Spring Idyll?
Pot of Pansies
My 'stuffy choir' (not sure I should call it this) sings a song called Spring Idyll, which always makes me think of 'Spring Idle'. Aha! There can be no such thing for a half-decent gardener. We are all busy as - Beavers? Bees?
Aha! Busy as Birds - shiny, metallic black starlings building nests in my gutters, swinging on the bird feeders and gulping down huge pieces. They are most industrious, making every moment count. Too late to stop them using my shelter for their babies.
This week I need to be the busiest gardener, because September is fast running out of days. Aargh! And October is a scary, demanding month. It assumes that things are on schedule, everything adequately prepared for. It is not a month for excuses or forgotten promises. A half decent gardener (in the temperate southern hemisphere, at least) has everything sorted, ready for October. To elaborate :
- She/he will have sown the lawn seed.
- She/he will have planted out the roses.
- She/he will have the seedling production under control.
- She/he will be 'on top' of the weeds, so to speak.
It goes without saying that the watering regime will be efficient, and above reproach. Frightening thought. Chatty coffees and lazy lunches will be at the bottom of the list.
Wednesday 26th September
Today all I've done is prick out Cerinthe, red Lupin, and Lavatera seedlings. I pulled out a few parachute weeds. About twenty - oops. Then I had a chatty coffee, and a lazy lunch out with my friend. Oops again. Tomorrow I will have to do better.
But I did go for a walk in the Botanic Gardens this morning, taking photographs of spring things with my phone. Enjoy!
Thursday Lunchtime...
Three hours of inconsequential weeding and clearing so far. I've trimmed another Viburnum, hammered up a fence rail for the cherry rambler by the Sleep-Out, and trundled barrowfuls of dry mess to the bonfire, which is all ready to go to blazes, so to speak. I've planted two more roses in The Hump, and some Agapanthus along the edge (I hope they are the medium sized white ones).
Forget-Me-Nots
Things are looking good in my garden. Now I am watering my potato patch. The sun is shining in a big blue sky. Oops. Not concentrating, almost ate a dog biscuit.
Much Later...
I seem to have done little but weed all day. And burn my rubbish. A wee hiccup.
Green wheelbarrow :- My sturdy, trusty, reliable wheelbarrow did not deserve this! Oh dear. But it still goes...
My green wheelbarrow (which has lasted for twenty years without anything going wrong) has spare pieces of garden twine tied along its handles. A moment of inattention by the late afternoon bonfire, and a flaming hydrangea head fell, setting the twine alight. Oops. My wheelbarrow was on fire, the green plastic melting and dripping on the lawn.
Friday 28th September
Weeding is nit-picky and small-scale, and not very satisfying. But since I am supposed to be a good gardener I just get over myself and get on with 'it'. And today I do exactly the same. Right? Hmm...
Later...
Except today it all went rather better, and the weeding didn't seem to be as tedious. How does that happen? Same sort of day, same length of time working, same tiddly little weeds.