New wriggles!
Nothing in the garden has to be finished in one day, right? In fact, it's often better to stand back, think about things overnight, change a little something the next day, maybe wait until the weekend to get another opinion. I'm referring here to the new design of the little wriggling stream through the Wattle Woods - new wriggles! And the new enlarged shape of the little pond at the bottom. I reckon it will all work. I've kept telling myself 'water runs downhill' as I've rejigged, refined, and 're-wriggled'.
Tuesday 4th August
It's nice to successfully 'engineer' a gently sloping water feature in a natural way. I reckon the angle of the decline is about eight degrees which shouldn't mathematically limit the amplitude or frequency of the wiggles, hee hee. I'm assuming that the water will successfully flow down to the pond, by the way, and not get stuck anywhere, or spill out in the wrong direction.
A Scale Drawing?
And as for the little pond, I guess a scale drawing on a grid would be sensible, then I could cut the black plastic pond liner to the right shape, a fat, groovy, wiggly 'S'. But I'm going to do this by eye. There will be a small 'lip' upon which to put stones. So the pond liner will have to be far too big.
Part of the New Stream Bed
I've done quite a bit of cleaning up along the stream edges. I've shifted more Agapanthus (such accommodating plants, instant greenery, no sulking), trimmed dead leaves from Phormiums, sawn off some dodgy looking Viburnum tinus branches, and raked up gum tree mess. I've laid stones to get a well-defined idea of the stream's route. Next weekend Non-Gardening Partner is fixing the two river pumps which provide the water. Then we'll have a test run.How exciting...
Escher the Dog
OOOOOPS!!!!!
This afternoon, almost the biggest 'ooops' of my short career as a dog-nanny. I hadn't seen or heard big brown Escher for half an hour. Better check, I thought. Oh dear. He'd found a huge plastic bag full of raw fish (my fishman leaves it underneath a bucket - it's pet food for the cats). Escher!!!!
So would he give it to me? Oh no, no way, no. Growl, growl. Off he went with his treasure. What to do? Quick as a flash I ran to get a slither of dog roll from the fridge. 'Bedtime for dogs' I announced, with as much confidence as I could muster. Phew! Escher dropped the bag of raw fish and trotted off into his kennel. Sucker! Knowing him as I do, if I hadn't caught him really early, he'd have eaten the lot. Eek!
Newsflash!
Sorry for the surfeit of exclamation marks. The little house where Escher used to live is down! Flattened, 'demo-ed' today, with most of the stuff carted away in trucks. Amazing. I'm going to see it tomorrow. I will sing something, maybe recite something wise and meaningful. Or just stand and stare. Wow. It's gone, the section has been levelled, with the old Cabbage tree still standing.
Wednesday 5th August
Bad weather is forecast for this coming weekend. Real winter weather, after the oddly balmy temperatures so far this week. So what am I going to do about it, today? First I'm taking the dogs to the dog park, then I'm zooming across town to look at the remains (if any!) of the little house, then I'm going to finish spending my vouchers. One more Hebe for the back of the Shrubbery, a Rosemary for the Laundry Garden, and whatever else takes my fancy.
Winter Flowering Viburnum
Then, if any of the day is left, I'll start laying out the plastic. I reckon I should start with the pond at the bottom.
Later...
I am so proud of me. I got home from visiting the no-longer-there house feeling 'moochy'. So I watched the tiniest bit of daytime TV (as one does), then shook myself. Garden maintenance! One can feel totally moochy and still do garden maintenance. I finished the back of the Shrubbery (planted a new Hebe and two Viburnums), created a barrowful of rose prunings, and then removed all the ash from my bonfire.
Winnie and the Gnomes
This last task took me over an hour - trudging back and forth to dump the stuff, all three dogs following, happy that we were 'going somewhere'. Oh, now we're going back where we came from. This is fun...
The Little House :- The answer my friend.... is blowing in the wind....
Profound moments : sitting over the road from the demo-ed house watching the final cosmetic scraping and singing Bob Dylan as a tribute. Discovered I didn't know all the words to 'Blowing in the Wind' - how could this be? Later, apres-gardening, sat on the dog-couch in front of the log-burner and tried again. Swamped by three concerned dogs all trying to sit on me and lick my face.
Thursday 6th August
Right! This morning I have social canine obligations - the dog park, then Rusty's diet weigh-in at the vet, then a dog-lunch. Then, hopefully, I'm going to look at my pond and stream. And maybe plant a sweet-smelling white Daphne and a Rosemary in the Laundry Garden. Let it never be said that I don't at least try and finish things!
Much Later, Dusk...
Dear Mister Google, How do I build a stream bed? Oh dear. I've momentarily lost my stream-building confidence. I just need to think like a squillion water molecules, and place stones and curves where the water would expect them to be. Unfortunately there isn't enough slope for the step-downs with little waterfalls that Mister Google has shown me. My stream should twist and turn as it makes its way towards the pond. I knew that.
Winnie - One Year Old
Dithering...
As well as dithering, and checking the stream slope with a spirit level, I've been burning the rubbish collected along its route. I'm changing the pond shape a little more, and have moved out a messy Cortaderia, pulling it into fresh, new pieces. A recycled Azalea (unhappy) is also shifting. All in all, three good, solid hours of work. And lots of thinking!
Happy Birthday Winnie
Eek! Winnie is one year old. Her birthday, officially, was on the 3rd August. Happy Birthday, loveliest little dog! By the way, Rusty has, apparently, lost 1.7 kilos in a week. This is a nonsense. I weighed him five times just to be sure. I am too embarrassed to draw his graph. He is charted to lose 2.5 kilos over the next year. Hmm...