Moosey News : September 2008

Dear Subscriber,

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...

This month's features :

1. Spring Things
2. World's Best Wheelbarrows
3. Romancing the Rustic
4. Levels of Spring
5. Animal Misdemeanours

Regulars :

6. Plant of the Month : Hellebores
7. Animal of the Month : The Moosey Poultry
8. Garden Quote : Conifers
9. Garden Gallery : Erica
10. Forum Focus : Bits and Pieces
11. Gardening Advice : Growth in the Garden
12. Searching for Moosey : garden geometry
13. Coming up this month : Yet More Spring Things

This month's features

1. Spring Things

In the Moosey garden spring things are very much on the Head Gardener's mind...

2. World's Best Wheelbarrow

I've photographed a lot of garden wheelbarrows in my time. But there's no barrow quite as good as my own barrow...

3. Romancing the Rustic

A pair of sturdy garden benches, home-made from recycled timber, my first serious flirtation with rustic garden furniture... Non-Gardening Partner (bless him) designed and built these newest 'old' benches.

4. Levels of Spring

I'm remembering to check up high for new spring blossom - and low down on the ground for the latest flowering crocus...

5. Animal Misdemeanours

Living in a house with eight cats and a dog, things are bound to go wrong sometimes. Here's my rogues gallery of the worst Moosey animal offenders. Oops - some content may offend shy readers...

Regulars

6. Plant of the Month : Hellebores

Whose colours are oh so subtle and whose flowers turn shyly to the ground... Winter roses are perfect performers in my garden during the late winter months...

7. Animals of the Month : The Poultry

It's a simple choice this month - the hens are laying again. I have soft-boiled eggs for breakfast, and I can impress my townie friends with gifts of fresh farm country eggs.

8. Garden Quote : Conifers are worth it...

My conifers don't get much publicity. And sometimes, just occasionally, I don't think I appreciate them enough...

9. Garden Gallery : Erica

I love the purple-flowering Erica shrub with its beautiful flower detail.

10. Forum Focus : Bits and Pieces

Weddings, weedings, plants and people shifting, general garden gossip - there are lots of bits and pieces in this month's garden forums.

11. Gardening Advice : If they grow they grow...

Sounds like a line from a nursery rhyme, but it's true. Sometimes a gardener can shift something special in mid-summer and it will grow. Sometimes, doing all the right things at the right time to the most robust plant in the garden, it won't survive the shift!

12. Searching for Moosey : garden geometry

geometrical hebes

What an oddly erudite thing to search for! My favourite New Zealand native Hebes certainly have geometry in their leaf forms.

geometrical fungi

And lately I've found the most beautifully mathematical fungi in the garden. You'll find a picture in the middle of this August journal page.

13. Coming up this month : More Spring Things - and a Minor Moosey Birthday.

There'll be lots more spring bulbs flowering, and lots of blossom, and hopefully lots of good gardening presents. Nothing can ever compare with my green plastic wheelbarrow, birthday present for 1996, though...

Cheers,