The Head Gardener

I am proud to be the Head Gardener (actually, the only gardener) at Moosey's Country Garden. My real name is Mary, but my adult children rechristened me 'Moosey'. I ignored them for months, but now I'm afraid the name has dug itself in, like a tenacious garden weed...

An Older Lady Gardener

I'm just sixty, retired, and call myself (coyly) 'an older lady gardener'. I'm passionate and obsessive - if not working in the garden I'm either writing about it or thinking about it. I have three adult children. Currently Daughter of Moosey is working in South East Asia, while the younger Moosey Son (also a musician) lives here. Older Son of Moosey is my London webmaster, making up for forgotten birthdays and long forgotten teenage angst by designing this website. It was my Mothers Day present for the year 2000.

A Musical Gardener!

I'm a musician, too - I sing and play classical piano, mainly Brahms and Bach. I've also made a bit of money playing easy-listening jazz. I used to teach senior Mathematics and Music. Reading and listening to sport, particularly cricket matches, are favourite leisure activities. And, of course, rambling on and on - and on and on - in this website!

Meet the Cats and the Dog

Currently there are seven cats and a young dog, Rusty, in the Moosey Animal Family. Taj-dog was the first Moosey dog - an Alsatian Labrador cross. He thought he was a sheepdog, though usually had to be shut in the car whenever the sheep were on the move. Now the new dog Rusty (a red Border Collie) has taken over. Rusty is kind to the cats, and great fun in the garden.

Cat Company

The cats provide quality cat-company in the garden, too. Dearly departed cats like Jerome, Stumpy and Mugsy are always popping up in older photographs. Tiger is the current senior feline, and Fluff-Fluff (you guessed it - he's fluffy!) is a supreme gardening cat. Three young siblings (Percy, Histeria, and Lilli-Puss) are socialised feral cats - they're lovely. I found little Minimus as a kitten, wild in the woodshed. Kaya is our newest, a black beauty cat.

Other cats have come and sadly gone - into the garden. Two of my most beautiful cats, Smoocher and Beige-Puss, were taken after short, shining lives. Only one, Big Fat Sifter, has ever gone AWOL. He'd stay inside just long enough to check out food possibilities, and was the champion killer of hay barn rodents and rabbits in the back paddock. Is he still out there, sifting around?

Personality Plus?

It's hard to write about one's personality. I'm not even sure how to start. I know that I'm a compulsive rescuer, and have effected some very impressive ones - ask my ex-students! Or ask the cats! (well, better to ask the birds, actually). Or ask last year's excess lettuce seedlings (over two hundred of them), all neatly pricked out in cat food pottles. Discarding simply wasn't an option...

I'm happiest talking about the garden. I love roses, perennials and sweeping lawns. I love foliage plants, particularly New Zealand natives. I don't like 'garden rooms' or controlled vistas - they may photograph well for the glossy gardening magazines, but they bring out the rebel in me. I try to be organic - for the sake of my ladybirds, bees and spiders.

Always Dreaming, Always Digging...

I'm always dreaming, digging, planting, making big plans and bigger mistakes! Who says I can't have two ponds, if I've got the space? A rose avenue through the middle of the orchard? Shouldn't be a problem. I hope you'll enjoy reading about my experiences of gardening in New Zealand.