster's crowing sounded horribly close.

3. Stones and Blossom

I need more of the first, I have more of the second.

4. Looking Far Too Far Ahead.

Each day, apres-gardening, I've been busy creating the Moosey 2009 Calendars. Have I got the dates right?

I absolutely love building calendars - Non-Gardening Partner has a special 2008 calendar for his work where every single picture is of Rusty the dog. And web-master son has one of beaming family members with all their birthdays firmly installed.

Oops...

I made a mistake with the 2008 December days and dates. Later this year all non-alert Moosey friends and relatives will get Christmas day completely wrong. Oops.

Right. Rusty the dog and I are off to the river to fill my wee car with stones. I'll be working on my new pond path when I return. And there are more plants to shift around.

Pseudopanax Shrubs

I've had a thought to gather up all budget dark green Pseudopanax shrubs, indiscriminately plonked in gardens willy-nilly this Easter, and replant them at the fork in the driveway, where there's definitely room. Pseudopanax shrubs grow into trees - I knew that. Their shiny green foliage will contrast beautifully with my blossom trees down the driveway.

The birds are squeaking with the joys of spring and bees are buzzing in the big cherry tree's blossom. This is the perfect ambience for a full day's gardening...+5

Much, Much Later...

I've finished the retaining stone wall by my pond path (Rusty the dog helped). I've 'fixed up' the curve as the path comes out and scoops itself around the Gunnera. This has taken some imagination, as the Gunnera isn't there at all yet. The thing I had wrong with my first path entry was the convexity. Now the path curves with the shape of the pond, like it's giving the water a huge hug. I had to shift two flaxes - but they were planted earlier this year, so no problems.

I am sooooo tired - and happy! The spring weather today has been absolutely grand. Days like today are nature's reward for real four-seasons gardeners who desperately go outside in mid-winter hailstorms and the like. Now I'm off to feed my friend's cats and pick up some poppy plants - they're called 'Pizzicato'.

Further Expansion...

Small thought, as I sat on the pond seat for afternoon tea and surveyed my domain. I'd love to turn the small ram paddock into garden, to join up my new Shrubbery - there, over the paddock - with my new Pond Garden. Wow. Earlier this year I scored a terribly tiny triangle (a piece of about five degrees) to enlarge the Shrubbery. And Charles the ram is never in here, anyway. Hmm...

Tuesday 23rd September

Apparently the exact time of the spring equinox was about 3 a.m. this morning. Ahem - there's something inherently wrong about that sentence! Today the norwest wind is puffing and blowing, and I blame it for a partial loss of gardening focus. And I don't want all my blossom blown off in spring gales (which the equinox apparently brings), thank you!

I woke up this morning with grand plans to further clear out things behind the pond. Alas - the said 'things' consist mainly of raking up gum tree debris and chopping out broom, and these things have to be burnt. Wise gardeners a) never burn in a raging norwest wind and b) never double handle rubbish. So I half-tidied up a large branches pile and thought tiring thoughts about doing my grand clean-up tomorrow.

Ducks on My Pond

The new pond path works well, though - I shifted the Renga Renga and two Choisya Sundance shrubs to follow the new walking route, and moved the Pseudopanax over a bit (terribly important to record such a detail). These are but minor tinkerings to what I had originally had planned. A pair of mallard ducks would like to use my pond as a home base, and I watched them waddling along the new path - very cute! Pity that Rusty the dog barks all ducks off the property. For example, a round grassy area over the water race which I optimistically christened 'Duck Lawn' - before Rusty's time - has transformed into Duckless Lawn.

Just before lunch I transferred myself to the new Driveway Garden, where that big beautiful cherry blossom (full of buzzing bees) is the big boss, and the rhododendron President Roosevelt second-in-command. I redug the curved edge, planted a couple of Cinnamon Cindy Camellias and spread out the shreddings. I have earnt my healthy, nourishing lunch!

Now I'm off to feed those cats, and take some photographs of my new mauve tulips. Tulips tend to be short-lived in my garden - this may be their only year in flower!

Much Later...

After a bit of a dribbly morning I feel I have redeemed myself - I did a two hour afternoon weeding session, on hands and knees, pulling out little weeds as well as obvious ones. I'm actually glad that I don't know many of the weed names. Somehow this makes them - less threatening? Hmm... If I weeded one wheelbarrowful every afternoon...