Friday 9 January 2009

Everything must end

Today was our last day of leave. Come Monday, we are back in the real world (although I do have another week off coming up) so and today, I did what any good procrastinator does, and did some of the jobs I'd left til the last minute, like cleaning the hideous dark hole that is the cupboard under the kitchen sink and digging into the abyss that is my fridge. 

These jobs had to be done, and now they are. I can now get on with the last weekend before returning to work no longer berating myself for being a Slacker Supreme. 

This morning, before starting the big day of jobs, I spent a few moments in the garden taking photos before I set out to plant my autumn crops. Donna Lee had mentioned in the comments that she was looking forward to seeing some summer greenery. I thought of you as I took these photos Donna Lee. 

Here are the multi-headed sunflowers which grew next to the ash trees without much in the way of help from us. The single headed ones have been eaten by cockatoos.

sunflowers

Later in the morning, I found a rosella having a nibble. I got as close as I could before the pretty thing flew away.

rosella

Potatoes are a fairly ordinary, utilitarian plants, except for when they get lovely little flowers. 

potato

The plum tree is starting to get some colour on it. We can't wait for our next batch of plum jam or plum sauce!

plum

Here are my everlasting daisies, which aren't looking so everlasting right now. I think that if they are left on the plant, they do what nature asks of them and give up their seeds. Their furriness is rather lovely, I think.

paper daisy

The roses my Father in Law gave us continue to grow and produce stunning red roses. Such little plants with so much to give!

rose

In less successful corners of the garden, I figured out why zinnias should always be planted in full sun.

zinnia

Kinda pathetic huh? It's tiny - nothing like the full, rounded head it's supposed to be. I spent weeks growing these from seed and then stupidly planted them in a shady bed. Duh.

Finally, my calla lillies. The colour is so vibrant. I never get over these. 

calla

I love my garden. It's a work in progress and if you saw the big, open dead spaces in it, you'd see that. But over the break, in the mornings when I was outside digging and doing all those other gardeny jobs, I was reminded why it's so important to me. 

Apart from when I'm knitting, gardening is the only other place where my head goes quiet. When I'm out there, I'm not caught up in worries, concerns, things that make me angry or things that make me anxious. It's just me (and usually Sean) and the air and the dirt and the roots and the leaves and the flowers and the produce. Everything else just fades away and there are days when that's absolutely, utterly vital.

Bells