A new technique!

Have perfected a new technique for cleaning up the edges of the garden borders (and the lawn). It's called bottom-dragging. It minimises the need for kneeling (ouch - sore knees) and bending over (ouch - sore back) and bobbing up and down (ouch - sore hips). As long as the grass isn't too wet, then the bottom doesn't get too wet. It is inelegant but highly effective. And rather relaxing...

 Two hours work...
Pile of Firewood

But first things first. Yesterday Non-Gardening Partner and I spent four hours log splitting. We started off with a hiss and a roar, but then the sun came out. Very tiring work, overheating, hard to imagine ever needing firewood.

 Falling apart.
Messy Phormium Tenax

Out, out...

Wandering around later I saw a large Phormium tenax on the edge of the Stumpy Garden which needed to go. As often happens in my garden I don't know why I've let it grow so big, and in such a prominent place. Tenax species phormiums are stiff, huge, dull olive green, and annoying to keep tidy.

So this afternoon I might start slicing it down. I like to use the kitchen breadknife, hee hee. Sometimes I use one of the serrated kitchen steak knives. I've tried swinging the axe (which is a better, more professional gardening look), but those flax leaves are too tough.

Later...

Oops. Having just made a loaf of bread, I couldn't sneak the breadknife out unnoticed (NGP tends to graze on fresh bread). So I dragged myself along on my bottom and trimmed and weeded another border, by the water race. The Phormium can wait. Rule of my garden : there's always something else that needs doing. But that's a good thing, right?

 Think the yellow is a species one. The orange is from the variety Bengal Tiger.
Cannas Flowering

Went to have late afternoon tea on the pond decking. Minimus my cottage cat arrived to keep me company. Loving the Canna lilies. Not loving the mosquitoes.

Thursday 10th March

Speckles the stray cat made a real nuisance of himself this morning - at dawn there he was, staring through the cottage window at me and Minimus. He was hungry and was demanding breakfast. I've caught him jumping out of the window, so am back to leaving the door open in the daytimes. Don't want Minimus to get bailed up inside. By crikey he'd better not get in a fight with her.

 All neat and tidy.
Garden Edges Around the Back Lawn

Came home from my ballet class and went straight into my garden. I've just done three hours of bottom-dragging - such an easy way to get around to tidy the edges. So all the gardens around the back lawn are trimmed, and oh yes! They look beautiful! All stone edges are visible, so I won't be blamed for the mower running over anything and breaking its blades. The mess is puffing away on the bonfire, and I've added a couple of dry loads from the piles underneath the hedges.

X-Treme Multi-tasking...

Maybe time to investigate that Phormium for a change of scenery? No. I reckon it's time to go apres-gardening and relax with a detective story book, a sudoko, the Paralympics on TV and the Women's Cricket on my phone. X-treme multi-tasking, hee hee.