Foot power

 Not supposed to be worn in the garden!
My New Salewas

I'm proud that I use my wheelbarrow so much to move things around the garden, rather than a tractor or a cart towed by a four-wheeler. Yeay for foot power! Plodding gardeners of the world, unite! We are awesome.

So today I have been barrowing garden mix and compost into the Hump Garden. It is repetitive work, and also very necessary - am building up the lower part of this garden, which is contained by a small retaining wall of half-round logs.

Four hours of plodding, shovelling, wheeling, and spreading is what I've managed so far. I've found some home-made compost to add to the fill. And yes - the garden is slowly filling up.

I've hammered in more posts to hold the wall in place, and balanced second half-rounds on top of the first. A pink rambling rose, and another large hydrangea have been lovingly planted.

 Black Fred I think.
Fred in the Hump

Miaow!

Miaow! I've had lots of cat company. Lilli-Puss followed me into the garden. Later on Black Buster danced over to see what was up. The Fred cats have been prowling around a bit, too. But luckily none of the cats coincided. And the dogs, for once, have hardly barked at anything - they've been lying in the sun, snoozing.

And right now, just to show how dedicated I can be, I'm going back outside to finish emptying the trailer. I can do this. Should take less than an hour. That's nothing, in the life of a well-cared-for garden, hee hee.

Later...

Am so glad I did that! Now I'm clean, have washed my hair, and am off to sit on the patio, watch the wee birdies, and read my Edmund Hillary book. It's quite late in the day, but not too cold yet. Photographs don't really show all my hard work, so please enjoy the pink Azalea and the red rhododendron instead.

 Getting very tall.
Red Rhododendron Cornubia

Next Day...

Oops. Have been out and about visiting my friends and family. Have two and a half hours left in which to do gardening. Am going to do planting. Back soon.

Later...

Scooped up one barrowful of wet green weeds (took ages). Planted two roses, and straightened a path - having a silly curve for no reason is just silly, yes? Dug out clumps of miniature Agapanthus - the idea was great, but they've been frosted, and as a consequence are looking dreadful. Cannot accept unsightly Agapanthus when there are so many places in my garden they can over-winter and stay green.

Wednesday 18th August

Oh dear. New Zealand is suddenly in a seriously strict lock-down. As expected, the Delta variant of Covid has appeared in the community. So it's back to phone-coffees, and nowhere to go, except out walking the dogs. Absolutely no excuse not to be in the garden.

So far today I've laid my seeds out on the kitchen table and started to write an old-school list (tried a spreadsheet one year, no joy). Oops. I have quite a lot. Non-Gardening Partner is working from home - have suggested he might like to do some chain-sawing in his lunch break. No chance. Time to check my latest photographs before I launch myself outside.

 Beautiful!
Big Pink Azalea

So what's today's plan? Easy. Working in the Hump Garden :

  1. Collecting and spreading more compost.
  2. Planting more things.
  3. Weeding some more.

Later : did some of each. Planted Hebe's Lip and the single once-flowering red rose by the Hump path. Planted Anemanthele grasses and an Astelia in the Driveway Garden. Dug out dead Hebes etc. and put them on the bonfire. Collected a load of wet weeds and tipped them out by the fence-line. Everything in its correct dumping place. Right, dogs?

 The dogs love lock-downs. Their humans are home all the time!
The Dogs