Frost, finally...
Welcome to the shortest day of the gardening year - alas, another damp day. The mid-day sky is light grey, and the noisiest flock of delighted birds is pouring all over my bird feeders like a slow-moving liquid. Nice to sit inside by the log burner and watch them through the window, but gardening is required, even if it's pretty dour out there. Perhaps a walk with the dogs and the camera, to test the waters...
Winter Shrub Colour - Coprosma
The shortest day isn't physically different to the days which precede and follow it. If Non-Gardening Partner hadn't reminded me I might have missed it completely. But as a gardening symbol it is terribly exciting, signalling a new beginning. The start of more light! Miniscule amounts of more light, every day from now on. This is a very precious thought, and I've already jumped ahead to spring, wondering if this year I will sow annual flower seedlings (last year I took a break from this).
Wax-Eye :- These birdies are also called silver-eyes.
Have just put up a new lard ball - one little wax-eye bird was so keen he/she sat on the rim of the feeder right by my hands and watched. I provide a well-balanced diet - stewed peaches and kiwi fruit in another dish, and apple halves in two private bird feeders (hanging coconuts).
Friday 22nd June
This morning there's something physical in the garden to shout about. Yeay! Yippee! Finally, a much-longed-for morning garden visitor. At last! Soooooooo groovy! A frost!
Frost on the Frisbee Lawn
Yes, a blue-white crisp and crackly frost, just minus three degrees of it. It means that the skies are clear. This level of morning frost will soon warms off. Voila! A blue-skies winter day to delight the gardening heart.
Later...
Grrr... Have spent the afternoon tying down my dog-deterrent fence by the road. Pebbles was seen out on the road by a passing truck-driver, who watched her burrow back underneath the fence. Such a wonderful bloke, a dog-owner himself - so he walked all the way to my back door to tell me (nicely). She could so easily have been run over. Aargh! Sooooo dangerous.
Saturday 23rd June
Aha! Another frost, another blue-skies day. The Cannas in pots my the cottage have given up the ghost, obviously. Fair enough. They've been hanging on for months, showing off their beautiful striped leaves. Con't be fooled. The photograph below was taken in summer.
Bengal Tiger Canna Foliage
Today I've rolled, heaved, and stacked another two trailer loads of firewood logs. This rather small task has taken me nearly four hours. I am sooooo slow! But the logs are heavy, so I have to coax them one at a time into the wheelbarrow (tipped on its side). Whatever works for me works, I reckon.
The Dogs
And guess what? I think today was about twenty seconds longer that yesterday. Oh yes. I used that extra time really wisely. I threw an extra log onto the trailer!