Early winter, late autumn?

More cleaning up, more bonfiring, more planting, more digging and trimming, more mulching - more early winter work in the garden. Or should that be late autumn? Same thing? Depends on ones state of mind I guess.

Four more weeks...

It's four weeks until the winter solstice. Wow. Wonder if I can get the garden completely ready for this? Then I could have a strictly ceremonial bonfire, toast marshmallows, dance around, chant my thank-yous for the turning of the year, and so on. I do have a lot of thank-yous this year. And I love my garden very much at this time of the year. I love the leaf fall, and the colours, and the foliage my garden is filled with.

 The car and trailer only just fit.
Here Comes Another Load

Yesterday after chamber music (playing Haydn and Telemann, two very tuneful composers) I planted the new Corokias and mulched the garden around them. Then I dragged loads of long dead Phormium leaves to the bonfire. Non-Gardening Partner brought me a trailerful, and I burnt the lot.

 Bonfiring the dry mess.
Hard at Work

Today I had a choir gig (for Pentecost), then immediately afterwards my Blues Band played in a concert. Spent the day in musical preparation. Gloria, St Louis Woman!

Sunday 19th May

I will not let light drizzle stop me. I need to keep on with my garden clean-up. So the log-burner is going, and I've laid out clean, dry clothing to change into. I can even get muddy. I don't mind! I can do this.

 Red Fred and Pebbles.
Gardener, Cat, Dog

Yeay for me! Worked for nearly five hours. Red Fred the cat kept me company again. And the dogs cruised around nearby, following smell-trails with their noses, luckily not getting into any trouble.

 Oops!
Lost and Found

I planted the two Pink Splash Fower Carpet roses roses underneath the pergola in the sun. Cleared out ten barrowloads of rubbish while NGP filled the trailer. Everything went on the bonfire.

Lost and found...

I have retrieved three breadknives, two hand diggers, one hammer, and one hand scraper from the rubbish piles so far. Hee hee. And some of the mess dates back to last spring - hydrangea and rose prunings, for example. Didn't realise I'd got so far behind.

For the record, Phormium leaves cannot be composted and are not allowed in green waste collections. So one has to make difficult decisions on how to get rid of them.