Moosey's Gardening Newsletter Archives

 Moosey hiding behind the gardening news section.
Keeping up with the garden

Catch up on all the back issues of my monthly gardening newsletter. They are full of garden features both regular and irregular - like the Moosey plant of the month, and the funniest search engine phrases which have sent people to the Moosey website. The favourite Moosey photographic image for each month is now a mere one click away!

The Moosey animals get a monthly feature, too. And there's quite a bit of dipping in and out of the Moosey journals - I tend to write up every gardening move in the finest, yawniest detail. You'll often find a lot of impressive lists of things to do, followed by lists of things actually done, plus a detailed breakdown and analysis of what, why and why not...

So the newsletter should keep you comfortably in touch with what's new and improved in the garden and on the website. I hope you enjoy it.

Moosey News back issues

Moosey News : March and April 2014Moosey News : March and April 2014...
Here's a selection of pages I've written through March and April. These are my autumn leaves months - maybe you'll be singing songs of spring instead. Enjoy!
Moosey News : Feb 2014Moosey News : Feb 2014...
Oops. It's already one sixth of the way through 2014. My newsletters have been missing in action for a while. So sorry - please enjoy this one. I'm always promising to be a better gardener, and now I'm promising to be a better 'newletterer' as well!
Moosey News : July-Sept 2013Moosey News : July-Sept 2013...
Our gardening world is well-balanced - something flowery wakes up, while another garden is snoozing in hibernation. My garden is fast accelerating through spring, the pretty time of the year.
Moosey News : May 2013Moosey News : May 2013...
I've been in a camera mood these past weeks. But who want to see videos and photographs of my 'nearly-winter' garden when there are 'nearly-summer' roses to salivate over elsewhere? But wait. There's still much foliage colour...
Moosey News : April 2013Moosey News : April 2013...
The garden has seen rather a lot of me lately. April has been a great working month, with lots of photographs of plants, gardens, cats and the dog, and the autumn bonfire...
Moosey News : Jan, Feb, and March 2013Moosey News : Jan, Feb, and March 2013...
Oops. Three whole gardening months have sped by - a whole quarter of a year! They've been hot and summery, full of colour, with so much to enjoy. The Head Gardener can surely be forgiven for taking things a bit slowly? Hmm... See what you think...
Moosey News : November and December 2012Moosey News : November and December 2012...
November and December are my colourful rose months. Then my garden celebrates a midsummer Christmas, with salads, barbecues and cool beers. And the holidays are hot, hot, hot! Well, hopefully not too hot...
Moosey News : October 2012Moosey News : October 2012...
My October month has rather been taken over by bricks. I'm afraid my journey to bricklaying competence tends to overshadow the beautiful spring things in the garden. But there'll be something for you to enjoy, even if you're not a brick fan...
Moosey News : September 2012Moosey News : September 2012...
This newsletter features two months' worth of gardening both real and virtual. Spring is always a fast-moving season, and I've been super-busy trying to keep up, while doing website gardening in my spare time. What spare time? Enjoy!
Moosey News : July 2012Moosey News : July 2012...
This year my Great Winter Clean-Up is better, bigger, and brighter than ever. I'm sure it is. Oh yes - I can see the results of my improvements now. Positive visualisation is such a wonderful trick for gardeners! Enjoy!
Moosey News : June 2012Moosey News : June 2012...
This month's newsletter comes to you from my mid-winter month. So I've tried to keep things colourful and energetic - and as warm as possible. Brr... Enjoy.
Moosey News : April, May 2012Moosey News : April, May 2012...
Two months in the garden is a long time, and I've been so busy. It's my autumn season, so apart from the tidying up (and the pretty coloured leaves) there hasn't been much to write about. Or has there?
Moosey News : March 2012Moosey News : March 2012...
Apart from the dahlias, desperate to finish flowering before the first frost, my autumn garden is peaceful, slow, and serene. But wait a minute - autumn is the perfect time for an energetic garden make-over or two. Aargh!
Moosey News : February 2012Moosey News : February 2012...
February felt like a very busy, bustling month, with much variety. Late summer? Definitely, some days, when the sun was shining. Early Autumn? Oh yes, that too, with woolly cardigans and winter frog pyjamas. Hope your February has been fun.
Moosey News : January 2012Moosey News : January 2012...
