No grumpy Head Gardeners, please...

 Beautiful colours in the Wattle Woods.
Honesty and Camellia Flowers

Let the very last September gardening weekend begin. And may it stretch out and keep the Head Gardener warm and busy, and please don't let her be grumpy at the end of each day.

And may she do a little bit of everything, as well as gently bossing (?) her garden helper to chain-saw the trees behind the pond, mow all lawns, and build a new chicken run. And please arrange it so that he doen't get bored or grumpy with being so well organised!

Saturday 29th September

At the moment this lovely chap, often affectionately and accurately called Non-Gardening Partner, is reading the Saturday paper on a garden seat in the sun. He's been for a run with Rusty the dog, and seems relaxed and ready for action.

I will hover, in a friendly fashion. Hee hee.

Much, Much Later...

My goodness I have worked hard today - and so has beloved NGP! It's been one of those days where the more I've done the more I've seen that needs doing - this always happens when I'm trying to weed efficiently in one particular area.

 And waterside flaxes.
Spring Gunnera

Working by the Water

It's almost time to stand again in the water race and finish off weeding the sloping banks, too. The Pond has been cleared of its rogue trees, and the logs are sitting in piles. There's a stack of trimmings for the shredder. Tomorrow I'll finish raking and plant some of my spare flaxes.

I've been in a watery mood, so while the lawns were being expertly mown the next big job I did was to weed along the flat edge next to the water race. I am so lucky to have this no-nonsense water course running through my gardens - even if it's dead straight! Some of the banks have eroded slightly - the power of water, I guess.

Room For More Flaxes?

I thought I could plant some of my spare new flaxes by the water race, too. There is always room for more flaxes, and they look great next to water. Hee hee - this could just be an excuse to buy some new coloured hybrids!

Finally I weeded by the Dog Kennel Garden, where many deeply-rooted dandelion weeds were doing a bit of a tease. And all the time, no matter where I was, or how noisy the wind was, Fluff-Fluff the pale ginger gardening cat was my constant companion.

+5What a friend! Squeaking when he got left behind, rolling in the dirt perilously near to sharp hand diggers and shovels. What a cat!

 A photograph taken from the other side of the water race.
View of the New Lawn

The new back lawn is growing well - this is such an improvement! It would be a lovely spot for a table and chairs - as long as they were sturdy and didn't blow away in the wind...

New Koru Sculpture

The Koru sculpture is now in place in the little Rhapsody-in-Blue rose garden I made for Rachael, standing proudly in front of a beautiful green New Zealand flax. There's a flowering Rosemary low down - that's for remembrance - and I'll be planting a couple more Rosemary shrubs on either side. At the moment the Rhapsody-In-Blue standard roses are just starting to sprout, so the clumps of bright mixed daffodils are the centre of flowery attention.

 A huge thank-you to my beautiful daffodils.
Daffodils and Hebe

Tomorrow I will need to do more weeding. And the compost needs to be spread on the gardens by the water race.

Sunday 30th September

Goodbye, September, lovely flowery month. Today I've finished the month off in style - hard-working style, that is. I've spent the whole day doing little, detailed things - Weeding, glass-house watering, spreading compost, trimming lawn edges, and so on.

 A pretty, yet humble, ground cover which flowers in spring.
Purple Lamuim

I've planting the new cordylines and two of the new Yellow Wave flaxes in pots, and two of the new roses by the house. I've potted up several flax pieces, as part of my on-going plant production system. My most advanced seeds (mainly cornflowers and lettuces) are outside, sheltered at the back of my glass-house, to harden off.

Bird Brains?

While I worked, NGP erected the new chicken run, which funnels the chooks out into the Hazelnut Orchard. They, of course, abused their new-found freedom, using their bird-brains (or not) to find the only way left through the fence into my gardens. I'm amazed that they eventually found the way to where I didn't want them to go! Aargh!

The last section of fence netting will be chook-proofed tomorrow. Silly birds! The stripy greys are still as nosy as ever, while rooster was in a peck-my-mother mood.

Sheep Problems

Late afternoon we had a sheep emergency - fly strike. It's unheard of to get a case of fly-strike in late September - this is usually a mid-summer problem. The poor ewe was in real trouble, so we clipped and clipped and cleaned her up, and then sprinkled her liberally with powder.

 Looking after sheep... Hmm...
Ram and Ewe

Cross fingers that we found her in time and she'll recover quickly. I hope her lamb will be OK, too. Looking after farm animals isn't always cute and pretty.

Goodbye September

Finally it's evening - darkness and tiredness have arrived. I'm really proud of my September exploits - thinking of the new gardens I've dug, areas like the new back lawn, and all the new plants and shrubs which are happily settled in. And when I peep inside the glass-house I can see rows of annuals and perennials, growing well, almost ready to fill in the spaces outside.

What do I have to remember? To divide the irises in the Stables garden after they've flowered. It's a waste of time to weed this garden properly - better left until the tubers are dug up. And I must water the new plants this coming week, particularly those in pots. And not get bored with my glass-house plants.

Finally, a list of September garden treats.

  1. Purple and white Honesty.
  2. Variegated Mallows in the Wattle Woods.
  3. Yellow, lemon, cream, white, orange, apricot, peachy coloured Daffodils.
  4. My red rhododendrons, the first to flower, and my big blousy pink one.
  5. Muscari, Rosemary, and Grape Hyacinths - the spring blues.
  6. Pink and white blossom - on the trees, or carpeting the grass below.

Thanks to the Moosey garden for the enjoyment these simple things have brought.