The first weekend of the new positive rediscovering myself era has been excellent and unusually for a Sunday evening I feel refreshed and recharged.
Saturday I had a day to myself as my eldest was out. Having got up early to do the weekly shop and give the house a quick lick and a promise with the Hoover and duster from 11am I had a day to do whatever I wanted with. The sun was shining and the sky was blue and the garden beckoned. There is so much to do it was difficult to decide where to start. Not only do I have all the usual seasonal tasks but I need to address the increasing neglect from the last two years. I decided that I had done enough seed sowing last weekend and that this weekend I needed to really set to and achieve something significant to encourage me on.
A tidied staging area - very pleasing
First up was the patio ‘theatre’. Theatre is a rather grandiose title for what is essentially some breeze blocks and scaffolding boards but I am constantly surprised how much I use this space. I use it in the summer to house my growing collection of succulents who thrive in the sunshine. At this time of year I use the space for hardening off seedlings and growing on plants. However, when I looked at it yesterday morning it was shambolic, the gravel underneath was full of weeds (that is cyperus glaber which self seeds into the gravel) and the contents of the pots were in a sorry state. I spent a good hour repotting and even got as far as going through some young plants which had been sitting neglected in pots down the end of the garden. I am for ever surprised at what survives neglect especially over the winter. Two restio plants in small pots have come through unscathed and will now be planted out as soon as I have decided where. Even more surprising was a lone annual rudbeckia which had been lying in a small pot and had started to regrow – so much for being an annual.
Then after lunch the main task of the day was to tackle the slope border known as the daisy border. I worked through it cutting back and weeding and then mulched the majority with chipped bark. This is something I need to do in my garden more to help conserve moisture and having seen how lovely and tidy and recharged the border looks I will definitely be making the effort to do this across the garden. The only downside is that I could barely stand up at the end of all that mulching since I have to carry the mulch up quite a steep garden, my eldest who normally does this for me was out and I’m not as patient as I aspire to be.
My car wasn't quite this dirty
Today there was no gardening since it was a special day for my eldest. We had to get up at 6:30am to get to the rally driving school as I had bought him a season for his 21st birthday a couple of weeks ago. Despite being a secret petrolhead I have learnt that for spectators these venues can often be quite dull and you can’t see anything so I had done some research and identified a couple of places nearby I could visit whilst he was doing his thing. My main aim was to visit Batsford Arboretum. However, wonderfully, spectators were allowed quite close and in between laps he came and sat with me and we discussed others progress. It was such fun and despite the early morning cold a lovely day to sit outside in a big coat and get some more fresh air. The track is on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border in the Vale of Evesham which is a fairly flat area. As it has been so dry recently the gravel track was incredibly dry and the dust clouds would have put the fear into many a desert nomad. Unfortunately the dust was blowing towards where the cars were parked and in particular my car was parked overlooking the hand brake turn corner where the biggest dust clouds were formed. My eldest was creased up when we eventually got back to my car which was no longer silver but more a sandy beige and impossible to see out of. In return he washed it for me this afternoon so that was a result.
It really was lovely to see his enjoyment at throwing a car around. I do like having grown up sons they are so nice to spend time with, such great conversations and such fun.
All in all a lovely weekend and I hope to have many more of the same.
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