This year, 2012, I'm going to try really hard to publish the newsletter at the end of the third week of each month. So far, so good! Happy New Year, and all the best for this new gardening year we will share.
Moosey News : November 2011Moosey News : November 2011...
Roses pop up in nearly every feature of this month's newsletter. They are so beautiful this year, with such a variety of form and colour. I hope you like roses as much as I do...
Moosey News : October 2011Moosey News : October 2011...
October is my lovely late-spring month, with all the colours that the lighter, warmer days bring. There's so much fresh greenery, and pretty flowers too, to enjoy.
Moosey News : September 2011Moosey News : September 2011...
More and more spring delights keep appearing in my garden (along with the weeds, but we won't mention them). And each week brings out more gardening plans, both great and small. When will it all end? How long is a piece of string? I love my garden so much at this time of the year.
Moosey News : August 2011Moosey News : August 2011...
What a month August has been, weather-wise. Snow, wind-chill, then warm spring sun - what next? No, no! Don't answer that! It's been a varied and enjoyable garden month...
Moosey News : June and July 2011Moosey News : June and July 2011...
This newsletter covers two months, where winter gardening gets sharply contrasted with a short summer holiday in tropical Rarotonga. And then snow finishes off July rather nicely! Enjoy...
Moosey News : May 2011Moosey News : May 2011...
I miss May already - the weeks have just zoomed by, allegro vivace. As a gardening month it's been most satisfying. Mind you, I reckon I've worked very hard. See what you think...
Moosey News : April 2011Moosey News : April 2011...
April is my gardening autumn, and marks the beginning of my serious flirtation with Facebook and Twitter. I'm enjoying myself immensely - as well as being very busy in the garden, of course.
Moosey News : March 2011Moosey News : March 2011...
March has been a brilliant month for the recovery of the somewhat subdued Moosey Spirit, and a wonderful prelude to autumn proper. My garden, my life, back where it should be...
Moosey News : January 2011Moosey News : January 2011...
Already a whole gardening month has flown by. And what have I achieved? Hmm.... I might duck that question. Better not mention the jigsaws I've done, the books I've read, or the dreamy conversations I've had with my cats. It has been, after all, summer holiday time...
Moosey News : December 2010Moosey News : December 2010...
I'm looking forwards to the new gardening year, 2011, wondering what new garden schemes will pop into my head. And looking back over a year where I learnt how small a gardener actually is in the world of nature.
Moosey News : October 2010Moosey News : October 2010...
What a brilliant season spring is, once it gets itself properly organised! All sorts of lovely things are growing and flowering, and the freshly mown lawns are so beautifully green...
Moosey News : September 2010Moosey News : September 2010...
The September Moosey newsletter is a little inward looking. I spent the whole month at home. So much happens in spring to amaze even the most season-hardened gardener, though.
Moosey News : July-August 2010Moosey News : July-August 2010...
Oh dear, oh dear. I've been working really hard in the real garden, so July and August have to share a newsletter. But Pond Cottage is finally installed, and spring is almost here. Nice!
Moosey News : June 2010Moosey News : June 2010...
The month of June has been full of variety. Two weeks of burning and trimming in the frosty winter garden, followed by two weeks of zooming around the world enjoying the long days of summer. But which part of the month did I enjoy more? Hmm...
Moosey News : May 2010Moosey News : May 2010...
It's so close to the middle of the year. Here in the Moosey garden that means mid-winter, but I'm good and ready for the challenge of winter gardening. Brr...
Moosey News : April 2010Moosey News : April 2010...
All those clever quotes about things changing come to mind in autumn. Perhaps the loveliest changes of all lie in the garden's light and colour. Nothing too dull, nothing too bright - sounds almost perfect!
Moosey News : March 2010Moosey News : March 2010...
I love autumn. Like many other gardeners, when autumn slowly creeps through my garden I decide it's my favourite season. But then I think about spring, and I'm not so sure...
Moosey News : February 2010Moosey News : February 2010...
Summer marches on in the Moosey Garden, and many of the annual and perennial flowers are over. So I'm collecting seeds madly, ready for sowing in the autumn. I'm being a resourceful gardener - for once!
Moosey News : January 2010Moosey News : January 2010...
It's a bit late for more New Year's Resolutions for 2010, but one of mine should have been to get the Moosey newsletter out on time. Oops. Better late than never? I do hope so!
