Categories: life-in-general
Date: 18 September 2010 07:01:51
I love gardens, garden books, garden catalogues, garden shows, all things gardening ...
I love being in MY (or, more properly, OUR) garden ... our long term project ... we're working on about 30 years ... at least ...
So, today, for the first time this holiday, we have had the weather which allows us to actually be IN the garden doing things - that said, Mr Tasmania got the lawn mowing done on Tuesday whilst the weather was fine - I, however, was doing the housework, so did not get outside much!
Today though ... well, my 'cage' of pots (built to save them from the ravages of JD the Wonder Dog, who looks on plastic pots, small or huge, as just more toys) has become somewhat overgrown with grass due to enthusiastic sowing by Mr Tas ... pulled all those pots out, cleaned out the salvageable and dumped the old dirt from the others into various holes and potholes and gaps in hay mulch along the slope of the plateau - every little bit helps!
Reorganised all the other pots over the hugely growing grass to squash it, moved the garlic into the cage, moved the rhubarb (which I thought had died) from it's possy next to the compost bin into the cage, and took all the big pots in the wheelbarrow back up to the shed.
I have acquired a Jacaranda, which I have mentioned before - it came in a very small pot so I've potted it into something about 10 times the size and put it in a relatively sheltered spot - this may not work but I'm going to try! Also repotted the jade plant and weeded the mint, which has also reappeared.
As I'm on this annoying (but working) food elimination diet at present I'm banned from most alliums however I can have garlic and chives ... so the other day I picked up a couple of lovely dark blue pots which fit just perfectly on my kitchen window sill - today planted chive seeds and coriander seeds. Also planted another large pot of chives (can't have too many) and think I may actually buy a couple more of those blue pots if I can get them, they're really lovely .... green basil and thai basil maybe?
Then mixed up a barrow of potting mix, compost, and cow manure and took that plus the bale of sugar cane plus the punnets of flowers we bought yesterday out to the front garden. Mr Tasmania finished his weeding of the bed next to the driveway and we planted out seedlings of orange and yellow marigold, orange and purple viola, and purple and dark pink pansy ... we don't really have a theme for the front bed, it's in the process of being built up from a base of VERY solid clay so there's time ... we do have a lovely little Japanese maple planted, and a couple of strategically placed rocks however it's not going to be japanese or zen ... at present it's just our 'colour' patch at the front door, with whatever the heck Mr Tasmania chooses popped in ... various shapes/colours of tulips popping up at the mo' too ... was going to leave them but the snails have taken the head off 5 now so will probably lift them later and put into pots for the future.
We also sugar cane mulched the whole bed (again) ... more topsoil will gradually be added, as well as more compost and manure - the worms are already in there tunnelling away and every time I dig a hole for a plant it turns over the clay at the bottom so I think eventually it will be a fabulous bed ... see, I told you I'm working long plan, it's not going to happen this year that's for sure!
And now ... well ... I'm thinking tomorrow I may try and plant out some of the geranium's I struck from plants I grew down at the shack ... some have survived their oversowing with grass seed so I'd better give them a proper chance! NO idea what type/colour I have so I think I'm just going to choose a section of the slope of the plateau and make a 'rainbow' bed :)