Warming up...
Purple Garden Bench
Well, well, well! The first truly hot day of spring, when an hour's gardening warms everything up rather too nicely. No red-faced, sweaty-browed selfies are allowed, thankfully. Lots of sunblock, drinks of water, and sensibly working in the shade...
Saturday 20th October
It's a so-called 'long' weekend, not that this really applies to the leisurely and retired, hee hee. But I have a good chance of snaffling Non-Gardening Partner to fix and/or build things. Garden irrigation comes to my mind, naturally. Flying his tiddley plane comes to his mind. Several patches of lawn seed (I've been watering them) have germinated, so my confidence, is restored and now I've got a few more on the go. But barrowing loads of mulch in the full sun - really! Going to make a pot of hot tea (oddly refreshing), sit on the purple garden bench (sending a big hello to my friend Rachel, you know who you are), and contemplate my shining green garden.
Much later...
Aha! The main irrigation pipes in my new Hump Garden are now laid, and I have three new sprinklers on stalks! Yeay! At the moment everything is lying above ground - so I know where the pipes are, says NGP, and won't crash into them with the spade. Oh ye of little faith!
Non-Gardening Partner
Meanwhile I've shifted in some more miniature Agapanthus, plus a wee Maple tree which (oops) fell off my wheelbarrow a couple of years ago and was left to grow where it landed. There weren't many roots to speak of, and now it's in the middle of the new rose garden. Happy, hopefully. Without exaggerating (oh yeah?) I reckon I've shifted thirty barrow loads off the mulch mountain. It is still as bulky as ever.
Tree Stump Seat
I've also made a new little path leading down to a large seat-height tree stump. I'm loving gardening in this new area.
Sunday 21st October
If I am really, really, really good today I am allowed a reward. Now let me see - maybe some new plants? Or that groovy rustic table and chairs I saw at the local garden shop? How about more horse poos? Too functional?
What I have to do to be classified 'r-r-r-good' is mind, hand, and knee numbing. It's the Welcome Garden clean-up. This is not for sissies. It is - ahem - grunty gardening, and includes energetic sawing down, by hand, of unwanted Tagaste trees. Then, when the dogs are being entertained by NGP, I have to wander up the other side of my boundary fence and trim next-door's weeds, creating a narrow strip of 'no-man's land'. Otherwise next-door's weed seedlings pop up (ever so grateful) in the middle of my lovely garden.
My Mulch Mountain is Smaller
Later...
Aha! Nearly done! Lots of hard, hot work. The big irrigation was running, so I stood underneath a sprinkler to cool down. I planted a couple of Phormiums in the Hump Garden, and continued shifting mulch and edging the paths with logs.
Monday 22nd October
Next-door's weedy mess trimming is done. And what a weedy mess - growing right up to my boundary. Not gardeners, obviously, but not interested in caring for their land either. OK. As long as they don't spray anything. They wouldn't dare! NGP has mown all the house lawns, and the smell of freshly mown lawns is rather intoxicating. He has retired for the day. Fixing the irrigation (another hole) is tiring mental work. Sitting on a ride-on mower - not so.
Springing along...
And so spring seems to be springing along. The garden looks lovely. Naturally!