Moosey News : December 2009Moosey News : December 2009...
This my last newsletter for the year 2009 - time to look back and work out exactly what I've done this year. Oops. The answer is simple - I've enlarged the garden and bought squillions of new plants.
Moosey News : November 2009Moosey News : November 2009...
Ah - summer! Long, languid days filled with weeding and watering. Or should that be watering and weeding?
Moosey News : October 2009Moosey News : October 2009...
Rhododendrons, Aquilegias, and the first Roses are filling the Moosey Garden with flowery hope. There's been a lot of late spring rain, too, so everything is luscious and green. It's looking quite lovely!
Moosey News : September 2009Moosey News : September 2009...
The garden is springing along nicely, and every week something new pops up to be enjoyed. How lucky am I to be able to garden full-time. I'm working harder for longer hours than I've ever done before, though - I love it!
Moosey News : August 2009Moosey News : August 2009...
This newsletter is full of the joys of spring - such an amazing season, one which the gardener can get totally wrapped up in. Please be prepared for much spring gushing - which may seem odd if you're coming face to face with fall or autumn...
Moosey News : July 2009Moosey News : July 2009...
This month's newsletter spans two winter months (June and July) in the life of the Moosey garden and web-site. I've been extra busy trying to sort out my wintry garden. So the best way to catch up the time is to squash up all the news? Hmm...
Moosey News : June 2009Moosey News : June 2009...
Much of what I've got to say this month involves reminiscing about my summer break in the North-eastern USA (and Canada). Funny how short trips can leave such huge memories! Mind you, a summer sojourn compared to the Moosey mid-winter month...
Moosey News : May 2009Moosey News : May 2009...
I've been doing far more work on the Moosey website than in the Moosey Garden these last weeks. The autumn leaves will not oblige my raking plans by all falling down at once. But - there is hope - a short summery holiday in the USA! Phew!
Moosey News : April 2009Moosey News : April 2009...
Autumn is here! That means that spring is there, in the balance of southern to northern gardening life. Mind you, I've never gardened in the tropics, where the days are the same length. I'd need my tropical garden to be air conditioned!
Moosey News : March 2009Moosey News : March 2009...
I've agreed to the Garden Club visiting the Moosey Garden, so there is much frenetic weeding (and soul-searching) going on. And Minimus the wild woodshed kitten has totally reinvented himself - he's the tamest, smoochiest house kitten ever!
Moosey News : February 2009Moosey News : February 2009...
Oops - it's almost halfway through February. Gardening time flies even faster than normal time. I hope your garden is sleeping soundly, relaxing regally, or growing gorgeously.
Moosey News : January 2009Moosey News : January 2009...
Please let's all have a good 2009 - a year where we do our very best to enjoy our gardens, our friends and families. A year where we plan wisely, and try not to spend too much of the housekeeping money at the plant sales. But we are allowed to get the garden giggles every now and then!
Moosey News : December 2008Moosey News : December 2008...
All the best for the month of December, whether you're outside gardening or snug inside dreaming and planning the garden of your dreams. And all the best for the festive Christmas season.
Moosey News : November 2008Moosey News : November 2008...
Spring is turning into summer, and suddenly there are beautiful things everywhere I look in the garden. As long as I'm not wearing my long-distance spectacles, that is - there's nothing wrong with a little fuzzy garden vision.
Moosey News : October 2008Moosey News : October 2008...
It's all change in the garden this month - I hope I can keep up with the pace. Gardeners like to change things, but sometimes nature changes things far too quickly. Hurry up - no, slow down, please!
Moosey News : September 2008Moosey News : September 2008...
So far, so good - the Moosey newsletter is still growing well. September's a very springy month - if you're a northern hemisphere reader you shouldn't mind, though. What a good excuse to order in new spring bulbs and blossom trees...
Moosey News : August 2008Moosey News : August 2008...
Already I'm finding small pockets of spring flower colour. There's more daylight, the sun's higher in the sky - spring is definitely coming to the Moosey Garden. Yippee! I don't want to miss anything new...
Moosey News : July 2008Moosey News : July 2008...
Winter - no problem! Sensible gardeners wear layers of thermal underwear, slurp lots of hot drinks, and if they get too cold they split some firewood. And they absolutely don't grump or complain...
Moosey News : June 2008Moosey News : June 2008...
