Clones...

 And attendant fly...
Clair Matin Rose

I have to be a gentle-hands nursery-woman one minute, then a bossy planter of plants the next, then an energetic spreader of mulch and horse manure. And before you can say 'Cleavers' (or Galium aparine) I have to twirl three times, clockwise, and turn into WWW : Wonder Weeding Woman. Aargh! I need clones! Everything has gone bouff with new growth - weeds and lawns included.

The Allotment Garden

For the last two days I've been clearing along my neighbour's boundary with my Allotment Garden. Cleavers has been growing through the netting fence, up and into my roses. I've also been digging out grass clumps that are too close, and cutting seed-heads off other clumps (which are waist high). It's annoying but necessary for my weed management, and I am working on the neighbour's side of the fence. So the wife walked past me while I was pulling and heaving. 'Oh, you're doing a GREAT job' she gushed, and kept walking. Hello? Is anyone home? I am weeding the edge of your property to stop the spread of weeds into my property. Hint. Clean up your mess. It impacts on your next-door neighbour.

 The Jelly Bean Border
Mulched!

Mulching...

Today I'm covering all the horse manure (which is starting to look very weedy) in the Jelly Bean Garden and the new Pond Paddock Garden with a thick layer of mulch. It's taking ages, and I'm not helping myself. I've spent time scooping up all the Honesty seedlings, not wanting to smother them. But hopefully all the little weeds (germinated from whatever those horses were eating, back in the day) will expire.

Non-Gardening Partner is busy mowing the lawns, so there will soon be edges to trim. And I must finish laying down that mulch. Oh boy. Suddenly there is far too much for one woman to do in one day. But I will do my very best.

Later...

I love it when I get lots of little things done, because it means I can give myself lots of ticks! I've dug, divided, and replanted a lovely red Phormium - been meaning to do this for ages now. It's in two pots at the edge of the Hump's new garden. I've worked in my glass-house - more seedlings are outside to harden off. I've planted out the Cerinthe and Lupins near the cottage, and spread horse manure and mulch in the new Pond Paddock Garden. This area is pretty much finished now.

 Underneath the two flowering cherry trees.
My New Pond Paddock Garden

Then I wandered over to the Hump and cleared out some patches of forget-me-nots, to make room for some potatoes. In they've all gone (they are Purple Passions). The forget-me-nots are now acting as mulch around the green Phormiums. A rose (Clair Matin) is already flowering, and the white Honesty plants look amazing. Love, love, love them for self-seeding.

 Beautiful.
White Honesty

So my clones did seven hours good work, and we get more than twenty ticks on our report card. Well done, clones of me!