Standards of dress...
Clean Gardening Jeans...
Aha! Sitting down in the dirt and dragging myself along - the easiest way for me to sort out the edges of the gardens. And, ridiculous this, I start off each day with a clean pair of gardening jeans. One has to maintain high standards of dress, after all.
So today I went into the Hump Garden (quite damp) to weed, sitting on my bottom. Dug out the last of the Urenikas (a purple Maori potato). Still not sure what to do with this garden area (my most hopeless potato patch ever). But have decided that growing a swathe of weeds is not part of the plan. Hopefully the thistles will die off soon (they've had the secret squirty bottle treatment).
Chopped down lots of huge suckers from a nearby Gum tree stump, and from the flowering cherry tree. Chopped down more self-sown Pittosporums. Tried to take a selfie - it just didn't work (made me look ninety years old and rising). Then a pair of bright orange monarch butterflies landed on the bright magenta dahlias. Such a colour combination! They saw me coming and flitted off.
Winnie and her Ball
Have to make do with this picture of Winnie the dog and her ball, which I've been throwing.
Sally Holmes Rose
Next day...
Have been out all morning swimming and playing music. Yesterday's jeans are soaking in the tub. Now, while there's still daylight and I still have energy, I'm off into the garden. Have been so good lately. Random, but good. Just might dig out the Sally Holmes roses and replant them straight into the Hump Garden - no ceremony (i.e. no potting mix in a pot). Let's see what happens. Kind of depends on whether I can find a shovel...
Three hours later...
Went off on a Sally Holmes tangent. Thought I might put the potential transplants with the Sallies in the small garage border. So I pulled all the yellow Euphorbia out of this wee garden, raked out gum leaves etc., and trimmed along its edge. Took ages. Now I'm not so sure - clumps of white Agapanthus fill up the back nicely, and there might not be enough room. I will need to introduce some horse manure to whizz up the soil. All my mess is cleared up, but no bonfire.
Thursday 24th March
Home from ballet. Put on another pair of clean gardening jeans and did some more edge trimming, this time around the Dog Kennel Garden. Pulling out yellow euphorbias, cut the grass between the kennels with the kitchen scissors. Humph. Am inside for afternoon tea and a moan.
Schizostylis by the Water Race
Am spending ages cleaning up the edges of the lawn, because of poor quality lawn-mowing. Non-Gardening Partner will say he gets told off if he mows over any rogue escaped garden plants. This is not true - unless it's a Korean Angelica, but surely he knows what this plant looks like? Hmm. Maybe not. Anyway, his mown lawn curves do not match my garden edge curves at all.
Border edges obscured...
NGP says that my border edges are obscured by plantings. Thus he doesn't know where the stone edge is, and his mower doesn't want to break its blades. Hmm. He possibly has a point.
Saturday 26th March
Yet another bottom-dragging day - well, an afternoon actually. But hey! And yet another clean pair of gardening jeans. Now the bonfire is gurgling merrily, and I've left NGP to clean up his mess (he's been trimming the patio Wisteria which threatens to creep inside the roof).
The Autumn Bonfire
Oh boy. I have the pinkest face (and, again, the grubbiest gardening bottom). Sorry about this. Am going to go apres gardening and watch the women's cricket on TV.