June in the Moosey garden is the first officially cold month. But this gardener is determined not to get the winter blues. I've got huge plans for new garden features...
Moosey News : May 2008Moosey News : May 2008...
It's the grand clean-up month in my garden, as autumn moves into winter. Hopefully there'll still be time (and good weather) for some decent May adventures.
Moosey News : April 2008Moosey News : April 2008...
The seasons have definitely changed in my garden. Goodbye summer, hello autumn, or should I call you 'fall'?
Moosey News : March 2008Moosey News : March 2008...
It's a remarkably rosy newsletter this month, considering that summer is almost at an end. But I'd rather show off my roses than talk about weeding, and burning the gum tree rubbish...
Moosey News : February 2008Moosey News : February 2008...
Another gardening year is zooming by, and I'm spending more and more time in my garden. Where will this end? I will start growing leaves and branches like my favourite summer shrubs!
Moosey News : January 2008Moosey News : January 2008...
I always make New Year's Resolutions, like every good gardener should, and naturally they are immediately thrown on the compost heap with all the other Moosey weeds. I hope you have more success with yours!
Moosey News : December 2007Moosey News : December 2007...
December is here again - how time flies when one is busy having fun in the garden, or reading gardening books and making lists inside. All the best for this Christmas month.
Moosey News : November 2007Moosey News : November 2007...
Spring is such a fast season, with so many wonderful changes. New ideas, new plans - that means new mistakes to giggle at. And so many new weeds to see to!
Moosey News : October 2007Moosey News : October 2007...
Of course it's spring in the garden here. The waves of spring things are as follows - blossom, camellias, daffodils and new lambs - followed by rhododendrons, and the first stirring of the perennials and irises. I love spring!
Moosey News : September 2007Moosey News : September 2007...
Great Excitements - the first yellow daffodil, the first pink Camellia. Great Expectations - the newly planted roses, the beautiful new paths. Great Efforts - newly dug gardens, new pots. And Great Anticipations - what will Non-Gardening Partner get me for my gardening birthday?
Moosey News : August 2007Moosey News : August 2007...
I've been busy pruning my three hundred existing roses, as well as cramming new ones into my car. The Moosey hands (and legs) are getting just a little scratched. Oops.
Moosey News : July 2007Moosey News : July 2007...
I'm back from visiting beautiful summer gardens, full of great ideas, writing lists as I sit inside by the log-burner. My own garden is sleeping, in semi-hibernation - it's wet and rather cold. But I'm home! Yippee!
Moosey News : June 2007Moosey News : June 2007...
The Moosey Semi-Grand Global Garden Tour is finally happening! I've got so much planned - so many gardens to see, and gardening friends to visit. Goodbye to the New Zealand winter. Please don't do anything extreme, though, while I'm away!
Moosey News : May 2007Moosey News : May 2007...
May is almost a winter month for me. There's no more early morning garden wandering (too dark) and by five o'clock all sensible gardeners will be freshly showered, enjoying some pre-dinner relaxation. A great month to start writing lists...
Moosey News : April 2007Moosey News : April 2007...
The autumn weather is warm and settled, and so is the atmosphere in my garden - hopefully this is not the lull before any nasty winter storms! I'm doing lots of little things in the garden - trying to think small, and act sensibly!
Moosey News : March 2007Moosey News : March 2007...
Lots of gardening fringe things are sprouting and growing like weeds! But my garden itself languishes lazily in the summer heat, and half the garden tasks get half finished. Trouble is, I've gone off writing lists...
Moosey News : February 2007Moosey News : February 2007...
Eek! One whole month of 2007 has passed me by, and I've never done as little gardening in a summer month as I have this month. Whatever happened to those New Year's Resolutions? I'll have to rewrite them and start all over...
Moosey News : January 2007Moosey News : January 2007...
All the best for the year 2007. Let's all hope that nothing extreme happens in our gardens, or out there in the big wide world. And let's all keep gardening madly, planning and plotting, creating and weeding, and enjoying ourselves! Have a great gardening year!
Moosey News : December 2006Moosey News : December 2006...
We rush towards the longest day, while northern hemisphere gardeners have quietly packed away their hand diggers. Those who garden 'in-between' must think we are all quite silly - it's either too cold or too hot for us to garden!
Moosey News : November 2006Moosey News : November 2006...
