Busy keeping warm...

Waiting to bark at me. So annoying!
Pebbles the Dog

Wow! What a wonderful day I've had. Disciplined, no short cuts, fun, making (hopefully) good decisions. And catching up, doing things that I should have already done.

Busy keeping warm...

I've been busy (mainly keeping warm) doing 'circuits' with the wheelbarrow. I dump a load of Lamium mess behind the pond, pick up some heavy pots of nearby Cannas, put them in the glasshouse, then wheel around to get more horse manure, dump it on the Septic Tank Garden, refill the barrow with more mess - and so on.

Camellias and roses planted...

I've also planted the last recycled Camellia plus the three new roses (Zephirine Drouihan and Tess of the D-Urbervilles). Axed out a large fern which was improperly placed by the rose arch - thinking how large it would get in summer, and how it would then cover the new rose canes.

The day ended wonderfully with my Jazz choir practice going really well, then Speckles the stray waiting for me outside the cottage at bedtime. Minimus the cottage cat enjoyed her evening meal of lightly cooked white fish. Am an extremely happy musical cat-owning gardener!

Thursday 14th August

Hmm. It's not possible to get outside yet - the lawns and borders are covered with frost. It's a 'long-johns underneath jeans' morning. And what a difference a day makes - I have the sniffy beginnings of a head cold. Blast!

Things to Do Today...

  1. Trim ferns around the Laundry Garden, and clean up.
  2. Plant the two Striped Flower Carpet roses in front of the house bay window.
  3. Spread more horse manure on the Septic Tank Garden.
  4. Trim more Lamium, and clean up.

And please prune some more roses. It's OK to be random (there are, after all, over two hundred to choose from). Walk around with the wheelbarrow and the secateurs, stop, look around, and prune. Easy as.

By the house.
Deep Pink Camellia

Later...

Just one and a half hours work in the morning - not bad, not bad. Was busy in the sunshine, cleaning up the garden in front of the bay window. And yes, I pruned some roses. My hands display the evidence. Ouch.

After lunch I did a couple of hours sitting in the Lamium. Alas, it still isn't all removed. I scraped and dug and sliced and pulled. Also chopped out some of the annoying ferns. Hard work. And all the while my head cold got worse and worse. Blast.

After a modest evening meal I finished my Trans Siberian train trip. In winter. Brr.... Please don't ask why. But I reckon it made my head cold feel even worse, so I went to bed early.

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