Mad older-lady gardener...
Evening - mad older-lady gardener, stripped down to underwear, seen in water building stone wall along edge of stream - by moonlight. Water very cold, air temperatures very autumnal...
More River Stones
You see, while dumping the kitchen compost, I noticed in the gloom that the levels of water in the irrigation canal (the water race) were down. Ha! Not a moment to lose. Hence my skimpily-clad moonlight garden session. It was nice knowing that a Shepherd's Pie was gurgling in the oven and the log burner was blazing merrily back in the house.
Friday 1st May
Earlier today I trimmed Hebes and planted Fountain grasses in the Wattle Woods. I heard the waterwheel stop sloshing around, so knew that something was up. Or down... Aargh! But I kept my faith, with good reason. Sometimes, when the river is in flood, the intake gates which feed the race are closed. Phew! The Moosey waterwheel is forgiven for stopping. And, nicely, the two little ponds in the lower Wattle Woods are now well plugged up with a layer of silt, so they may stay watery.
Rusty the Dog :- Rusty, of course, is a really good swimmer - and never, ever feels the cold when the water temperatures are low.
Minimus the kitten, fascinated by running water, stood right on the edge of the Dog-Path, watching me placing my stones in the darkness. It was slippery, and I'm surprised she didn't turn from Minimus into Swimimus! Rusty the dog has been in the water with me.
My goodness - it's May (I knew that). Everything is changing in the garden, pointing to winter not being far away. Days getting shorter, nights getting colder, gardener's lists getting longer...
A Brand New Month
I love the idea of a brand new month - though I know in my logical gardener's brain that calendars don't really mean as much as all that. May sees my garden slip deeper into autumn - by the end of the month much will be leafless and bare, and the light will be bluish and gloomy.
Autumn in the Dog-Path Garden
Not me, though - I've got a two week trip planned to Washington DC to enjoy seeing some late spring (or early summer?) gardens. No woolly underwear required! I haven't written a clothes packing list yet, but I do have some gardens I've found to visit. Yippee! A semi-summer holiday!
Saturday 2nd May
I love the weekend. As soon as Non-Gardening Partner comes back with the newspaper we are off to the river to get - yes - yet more stones. What shall I do in the garden today? Two things, I think. Firstly some serious weeding and trimming in the Wattle Woods, laying in some rotted hay mulch. All of the Wattle Woods - I mustn't just concentrate on the area by the wriggling stream.
Late Flowering Othello Rose
Then The Shrubbery needs my attention. The Anthemis on the stone wall edge is finally past it and needs trimming. There are lots of weeds, and I'll transplant in some Fountain grass seedlings - which I will have weeded out of the Wattle Woods. Nice symmetry - like a Hebe's leaves.
Lilli-Puss on the Pergola
Sunday 3rd May
Lilli-Puss my timid grey cat seems to be back to 'normal' - she comes inside every evening for her tea, and at bed-time tries to squash herself on top of my hair. Jerome my old grey cat is also trying to do this - ouch! It's a competition to see which cat can get closer into my personal space, and gives new meaning to the phrase 'in your face'.
Frog Dreams
Then last night, oddly, I had a vivid dream that my tree frogs were hopping noisily around on the downstairs carpet. And my rooster - what is up with him? He now sulks inside the hen house in the daytime and won't come out - while the hens are busy pecking and poking around in the orchard sunshine. There is much muffled crowing... I hope he isn't sick.
Welcome to a typical autumn/winter morning. There may be sun up there outside, but it's still three degrees (Celsius) after a pretty nippy night. Hope my daisies and pelargoniums are OK. Which reminds me:
Things To Definitely Do Before Washington Holiday
- Daisies, pelargoniums, and succulents into glass-house.
- Ha! No prizes for guessing that item!
- Mulch on borders.
- Better to rot and break down on top of the soil.
- Leaves to rake and bag.
- I did that a week ago!
- Dry Rubbish to Burn
- I've dug out all the ash from the burning heap - time to start again.
Today I'll start at 10:30am and work through until 2:30pm. I know what I must do. Yesterday I didn't even last three hours - disgraceful!
Phormium by the Water
Four Successful Hours Later...
I've burnt rubbish, and carted stones around, trimmed back Ligularias, Phloxes, Penstemons and Dahlias... I finished my work by getting into the water race and building more stone edging. Brrr - the water is seriously colder now. And I'm relaying the edges of the path by the Pond with stones, scooping up the existing edge-logs for firewood. It's all been like a gardening circuits session.
- 'Spam is never, ever personal.'
- -Moosey Words of Wisdom.
I've got my lunch, I've warmed up with late lunch and a lovely cup of hot coffee. But there is no rest for this web-gardener - the Moosey Forums need 'weeding' again. Every weekend without fail some sad spammer with a squillion IP addresses throws a carton of undesirable invasive weeds over the Moosey fence, so to speak. When I was a 'green' website owner and e-mail user I used to take it personally. I know better now - spam is never, ever personal.