Summer's nearly here - what a dynamic time to be in the garden! I'm afraid to blink (or have a day off with my walking group) in case I miss something. Hope you enjoy this November newsletter.
Moosey News : October 2006Moosey News : October 2006...
Welcome to October's newsletter. There are many new things happening in the garden - new trees, new chooks, new plants, new flowers... I have far too much to do, and far too much to say about the doing!
Moosey News : September 2006Moosey News : September 2006...
Welcome to September's newsletter. The Moosey newsletters have been running now for over a year, and this month's features a Samoan-style change of garden scenery.
Moosey News : August 2006Moosey News : August 2006...
My winter garden has perked up - the sun is definitely trying harder to warm up the plants (and the Head Gardener). There's still not much colour, though - so I've tried to make the August newsletter as colourful as possible...
Moosey News : July 2006Moosey News : July 2006...
This newsletter comes to you from mid-winter in New Zealand, and will absolutely not be filled with gardener-gloom! The three words 'tree', 'damage' and 'snow' are not allowed to feature in any one sentence!
Moosey News : June 2006Moosey News : June 2006...
This month's newsletter is a tale of two hemispheres. You can decide whether to join me on my quick trip to summery England, or warm your winter-cold gardening hands by the New Zealand log burner. You'll need your wet weather gear, whichever option you choose...
Moosey News : May 2006Moosey News : May 2006...
It's amazing to think that as Autumn 'digs in' here other gardening friends are waking up to spring flowers. I hope you'll find something nicely seasoned to enjoy in my May newsletter!
Moosey News : April 2006Moosey News : April 2006...
Please ignore all my moans and groans about rubbish burning this month! The Moosey Garden is not quite ready to cope with Autumn. However, Autumn has definitely arrived! Gardeners can easily misbehave and panic at this time of the gardening year.
Moosey News : March 2006Moosey News : March 2006...
March is my very first month as a fully retired gardener. Hee hee! Will I get bored? No way! Will I produce even more detailed journal pages, recording every retired moment? Hmm... I suspect March will be a most interesting month.
Moosey News : February 2006Moosey News : February 2006...
Are you interested in yet more outpourings of new garden plans and schemes, catalogued obsessions with compost, moans about sore hands, and intimate details of Rusty's dog-diet? Then welcome to the February Moosey newsletter!
Moosey News : January 2006Moosey News : January 2006...
I hope that the year 2006 brings you everything you desire and need - for your garden, and for your soul. Things like energy for weeding, and motivation for gardening planning and lists of new garden ideas...
Moosey News : December 2005Moosey News : December 2005...
Welcome to the December newsletter. December in the Moosey Garden means summer - blue skies, barbecues, and getting the borders and lawns ready for Christmas. Where-ever you are I hope you are enjoying warm sunny feelings about your garden too.
Moosey News : November 2005Moosey News : November 2005...
Welcome to the November issue of the Moosey gardening newsletter. The birds are twittering in the trees, and the head-gardener is twittering in her journals - it's early summer! Flowers, colour, roses! Enjoy!
Moosey News : October 2005Moosey News : October 2005...
It's October already! How can this be? My garden-time is racing by. Either the hours in a day are shrinking, or I am slowing down in the spring garden! It must be all that weeding I'm doing...
Moosey News : September 2005Moosey News : September 2005...
The Moosey garden is busy 'springing' into action! The days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer - this is a most exciting time of the year, full of promises. For example, I promise to finish all the weeding, I promise to finish the rose pruning...
Moosey News : August 2005Moosey News : August 2005...
Hello again from the Moosey garden, still snoozing gently through the southern hemisphere winter of 2005. The August newsletter is a prelude to spring, when the first beautiful camellias and daffodils will start flowering. I hope you enjoy this month's links and ideas.
Moosey News : July 2005Moosey News : July 2005...
The first edition of my garden newsletter took rather a long time in creation - a bit like my homemade compost. I hope you'll like it.
Moosey News : May, June, July 2014Moosey News : May, June, July 2014...
May, June and July are my late autumn and winter months. There's still much work to do in the garden, and I won't let short days and bad weather put me off. Well, that's the theory...
Moosey News : November 2010Moosey News : November 2010...
Aha! Summer is here, with all its beautiful flower colour. The gardening days are warm and timeless, but there's always something that needs watering...